Archeological Exploration of SE Asia: Warfare

Archeological Exploration of SE Asia: Warfare

There’s no way of deciding where Southeast Asia (Seasia)begins or ends. Knowledge of the region’s cultural history increases, becoming more evident that Seasians descent means more than not being associated as Chinese or Indians. Seasia consists of eleven countries; Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Timor Leste, and the Philippines. Warfare involves the action of fighting a war with reference to the method the fighting is done and the variety of weapons used. Warfare in premodern Seasia was fought up till the end of the 19^th century, which was molded by the environment over the region

Warfare evolution in South East Asia

The maritime trading connections brought the introduction and circulation of external models of warfare, which helped how warfare was depicted in some literature. Weapons, especially firearms, played a crucial role in determining the development of warfare in Seasia throughout the early modern period. Better guns led to the decline of the relevance of elephants on the battlefield and were replaced by the ever-increasing cavalry. During the 18^th century, some of the best-organized armies originated from Seasia, and in the 19^th century, there was the temporal revival of naval strength, especially in Vietnam.

However, the introduction of better European military technology and steamship in the 1820s ensured the decline of the remaining Seasia armies. By the end of the 19^th century, save for Thailand, most of the Southeast Asia indigenous states had fallen under European control. Our understanding of warfare increasingly distorts the lines between the colonial and pre-colonial periods and between the modern and the premodern periods of Southeast Asia’s history on the one hand and the formerly neat line drawn between the mainland and maritime areas of the region, on the other.

Animals and warfare

There is an appreciation of the role of animals in warfare. The use of Elephants would come into play and the battlefield, which was a little more enabling for their wins. This is because elephants were much bigger than ponies, and they would provide higher elevation, which was essential for monitoring enemy battle formations. The elephants were also raised platforms upon which castles of ammunition would be mounted. This technique, however, was not as efficient. Militaries with horses were faster and lethal to the elephant troops. An account of the Mongolian army beating the Burmese’s elephants by use of horse archers is given (Genghis Khan: A Biography. 2017). The elephants ended up turning against their army as they tried to free themselves to run for safety. However, the use of elephants in warfare remained to be a high component of the South Asian militaries.

Weapons and emergence of gun powder

The weapons used by the Seasian soldiers represented the diversity of cultures in the region. Some of the recorded weapons used included a sword or dagger, lances, spears, blow darts, bows, and arrows. The extent to which scholars have studied the use of arms in South East Asia for early warfare is quite scanty. For example, in Vietnam, the use of firearms has been unpacked more than in Thailand and Burma. Despite the gaps, strides continue to be made in the field of archeology in the space of warfare. It is not until the 17^th century that firearm production began. Ever since then, warfare has never been the same again, in South East Asia.

The relationship between statecraft and indigenous warfare in Seasia leads to the question of the impact of firearms and suggestions of gunpowder. Gunpowder had played a major role in warfare, but its decisiveness was hindered by the ease with which it became available very quickly. The introduction of firearms has significantly shaped warfare into the war scene.

Fighting at Sea

In the 17^th century, maritime trade opened up the South Eastern region of Asia to the acquisition of firearms. Melaka city was laden with these guns. Despite its abundance, the Portuguese managed to conquer it. land-based kingdoms found that they did better when they drew on domestic overland trade for revenues than when they tried to compete for control of shrinking maritime resources. Beginning in the 17th century, Burma relied more heavily on the growing overland commerce. Whereas Vietnam and Siam turned to the lands along the Mekong and, in the early decades of the 19thcentury, found themselves competing for control of what remained of the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Mainland regions saw a significant rise in the naval build-up in the late 18^th century and early 19^th century to strengthen their external security along their coasts. Southeast Asian states were falling behind Europe in the development of military technology, feeling the growing gap first in the area of naval warfare. Other parts of the region, forms of Southeast Asian warfare, particularly those related to the sea, would prove much more reluctant to give way to European (and American) colonial efforts to control the waters. Even as naval warfare declined in parts of the mainland, in other parts of the region, coastal warfare, mainly in the form of piracy and raiding, continued into the 20^th century.

Conclusion

The extent to which scholars have studied the use of arms in South East Asia for early warfare is quite scanty. For example, in Vietnam, the use of firearms has been unpacked more than in Thailand and Burma. Future directions for Southeast Asia’s archaeologists involve every period under study and every ecological zone in the region. Southeast Asia contains karst limestone caves with Pleistocene deposits and speleothems that warrant attention before they are destroyed for construction materials. Southeast Asia’s shell middens and mid-Holocene sites must be studied before rising sea levels eradicate them. Work is needed on settlement organization and habitation patterns to complement the rich and informative mortuary database available on the Neolithic, Bronze, and Iron Ages. Researchers could maximize the information potential of existing museum collections

References

Miksic, J. N., & Yian, G. G. (2016). Ancient Southeast Asia. Taylor & Francis.

Andaya, B. W., & Andaya, L. Y. (2015). A history of early modern Southeast Asia, 1400-1830. Cambridge University Press