It may seem to some that the acquaintance of VO visitors with the armor and weapons of riders of different nations is somewhat fragmentary. In fact, we have already examined the "era of chain mail", the early armor of the samurai, got acquainted with the armor of the same Romans, and then among the Japanese in the Middle Ages. And now it is even possible to draw conclusions, and the most important conclusion will be this: both the armor and the tactics of the mounted warriors were directly related to their landing on horseback! That is, many peoples had riders in strong armor in the ancient world, but knights appeared only when a rigid saddle and stirrups were invented! But where exactly were these truly revolutionary inventions made? It turns out that everything is in the same place, in China, the country that gave mankind gunpowder and a compass, acupuncture and paper, porcelain and silk. And now there is also a high saddle, and paired stirrups. Indeed, we are all deeply indebted to the Chinese. Well, perhaps the most famous specialist who studied military affairs in China is the British historian Christopher Pearce. On the basis of his work, we will get acquainted with this topic today.
To begin with, there are already burial figurines of Haniwa from Japan of the 4th-5th centuries. they often show us horses under saddles with high, upright bows, and on either side they have stirrups. And this means that such equipment already existed at that time, and not only in island Japan, but also on the continent! Well, the stirrups were used by heavily armed horsemen, who appeared in China at the beginning of the 4th century. AD Interestingly, Pierce believes that at first the rider had only one stirrup, and it was a stand on which the rider put his foot when he sat down in the saddle. Two stirrups, which turned into a support for both legs, when he was already in the saddle, appeared somewhat later.
One can try to imagine how unusual such saddles must have seemed to those who are used to riding the old, soft ones, and besides, even without stirrups. After all, the new saddle, one might say, pinched the rider between his bows, but the fit immediately became very stable. Well, and then high bows in themselves also gave the rider protection, why it was such rigid saddles that became such an important part of knightly equipment.
It should be noted here that not only enlightened China, but also the nomads around it, possessed a heavily armed cavalry. Moreover, the tactics of the nomads was to first shoot at the enemy with bows, after which the riders in armor inflicted a decisive blow on him with the help of spears. But the bow and arrows in the nomadic cavalry, again, were in every warrior, no matter whether he possessed heavy or light defensive weapons, which allowed all soldiers to act with them in case of need.
Well, how effective such shooting was, is evidenced by the data of modern research. For example, another English researcher Richard Wrigley traveled to Hungary for this, where he met Lajos Kassai, the leader of the group of historical reconstructions, and he showed him in practice how to shoot a bow from a horse. At the same time, he kept on horseback without using the stirrups, controlling him only with his legs. Shooting at a target, he fired eight arrows at it: three when approaching the target, two - being in line with it, and the last three when he was moving away from it and at the same time shot at her over his shoulder. He considered the seven arrows fired to be his creative failure, although all of his arrows hit the target! In his opinion, the Huns, shooting from a bow at a gallop like this, could kill the enemy, whether it was a horse or a man, at a distance of 300 m, and it is unlikely that horse archers of other nations differed so significantly.
K. Pierce emphasizes that the nomads invaded not only Europe. China was closer and richer. So it comes as no surprise that he was their number one target! Therefore, it is not surprising that the traditions of martial art originated there a long time ago. Already during the Shang-Yin dynasty (about 1520 - 1030 BC), the Chinese had not only excellent examples of bronze weapons, but also a well-thought-out military organization. The ma warriors fought in chariots. "She" - archers at that time were the most numerous part of the army, and "shu" warriors participated in close combat. In addition, there was a guard that guarded the person of the emperor, that is, the Chinese army was no different from the armies of Ancient Egypt, the Hittites, and the Greeks that fought under the walls of Troy.
True, the Chinese chariots were higher than those of other peoples and had 2 and 4 high spiked wheels, and harnessed from 2 to 4 horses to them. That is why they towered over the crowd of fighting, and its crew, consisting of a driver, an archer and a warrior armed with a spear-halberd, could successfully fight the infantry, and even that the permeability of such a chariot was very high. How is all this known? And here's where it comes from: the fact is that they were such a significant symbol of prestige that they were often buried together with their owners, adding charioteers and horses for completeness of happiness!
The Shang Ying warriors were armed with bronze knives with curved blades, had powerful tight bows and various kinds of long-tree weapons such as halberds. Armor was something like caftans made of fabric or leather, on which plates of bone or metal were sewn or riveted. Shields were made of wood, or they were woven from twigs and covered with patent leather. The helmets are cast bronze, with a wall thickness of about 3 mm, and they often wore masks that covered the warrior's face.
During the Zhou dynasty, long bronze daggers and hybrids of spears and daggers, spears and axes, and even spears and maces, began to be used. That is, the first halberd appeared in China, and a warrior with a halberd fought on a chariot, and standing on it fought off the enemy infantry.
The Chinese received horses from the northern steppes. They were large-headed, undersized animals, similar to Przewalski's horse. In ancient China, women participated in battles on an equal basis with men, which seems to be a rarity for sedentary cultures. In China, they even commanded troops, which later, in the Middle Ages, already happened in Western Europe.
In the "Age of Fighting Kingdoms" (c. 475-221 BC), horsemen appear, and not only archers, but also crossbowmen. Yes, the crossbow appeared in China around 450 BC. - i.e. much earlier than in other parts of Eurasia! That is, the crossbow was the first to be invented by the same Chinese!
True, these crossbows had one serious drawback: the bowstring was pulled by hands, so their range and destructive power were small. But they were arranged simply, and it was not difficult to learn to own them. The Chinese also have multiple-shot crossbows. So that now any attack their crossbowmen met with a hail of arrows, and if the archers had to be trained and trained for a long time, then any weak peasant could cope with it after several lessons.
K. Pearce notes that the Chinese drew attention to the capabilities of this new weapon very quickly. For example, already in the III century. AD in China, from crossbowmen began to recruit whole units that fired arrows so that they "fell … like rain", and "no one could resist them." In the X century. Crossbows began to be produced at state arms workshops, and it was emphasized that the crossbow is the weapon of which "the four types of barbarians are most afraid."Simultaneously with the appearance of the crossbow in China, they stopped using chariots, since it was inconvenient for the warriors on them, and besides, towering over the fighting, they, as it turned out, were themselves a good target for the enemy.
It was then in China that they began to make the first armor from rectangular iron plates, sewn on or riveted onto a leather base. This armor is simple, but functional in a modern way. Thousands of such life-size figures have been found in the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (c. 259-210 BC), which is the best proof of their use in China during this period. True, it is known that Qin Shi Huang's warriors sometimes dropped their armor in order to more easily control their long-handled axes and halberds, since these weapons required a free swing.
As already noted, the Chinese cavalry sat on stunted horses obtained from the Mongol steppes and only in 102 BC, after the general Ban Chao defeated the Kushans in Central Asia, the Chinese emperor Wu-di ("Sovereign Warrior") received tall horses from Fergana, which he needed for the war with the Huns. More than 60,000 Chinese then entered its territory, and only having obtained several thousand horses (in China they were called "heavenly horses"), they returned.
K. Pierce refers to a number of Chinese written sources that say that the first horse armor in China began to be used in the era of the Han dynasty, around 188 AD. But judging by a horse figurine from a burial in Hunan province dating back to 302 AD, horse armor at that time looked like a short quilted breastplate that protected only the horse's chest. But on the other hand, the Chinese already then (i.e., about 300 AD) used a high saddle. A single stirrup-stand was not used during the ride itself. Well, the fact that such stirrups-footboards were, is evidenced by archaeological finds. But then someone thought to hang stirrups on the horse from both sides at the same time, and while sitting in the saddle, he thought of putting his feet into them …
Historians in the case of stirrups also know more accurate dates. So, in the biography of the Chinese commander Liu Song, it is said that in 477 a stirrup was sent to him as a signal. But we do not know what kind of stirrup it was, single or double. Although, there is no doubt that stirrups were already used then.
