Warring States Period

Warring States Period

he  Start of the Warring States Period (476-361)

During the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476), the dozens of big and small states coalesced into the eight that remained by 476. The eight warring states were Qin, that had a stronghold in a valley in the west, Chu, Qi, Yan, Han, Wei, Yue and Zhao.

During the first half of this turbulent era, the boundaries between the states remained about the same. Chu was the biggest state. It controlled the southern third of the entire region of the Warring States. Qin also controlled about a third of the territory in the west. The rest of the states filled in the northeastern third of the region of the Warring States.

Qin was the farthest west of the states. Initially, the rulers of Qin tried to keep out of the warfare to the east of them. There were hostile tribes around their territory. They couldn't send out large armies to conquer the states to the east lest the tribal people attacked when the armies were gone.

They first had to subdue the tribes to make sure their territory was safe. This became one of the Qin clan's main objectives