ok this is my first post here so hi ummm i have to do a multi modal assignment for my ancient history class (last year of high school) it is about comparing ancient india and china the topic i have chosen to focus on is that of weaponry and warfare and my (rough) hypothesis is as follows:

As military technology advanced over time in ancient india and china the tactics and strategies involved in battles and warfare changed also to accomodate and complement the advancements.

what i am looking for is: advice on this assessment, links to any useful timelines or research etc. and any information or links to info that i can use to back up my hypothesis.

thanking you in advance
Slysa

http://authors.history-forum.com/liang_jie...esesiegewarfare

You might be better describing it as environmentally driven changes..

In central and Southern India the climate is very hard on horses, as a result elephants supplimented, then replaced, chariots (the process started pre 500 BC). Later Northen invaders forced the adoption of the armourd horse archer asthe primary troop time in both regions (though in both cases they were vastly outnumbered by infantry).

Of the better Indian History sites, try,
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/indianarms.htm
http://www.hindunet.org/saraswati/weapons2.htm
you need to ignore the over enthusiastic claims for early firearms, flying machines etc..

for timelines:
http://www.friesian.com/sangoku.htm

thanks those sites helped a lot does anyone know of any info/sites that detail a change in strategy/tactics or initial set up of units at the beginnning of a battle due to the invention of new military technology?

Sylsa, for a detailed discussion of how Chinese cavalry tactics changed along with technology, see http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=224

thank you very very much you have no idea how useful that is

ok i am doing a report for school and the focus is on china and india my topic is weaponry/warfare. Though i know that china and India did share military technologies i am yet to find any actual information on this any help would be greatly appreciated

Are you referring to modern military technology or ancient military technology? Which historical period/time frame are you referring to?

oh d**** i knew that sentence didn't look right the time frame is ancient up to early middle ages (2nd-3rd century CE)

The earliest Chinese descriptions of India (which was called Tianzhu or Shendu in Chinese) originate from around the 3rd or 4th century, and state that the Indians fight on elephants, but also that they are not war-like because they are Buddhists, and therefore are weaker militarily than the Kushans (Kusanas). I believe this image stuck, and the Chinese did not adopt any military techniques or technologies from India even though they absorbed many religious teachings. The use of elephants never caught on, for example.

did India ever borrow/acquire any of the chinese military technology either through direct contact espionage or through battle?

Well, I don't think the Indians ever used crossbows. If they did, this Hindu supremacist site would surely have said so: http://www.hinduwisdom.info/War_in_Ancient_India.htm

That site is worth looking at for an example of how nationalists (and that includes Chinese ones) want their country to have invented everything. Among its claims are that Indians invented gunpowder and firearms, introduced artillery to Europe, and introduced martial arts to China (the Bodhidharma-Shaolin myth). It also emphasizes that Indian Wootz/Damascus/Ukku steel swords were the best in the ancient world and claims they were exported to China.

It has another page listing all the ways China has benefitted from Indian civilization - for example, tea is claimed to have spread to China from Assam: http://www.hinduwisdom.info/India_and_Chin...m#Contributions

On a slightly related note, this site has a comparison between Sunzi and the Indian strategist Kautilya: http://ignca.nic.in/ks_41041.htm

"which was called Tianzhu or Shendu in Chinese"

I've heard that the correct pronounciation should be Yuan Du.

yes - I've also read in one place that it is pronounced differently from how it looks, but it didn't specify how so.

both eventually used brigandine as their standard armor. Did one adopt that before the other, influencing them?