Han Dynasty And The Three Kingdoms Hanzhong;Military Geography

Hanzhong is situated in the upper reaches of the Hanjiang River and adjacent to the Qinling Mountain in the north and Bashan in the south.Since the ancient times it had always been a town of great military importance.From the historical military geography,this paper tries to reveal its military value and strategic position by analyzing the military activities and the rise and the fall of each regime.Chapter 1 mainly discusses the natural environment including topography,mountains and rivers and its administrative division in Hanzhong.The paths and military sites between Qinling and Bashan are also discussed in this chapter,which helps us to have a whole understanding of the military pattern and environment in Hanzhong.Chapter 2 focuses on Liu Bang’s occupation in Hanzhong and later his establishment of a government in Guanzhong.By analyzing the military activities played by various kinds of military blocs including Gongsun Shu,Huai Xiao,Liu Zhang,Zhang Lu,we can see the important strategic role Hangzhong played.Chapter 3 analyzes a series of military battles happened between Cao and Liu,highlighting the strategic meaning of struggle for Hanzhong.Chapter 4 further discusses the success and failure in the battles between Cao and Liu from different kinds of aspects,including two countries’leadership thoughts to use military forces,logistics supports,characteristics of corps,regional characteristics of military officers,etc.Chapter 5 focuses on the change of military deployment as well as strategic conceptions of military leadership after Zhuge Liang ’s death,which reflects not only the different understandings between different military leaderships,but also the different values in different times.