{"title":"A Study on the Battle of Changping","authors":"Leijia Wu","doi":"10.1163/22127453-bja10021","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"\nThis article conducts a comprehensive study on the battle of Changping 長平 (260 BCE) between Qin 秦 and Zhao 趙 and challenges some traditional views on it. This article estimates the sizes and losses of the opposing sides and argues that although the number of losses of the Zhao army in this battle looks unreasonably large, it is too subjective to say that the ancient sources exaggerate the numbers because the definition of “soldiers” at that time was different from today. This article concludes that the reasons for Zhao’s defeat are not because of replacing an experienced chief commander with an inexperienced one or shortage in supply but because it was the relatively weaker side and more importantly, its long-term strategic planning and diplomacy were inferior to Qin’s. This article also argues that the influence of this battle is not as significant as claimed by some scholars.","PeriodicalId":38003,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Chinese Military History","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-02-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Chinese Military History","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1163/22127453-bja10021","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"N/A","JCRName":"ASIAN STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This article conducts a comprehensive study on the battle of Changping 長平 (260 BCE) between Qin 秦 and Zhao 趙 and challenges some traditional views on it. This article estimates the sizes and losses of the opposing sides and argues that although the number of losses of the Zhao army in this battle looks unreasonably large, it is too subjective to say that the ancient sources exaggerate the numbers because the definition of “soldiers” at that time was different from today. This article concludes that the reasons for Zhao’s defeat are not because of replacing an experienced chief commander with an inexperienced one or shortage in supply but because it was the relatively weaker side and more importantly, its long-term strategic planning and diplomacy were inferior to Qin’s. This article also argues that the influence of this battle is not as significant as claimed by some scholars.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Chinese Military History (JCMH) is a peer-reviewed semi-annual that publishes research articles and book reviews. It aims to fill the need for a journal devoted specifically to China''s martial past and takes the broadest possible view of military history, embracing both the study of battles and campaigns and the broader, social-history oriented approaches that have become known as "the new military history." It aims to publish a balanced mix of articles representing a variety of approaches to both modern and pre-modern Chinese military history. The journal also welcomes comparative and theoretical work as well as studies of the military interactions between China and other states and peoples, including East Asian neighbors such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.