i thought Qin was able to make better copper weapons than steel at the time?
Alexander VS Qin dynasty
- Thread starter handifei880210
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i thought Qin was able to make better copper weapons than steel at the time?
haha that;s what i meant, bronze not copper.
the historians were making reference to the assassination attempt, how Qin had the technology to make really long swords...
The Persians did not have a million man army in a single battle. I believe the largest they had was at the Battle of Issus, where they had about 300,000 (or a bit more) -- an army which Alexander defeated anyways with 10 times less troops.
If I were a betting man, I would place my money on Alexander and the Macedonians. The guy had the skill, intelligence, and strategic perception to defeat anyone. Plus his troops, especially his Companion Cavalry, were just awesome.
I'm not saying I'm 100% correct. I could totally be wrong, but if I were forced to choose, I would choose Alexader and the Macedonians.
If I were a betting man, I would place my money on Alexander and the Macedonians. The guy had the skill, intelligence, and strategic perception to defeat anyone. Plus his troops, especially his Companion Cavalry, were just awesome.
I'm not saying I'm 100% correct. I could totally be wrong, but if I were forced to choose, I would choose Alexader and the Macedonians.
I woudl assume that Logistics (hell, the Logistic train would go through some very nasty terrain) would assure a victory by the defender.
vesicles
Colonel
I don't think anyone doubts that Alexander was awesome. But the question is who was better, Qin or Alexander. Napoleon was also awesome until he met the russians.
Also, who says Qin's army didn't have any of the virtues you mentioned? You have to know that by the time Qin took the power, China had been in massive and non-stop civil war for almost 400 years. What make you think that that many years of fighting would not produce skilled and experienced commanders, soldiers and advanced tactics? For people who came up with "The arts of war" (actually the bood came out a couple hundred years before Qin united China), they got to know what they were doing. If anything, I would think Qin's army would be much more experienced, given collected wisdom and experience coming out of the entire Warring States period.
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nope, intelligence cant be your reference because he was fighting darius III,the dude would run away from battle. maybe if it was hannibal,alexander would have been annihilated. you have to balance your field a knowledge a lil bit, the Qin army, have fought and conquered seven different states, they have not just one talented military leader, by the end of it they had something like three or four...ppl like Li Xin, Wang Jian, and a little bit earlier Bai Qi who was known for battle of Changping. so talent isnt a sufficient reason here.
I don't know which Battle of Isus you're talking about, but the actual historical Battle of Isus had Alexander outnumbered 2.5:1, still an impressive victory, but nowhere near what you are claiming. The Persians with 100,000 including 11,000 cavalry faced Macedonia with 40,000 including 5,900 cavalry. Darius made a critical mistake, leaving himself open to an attempted decapitation strike against him made personally by Alexander and his cavalry. Darius fled. His troops saw that their leader was gone and totally lost morale. The rest is history.
The armies these Near Eastern nations could muster against each pale in comparison to what battle-hardened Qin and its warring neighbors were fielding against each other. We are talking about 500,000 to 600,000 troops at a time. By way of an example, one early Qin vs Chu battle involved over a million troops combined. Not only that, by the Warring States period, the various Chinese states were already using iron rather than bronze and mass-producing crossbows which could easily punch through metal armor that Persian bows could not. Sorry, but there is no way in hell Alexander could touch any of the Chinese states, to speak nothing of what would happen if all of them united against the Macedonians.
Raptoreyes
New Member
Not to get off topic but Napoleon was awesome until his army encountered the RUSSIAN WINTER and the combined opposing armies of Europe, be they British, German or Russian were outmatched until the Russian Winter killed off more troops in a few months then then Napoleon's army normally lost in years worth of hard fighting.
Then lest we think the Russian Winter was just a fluke Adolf Hitler pretty played Napoleon's part over again doing well until his army moved into conditions far colder then any German army had ever operated in.
Russia has 2 great generals in history, general January and general February. Conquering Russia means starting in the spring and ending before fall. The Russians themselves deserve some credit of course, but its probable they could not have withstood more elite forces without the intervention of some of the cruelest seasonal weather to be found anywhere on Earth.
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As for weather however I do wonder how bad the weather would be to Alexanders army in its most likely entry point into Chinese territory (The extreme southwest) I am not familiar with the lay of the land in that area but I suppose it could be miles and miles of barren grassland requiring long long supply lines, until the Alexandrian army could begin foraging Chinese farmland.
Anybody have any idea what the environmental conditions would have been like along Alexanders most likely (theoretical) paths of invasion of the Qin?
Raptoreyes
New Member
Could you direct us to sites that would give reliable well sourced background on Li Xin, Wang Jian, and Bai Qi. I found a few things myself but the sources I found were not very even handed (discussing both stringent and weakness of their command styles) or well sourced.
Any through sources about the warring states period and the names mentioned (good translations to English only please) would be most welcome
