Siege Weapons of the Far East (1) AD 612 - 1300

This book is concerned with the machinery of medieval siegecraft as used by Chinese, Mongol, Japanese and Korean armies. Almost all the machinery was initially developed in China, but each country provides its own context into which the siege engines were fitted, and distinctive differences reveal both strengths and weaknesses in the machines themselves, and also raise questions about cultural attitudes to siegecraft and even to the practise of war itself. This, the first volume, deals with the machinery of siege warfare prior to the introduction of gunpowder (though some earlier incendiary weapons are considered).