China ancient weapons
Infantry: light infantry, heavy infantry, crossbowmen, equipment soldiers (people who use giant crossbows of trebuchets when attacking cities), archers (long bows and short bows), shield soldiers, giant soldiers, axe soldiers and spear soldiers.
Cavalry: light cavalry, heavy cavalry, missile cavalry, heterogeneous cavalry (cavalry, camel cavalry), archers.
Chariots: light chariots, heavy chariots.
Sailors: ordinary sailors (sailors, lookouts, attack and steer) and special sailors (frogmen)
Sailors and infantry can be combined, and sailors can be converted into infantry at any time.
The ancient army did not have a complete division of arms like the modern army. With the changes of combat weapons, methods and areas, some specialized troops are gradually divided, which have certain arms nature. Generally speaking, there are four arms: car, foot, riding and boat. After the Han dynasty, chariots disappeared, mainly composed of three arms: infantry, cavalry and water army. In ancient China, however, the army was not organized and commanded mainly according to the arms, nor did it form two major service systems: land and sea.
war chariot
In the recorded history of China, the main force of the early army was chariot soldiers. In Shang and Zhou Dynasties, the chariot soldiers, mainly nobles, were the most important arms at that time. For more than five centuries, chariots galloped on the land of the Central Plains, and infantry belonged to chariots, fighting and killing when chariots broke through the enemy formation. "Servants", who are civilians or slaves, guard the chariot and provide logistics behind it. Actually, it's just the attendants of the chariot soldiers. The establishment of the army is based on chariots, and the military strength of a country is marked by the number of "rides". At that time, a chariot had three occupants, and the left "car left" was shot with a bow and arrow, which was the main force, the length of a car was the first; The "right car" on the right side stabbed the enemy with a spear, also known as "riding"; The soldier in the middle is the driver, driving the chariot. During the Spring and Autumn Period, infantry gradually became an independent unit, juxtaposed with chariots. There are also chariot soldiers, mixed with infantry and combat arms in the pit of terracotta warriors and horses in the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor. In the Western Han Dynasty, there was still the establishment of "Cheshi", and the northern army directly under the imperial court had a special "Huben captain" with the title of "Cheqi General". Chariots did not lag behind, and after the Eastern Han Dynasty, chariots were no longer an independent arms. Until about 1500 years later, with the development of firearms, the Ming army appeared "chariot" arms. After Jiajing (1522-1565), all the "3rd Battalion" directly under the imperial court were prepared by chariots. When Qi Jiguang formed the border guards, it also specially organized chariot operations. At this time, the chariot used a two-wheeled vehicle with guard plates on both sides, numbered as the main vehicle (only one side with guard plates is called "partial box vehicle" and the one without guard plates is called "light car"), which is usually pulled by two mules and pushed to the launching position by the chariot manpower in wartime. The car is equipped with artillery (1 General or 2 French). Each chariot has a quota of 24 people, including Fran mechanic, bird catcher, rocket hand, rattan hand and so on. Firearms are based on chariots in combat. When camping, the chariots are connected end to end and hover around the camp to protect the camp. Therefore, this kind of chariot actually has the nature of artillery. After the Qing dynasty entered the customs, this chariot combat mode was no longer adopted, and the chariot was abolished.
infantry
In 54 1 BC, the commander-in-chief of the state of Jin, Xun Wu, led the Jin army to fight against the northern minority Di people. The battle site is in a mountainous area called "Dalu" in the north of Taiyuan. The terrain is dangerous and the chariot is difficult to exercise. Foreign Minister Shu Wei said: "The enemy is infantry. In this mountainous area, our chariots can't play a role, and it's no use for infantry to be trapped nearby. It is better for the soldiers below me to get off and fight on foot. " Xunwu agreed to this plan and appointed Shu Wei as the former enemy commander. Shu Wei ordered the chariot to be demolished, and all the soldiers and "disciples" who followed the chariot were mixed into an array. Shu Wei beheaded one of Xunwu's cronies on the spot when he thought that the chariot soldiers of noble birth didn't want to get off and mix with his disciples, which forced all the troops to get off and queue up. Shu Wei lured the enemy deep with a small force and arranged the main force on both sides of the rear of the battle. Tijen had never seen the Chinese army fighting on foot, laughing loudly and rushing without array. Unexpectedly, the trick of luring the enemy hit the nail on the head, and the Jin army was attacked on both sides and Tijen was defeated. This is the first time to organize infantry temporarily on the battlefield, but infantry, as an independent arm of the Chinese army, originated here.
The rapid rise of infantry in the Spring and Autumn Period also reflected the improvement of social status of civilians (China people and Shu Ren people) to some extent. During the Warring States period, infantry was already the main force of military operations. Judging from the infantry figurines unearthed from the terracotta warriors and horses pit of Qin Shihuang, some infantry wear armor and some don't. The former is mostly armed with various combat weapons, while the latter takes crossbows as the launching posture. Explain that the infantry at that time was divided into heavy infantry and light infantry. However, these two types of infantry are mixed, not two independent arms. Only when certain battles are needed will a certain type of infantry be concentrated. For example, Sun Bin concentrated 10,000 crossbowmen to ambush Pang Juan.
Since then, infantry has occupied most of the army's establishment. There are many types of infantry in the organizational system, but generally in the Qin Dynasty, the distinction between the two types was maintained and they were mixed. For example, in the Han dynasty, the infantry was called "material officer", among which the crossbowman was called "Zhang Zhang" and the brave warrior was called "running for his life" and "brave". In the Western Han Dynasty, there was an "infantry captain" among the "eight generals" of the Northern Army, but in fact most of the eight generals were infantry. This unit guards Shanglinyuan, and it is an infantry who is good at fighting. There is also the "Shooting Captain", a special crossbowmen unit.
In the Tang Dynasty, there were also "assault soldiers" (mobile teams) and "jumping soldiers" (assault teams) who were good at fighting, as well as "crossbowmen" who mainly fired weapons.
It is worth noting that in ancient times, infantry fighting often focused on firing weapons, especially in the Song Dynasty, there were many more infantry who fired weapons than combat infantry. On average, out of every 100 Ma Jun soldiers (not completely cavalry), only 13 are gunmen and flag bearers, and the rest are archers. Every 65,438+000 soldiers, there are 8 swordsmen, 65,438+06 gunmen and 76 archers.
Since the Yuan Dynasty, the army was equipped with firearms, and naturally there were special infantry who used firearms. For example, in the infantry establishment of the Ming Dynasty, there was a "shovel hand", which was responsible for firing artillery and muskets. Qi Jiguang formed an army, whether cavalry or infantry, with special birdman, Japanese businessman, rocket man and rattan hand, and selected "killer" as melee knife and stick hand, with mixed as the basic combat unit.
The main body of green camp in Qing Dynasty was infantry, but there were also miscellaneous birds, gunners and gunners.
cavalry
During the Warring States period, when it comes to national military strength, "riding a car" and "riding a horse" are often mentioned together, which shows that cavalry and chariots at that time were juxtaposed as important technical arms. As mentioned in the Warring States Policy, Su Qin lobbied the king of Qin, saying that the state of Qin "had millions of chariots and bravely attacked millions", and that "with the sage of the monarch, the people of the cremation, the use of cars, and the teaching of the art of war, the princes could annex them". Fan Sui also said that "Chi is brave, and chariots ride more", which is invincible. "Fen Strike" and "Qin Pawn" which are symmetrical with "Che Qi" should be infantry. It seems that these were the three major arms of the army at that time. Historical records record Su Qin's words, saying that the state of Yan has "hundreds of thousands of armor, six hundred chariots and six thousand war horses"; Zhao "hundreds of thousands of armour, thousands of cars and tens of thousands of horses"; Wei has "two hundred thousand warriors, two hundred thousand fighters", "six hundred chariots and five thousand horses". The proportion of Chu infantry in the south is very large, "a million, a thousand chariots, and a million horses." Generally speaking, cavalry in various countries accounts for less than 5% of the total force.
In 307 BC, Zhao in the north felt the importance of cavalry in the long-term conflict with nomadic people. Wuling, Zhao Haoqi resolutely carried out "Hufu Riding and Shooting", changed the cavalry's clothing into the same narrow-sleeved top as nomadic people, and finally established a cavalry capable of fighting nomadic people. Later, Li Mu was appointed commander-in-chief, trained soldiers to ride and shoot, selected 1300 chariots, 1300 cavalry, 50,000 "hundred gold men" and 1000 archers, and formed the main force against the Huns, successively defeating or subduing their subordinate countries, such as East Lake, and making the Huns in. The proportion of Zhao's special forces still exceeds 10: 1.
The cavalry in the Warring States period did not have stirrups, so it was difficult to fight immediately. In the field, direct attack is generally not used, and it is mainly used for detour, detour and pursuit. For example, Li Mu defeated the Xiongnu army with cavalry flank tactics. In the battle of Changping, Qin and Zhao cut off the contact between Zhao and the camp with 15000 cavalry. The establishment of cavalry is still very small, and it does not carry out campaign tasks independently.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, cavalry had many independent units. For example, when Chu and Han fought, there were many officers called "riding generals" in the two armies. In 202 BC, Chu and Han fought a decisive battle, and Xiang Yu finally failed, leading 800 cavalry to break through. Liu bang ordered the rider to chase the baby with 5000 cavalry to the Huaihe River.
In order to fight against the Huns, the Western Han Dynasty gradually established a large-scale cavalry unit. When recruiting, there was special military service for "knights", and the court appointed special "generals on horseback", and later established titles such as "generals in ancient times" and "generals on foot". The Northern Army directly under the imperial court also included Captain Tunqi, Captain Qi Yue and Captain Hu Qi. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he launched many wars to attack the Huns, and dispatched hundreds of thousands of cavalry at every turn. It can be seen that the proportion of cavalry in the army has increased at that time, and it has surpassed infantry in the border areas.
The Eastern Han Dynasty retained the system of the Western Han Dynasty, but the proportion of cavalry in the army decreased obviously. In several border wars, the southern Xiongnu or Qiang cavalry played an important role, and the number of Han cavalry was small. For example, in 73, Dou Gu attacked the Western Regions, and in 89, Dou Xian attacked the Northern Xiongnu, but the Han cavalry was not on the scale of "Wan Qi". In the war in the Central Plains, people often "step by step" and "ride together". In the war, mixed weaving is still used, and cavalry plays an auxiliary role.
In the war at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the military strength of Cao Cao Group depended largely on its elite cavalry. For example, in the 200-year battle of Guandu, Cao Cao personally led 5000 cavalry to raid the logistics base and won a decisive victory. Another example is 2 1 1 year. In tackling key problems in Cao Jun, infantry was used to lure the enemy, and "tiger riding" was the main force to defeat Ma Chao and Han Sui. This kind of "tiger riding" is probably the heavy cavalry of armored troops, indicating that the cavalry of the Han army has begun to distinguish between light and heavy, and this kind of heavy cavalry has the ability to storm and assault in the field.
The period of the Sixteen-Country Melee (304-439) was the period when the heavy cavalry entered the military stage in an all-round way. A large number of nomadic people in the north moved inward, and the development of animal husbandry may increase the number of cavalry horses; The invention of more perfect riding equipment such as stirrup greatly increased the combat capability of cavalry on horseback; The development of handicraft industry can also provide cavalry with more perfect protective armor. Therefore, heavy cavalry has a strong assault capability and has become a formidable decisive force on the battlefield. The proportion of cavalry in the army has also greatly increased. For example, in 3 12, Wang Jun, a Han warlord, organized 50,000 troops to attack Xerox, a warlord entrenched in Guo Xiang. Xerox lost first and then won, and captured 5000 armored horses in the final pursuit. Visible, Wang Jun's army, heavy cavalry accounted for at least one over ten. In 328, Schleswig attacked Luoyang. Among the troops dispatched, "60,000 soldiers marched and 27,000 rode", and the cavalry reached nearly one-third of the whole army. 383 years ago, Fu Qin led a million troops to attack the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It is said that there are 600,000 infantry and 270,000 cavalry. It can be seen that the ratio of walking to cycling is 2: 1, which seems to be the practice at that time. Later, the Northern Wei army dispatched hundreds of thousands of cavalry units to fight. Even when Liu Song was attacked in 450, the number of cavalry actually dispatched reached 600,000, and the camp stretched for 3,000 miles.
The tradition of attaching importance to cavalry in the Northern Dynasties also influenced the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Emperor Taizong was an active practitioner of light cavalry assault tactics. The armor worn by men is mainly used as two kinds of armor, mainly to cover the chest, or also called breastplate cavalry. In the process of establishing the Tang dynasty, he made expeditions to the east and sought advice from the west, and he led the light cavalry to attack and win many battles by himself. The Tang Dynasty was also the heyday of the cavalry in the ancient Han Dynasty. According to Li Jing, a general in the early Tang Dynasty, the standard organization of the Tang army was that cavalry should account for 30% of the combat troops. In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, 654.38+06,000 of the total 570,000 standing troops were cavalry, accounting for almost 30%.
Since the mid-Tang Dynasty, the Han Dynasty in the Central Plains gradually lost control of the main horse producing areas, and the proportion of cavalry in the military establishment gradually decreased. By the time the Northern Song Dynasty was established, although there were a considerable proportion of "Ma Army" in the military establishment, most of them were horseless infantry. The Northern Song Dynasty did everything possible to promote horse breeding, but it was difficult to graze in large quantities in agricultural areas, and horse production shrank for a long time, so "Ma Jun" could only be misnamed. This situation was more serious in the Southern Song Dynasty. Cavalry can only rely on ponies produced in Guangxi and other places to supplement horses, and the proportion of cavalry is less than 5%. However, the imperial dynasties of nomadic minorities such as Liao, Xixia, Jin and Yuan, which fought against the Northern Song Dynasty, all took cavalry as the main force and repeatedly defeated Song Jun. In the Southern Song Dynasty, more troops were cavalry. For example, the famous Yue Jiajun trained 8,000 cavalry with captured horses, named "Back Army", and also trained "Wandering Horse Army". In the Yingchang War of 1 140, two cavalry and golden cavalry fought a large-scale cavalry battle and won.
In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to fight against Mongolia, the cavalry was strengthened. Especially in Yongle period of Ming Dynasty (1403- 1425), Emperor Yongle personally made many expeditions to Mobei, and dispatched a large number of cavalry every time. 1409, Qiu Fu led 65438+100000 cavalry to attack Tatar Benya. As a result, the whole army was wiped out and Qiu Fu was killed. The Ming court immediately mobilized 300 thousand cavalry, which only took more than half a year. It can be seen that there was a strong cavalry reserve force at that time. However, after the "rebellion" in 1449, the Beijing army directly controlled by the imperial court was almost wiped out, especially after the loss of cavalry, and it never recovered to its original level. The supply of war horses is more difficult. Since then, the Ming army has gradually regressed to the situation of the Song Dynasty, with cavalry accounting for less than one-tenth of the army.
The main body of the Eight Banners soldiers in Qing Dynasty was cavalry, while green camp was basically infantry. The riding ratio of the Eight Banners soldiers before entering the customs was 1: 1, and remained basically unchanged after entering the customs. In terms of system, the court stipulated that the general principle of green camp troops is "three steps and seven steps", which actually varies from place to place. Because "Ma Bing" in Qing Dynasty refers to the soldiers with the highest rank and salary, "Ma Bing" is not necessarily a cavalry with horses, and even there are quite a few "Ma Bing" among the soldiers of the Navy.
European medieval weapons
Mainly based on all kinds of part-time armed forces under the knight system.
Knight: roughly equivalent to the school officials in ancient China, relying on the knight collar (knights without fiefs appeared in the later period), just like landlords, they led the farm labourers to form or join the legions formed by the king in wartime. The main combat readiness is: horses (mainly short-legged stallions), armor, swords (for close combat), long and short spears (for riding and charging), and then there are walking knights, famous Templars, Teutonic knights, French knights and German knights.
Cavalry: Soldiers equipped with horses. Generally, light riding is not equipped with armor, and the combat weapon is a spear. There are generally heavy cavalry and light cavalry. Heavy cavalry is mostly used for charging, while light cavalry is mostly used for reconnaissance. The famous dragoons, Cossacks and Byzantine heavy cavalry.
Infantry: There are two types: light and heavy. Heavy infantry is equipped with heavy plate armor, which makes it inconvenient to move. Generally, it is only used for confrontation between the two sides, killing the enemy with epee, spear and axe. Light infantry belongs to the most common arms, and their weapon configurations are different. Famous ones are Swiss Guards, Frankish Warriors and Varyag Guards.
Sagittarius: Kill the enemy from a distance with a bow or crossbow. They are generally not equipped with melee weapons, so they often need the protection of other arms, such as longbowmen and crossbowmen.
Other arms: most of them are throwing weapons, such as spear throwers and axe throwers.
European weapons in classical period
Infantry: generally equipped with spears and daggers, but also equipped with javelins and daggers. Many barbarian infantry are armed with machetes or swords, usually wearing chain mail. Elite troops are equipped with plate armour, such as Macedonian phalanx and ancient Roman guards.
Cavalry: generally equipped with spears and daggers, some auxiliary cavalry are equipped with javelin, generally not equipped with bows and arrows. Horses generally don't wear armor and attack the enemy with fierce charge. There are famous Persian warriors and Gothic cavalry.
Sagittarius: Archers are divided into archers and crossbowmen. Archers are more popular, and crossbowmen have more powerful arrows, but they are inconvenient to launch, so they are mainly archers, and generally only equipped with chain mail. Famous Persian archers and so on.