Interaction Between The Ming Dynasty, The Northwest War And Defense Layout

Historical Military Geography studies relationship between military and geography in historical period. It's a subdiscipline of Historical Geography, as well as part of Military Geography.As for the development of this academic subject, it's still not very fully-fledged. Neither are there many research findings. Since the 1980s, northwest defense headed by the four towns in northwest China has become a hot spot in the field. However, on the one hand, Historical Military Geography doesn't pay much attention to this, which results in less research findings. On the other hand, there is almost a blank on research of relationship between war and national defense layout. Therefore, this thesis addresses the topic of "Research on Interactions between Northwest War and National Defense Layout in the Mind Dynasty". Under guidance of basic theories and methods in Historical Geography, the thesis references relevant theories and methods in History, Military, Modern National Defense and National Defense Geography, greatly applies historical document & textual research, intensive regional comparison, statistical approach, chart comparison etc. to systematically discuss the relationship between northwest war and national defense layout.The thesis consists of 7 parts:Part 1: Introduction. This part briefly introduces the reason of choosing this topic, research significance, research content, research methods, etc. The author holds the opinion that there is great necessity to do the research and this research will supply a gap in the field.Part 2: This part discusses forming of northwest national defense region and construction of the national defense environment in the Ming Dynasty. By studying the battlefield geography condition and the nationalities distribution after the Ming army arrived Shaanxi Province, the thesis defines northwest national defense region in the Ming Dynasty, and discourses the strategies of the Ming Dynasty in constructing northwest national defense environment and preparing to fight against Bei Yuan - Mongolian Kingdom and "Xibo". Then the thesis concludes that thanks to the construction of the national defense environment at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the rule of the Ming Dynasty on northwest region is gradually steady and great effects have taken place.Part 3: By studying wars in northwest national defense region in the Ming Dynasty, the author discovers that from the aspect of time, most wars broke out after Tianshun Period, during which Tianhua Period is a turning point. While seen from the aspect of region, most were in Yansui Town and Gansu Town.. There are two reasons for this phenomenon. The first reason will be given in time order. When the Ming Dynasty was founded, all the soldiers are scrappy and confident in beating the surviving brethren of the Mongolian Kingdom. As a result, Ming Dynasty Tai Tsu Chu Yuan-chang made a strategic decision to head north. The continuous attach lead Bei Yuan - Mongolian Kingdom to be greatly weakened. They are unable to invade the Ming Dynasty in the south. Thus there were less wars in this region before Tianshun Period. However, from the middle of the Ming Dynasty, due to the weakened national power base, the rusty army and was totally in defense status. On the other hand, the Mongolian Kingdom fully restored during the development in nearly 100 years. They wanted to struggle more economical benefits and expand the marketing & trading range, etc. Chenghua Period as a result became the turning point of the war between the Ming Dynasty and Mongolian Kingdom. The second reason is as below: at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Dong Sheng Wei was founded in Hetao Area, which kept the area peaceful. But in Zhengtong Period, Dong Sheng Wei was canceled which made Hetao Area in danger. So Mongolians invaded and lived in Hetao Area from the end of Xuande Period to the beginning of Zhengtong Period. From then on, the northern national defense line contracted. National defense conditions changed in Yansui Town and series of wars broke out. In the Ming Dynasty, Gansu Town has a long national defense line, a vast territory, which is head of the four towns. What's more, so many different nationalities distributed in Gansu Town and its surrounding area, which also caused many wars. Also, invasion of generals like Kuoguo Tiemuer, Li Siqi, Zhang Liangbi, Kong Xing, etc. who lead several hundred thousand powerful military posed a significant threat to Gansu Town, even to the whole northwest national defense. In the third year of Yongle Period (1405), Tiemuer died and his threat relieved. However, many Mongolian countries were built along Hosi Corridor and political center of Mongolian Kingdom transferred to the west which made the strategic importance of Gansu Town be strengthened. This is the most important reason for the large number of wars in Gansu Town in the Ming Dynasty.Part 4: This part lays emphasis on affects of northwest war to existing national defense layout in the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. Firstly, the thesis classifies national defense policy and layout of northwest towns, concludes its temporal and spatial distribution characteristics.Part 5: This part detailedly discusses how the measures that the Ming Dynasty took in northwest defense layout and the adjusted national defense layout affect the temporal and spatial distribution of the wars. The author discovers that the countermeasures taken in middle and late period of the Ming Dynasty had no apparent effect. Invasion of he Mongolian army is still frequent, up to 212 times in Chenghua Period, 111 times in Hongzhi Period, 131 times in Jiajing Period and 126 times in Wanli Period. The reason lies in that the adjustment only aimed to prevent the invaders from setting foot on the territory of the Ming Dynasty, which only made the border guarding easier through putting obstacles ect by men. This cannot completely destroy effective forces of Mogolian Kingdom. Thus it cannot stop them from invading areas south to the Great Wall. The measures taken by the Ming Dynasty didn't solve the root causes at all.Part 6:By researching, the author concludes the planning & strategy of national defense in the Ming Dynasty and the regional relationship between the national defense layout and wars. The planning & strategy embodied in military town and organic structure. Military town was horizontal planning which emphasizes active defense and keeping the invaders out. And conduction & deployment were given macroscopically which strengthened the comprehensive defense capability. Organic structure was vertical planning, in which the northwest national defense layout was narrowed, the responsibly was clearly defined, defense capability of each defense unit was enhanced. Regional Relationship between national defense layout and wars proves that northwest national defense layout of the Ming Dynasty lacked in effects and cannot keep the invaders out of the national defense region.Part 7: Conclusion. This part sums up the research content in previous parts.