Ancient States and Warfare Wiki



Ancient States and Warfare Wiki
A centralized information site about ancient states and warfare from the Bronze Age to Late Antiquity for the miniature war gaming hobbyist. It includes  specific articles to this wiki orginally created content by the author eg: state profiles  it also incudes sourced and used content information where relevant eg: wikipedia,free dictionaries.

Describe your topic
About

Minature wargaming is a recreational hobby where players simulate a battle, which is played out using small figurines to represent the land, sea and/or air units involved. Many miniatures games are played on a floor or tabletop, with terrain represented by miniature scenery (hills, forests, roads, fences, etc.). Movement of the miniatures is regulated using a measuring device such as a ruler, tape measure, cut sticks or other prepared standardized-length instruments. However, like boardgames, miniature games can also be played using gridded terrain (demarcated into square geometry squares) or hexagons or even game boards. This wiki  provides the gaming enthusiast with centralized information point about Ancient states and Warfare their governments and rulers, economies and military forces it will cover.

Four Periods

 * 1) Bronze Age states (3300 to 1200 BC)
 * 2) Iron Age states (1200 to 600 BC)
 * 3) Classical Age states (600 BC to 200 AD)
 * 4) Late Antiquity states (200 to 700 A

Seven Regions

 * 1) Ancient Africa
 * 2) Ancient America's
 * 3) Ancient East Asia
 * 4) Ancient Europe
 * 5) Ancient Eurasian Steppe
 * 6) Ancient South Asia
 * 7) Ancient West Asia

Ancient States
About

The development of states large-scale, populous, politically centralized, and socially stratified polities/societies governed by powerful rulers, marks one of the major milestones in the evolution of human societies. Archaeologists often distinguish between primary (or pristine) states and secondary states. Primary states evolved independently through largely internal developmental processes rather than through the influence of any other pre-existing state. The earliest known primary states appeared in Mesopotamia c. 3700 BC, in Ancient Egypt c. 3300 BC, in the Indus Valley civilization c. 2500 BC, Ancient India c. 1700 BC,and in Ancient China c. 1600 BC. As they interacted with their less developed neighbors through trade, warfare, migration, and generalized ideological influences, the primary states directly or indirectly fostered the emergence of secondary states in surrounding areas, for example, the Hittite Empire in Ancient Anatolia, the Minoan city state kingdoms and  Mycenaean Greek states of the Agean , or the Nubian kingdoms in the History of Ancient Africa. Professor Gil Stein(archaeologist) at the University of Chicago Oriental Institute  states "The excavations and archaeological surveys of the last few decades have vastly increased both the quantity and quality of what we know about ancient states and urbanism. Archaeologists have broadened the scope of their research beyond the traditional focus on rulers and urban elites. Current research now aims at understanding the role of urban commoners, craft specialists, and village-based farmers in the overall organization of ancient states and societies. Given the immense geographical scope encompassed by the term 'the Ancient World. This wiki list's the main types of ancient state that existed in Africa, Europe, Eurasian Steppe, East Asia, West Asia and South Asia from  the rise of Bronze Age states in 3000 BC on to the formation of early Iron Age states in 1200 BC through to the beginning of the development of Classical Age states in 600 BC and ending with Late Antiquity states in 700 AD a period of 3700 years.

Types of ancient state

 * Main article: Types of Ancient State

Types of power

 * Main article: Types of power (international relations)

Ancient Warfare

 * Main Article: Ancient Warfare

About

The difference between prehistoric and ancient warfare is less one of technology than of organization. The development of first city-states, and then empires, allowed warfare to change dramatically. Beginning in Mesopatamia, states produced sufficient agricultural surplus so that full-time ruling elites and military commanders could emerge. While the bulk of military forces were still farmers, the society could support having them campaigning rather than working the land for a portion of each year. Thus, organized armies developed for the first time. Ancient conflicts involving war as conducted from the beginnings of recorded history to the end of the ancient period. In Europe and the Near East the end of antiquity is often equated with the fall of Rome in 476, and the wars of the Eastern Roman Empire Byzantium on its Southwestern Asian and North African borders and the beginnings of the Muslim conquests in the 7th century. In China, it can also be seen as ending with the growing role of mounted warriors needed to counter the ever-growing threat from the north in the 5th century and the beginning of the Tang Empire in 618. In India, the ancient period ends with the decline of the Gupta Empire (6th century).

These new armies could help states grow in size and became increasingly centralized. Early ancient armies continued to primarily use bows and spears, the same weapons that had been developed in prehistoric times for hunting. Early armies in Egypt and China followed a similar pattern of using massed infantry armed with bows and spears. Infantry were at this time the dominant form of war, partially because the camel saddle and the stirrup were not yet invented. This infantry would be divided into ranged and shock, with shock infantry either charging to cause penetration of the enemy line or holding their own. These forces would ideally be combined, thus presenting your opponent with a dilemma: group your forces and leave them vulnerable to ranged, or spread them out and make them vulnerable to shock. This balance would eventually change as technology allowed for chariots, cavalry, and artillery to play an active role on the field. Cavalry would, however, not play any major role until the invention of the stirrup (for shock and heavy cavalry, such as knights) or thumb ring (for horse archers).

No clear line can be drawn between ancient and medieval warfare. The characteristic properties of medieval warfare, notably heavy cavalry and siege engines were first introduced in Late Antiquity. The main division within the ancient period is rather at the beginning Iron Age  with the introduction of cavalry (resulting in the decline of chariot warfare) of the earlier Bronze Age, or naval warfare of the  (Sea peoples), and of course the development of an industry  based on Metallurgy which allowed for the mass production of metal weapons and thus the equipment of large standing armies. The first military power to profit from these innovations was the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which achieved an unseen extent of centralized control, consdered an ancient "world power" to extend over the entire  area's  (Mesopatamia, the Levant and Egypt).