Siege Weapons of the Far East (1)

A study of the machinery of mediaeval siegecraft as used by Chinese, Mongol, Japanese and Korean armies prior to the introduction of gunpowder. It demonstrates that each country provided a different context into which the siege engines fitted, and this revealed much about machines themselves.

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This volume is concerned with the machinery of mediaeval siegecraft as used by Chinese, Mongol, Japanese and Korean armies. Almost all the machinery was initially developed in China, but each country provided a different context into which the siege engines fitted, and distinctive differences reveal both strengths and weaknesses in the machines themselves, as well as raising questions about cultural attitudes to siegecraft and even to the practice of war itself. This is the first volume in the "New Vanguard" series which explores siege weapons of the Far East, and it deals with the machinery of siege warfare prior to the introduction of gunpowder.