The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History's 100 Worst Atrocities Read Free Page B

elephants. Finally, his exhausted soldiers realized he would not turn around until he reached the edge of the world. The army mutinied and forced him to return home.
    Alexander took his soldiers home the hard way, across the scorching desert on the coast of Iran. Some say it was a brilliant move to stay resupplied by the navy while taking the most direct route possible. Others say he was punishing his men for making him go home. In any case, two-thirds of his army died by the time they returned to civilization. 4

AGE OF WARRING STATES

     
Death toll: 1.5 million 1
Rank: 40
Type: failed state
Broad dividing line: Qin vs. Chu
Time frame: 475–221 BCE
Location: China
Who usually gets the most blame: a string of increasingly vicious kings, culminating with Zheng of Qin

     
    Prologue: Spring and Autumn Period (ca. 770–475 BCE)
     
    To understand where China went, you should appreciate where it began. During the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050 BCE–256 BCE) a nominal emperor ruled the whole of China, but he was more like a hereditary pope—a vestige of an ancient, almost forgotten era, a spiritual presence rather than a true monarch. Real power rested with feudatory states that incorporated pieces of the old empire. Below that level was the standard feudal arrangement of lesser lords and peasants.
    The Chinese during the Spring and Autumn Period were a very well-mannered people, but their solution to every moral dilemma seemed to be ritual suicide. Let’s role-play a couple of actual scenarios found in the history books: 2
    You are a noble of a minor rank who has been ordered by your lord, the prince of Jin, to assassinate his state minister for a serious transgression. When you discover that your target has been wrongly accused, you will
    A. Do your job and kill him anyway, as soldiers have been doing for centuries.
    B. Not kill him, and then hide because your lord will be quite angry.
    C. Not kill him, and then commit suicide for betraying your lord’s trust.
    You are a noble of the state of Chu, and you firmly believe that your prince is embarking on a dangerous policy that will turn out badly for him. You will
    A. Keep your mouth shut and not risk angering him.
    B. Convince him to change his mind, and then bask in his gratitude.
    C. Convince him to change his mind, and then cut off your own feet for having disagreed with him.
     
    If you answered (c) to these questions, you would have enjoyed the Spring and Autumn Period. Answer (c) was the chosen solution among the actual individuals in the history books.
    During the Spring and Autumn Period, states fought for prestige rather than conquest. Usually, a defeated Chinese king was allowed to keep his title and lands as long as he acknowledged the magnificence of the man who beat him.
    One episode probably says it all: After a decisive victory, a chariot of the Jin army was chasing a chariot of the defeated Chu army when the fugitive chariot got stuck in a ditch. The pursuing chariot pulled up alongside so the Jin charioteer could helpfully advise his enemy on how to free the chariot. When the chariot was up and running again, the chase resumed. The fleeing chariot easily reached the safety of the Chu army. 3
    The Age of Warring States (ca. 475–221 BCE)
     
    Chinese war-making turned cold-blooded after 473 BCE. For years, the two states of Wu and Yueh had been fighting each other whenever they had a spare moment. The king of Wu had won the previous round and followed the tradition of being a gracious winner, leaving the state of Yueh intact as long as its people acknowledged Wu’s magnificence. Then in 473 BCE, while Wu was off fighting elsewhere, the king of Yueh snuck in and took Wu’s capital. Fair enough—Yueh won that round. Wu admitted defeat and agreed that Yueh was now top dog; however, instead of leaving it at that, Yueh stripped his broken enemy of his lands and stashed him in a humiliating new kingdom consisting of a river island with three hundred inhabitants. The