Conclusion: The Educating of Armies

Abstract

In 221 BC the newly unified Chinese Empire could field an army of 300 000 men under General Meng Tian to move against the Huns. Such a force raises endless questions regarding control and communications, levels of efficiency and uniformity, and how strategy and tactics were arrived at, and, above all, achieved. An army of such size would have been based on a peasant levy built around a small professional core of soldiers. How were the peasant recruits educated for the part-time role of warrior? Even 2000 years ago physical fitness was not enough on its own to make an efficient soldier.