The Qin Dynasty
Qin Dynasty quick facts:
- The shortest dynasty in Chinese history.
- Standardised the Chinese language, currency, measurements, and roads.
- Qin Shi Huang was given the title of 'The First Emperor of China' after unifying a fragmented China.
- Is often credited with building the Great Wall of China.
- Built the Terracotta Army as part of the burial site of its first emperor: Qin Shi Huangdi
Rise of Qin
The Qin Dynasty was China's first Imperial dynasty, named after its capital city the Qin Dynasty began after its first emperor unified the seven warring states in a series of swift conquests. Led by their King, Zhao Zheng, the Qin Dynasty experienced success in battle due to:
-When the state of Qin invaded Chu it faced massive losses, losing nearly 200,000 soldiers in an initial assault. Instead of continuing the attack the Qin armies set up camp within sight of the Chu encampment and created the illusion that they were resting, but instead continued to train and acclimatise to the area. After several weeks had passed the Chu army decided that the Qin were no longer a threat, and began returning home, however, the fully trained and combat ready Qin army chased them down.
- The relative weakness of their opponents: The state of Qin was one of the best protected states in China, located in the Westernmost part, bordering the four states of Zhao, Wei, Han, and Chu to the East to almost impassible terrain. This location helped to protect the state of Qin from the turmoil and chaos that wore down their opponents in the 250 year long Warring States Period.
- The military strategy of the Qin army: Often the Qin empire faced drawn out sieges and campaigns when attacking the capital cities and strongholds of other states, as such the state of Qin had to develop innovative tactics that would bring these sieges to a close, two examples of this were:
-When the state of Qin invaded Chu it faced massive losses, losing nearly 200,000 soldiers in an initial assault. Instead of continuing the attack the Qin armies set up camp within sight of the Chu encampment and created the illusion that they were resting, but instead continued to train and acclimatise to the area. After several weeks had passed the Chu army decided that the Qin were no longer a threat, and began returning home, however, the fully trained and combat ready Qin army chased them down.
- The brutality of the Qin army: It was customary in Ancient China for the victors to treat any captured enemies who had surrendered with respect, as they were prisoners of war. This custom was a massive drain to the economy of any successful army, as they no longer needed to support just their forces, but also an entire non-fighting force as well. The state of Qin however broke from this custom, and executed the hundreds of thousand's of prisoners that it took, eliminating the need to support them further, and striking both fear and respect into its own army.
- The size of the Qin army: Because the Qin army had not been heavily involved in the fighting of the Warring States Period, and because of its access to crossbows and armour, the Qin army was particularly large and well equipped when it entered the fray.
The rule of the Qin Dynasty
After unifying China Zhao Zheng renamed himself Qin Shi Huangdi to reflect his new divine status, naming himself the first emperor of China. While during his very short reign (15 years) Qin Shi Huangdi oversaw many important reforms to trade and comminication, the law, and social systems, his dynasty was also marred by violence, paranoia, and narcissistic undertakings.
Before Qin Shi Huangdi unified China it was divided not only geographically, but also by each states inability to trade and communicate easily with other states. This division was caused by each state having its own rules governing currency, weights, measurements, and roads, as well as every state having its own variation on the Chinese dialect. In order to bring these states together, and prevent further division Qin Shi Huangdi standardised several elements of trade and communication, including:
In addition to uniting China through standardisation, Qin Shi Huangdi also linked major settlements with additional roads, and helped agriculture through the construction of a great canal, and irrigation systems. One of the legacies of the Warring States Period that Qin Shi Huangdi carried over into his dynasty was the removal of feudalism, and installation of a bureaucratic system of government, which led to a more centralised form of government and minimised the risk of further rebellion and bloodshed.
While his unification reforms were undoubtedly of massive benefit to China's development, Qin Shi Huangdi is also recorded as being a tyrannical leader who's strict laws and harsh punishments under legalism philosophy saw the deaths of millions of Chinese citizens. Qin SHi Huangdi's strict laws often extended beyond logic in his attempts to control the population, including the destruction of all historical texts which recorded the history of previous Chinese dynasties, or spoke about philosophies that were not in line with his own. As an extension of this Qin Shi Huangdi also buried a number of the scholars involved in writing these texts alive, ensuring that they could not be re-created. This is a decision for which Qin Shi Huangdi has been widely criticised for, and one of the main reasons why such little history still exists prior to the Qin Dynasty.
Qin Shi Huangdi was also extremely vain, and undertook great personal projects to feed his own narcissism at a massive cost to China. These projects included:
Before Qin Shi Huangdi unified China it was divided not only geographically, but also by each states inability to trade and communicate easily with other states. This division was caused by each state having its own rules governing currency, weights, measurements, and roads, as well as every state having its own variation on the Chinese dialect. In order to bring these states together, and prevent further division Qin Shi Huangdi standardised several elements of trade and communication, including:
- Axle width
- Road width
- Measurements
- Weights
- Currency
- Written language
In addition to uniting China through standardisation, Qin Shi Huangdi also linked major settlements with additional roads, and helped agriculture through the construction of a great canal, and irrigation systems. One of the legacies of the Warring States Period that Qin Shi Huangdi carried over into his dynasty was the removal of feudalism, and installation of a bureaucratic system of government, which led to a more centralised form of government and minimised the risk of further rebellion and bloodshed.
While his unification reforms were undoubtedly of massive benefit to China's development, Qin Shi Huangdi is also recorded as being a tyrannical leader who's strict laws and harsh punishments under legalism philosophy saw the deaths of millions of Chinese citizens. Qin SHi Huangdi's strict laws often extended beyond logic in his attempts to control the population, including the destruction of all historical texts which recorded the history of previous Chinese dynasties, or spoke about philosophies that were not in line with his own. As an extension of this Qin Shi Huangdi also buried a number of the scholars involved in writing these texts alive, ensuring that they could not be re-created. This is a decision for which Qin Shi Huangdi has been widely criticised for, and one of the main reasons why such little history still exists prior to the Qin Dynasty.
Qin Shi Huangdi was also extremely vain, and undertook great personal projects to feed his own narcissism at a massive cost to China. These projects included:
- The construction of his tomb, including the Terracotta army, which took decades of man power and resources away from other, more valuable projects, such as agriculture
- The construction of the Great Wall of China, while arguably beneficial to China, saw thousands of Chinese citizens, including scholars and farmers who were not equipped for harsh manual labour, sent to construct the wall. Again, taking valuable human resources away from other parts of China, and slowing down China's ability to develop
- The search for immortality saw a massive amount of resources diverted from more beneficial projects. The 'medicine' Qin Shi Huangdi was taking also saw an indirect impact on China, as hallucinations brought on by his mercury tablets fueled his paranoia, leading him to make increasingly worse and worse decisions for China.
Fall of the Qin Dynasty
Throughout Qin Shi Huangdi's reign, several assassination attempts were made on his life, this led him to become more withdrawn from the public theatre, and to protect himself in more obscure ways, including his obsession with immortality. As Qin Shi Huangdi's physical and mental health began to fail, his authority over China began to wane, so much so, that by the time Qin Shi Huangdi died in 210 BCE, and his son was placed on the throne, it took less than 4 years for the people of China to overthrow the Qin Dynasty.
When Qin Shi Huangdi died, two of his key advisers conspired against Qin Shi Huangdi's stronger willed elder son to put Qin Shi Huangdi's younger son on the throne instead, thinking that he would be easier to manipulate. Unfortunately the new Qin emperor retained his father's ruthlessness and strict legalism structure, but, combined with the already declining authority of the Qin imperial family, lacked the power of his father. The new Qin emperor was incompetent, having been raised as a prince, he had not been exposed to the outside world and the skills necessary to rule, as such, in 209 BCE when the peasant rebellion began, the empire was ill-equipped to fight back. |