Chariot (China)

The ancient Chinese chariot (Chinese: t , s , p zhànchē, lit. "war vehicle") was used as an attack and pursuit vehicle on the open fields and plains of Ancient China from around 1200 BCE. Chariots also allowed military commanders a mobile platform from which to control troops while providing archers and soldiers armed with dagger-axes increased mobility. They reached a peak of importance during the Spring and Autumn period, but were largely superseded by cavalry in the Han Dynasty.

Traditional sources attribute the invention of the chariot to the Xia dynasty minister Xi Zhong, and say they were used at the Battle of Gan (甘之战) in the 21st century BCE. However archeological evidence shows that small scale use of the chariot began around 1200 BCE in the late Shang dynasty. This corroborates the material spread of the invention from the Eurasian Grass-Steppe to the West, by Proto-Indo-Europeans (likely the ) who similarly have borne horse, agricultural, and honey making technologies through the Tarim Basin into China. Contemporary oracle bone inscriptions of the character 車 depict a chariot-like two wheeled vehicle with a single pole for the attachment of horses.

Chariots reached their apogee and remained a powerful weapon until the end of the Warring States Period (471-221 BCE) when increasing use of the crossbow, massed infantry, the adoption of standard cavalry units and the adaptation of nomadic cavalry (mounted archery) took over. Chariots continued to serve as command posts for officers during the Qin and Han Dynasties while armored chariots were also used by the Han Dynasty against the Xiongnu Confederation in the Han–Xiongnu War, specifically at the Battle of Mobei in 119 CE. General Wei Qing's army, setting off from Dingxiang, encountered the Xiongnu Chanyu's army of 80,000 cavalry. Wei Qing ordered his troops to arrange heavy-armoured chariots in a ring formation, creating mobile fortresses.

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