Fighting Techniques of the Oriental World

by Michael E. Haskew, Christer Jörgensen, Chris McNab

Divided into five sections, the text examines the individual components of the oriental army, the footsoldier and the mounted soldier, the equipment they wore an used, and how they fought together as a unit. Fighting Techniques of the Oriental World describes why certain types of units--such as the cavalry horse archer, were more effective than others, and why the heavy cavalry of the type dominant in Western Europe never became a feature of Asian armies. The third section discusses how these units were used together on the battlefield, and the importance of a general correctly disposing his troops before the battle began. The fourth part of the book looks at the specialist techniques and equipment developed for seige warfare--a common event in this era of fortification. Finally, the last section covers naval warfare, from the ships in which the men fought to the weapons they carried and the naval battles of the period.

Using specially-commissioned color and black-and-white artworks to illustrate the battles, equipment and tactics of the era, Fighting Techniques of Oriental World shows in detail the methods by which armies gained and lost ascendancy on the battlefield.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 9, 2008

About the author

Michael E. Haskew is the editor of WWII History Magazine and the former editor of World War II Magazine . He is the author of a number of books, including The Sniper at War and Order of Battle. Haskew is also the editor of The World War II Desk Reference with the Eisenhower Center for American Studies. He lives in Hixson, Tennessee.

Reviews

[N.A.K. Baldron · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a subject I knew practically nothing about. However, now I'm more than confident I'll be able to write about oriental fighting techniques in my novels without sounding like a fool. Great read, and the images chosen to accent the book are excellent.

[Jesús Rodriguez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read but could be a bit technical. I would recommend to know a bit about military schemes, tactics, and strategy before reading this. Other than that good read.

[Lehiff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This provides a pretty good overview of Oriental/Asian historical wars. The structure is more akin to a collection of articles bunched together than a coherent narrative, which would have been helpful given the extremely wide time period and geographical area under examination here. Articles refer repeatedly to concepts and events that have already been introduced as if they are mentioned for the first time, which gives a somewhat clumsy impression. It is very well illustrated, although the battle maps are not very useful.

[Fahed Al Kerdi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do not let this turban on the cover fool you, it is all about eastern Asia with some shy mention of the western side, I mean the Islamic civilization.
The book is a piece of magnificence, all the figures used were fantastically portrayed.
A very useful book for the researchers who work on the Asian warfare during the medieval ages.
I only hoped to find a dedicated part for the Islamic Civilization's warfare, especially the Turkish and Persian ones.

[Hazel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Besides having a racist title, this book also offers little in the way of, Equipment, combat skills, and tactics, as the subtitle promises. The book mostly does a quick summary of the warfare and battles going on without really going into much depth about why decisions were made or what and how the equipment works. Each chapter focuses on a separate aspect of warfare, and mostly offer summaries of the same instances we saw in other chapters.

[Rudyard L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A surprisingly good book. Keen insights into Asian history, pretty pictures and lucidly written.

[RatMetalJesus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jumps around from topic to topic too.much without reason

[Skuzzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fighting Techniques of the Oriental World is an excellent overview of military tactics and equipment employed in the Orient. Covering Tribes of the Steppes, China, Japan, Korea, and a number of other military's, it certain provides a wide-scope of information that is well researched and well-explained.

Divided between Infantry, Mounted, Naval, and Siege and Command the book details the various ways the forces of the Orient waged war: what they did right, what they did wrong, and how they built their Empires (or how their Empires failed). Instead of focusing on a single cultures overall military it guides you through various periods and dynasties, and how each new Kingdom that rose in every region used it's military.

My only complaints with this book is the numerous spelling mistakes. While the text was undoubtedly dense, there was no excuse for the numerous typos. I was coming across obvious errors about about a ratio of 1 every 5 pages, and while punctuation errors can be easy to miss, some of the blatant misspellings make me wonder if the book was proof-read more than once.


The second complaint I have is the author(s) had a tendency to repeat things. Genghis Khans' origins were mentioned no more than three separate times in the book - in entirely different chapters. Each time this was brought up as though it had never yet been discussed, and this was frustrating since there were numerous other subjects that were rehashed repeatedly.


While these two things certainly detracted from the overall experience and content of the book, it still didn't hurt it enough to make it unpleasant. This is still an excellent resource for arm-chair Historians, writers, or Military-history fans who want to explore Eastern Warfare. The books text was surprisingly dense: not something I expected from a book that was only 250 pages long (not counting the bibliography).

[Brandon Chun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goes over the changes to Asian warfare, and the history surrounding it. Really good pictures