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Post by Dawn on Jul 10, 2006 4:38:31 GMT -5
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Post by Dusk on Aug 17, 2006 21:53:44 GMT -5
muhahahaha very instring
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Post by Dusk on Aug 28, 2006 2:29:52 GMT -5
i think the effort everyone is putting in it will insure that this site rocks!
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Post by Dawn on Jan 31, 2007 0:04:02 GMT -5
China has a long history of armour and weapons development. China has many variety of armour, but the most were of the lamellar and scaled varieties.
Ancient armour
Most of the armours of ancient China were made of leather and animal hide, but later bronze and iron were used. (One of the earliest armour, was from Shang: early Shang nobles wore breastplates made of leather or bronze.) The bulk of the army carried shields, made of leather with a bamboo frame. Bronze helmets were used and were highly decorated.
After the defeat of the Shang, the Zhou used many weapons and types of equipment that originally came from the Shang. However, the Zhou incorporated some of their own different or unique styles of armour. One type was the ge jia, a sleeveless coat of animal hide formed on a wooden dummy. The hide used was of buffalo and rhinoceros. Buffalo was more often used later on, because of the disappearance of rhinoceros in the region. Another armour used by the Zhou was the wei jia, a boiled leather on a fabric backing. The Zhou helmet -- like the Shang - was made of bronze, but less decorated.
Chariots were used extensively during the Spring and Autumn Period. The chariots were mainly used as a shock weapon and a platform for archer; but chariots were restricted to flat terrain and when used against well organized infantry, it was often defeated. Shang chariot was often drawn by two horses, but four are occasionally found in burials. The crew of the chariot consisted of an archer, a driver, and sometimes a third armed with a spear or a dagger-axe.
Chariot use declined during the Warring States Period, probably because of the introduction of the crossbow and cavalry. Zhou chariots were protected by leather, and sometimes came with a canopy to protect the crew, but this was probably removed before going into battle. Chariot horses were protected by animal skins -- most popular was tiger skin.
The production of weapons was, in most states, controled by central government. The most popular weapon of the time was the sword. For this reason, most armours were made to protect against slashing attack. Spears, dagger-axes and many other weapons were used, but were consider inferior to the sword in close combat. Another weapon that was used was the crossbow, which had a range of 600 paces. To counteract this, shields were used to counter the threat of the crossbow. The shields were mostly made of leather and wood, and varied in sizes. The metal that was used most for military purpose was bronze. During the Warring States Era, most armour was made of leather or bronze, or combination of both. Wrought iron begun to appear in the 5th century BC, but didn’t begin to replace bronze until the 2nd century BC. Qin have a reputation for having superior weapons and armours, when compared to the other states. It is believed that Qin was the first state to mass-produce iron weapons and armours, which contributed to their victory against their rival states.
Most of the Warring States maintained large armies, numbering anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000. With such a large number of men, it became prohibitive to give all of them armor. Armour was most common for elite soldiers. The armour usually wore by these soldiers consisted of a lamellar cuirass and helmet. The lamellar cuirass wore by these men was made of hundreds of small overlapped metal or leather plates laced together to make a flexible and light protection.
Some terracotta warriors wore no armour; it is suggested that these were skirmishers or support troops for the chariots. Of the terracotta warriors thus uncovered, Pit 1 shows approximately 61 percent of the soldiers wearing armour, Pit 2 over 90 percent, and pit 3, being in a command compound, 100 percent. Unarmored warriors tend to be placed at the front of these terracotta formations. Traces of paint that were found on Qin terracotta warriors suggesting that the Qin colored their armour black. The terracotta warriors also showed a wide variety of armour used by the Qin, which included leather and bronze. Examples of armour from the ancient China are rare. Qin Shi Huang ordered weapons, and probably armour too, to be burnt. That might be the reason for so few extant examples of ancient armour.
Medieval Armour
Chinese armour developments in medieval times began with the fall of the Qin dynasty in 207 BC and the rise of the Han Dynasty in 202 BC. The early Han army numbered possibly in the hundreds of thousands, so armours were standardized to meet the need. One of the armours used by the Han was the liang-tang, or "double-faced" armor, a lamellar cuirass usually made of leather, but which could also be made from metal. It was worn over the shoulder with a strap. This armour was used by both the infantry and the cavalry. A much heavier and expensive version, consisted of iron plates laced together, was worn by officers. The infantry were armed with a great variety of weapons, which included sword, spear, halberd, and crossbow. The cavalry were similarly armed, but used smaller crossbows compared to the infantry, which could be used mounted. Shields continued to be used, mostly made of wood or metal. Some sources suggest that the Han placed infantrymen with large heavy shields in front, while crossbowmen and archers were deployed behind them. As they marched, the front ranks repelled attacks, as the rear constantly showered the enemy, but this formation must have been rare.
Armour for horses began to appear around the end of the Han dynasty, but the earliest armour found dates back to 302 AD. Full armour for cavalry appeared during the 4th century AD. During the Three Kingdoms Period, fully armoured cavalry were extensively used for shock. Early horse armour came in one piece, but later armour came in multiple pieces: chanfron (head protector), neck, chest, and shoulder guards, flank pieces and crupper. Most cavalry served as mounted archers, and sometimes remove their arm protection to used their bows or crossbows. By the time of the Han, the primary metal used was iron. But bronze weapons and armour continued to be used for some time.
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Post by Dawn on Jan 31, 2007 0:40:11 GMT -5
Materials:
-Leather
-Animal Hide
-Bronze
-Iron
-Buffalo Hide
-Rhinoceros Hide (Rarer, tougher, more expensive)
-Tiger Hide (Chariot Horses, ..?)
Armors:
-Leather Breastplate
-Bronze Breastplate
-Ge Jia, a sleeveless coat of animal hide formed on a wooden dummy
-Wei Jia, a boiled leather on a fabric backing.
-Most armors made to prevent slashing of swords
Shields:
-Leather shield with bamboo frame.
Helmets:
-Bronze Helmet (highly decorated)
-Bronze Helmet (less decorated)
Weapons:
-Chariots (2 horses, shock weapon, driver, archer, sometimes third spearmen/man with dagger-axe, defeatable by well-organized infantry, flat-lands only, chariots protected by leather, chariot horses protected by animal skins [tiger skins popular])
-Crossbow
-Calvary
-Sword
-Spear
-Dagger-Axe
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