Red Box 117 1/72 16th-17th c. Chinese Light Cavalry ent

Compared to the neighbouring Mongols, cavalry had never been a strong point of Chinese armies, and was part of the reason the Mongols were able to conquer China and establish the Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan in the 13th century. The succeeding dynasty, the Ming, saw the Yongle Emperor (ruled 1402-1424) create a strong cavalry force that could face and even beat the Mongols, who were still very much of a threat at this time. He built the force around Mongol prisoners, and essentially copied the Mongol horsemen, with successful results. However after his death the cavalry, and indeed the whole army, went into a slow decline. By the 16th century a theoretically vast army was actually far smaller and in poor condition, as most of the garrison men were expected to support themselves, which became increasingly difficult and lead to real hunger, as well as making them more farmers than soldiers when not absent entirely. Threats from the Mongols, pirates, Japan and internal revolts were handled with difficulty, and an increasingly defensive attitude by the Chinese further discouraged the effective use of cavalry. In the end the Manchus swept away the Ming dynasty, which by this time (1644) could call on almost no effective cavalry at all.

Specifications

• Contents: 12 figures, 12 horses
• Poses: 6 poses, 6 horse poses
• Material: Plastic (Medium Consistency)