Chariots were commonly used in war for a long time
However, by the late Spring and Autumn period
and the early Warring States period
chariots came to a dead end
Most military historians will tell you
a battle in 541 BC marks this decline
In this battle
in order to fight against the enemy
in the Taihang Mountains
which is now in Shanxi
the Jin commander ordered his troops
to forsake their chariots
He said, "Get off the chariots!"
and "Destroy them!"
"Forsake the chariots and become infantry"
So, everyone had to fight on foot
What's the commander's purpose?
He wanted to go into the mountains to pursue the enemy
Chariots are completely useless in the mountains
The chariots that we've just introduced
were used on flat plains
rather than complex terrains
Of course, I don't believe that
a single event is so decisive
in the evolution of history
Chariots were used in war before 541 BC
but were no longer in use after 541 BC
It's not like that
It's wrong
We can just say that
the event in 541 BC is representational
It shows the arrival of a new war's type
What leads to the change?
It's mainly because the purpose of war had changed
Why did the purpose of war change?
It's because of changes in the overall environment
China at first was sparsely populated
but later its population began to increase
Why did the population increase?
Because agriculture was more and more improved
It could feed increasing number of people
People had better nutrition
so they could live longer
Therefore, the population began to increase
After the population increased
people opened up more and more land
This reduced the distance between states
In ancient times, due to the sparse population
there're lots of terra nullius
No one cultivated there
They just left the land as it was
But, as the population in each state began to increase
the states began to open up new lands
The states got closer to each other
and had more conflicts
The war's type began to change
When the population was sparse
wars were for besieging cities and forcing peace agreements
We've mentioned before
during the Western Zhou period
population was sparse
the center of a state was often a city
The distance between states was large
If they had conflicts
they had to fight on arranged dates
What does it mean?
If a state's ready to start a war
it'll send a messenger to tell its rival
it wishes to settle their conflicts through war
So the battle's arranged
with a specific day, time, and place
Everything's determined beforehand
Why are wars fought like that?
Because of sparce population
and large distance among states
it's hard to fight without arrangement:
riding chariots to look for enemies
but failing to find any of them
It wastes a lot of energy
and no wars really takes place
Meeting each other is not easy
because of the large distance
and desolate terrain
They have to arrange a war
by sending a messenger
When arranging a battle
they have to choose a place for chariots to fight
Chariots can't be used on complex terrain
so it's necessary to choose
where's easier for chariots to fight
After the arrangement's done
everyone drives his chariot
to the arranged place
charges the enemy lines
and fights the battle
After the fight
the losing side will escape
Escape to where?
Escape back to their own state
Escape back to their own city
and hide there
The winning side will chase them
back to the city but fail to enter
Chariots can't break through the city walls
so there's no way to drive chariots into the city
So what could they do?
They surround the city
and ask the hidden to come out
while the hidden neglect their demand
So it ends up as a stalemate
The losing side hides inside the city
while the winning side lays siege outside
What's their aim?
To wait for the yield
Yield to what?
"Sign a treaty under coercion"
Everyone knows this Chinese proverb
The losers hide inside
laid siege by the victors
and left with nothing to eat
eventually they yield
It's to "besiege a city and force a peace agreement"
It's the old type of war
Chariots were used in this context
As the states became closer to each other
the war's purpose was not to subdue the enemy
but to conquer new territories
As the population of the states increased
they needed more land to feed the whole population
so they tried to occupy the territories
It's not just for conquering you
but taking everything from you
When wars are for conquering new territories
you need to fight in the enemy's territory
and deal with complex terrain
It's not like the past
You could fight in an arranged place
Without this, it's hardly to fight
But it's not the case now
What could they do?
They could no longer drive chariots
Chariots are hard to drive in different types of terrain
What could they do?
They got off their chariots
and walked by themselves
This allowed them to fight on any terrain
Because war's type changed
infantry became increasingly important
and chariots were superseded
Thus, they "gave up the chariots and became infantry"
Apart from the change in war purposes
the overall environment wasn't friendly for chariots either
Why?
I've just mentioned
the population was increased
land was developed quickly
agricultural technology was improved
the traditional collective system of shifting cultivation
was slowly abandoned
The main feature of shifting cultivation
was that it involved collective production
Even if the land was cultivated
its terrain was identical
When you are producing crops
the direction of the cultivated ridges must be the same
either east-west or north-south
They can't be both
for it will be very inconvenient
And the identical terrain is ideal for chariots
Chariots can drive along the fields' ridges
It's recorded in the history of
the Spring and Autumn Period:
Two states fought against each other
and the losing side forced to sign a treaty under coercion
A rule was written in the treaty
What's the rule?
The rule was that
the loser state had to unite
the direction of cultivation ridges
according to the winner state's will
For example
State A and State B are neighbors
State B is defeated by state A
State A sets a rule that
State B can't cultivate in this direction
in case to make sure
it's easy to drive chariots at war
However, the way of cultivation had been abandoned
since private ownership of land emerged
agricultural technology developed
metal farming tools emerged
When a family could cultivate land
by themselves
private ownership of land emerged
It's the start
of a new system
In my private land
I can cultivate
in any direction
according to my will
right?
I can have some plants here
and some mulberry trees here
according to my will
No one will stop me
since it's my private land
right?
So, the landform became very complex
When collective farming was dominant
chariots could easily follow the ridges of the fields
Now they couldn't get through
They drive their chriots
but can't get through
The landform became increasingly complex
for chariots to drive
in the end chariots had to be abandoned
Third, when there're more and more conflicts among states
the war's scope was also expanded
States started to mobilize more people to fight
They started to mobilize
those who originally don't have military obligations
i.e. the common people
The common people're mobilized
without military training in the past
Of course, they knew nothing about chariots
I've mentioned before
one has to be trained for a long time
to be familiar with chariot fighting
The common people're mobilized without training
so they could just be infantrymen
If a state has lots of infantrymen
who's unable to fight with chariots
It seems useless
So, at that time
a new weapon was developed
enabling infantrymen to combat chariots
It's crossbow:
a type of bow and arrow that enable mechanical firing
It's more powerful than bows
because of its hardness
It can penetrate the amors
from far away
With crossbows
infantrymen could shoot and kill
chariot drivers and horses from far away
We all know that
chariots are threatening
for their speed
because horses run much faster than people
It's why chariots could quickly get close to infantrymen
with treatening speed
It's just like walking on a road
with a car moving quickly towards you
for fear that it might run you over
Of course, the infantrymen will be panic
and disperse for the chariot's speed
After acquiring crossbows
the infantrymen could shoot from far away
They could shoot down the chariots
from far away
So, they were able to take down the chariots
With crossbows
they were able to restrain chariots
they became a new dominate force on the battlefield
So in the Warring States period
chariots were less and less important
Although they did not disappear
they played a minor role in war