The war in the world

The Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE) became unstable after the death of the first emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Within four years, the dynasty's authority had collapsed in the face of rebellion led by Liu Bang of the former Han state who assumed the title "emperor" (huangdi) and is known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu (r. 202–195 BCE). Chang'an was chosen as the new capital of the reunified empire under Han which lasted for four centuries.

Han faced first the opposition of former Chu state leaders, later he fought against the Xiongnu (Huns), nomadic tribes in the north and as a result of this fight, in an attempt to divide the Huns, Han brought the empire to Central Asia creating the Silk Road.

The Han Dynasty actually consists of two separate dynasties divided right by the middle. The original Han Dynasty was overthrown when wealthy families gained more power than the emperor and Wang Mang, eventually declared himself emperor of a new dynasty, the Xin (new) but was overthrown by a secret society of peasants known as the Red Eyebrows. Descendents of the Han eventually joined in the uprising, and it was the armies of these nobles, under the leadership of Liu Xiu, who restaured the Han dynasty.

Internal struggles for power taxed the peasants until in 184, when another peasant uprising occurred. This movement was initiated by the Yellow Turbans and served to unite the factions that had previously been fighting because they needed to unite to defeat the Yellow Turbans. Although Han finally submitted them, the country did not return to a unified state. Rather, three kingdoms emerged and the Han Dynasty came to an end.

Once the empire was consolidated by Han its main threat no longer arose from other states but from peasant uprisings. This is the new form of war for China until almost the XX century. When dynasties changed or foreign dynasties overtook power in China, it was facilitated by a previous internal weakness of the very powerful Chinese state. This uprising peasant phenomenon is seen, understood and recorded as early as by Han scholars in its economic terms and the creation of a bureaucrat system of control of the empire officially based in Confucianism was an attempt of the authorities to put this almost natural process under control.

Of the four Chinese Classics, the one dedicated to war, The Three Kingdoms solemnly starts: “The state is united, then it must disintegrate, the state is disintegrated, then it must reunite…”