Last night I finished reading, Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 AD by David A. Graff. I had originally found it at half price books, and while I'm not normally that excited by military history it was so rare to find a book that covered the Tang in a used book store I had to get it.
The book was the first English language book to look at the history of Chinese warfare during this time period. It seemed to have two intended audiences, those who were interested in military history and knew little about Chinese history and those who were interested in Chinese history but had not looked at the military history in depth. The first intended audience made it in many ways a good introductory book for Chinese history. Graff also drew on enough primary sources and secoundary Chinese and Japanese scholarship to have interest to those who already had an understanding of the time period but wanted to learn more about the specific role of the military during this time.
Graff spent a great deal of time looking at the contribution of the northern "barbarian" tribes on military practices, as ruling houses and part of the history of China. A lot of what he covered was familiar to me from the course I took last September, many of the points he raised were discussed by Pat Ebrey in her lectures and I wouldn't be surprised if she had drawn a lot of her material from this book. (Not that she needs any help understanding the history of China mind you).
I did find that some of the descriptions of the battles a bit tedious. I think perhaps I should have waited till after finishing reading The Three Kingdoms before reading this as it was a bit too much. But when he wasn't discussing specific events but instead looking at how the military was selected over time, how these practices changed and the social impact of these practices I did find it really interesting. His analysis of warfare during the Tang was particularly interesting. He looked at how the role of a professional army had encouraged warlords and rebellion from within, and how later practices were able to combat this. The impact of the An Lushan rebellion was very interesting, not just on the later Tang which he looked at in great detail, but also on the later dynasties. The only thing I felt was missing from the Tang discussion was the role of the military on the coups that happened within the royal household itself, thinking of Princess Taiping and Empress Wu. Alas it seems no one ever writes enough about Empress Wu at least for my tastes.
It was an interesting book though I think of it more as a good reference source than a page turner. I suppose I am just much more interested in the religious and social side of history. However I think it's important to understand the importance of military history and the impact it has. So I am glad to have read this book as it seems to be the best, well only, book available on the subject.
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