Riverine Warfare

IF 0.1 0 ASIAN STUDIES
James Bonk
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

This issue of the Journal of Chinese Military History features four articles exploring riverine warfare in premodern China. The articles show that rivers have played an important, but often overlooked, role in defensive and offensive warfare. Just as the distinctive qualities of water – flowing, nurturing, clear when still – helped to make it a “root metaphor” in Chinese philosophy, the watery qualities of rivers made them a fundamental part of military thought.1 In the military realm, successful armies took advantage of the potential of rivers to flow quickly, transport heavy objects, impede movement, and be stored, diverted, or released. Wicky Tse’s article, “The Tactical Role of Rivers in Early Chinese Warfare,” shows that many of these qualities were already integrated into warfare in Early China. Examples from Zhanguo ce, Mozi, and the Zuozhuan show that armies vied to control water for offensive, defensive, and logistical advantage. For instance, moats could provide defense for cities built next to rivers, but the same river could be diverted by besieging armies to flood the city or deprive it of access to supplies. In the realm of logistics, Tse shows that early Chinese regimes – much like later dynasties – used rivers to efficiently transport troops, weapons, and provisions. Tse also introduces a theme that runs through all four articles, that riverine warfare cannot be abstracted from the surrounding land. In the second part of his article, he analyzes “shore-based river-crossing campaign.” Rivers had to be crossed, but crossing at the wrong place, or in a
河流战争
本期的《中国军事史杂志》刊载了四篇文章,探讨了近代以前中国的河流战争。这些文章表明,河流在防御和进攻战争中发挥了重要的作用,但往往被忽视。正如水的独特特性——流动、滋润、静止时清澈——使其成为中国哲学的“根本隐喻”一样,河流的水的特性使其成为军事思想的基本组成部分在军事领域,成功的军队利用了河流的潜力来快速流动,运输重物,阻碍运动,并被储存,改道或释放。Wicky Tse的文章《河流在中国早期战争中的战术作用》表明,这些品质在中国早期的战争中已经融入了。《战国策》、《墨子》和《左传》的例子表明,军队为了进攻、防御和后勤优势而争夺水资源。例如,护城河可以为建在河边的城市提供防御,但这条河可能会被围困的军队改道,淹没城市或剥夺城市获得补给的途径。在后勤领域,谢先生指出,早期的中国政权——就像后来的朝代一样——利用河流来有效地运送军队、武器和粮食。谢先生还介绍了贯穿四篇文章的一个主题,即河流战争不能从周围的土地中抽象化。在文章的第二部分,他分析了“岸基渡河战役”。河流必须要过河,但是过河的地方不对,或者是在一个
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来源期刊
Journal of Chinese Military History
Journal of Chinese Military History Arts and Humanities-History
CiteScore
0.20
自引率
0.00%
发文量
12
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.
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