Professor Andrew Meyer

The Battle of Chongping, I call the chapter in which I discuss it the duel because by the time it occurs, the only one of the seven kingdoms that can really mount any kind of real challenge to Qin is Qin's neighboring state of Zhao.

Zhao had become very, very powerful because

They had, in effect, allied themselves with the people of the inter-Asian steppe.

They had found ways of incorporating very, very powerful cavalry units made up of or trained by the people of the inter-Asian steppe into their military.

They become a really dynamic force.

So Qin and Zhao, they sort of square off.

The Qin commanders are very clever.

They're able to maneuver the armies of Zhao into a situation in which their cavalry are effectively rendered powerless.

It's called the Battle of Changping, but it's really a war.

It's a war that goes on over months.

these trench lines that extend over dozens of kilometers where you have hundreds of thousands of soldiers facing off.

It looks something like World War I, but it ends catastrophically for Zhao.

It ends with the destruction of most of Zhao's army.

And from that point forward, that's 260 BC.

It's clear Qin is going to be the supreme power.

And it still takes until 221, and it has to do with questions of social organization and internal problems within the kingdom of Qin itself and sort of residual powerful forces within the eastern states.

In 221, what's remarkable is that Qin is able to accomplish something that I think most political observers living throughout the former Zhou realm would not have believed could happen.

which is that most people, even when they acknowledge that Chin is going to be the victor, they believe that Chin will be forced to tolerate the continued existence of the other states.

Qin will be declared the new son of heaven.

Some kind of institutions will be established to formally, materially institutionalize Qin's hegemony over all of the other states.