Shang dynasty armies

Multiple Select

What weapons did the Shang army use? Choose two.

• Bows and arrows

• Wooden clubs and arrows
• Stone axes and slingshots
• Bronze spears and daggers

Battles decided which ruler took power. At the Battle of Mingtiao, the Shang dynasty took control under Cheng Tang, the first Shang king.

Shang soldiers often went to war with people nearby. They also fought animal herders from the Asian steppes – the grasslands.

What were battles like?

Multiple Choice

Who was the first Shang king?

• Wu
• Li
• Zhou
• Tang

Weapons included: máo (spears), yuè (pole-axes), gē (dagger-axes), bows and helmets.

The first chariots appear at the end of the Shang dynasty, around 1200 BC.

Weapons were made of stone and bronze.

What weapons did the Shang army use?

Match

Match the following

• máo

• yuè

• gē

spears

pole-axes

dagger-axes

• spears

• pole-axes

• dagger-axes

Who fought in battles?

• All sorts of people were in the Shang armies: Rich noble leaders, people from the towns, and workers from the country.

• The nobility and other state rulers had to equip their local army base with equipment, armour, and weapons.

• The Shang king had about a thousand soldiers and would personally lead them into battle.

• Armies ranged in size from 3,000 soldiers to 13,000.

Multiple Choice

Shang armies could have up to 20,000 soldiers.

• TRUE

• FALSE

Match

Name the Shang Warriors

• chariots

archers

archers

soldiers

• archers

• archers

• soldiers

Multiple Choice

What were Shang weapons made from?

• Wood

• Iron and steel

• Bronze and Stone

Multiple Choice

Who fought in the big battles?

• 
  The king, his nobles, and many ordinary people

• The king and his warriors

• The king and his nobles.

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What other armies in history does this remind you of? Do you know any army facts?

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