Page 47 - (DK) Smithsinian - Military History: The Definitive Visual Guide to the Objects of Warfare

45

AN ANCIENT CHINESE ARMY
TERRACOTTA TERRA

WARRIORS CO

Discovered near Mount Li in Shaanxi Province in 1974, the TT
buried collection of sculptures known as the Terracotta Army A W
opens a unique window on China’s military past, providing a
realistic representation of an army in the reign of self-styled
“First Emperor” Qin Shi Huang over 2,000 years ago. ARRIORS

A towering figure in Chinese history, of mounted troops from their wars
Qin Shi Huang unified all of China with steppe nomads; some of the
under his rule in 221 bce, crushing horsemen would have been armed
his rivals by the relentless application with varieties of bows. The chariots
of military power. As emperor he represented a Western influence on
centralized power, suppressed Chinese armies; by this period, rather
dissent, and launched large-scale than being used as a shock force, on
construction projects, including the the battlefield they chiefly functioned
first attempt to build a Great Wall to as mobile command platforms for
block the incursions of steppe nomads. aristocrats and senior officers, kept
The Terracotta Army was created as to the rear of the fighting troops.
part of the emperor’s burial complex: Indeed, officers in the Terracotta
it comprises over 8,000 soldiers, 150 Army are portrayed as taller than
cavalry horses, and 130 chariots, each ordinary soldiers, and are also
pulled by four horses. identifiable by their long double
The great majority of the army tunics and more elaborate armor.
represented in these sculptures consists
of peasant foot soldiers. They are SERRIED RANKS
depicted with armor of laced plates The arrangement of the Terracotta
(the originals would have been made Army in ordered ranks suggests a
of bronze or hardened leather), and body of disciplined soldiers drilled to
though helmets are not shown on the march in step. According to ancient
figures, archaeological finds of armor texts, armies numbering hundreds
include them. The figures were of thousands of men were fielded
also equipped with real weapons, in the largest Chinese battles. Even
fragments of which remain. Other allowing for exaggeration, the massed
sources reveal that infantrymen were peasant forces must have been large
equipped with a variety of axes and and difficult to command. Banners
swords made of bronze, and with staff were used to signal messages across
weapons, most typically the “dagger- the battlefield, drums marked an
axe.” This was a long spear with a advance, and bells were sounded
sharp blade attached to the haft, which to order a retreat. Crossbows were
could be used to stab in a prodding probably deployed in mass formations,
motion or wielded like a scythe. Many with soldiers shooting volleys in
of the men also carried crossbows, sequence, one group loosing their
a fundamental weapon in Chinese bolts while another reloaded. An
warfare: crossbows with sophisticated exchange of missiles at distance was
bronze trigger mechanisms were probably more to the taste of poorly
found during the excavation of the motivated peasant conscripts than
Terracotta Army. close-quarters combat. The emphasis
Cavalry was a recent innovation in ancient military writings on
that had helped Qin Shi Huang achieve deception, rather than pitched
his military ascendancy. With no battles, may well reflect the difficulty
native tradition of horsemanship, the of executing decisive battlefield
Chinese had learned the importance maneuvers with unwieldy forces.