Hey all, I'd appreciate some recommended books on the pre-Qing great Chinese generals in English, if they exist. Even general military analyses of a specific period would be great. Qing and particularly 20th century China seem to be much better covered. Beyond Peter Lorge, Ralph Sawyer, David Curtis Wright, and David Graff, I don't really know where to look. Even their works are usually more general history than military analysis unfortunately. I know Chinese primary sources tend to be very laconic, but I get the impression reading footnotes that there are really detailed and good analyses written in Chinese. Do these not exist in English, or am I just looking in the wrong places?
Good Military Analyses on the great Chinese Generals and Campaigns?
- Thread starter Yuyue
- Start date
- May 2009
- 1,345
Not a book, but theres an excellent blog devoted to the Ming military. Well known to many here.
Great Ming Military
Great Ming Military
- Jan 2016
- 611
- United States, MO
The above authors are all great, and certain books do pay attention to military tactics and campaigns such as. David Graff's The Eurasian Way of War or Peter Lorge's Peace Through War: The Reunification of China. but you are correct that something like a biographical exploration of Chinese generals is relatively untouched. You are also right that sources do exist in Chinese. Every official history has a section with dozens of short biographies. Some generals certainly have their own section. So trying to find partial translations of official histories would be the place to start. I think only the Liao History and Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian have been translated into English.