Non-Western Military History

[sergeantbrother]

Does anybody know good online sources for the military history of non-European nations? I've been trying to get specific information about tactics, weapons, armor, etc. of various nations through out history but it seems like details of non-Western is a little slim. Its easy to find out about Macedonian pikemen or Welsh longbowmen, but its a lot

Comments

[sergeantbrother]

Yeah, I prefer to study European history as well, though lately I've wanted to brush up on non-European history to help give my knowledge of Europe some context.

[sergeantbrother]

Interesting, I would have though that at least the Chinese would have kept some detailed records. When looking into ancient China I read a lot about weird and wacky study like rocket powers arrows, multi-shot crossbows, and the like. But I know that the standard Chinese army was much more mundane - lots of guys with spears and shields. But I can't find information on how they fought - where as for the Roman Empire there is massive amounts of information about every little detail of what they did. I was wondering if all of the places I was looking were just Eurocentric or if there was just that much less information.

I have run across a lot of anti-European stuff, about how much more primitive we were back in olden times, but usually its short of details about non-Europeans unless there was a direct conflict between the West and the non-Europeans in question.

[sun_stealer]

I don't know any online sources, but I do know two books: The Tao of Deception and Mao's book on guerilla warfare

[sun_stealer]

There is also Sun Tzu's Art of War, but that is all I know.