Talk:Battle of Mobei

caution

Our information about the Han-Xiongnu battles stems from Chinese sources. We should be careful in trusting one side over the other. --Ghirla^-трёп- 07:41, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

If you have so many questions, why don't you provide your source. Eiorgiomugini 07:43, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

What book do you quote from? If you cite it verbatim, then it may be classified as copyright violation. I don't see your point in reverting my good-natured attempts at rephrasing. The word "cattle" is never used in plural, by the way. --Ghirla^-трёп- 07:53, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

There are no Xiongnu sources They don't have a historical record. Simple as that. Everything we know about them comes from Chinese sources. -- 我♥中國 06:08, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

As it now stands, the background section of this article states: "Military tension had for a long time existed between ancient China and the northern "barbarians", mainly because the fertile lands of the prosperous agricultural civilization presented attractive targets for the militaristic nomadic tribes. Throughout ancient Chinese history, protecting the northern borders from nomadic raids had been a military priority. During the Zhou Dynasty, northern vassal states such as Yan, Zhao and Qin resorted to defensive strategies, constructing elongated fortresses that served as the precursors of the Great Wall of China. During the Qin Dynasty, the first emperor Qin Shi Huang conscripted thousands of civilian labourers to perfect the Great Wall in order to reinforce military campaigns along the northern border." The dichotomy suggested here between the peaceful, civilized Chinese and the militant "barbarians" is unwarranted (not to mention lacking specific citations and also clearly not presented from a neutral point of view). The purposes for building walls also appears to draw unwarranted conclusions. Furthermore, it is not true that there are no modern or non-Chinese sources regarding these matters. Thus, my decision to add the Cite and NPOV template tags to this otherwise generally interesting article. Dcattell (talk) 22:50, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

History is written by the victors. There are only Chinese sources available, so an article with a POV is inevitable. Kayau (talk · contribs) 15:43, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Troop strength

IIRC (unless I've been watching too much TV) the only combat force the Han army used was 100k cavalry, but they had 3 horses each (so total 300k) and 100k infantry to supply them. Might want to change the strength part in the infobox a bit. -- 我♥中國 06:08, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

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The Great Wall During Zhou Dynasty, the northern vassal states such as Yan, Zhao and Qin resorted to defensive strategies, As impressive as the walls became, they're way overblown in terms of actual defensive use (blame Mao Zedong stereotyping). To really combat incursion was through economics, culture, politics or to go on the offensive. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.126.154.193 (talk) 08:52, 18 February 2010 (UTC)