A Tentative Discussion of Legalist Military Thought During the Warring States Period

Abstract

War, this social phenomenon that comes into being as an accompaniment to the private ownership system and that served as the primary form of struggle during the transition from slavery to feudalism, existed over the entire course of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. And during the more than two hundred years of the Warring States period, the situation was even more striking, the struggles being especially sharp. New-style iron armaments and other such weapons were invented and employed in large numbers. The scale of war developed from engagements during the Spring and Autumn period where ten thousand troops might be used (such as the battle of P'u-ch'eng) to battles involving several hundreds of thousands of troops (such as the battle of Ch'ang-p'ing). It was precisely during this development of warfare that China's newly emerging landlord class united China in 221 B. G. and completed the transition from slavery to feudalism. During the long wars between the newly emerging landlord class and the decadent slave-owning class of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Legalist military thought took shape, and it was an important element in securing revolutionary victory for the newly emerging landlord class.