Friday, December 25, 2015

Han I.

This is coolbert:

Wu are you?

From a comment to the blog:

Johnny W. Wilson said...
"The main problem as it has been from times of Richard Lionheart, is that heavy firepower and bombing operations alone won't be able to do much. As it has been stated here, there's a great need of boots on the ground to truly consolidate any gain"

When faced with a resolute and implacable enemy on the battlefield, LESS THAN resolute and implacable action not achieving the proper results. As was well known to the Han Dynasty of ancient China.

The Han Chinese Empire lasting for about four hundred years [200 B.C. to 200 A.D.] and possessing an ability and determination to wage war against a people known as the Xiongnu or Hsiung-nu.

Military campaigns on an epic scale hardly if ever finding comparison in the ancient world. ONLY look to Alexander and the Romans as peers if that!

From the Scholar's Stage thanks to the tip from isegoria.net.

 "What Edward Luttwak Doesn't Know About Ancient China pt. 1"

"The logistics machine the Han created to defeat the Xiongnu is one of the marvels of the ancient world. Each of the Han’s campaigns was a feat worthy of Alexander the Great. But Alexander only pushed to India once. The Han launched these campaigns year after year for decades. The sheer expanse of the conflict is staggering; Han armies ranged from Fergana to Manchuria, theaters 3,000 miles apart. Each campaign required the mobilization of tens of thousands of men and double the number of animals."

The Xiongnu or Hsiung-nu . . . were an ancient nomadic people who formed a state or confederation located north of China"

"In the many campaigns in the Western regions . . . and the Xiongnu land, the Han sent a total force of over 1.2 million cavalrymen, 800,000 foot soldiers, and 10.5 million men in support and logistic roles. The total area of lad seized in Hexi alone was 426,700 square kilometers. In developing this region the Han spent 100 billion in cash per year, compared to the regular annual government revenue of 12 billion. In the process the Han government moved from the interior over 1 million people to populate and develop the Hexi river. Thus the Han conquest of the land west of the Yellow River was the greatest expansion in Chinese history." 

That resolute and implacable battlefield enemy defeated but not by half-way measures. Two thousand years ago the Chinese knew this, EVEN IF IT MEANT SPENDING THEMSELVES APPARENTLY INTO OBLIVION. PRESIDENT OBAMA BE APPRAISED.

coolbert.

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