Han Army and Rome
Roman and Han were the two most powerful countries in the world in the last few centuries BC. From the three aspects of the combat effectiveness elements of traditional war, namely, combat power, protection and machine power, we make a comparison between the Han army and the Roman army from a tactical perspective and analyze the possible situation of field confrontation. The upper limit of the era is the military reform of Marillo, and the lower limit is the end of the Han Dynasty, about 100 BC to 200 AD.
Comparison of combat effectiveness
Strike
The dagger and heavy javelin are the standard equipment of the Roman legion. The dagger is about 60 centimeters long, 5 centimeters wide and made of iron. It is mainly used for assassination and can also be chopped. The main weapon of the Han army is the spear integrated, the prickable halberd. The spear is also an important equipment, and its status is on the rise. In the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, the ring knife began to replace the sword as the main short weapon. Iron weapons have also gradually completely eliminated copper weapons, and the performance of weapons has been greatly improved.
The hook and pecking of the Han army halberd does little damage to the enemy with excellent armor, and the assassination is not as powerful as the spear. The lethality is insufficient, and the use is not as flexible as the sword. In the white-edged battle, the spear and halberd of the Han army were not as good as the sword and shield of Rome, and the sword and shield should be able to compete with the sword and shield of Rome. It is not enough to analyze the combat effectiveness elements of the cold weapon era. The role of soldiers is equally important, which depends on organization, discipline, morale and personal skills and experience. The armies of the two countries are similar in terms of organization and discipline, but the personal qualities of Roman soldiers are better than those of the Han army. The Western Han Dynasty mainly adopted the conscription system. Men of school age served in military service for two years, during which they received military training. Every autumn, they were held for assessment and inspection. In addition, brave men were also recruited to form elite troops. Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty dismissed the county soldiers and implemented a recruitment system, but the recruitment of soldiers was often not strict and undertrained, which led to a decline in the quality of soldiers. After Mario's reform, the Roman recruitment system replaced the civil military system, and the soldiers gradually became professional soldiers. The legion soldiers served for 16 years and then extended them to 20 years. They have carried out comprehensive and strict military training for a long time, including swordsmanship, shields, throwing, queues, marching and physical fitness, etc., and have rich practical experience. Considering the combination of weapons and personnel, the attack power of the Roman infantry in close combat exceeded that of the Han army.
The Han army attached great importance to the ability of long-range combat and equipped a large number of crossbows. The importance of bows and crossbows in daily training exceeds that of knives and spears, and the assessment of sergeants is also dominated by arrows. Juyan Hanjian recorded that each person shot twelve arrows in the autumn trial, and six targets were qualified, and those who passed were rewarded. Cavalry also attaches great importance to riding and shooting training. Juyan Han's crossbow range of three to six stones is 120 to 200 steps (1 step in 1.39 meters). The crossbow above five stones cannot be opened by arm strength alone. It needs to be stretched or waisted, and it is also equipped with a strong crossbow of more than ten stones. Copper Guo and Wangshan with scale were invented, which further improved the penetration and accuracy of the crossbow. The heavy javelin used by the Roman legion weighs about 45 kilograms and is about 2 meters long. After hitting the target, it will bend or break to prevent the enemy from throwing back. There are also light infantry such as archers, javelin throwers and other light infantry in the auxiliary forces. Pirum is powerful, but the pitching distance is only 120 meters, and the number of individual soldiers is only two or three, which can only play a role at a close distance. All kinds of light infantry are the main long-range strike force, but the quality and quantity are not as good as the crossbowmen of the Han army, and the "firepower" of the Han army will be stronger.
The Roman cavalry used weapons such as spears, guns and swords. Each legion has 120 cavalry, which can only be used for communication and reconnaissance. There are not many cavalry in the auxiliary forces, and they cannot become a powerful assault force without strict assault training. Han cavalry is divided into light cavalry and heavy cavalry. Light cavalry do not wear armor, but mainly use bows or crossbows. Heavy cavalry riders wear armor and use halberd or spears. The ring head knife suitable for cutting immediately also gradually became popular, and the Gaoqiao saddle was invented in the late Western Han Dynasty. The Han army cavalry is a regular cavalry with a strict battle formation. It is well-trained, highly organized and disciplined. It ranks and forms an overall combat effectiveness and greatly improves the combat effectiveness. This is an important reason why the Han army can defeat the Xiongnu irregular cavalry with superior horse quality and personal skills. The combination of the fierce impact of heavy cavalry and high mobility has also greatly enhanced the assault power of the army.
In terms of striking power, the Roman army has stronger fighting ability, and the Han army has stronger impact and "firepower".
Protective
The Han army armor is mainly made of armor, which is made of iron armor, and its protective performance is better than that of the previous generation. There are also better scales, but the number of equipment is very limited. Infantry armor is mainly composed of armor and shawl, and most of the cavalry armor is not shawl for ease of movement. Shields are also heavily used armor, but metal helmets are still high-end equipment.
The Roman heavy infantry is equipped with a full set of protective equipment such as helmets, chest armor and large shields. During the Republican period, lock armor was mainly used, and copper and iron helmets existed at the same time. In the era of the Empire, iron helmets have been completely adopted, and the legion has been equipped with a new type of armor, which is made of several horizontal metal strips, which is not only better protected, but also easy to move. Auxiliary troops still use lock armor, while some light infantry use less armor in order to maintain mobility, and their armor is mainly shields.
The West has a tradition of attaching importance to protection. The armor protection of Roman heavy infantry is much more perfect than that of Han infantry, and the popularity of armor is also higher. The extensive use of this weapon proves that the protection of the Han army is not perfect. The protection of the Roman army is better than that of the Han army.
Power
After Marco's reform, the basic tactical unit of the Roman legion was the brigade, which could fight independently, and one legion was composed of 10 brigades. During the battle, the brigades will be routed into several lines, which can be supported and replaced. Compared with the traditional dense phalanx, the Roman legion is highly mobile, flexible, and able to fight in various terrains; it can flexibly use troops, can concentrate its forces or select elites to form an attack focus, enhance the assault force, and invest new troops at a decisive time. In addition to the basic formation phalanx, different formations can also be used according to specific needs, such as wedge formation suitable for breakthrough, shear formation suitable for surrounding, round array, oblique array, etc. The mobility of the Roman legion has always been praised.
The Han army's phalanx also has small basic tactical units, with deep echelons and reserves, which can flexibly use troops. Sun Bin's Art of War said, "It is appropriate to use eight arrays of fighters according to the benefit of the land. With three points, there is a front in the array, and there is a back in the front, and they are all waiting to be ordered to move. Fight one, guard two. Invading the enemy with one and receiving with two. The enemy is strong to govern, and the enemy is the first to tempt him. The enemy is weak and chaotic, and the first choice of the pawn is multiplied by it. It can be formed into a variety of formations, such as the basic formation square array, the round array for defense, the conical array of "strong and destroying" and the goose-shaped array of "touching the side" and "shooting". In addition, there are sparse arrays, several arrays, hook arrays, Xuanxiang arrays, etc. The Han army's are also flexible. Considering that the professional soldiers are well trained, the Roman legion may also perform better in actual combat.
The Roman heavy infantry was heavily burdened and moved slowly. Rome's cavalry is in a subordinate position, and the proportion is relatively small. The tactical use is mainly to assist infantry operations, serve as cover, harassment and pursuit tasks, and cannot carry out decisive assault operations and carry out combat tasks independently. Generally speaking, the Roman army lacked a strong mobile arms. Sometimes it is also mixed with riding. A Brief Description of the Art of War (translated from Roman Military System) said, "If the number of cavalry is not as good as that of the other party, according to the practice of the ancients, use specially trained fast infantry with light shields to strengthen the cavalry" "that is, train a group of young people who are good at fast running to carry out this kind of battle, in every two The cavalry are equipped with such an infantry, holding a light shield, sword and javelin, which further restricts the mobility of the army.
The Han army has developed rapidly since the era of Emperor Wu, and has formed a large cavalry group with tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of riders, with a high degree of fast mobility. The combination of the mobility of cavalry with impact or "firepower" produces great power. The Han army can carry out a wide range of mobile warfare and annihilation war, and can unexpectedly attack and annihilate the enemy with large depth, long-range attack and other tactics; it can ride together, take cavalry as a decisive tasks such as encirclement and breakthrough, and other decisive tasks. When chasing, it is extremely fast and violent, do not give the enemy a chance to escape, and serve as a guard when retreating, and cover the big Safe transfer of troops; surprise attacks, ambush, deduction, etc. are also frequently used tactics, flexible, rapid and sudden. The high speed mobility of the Han army was not available to the Roman army.
The Roman army is based on the heavy infantry corps and has auxiliary troops as auxiliary and support forces; the Han army is composed of infantry with strong long-range combat ability and fast-moving cavalry. Both tactical systems are designed for the needs of their respective wars, so they have different focuses. The Roman army has stronger protection, the Han army has stronger engine power, each has its own strength, the Roman army has a stronger white-edged fighting ability, and the Han army has a stronger impact and "firepower". Personally, I think that the tactical system of the Roman army is not as effective as the Han army system. Later Eastern Rome and the Byzantine army also attach great importance to bows and arrows and cavalry.
Qualitative analysis of the battle
The combat effectiveness of the army depends on combat effectiveness, protection and memodynamics, and the elements depend not only on the quality of weapons and personnel, but also on the tactical system. From the tactical level, the outcome of the battle between the two armies largely depends on the terrain conditions of the battlefield. If you fight in the woodland, the Roman army is obviously strong, and the Han army is not the opponent; if you fight in the grassland area, the Han army has a clear advantage. Mountain warfare is more complicated. What is now analyzed is that the most common situation is to fight in a relatively flat terrain. Commanders who are confident in their own army usually choose this way of fighting. Frontinus said in Strategy, "Alexander, the king of Macedonia, has a strong army, and he always likes to fight in a formation. Gaius Caesar controlled an army of experienced veterans during the civil war. He knew that the enemy were untrained recruits, so he always tried to fight. Quantitative analysis is difficult to carry out, and now only qualitative analysis is done. In terms of military strength, the cost of Roman infantry is much higher than that of Han infantry, but the proportion of Han cavalry is high, and this part of the expenditure is large. Considering the same military expenditure, the number of the two sides may not be very different.
In the battle in the era of cold weapons, first of all, the two sides attack each other with projection weapons at a long distance, and then the main corps meet with short soldiers of the two wings to decide the victory or defeat. One key step is to "fall into the chaotic array" and break the enemy's combat formation, and then "kill the generals" to defeat or annihilate the enemy. The "firepower" of the Han army is stronger than that of the Roman army, and it will have an advantage in long-range battles. But in any case, the lethality of the crossbow should not be overestimated. The stronger the firepower, the more sparse the strength is, and the Han army uses a phalanx-type battle formation with dense personnel and weapons; the war is mainly based on close combat and has not entered the era of fire fighting. The Han crossbow absolutely does not have the power to shoot down the infantry phalanx. Shooting in the era of cold weapons only plays the role of fire preparation, and the victory or defeat must be determined by hand-to-hand combat.
Roman heavy infantry has strong protection and white-edged fighting ability, and will have an advantage when short soldiers are connected. The strong combat effectiveness of the Roman legion and tactics such as throwing javelin will also cause psychological deterrence to the Han army, further expanding this advantage. The Roman infantry must be able to defeat the Han infantry. The most critical factor is time. If they can win before the successful Assault of the Han cavalry, they will win the whole battle.