Graff The Eurasian Way of War

Military Practice in Seventh-Century China and Byzantium
Erscheinungsjahr 2016
ISBN: 978-1-317-23708-2
Verlag: CRC Press
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 218 Seiten

Reihe: Asian States and Empires

This book is a comparative study of military practice in Sui-Tang China and the Byzantine Empire between approximately 600 and 700 CE. It covers all aspects of the military art from weapons and battlefield tactics to logistics, campaign organization, military institutions, and the grand strategy of empire. Whilst not neglecting the many differences between the Chinese and Byzantines, this book highlights the striking similarities in their organizational structures, tactical deployments and above all their extremely cautious approach to warfare. It shows that, contrary to the conventional wisdom positing a straightforward Western way of war and an "Oriental" approach characterized by evasion and trickery, the specifics of Byzantine military practice in the seventh century differed very little from what was known in Tang China. It argues that these similarities cannot be explained by diffusion or shared cultural influences, which were limited, but instead by the need to deal with common problems and confront common enemies, in particular the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes. Overall, this book provides compelling evidence that pragmatic needs may have more influence than deep cultural imperatives in determining a society’s "way of war."

Autoren/Hrsg.

Graff, David A.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. The economic and commercial background 2. Asian presence on the territory. FDIs, ODA and Aid 3. Asian Communities in Latin America 4. The Central American conundrum 5. Trade for growth in the Pacific Rim 6. Strategic materials and Energy abundance: a mixed blessing 7. Newcomers in the southern cone 8. Looking Ahead. Challenges and Reverse immigration

Über Autor(innen)

David A. Graff is Associate Professor of History at Kansas State University, USA. He is the author of Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 (Routledge, 2002) and co-editor of the Journal of Chinese Military History.