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49-641: The Allied Expeditionary Air Force ( AEAF ), also known as the Allied Armies’ Expeditionary Air Force ( AAEAF ), was the expeditionary warfare component of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) which controlled the tactical air power of the Allied forces during Operation Overlord during World War II in 1944. Its effectiveness was less than optimal on two counts. It did not function as

98-410: A cangued prisoner, who foretold that it would be Wei Qing's fate to achieve nobility and marquisate , a prediction Wei Qing simply dismissed as a joke, citing that not getting caned would be fortunate enough for someone living the life of a serf. After Princess Pingyang offered the singer Wei Zifu to Emperor Wu as a concubine c. 139 BC, Wei Qing followed as an accompanying gift and served as

147-554: A consort (夫人, a concubine position lower only to the Empress), and rewarded other members of her family. This marked the beginning of the rise of one of the most influential clans in the political history of Western Han – the Wei/Huo family. Great wealth would not be all Wei Qing would have. Emperor Wu saw qualities in him – brilliant horsemanship , archery , bravery, outstanding tactical intuition as well as excellent leadership skills. Over

196-444: A 40,000-strong cavalry from Yunzhong Commandery (雲中郡, modern-day Togtoh County , Inner Mongolia), then maneuver to Gaoque (高闕, modern-day Urad Rear Banner ) to Longxi region (modern-day Gansu ), and totally outflanking and surrounding the forces of Xiongnu's Princes of Loufan (樓煩王) and Baiyang (白羊王), killing 2,300 and capturing 3,017 Xiongnu soldiers as well as over a million cattle. According to record from Shiji and Hanshu ,

245-402: A chance to win a major battle and be re-promoted. However, sending Generals of Front (前將軍, namely Li Guang) and Right (右將軍, namely Zhao Yiji) on flanking maneuvers was one of Wei Qing's typical tactical arrangements. This was evidenced by his previous deployment of Zhao Xin and Su Jian, who were Generals of Front and Right respectively, during the less successful 123 BC campaign. After crossing

294-508: A crushing long-distance night assault from Gaoque with 30,000 cavalrymen, completely surprising and surrounding the Worthy Prince's main camp. Not only did the Han forces send the Worthy Prince running for his life from his drunken slumber (with only his own concubine following), they also took about 15,000 captives, among them a dozen Xiongnu nobles, and millions of cattle. For this victory, Wei Qing

343-471: A horseman at Jianzhang Camp (建章營, Emperor Wu's Royal Guards ). However, as his sister gained the Emperor's love and fell pregnant, near-disaster would befall Wei Qing. The powerful Grand Princess Guantao (館陶長公主) Liu Piao (劉嫖), the mother of Empress Chen Jiao , angry that Wei Zifu had siphoned off the imperial favor from her daughter, kidnapped Wei Qing and wanted to kill him privately as retaliation. However, Wei

392-473: A lowly female servant known as Wei Ao (衛媪, literally means "the Wei woman"), and their relationship produced a son named Zheng Qing . The child was initially sent to live in his father's household as his serf mother (who was already raising four other children) could not afford to raise him in poverty, but due to the illegitimacy of his birth, the young boy was detested and mistreated by his father and step-family, and

441-458: A relatively inconclusive battle. Although he was able to kill/capture more than 10,000 Xiongnu soldiers, part of his vanguard forces, a 3,000-strong regiment commanded by generals Su Jian and Zhao Xin (a surrendered Xiongnu prince), encountered a Xiongnu force led by Chanyu Yizhixie (伊稚斜單于), and was outnumbered and annihilated. Zhao Xin defected on the field with his 800 ethnic Xiongnu subordinates, while Su Jian escaped after losing all his men in

490-468: A total of about 19,000 enemy kills. Chanyu Yizhixie was forced to escape with very few men, lost communication with his tribe for days, and did not return until his clan presumed his death and installed a new Chanyu. This was a narrow but critically significant victory for the Han empire. Xiongnu was greatly weakened to the point that they would huddle up into the barren northern Gobi desert (leading to decline of their population), and unable to raid south for

539-696: The Roman conquest of Britain which was not only a limited expeditionary operation, but one conceived to include long-term occupation and Roman settlement of the territories. The Han dynasty of ancient China also famously used expeditionary warfare to deal with the nomadic Xiongnu people during the Han–Xiongnu War . Under the orders of Emperor Wu of Han , the Han launched numerous long-distance raids deep into Xiongnu territory. The exploits of famed Han generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were of particular note, with both recording multiple successful expeditions between

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588-559: The Sea Peoples , a term used for a confederation of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean , caused political unrest, and attempted to enter or control Egyptian territory during the late 19th dynasty , and especially during Year 8 of Ramesses III of the 20th dynasty . The raiding tactics were expanded into the more complex expeditionary warfare operations by Alexander

637-828: The infantry . One of the most extensive and complex of expeditionary operations that followed the war was the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War that saw forces deployed in the Baltic region , the Arctic region , along the Black Sea coast, and in the Russian Far East . Other expeditionary forces during WWI included: Wei Qing Wei Qing (died c. Jun 106 BC? ), courtesy name Zhongqing , born Zheng Qing in Linfen , Shanxi,

686-560: The 1920s saw expeditionary warfare established as a systematic and planned type of operations with larger scope than simple transportations of troops to the theatre, such as the British Expeditionary Force in 1914, Russian Expeditionary Force in 1916, and the American Expeditionary Forces in 1917, and the beginnings of development in true combined operations at strategic, operational and tactical levels with

735-1018: The European Middle Ages began with an expedition of imperial Byzantine general Belisarius against the Vandals . But as that empire dwindled, its warfare became more defensive. The most prominent development of expeditionary warfare during the Middle Ages came from the environmental pressures in the Scandinavian region during the Middle Ages, and the emergence of the Viking migrations that combined raiding, longer term inland operations, occupation and settlement. These operations were conducted as sea , coastal and riverine operations, and sometimes were strategic in nature, reaching as far as Constantinople . Expeditionary warfare in East Asia began very much in

784-685: The Great who used naval vessels for both troop transporting and logistics in his campaigns against the Persian Empire . The next exponents of expeditionary warfare in the ancient world of the Mediterranean Basin were the Carthaginians who introduced two entirely new dimensions to the use of naval forces by staging not only operations that combined naval and land troops, but also eventuated in combining strategic multi-national forces during

833-556: The Prince of Huainan Liu An , who had been conspiring a military coup for a long time, saw Wei Qing as his prime political obstacle that must be removed. Wei Qing died in 106 BC and was buried in a large tomb built to the model of Mount Lu (盧山, a mountain previously in Xiongnu -occupied territory). The tomb was connected to that of his nephew Huo Qubing , who had died in 117 BC, and the future tomb for Emperor Wu . Wei Qing would not live to see

882-528: The arrangements promised to Li Guang by Emperor Wu (where he would command the vanguard ), Emperor Wu secretly told Wei Qing not to assign Li Guang to crucial missions due to Li's infamous history of "bad lucks". Wei Qing, after the army had already departed, merged Li Guang's forces with Zhao Yiji's and ordered them to take an eastern flanking route through a barren region. According to the historian Sima Qian , Wei Qing had done this to give his old friend Gongsun Ao, who had recently been stripped of his title,

931-469: The battle was so swift and one-sided that the Han forces "returned with all warriors intact" (全甲兵而還), implying a near-zero casualty rate. This earned Wei Qing a further promotion to the Marquess of Changping (長平侯), with a march of 3,800 households. His subordinates Su Jian (蘇建, father of the great Han patriot Su Wu ) and Zhang Cigong (張次公) were also created marquesses. The Han recapture of this territory forced

980-486: The capital Chang'an to advise on military and sometimes political matters as the dual-role of Chief Defense Minister/Generalissimo (大司馬大將軍). He also assisted his nephew, Crown prince - regent Liu Ju , when Emperor Wu was away on official tours. Despite his great honor and power, Wei Qing remained humble in many ways. Because of the great favor Emperor Wu showed him, all of the other officials at court flattered him, except for Ji An (汲黯), who treated him as an equal. Wei

1029-505: The controlling headquarters for all Allied air forces, with the strategic forces of RAF Bomber Command and the US Eighth Air Force being retained by their national command authorities until pressure from U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower resulted in them being placed directly under SHAEF instead of AEAF. Its commander was also not universally liked. Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory was regarded by some as being too inept for his place in

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1078-461: The desert, Wei Qing's army unexpectedly encountered Chanyu Yizhixie's main forces, who was waiting in anticipation of ambushing the Han army. Despite being significantly outnumbered as well as fatigued after the long journey, Wei Qing was able to counter Xiongnu's cavalry charge with archery defense created by heavy-armored chariots arranged in ring formations, which was reinforced with cavalry counteroffensives. (This defense would be evaluated as one of

1127-405: The desperate fighting. Showing compassion on Su Jian, Wei Qing spared him even though some advocates advised him to execute Su on the spot after court martial to enforce his commanding authority. Due to the loss of Su's detachment, Wei Qing troops did not earn any promotion, even though they scored more gains than losses. At this campaign, his nephew Huo Qubing distinguished himself in battle and

1176-527: The four) and Gongsun Ao suffered major losses at the Xiongnus' hand, while Gongsun He failed to encounter and engage any enemy. Wei Qing, the least experienced out of the four, distinguished himself with a successful long-distance raid of the Xiongnu's holy site Longcheng (龍城), killing over 700 Xiongnu soldiers in the process. As a reward for the victory (the first proper victory against Xiongnu in Han history), Wei Qing

1225-759: The high command. It had two major components, the RAF Second Tactical Air Force and the USAAF Ninth Air Force . Each supported their own nation's Army Group. It also had operational control of the Air Defence of Great Britain , but with that organisation not being under the control of SHAEF. AEAF was dissolved after Leigh-Mallory was reassigned to command RAF forces in the Far East, later being killed in an air crash. Expeditionary warfare The earliest examples of expeditionary warfare come from

1274-674: The land phase of the operation when Hannibal in his most famous achievement at the outbreak of the Second Punic War marched an army, which included war elephants , from Iberia over the Pyrenees and the Alps into Northern Italy . Following on the example of Carthage, the Romans used expeditionary operations extensively to expand their Empire and influence in the Mediterranean and beyond, including

1323-548: The latter already returned from Zhao Xin Castle. Both men were later summoned for court martial to explain the failure to accomplish orders and thus jeopardize the whole campaign. Feeling humiliated over the charges against him and frustrated over missing his final chance at martial glory, Li Guang committed honor suicide rather than to face the court. Many people, including the historian Sima Qian , thus blamed Wei Qing for causing Li Guang's death. Li's youngest son Li Gan (李敢), who

1372-665: The military strategy was introduced, for example in the Sixth Crusade (AD 1228.) Although all expeditionary warfare until the invention of the combustion engine was largely dependent on sailing vessels , it was with the creation of sophisticated rigging systems of the European Renaissance that the Age of Sail allowed a significant expansion in expeditionary warfare, notably by the European colonial empires . Some have argued that this

1421-441: The most effective against cavalry by many later Chinese tacticians, including Yue Fei .) The Han forces successfully enforced a stalemate that lasted until dusk, when a sandstorm descended upon the battlefield. Seizing the moment of poor visibility provided by the dust, Wei Qing broke the stalemate and launched bilateral flanking attacks with his cavalries. Already exhausted after a day of unsuccessful attacks against Han positions,

1470-474: The next decade. The next major Xiongnu invasion did not occur until after the Han dynasty collapsed, some 400 years later during the Jin dynasty . While Wei Qing's main force was engaging Yizhixie Chanyu , the flanking division led by Li Guang and Zhao Yiji got lost in the desert and failed to reach the battlefield in time, despite meeting little Xiongnu resistance. They only rendezvous with Wei Qing's troops after

1519-635: The next several years, Wei Qing would be entrusted as Emperor Wu's most loyal consul, as his sister also monopolized the Emperor's love for the next decade. In 129 BC, Xiongnu attacked the Shanggu Commandery (上谷郡, roughly modern-day Zhangjiakou , Hebei). Emperor Wu promoted Wei Qing as the General of Chariots and Cavalry (車騎將軍) and dispatched him with Gongsun Ao , Gongsun He (公孫賀), and Li Guang in four separate columns against Xiongnu, each leading 10,000 cavalry. Li Guang (the most seasoned commander out of

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1568-639: The normal pattern of reaction against Xiongnu attacks by making a major excursion against Xiongnu's headquarters in the north of the Gobi Desert. This is known to history as the Mobei Campaign ("campaign of the desert's north"). Wei Qing and Huo Qubing were in command of the two main corps, each with 50,000 cavalrymen and 100,000 infantrymen/charioteers. Under Wei Qing's command were four other generals, namely Gongsun He, Zhao Yiji (趙食其), Cao Xiang (曹襄) and an elderly but very enthusiastic Li Guang . Contrary to

1617-569: The same way it had in the Mediterranean with short-term raids by Japanese pirates . Because the wokou were weakly resisted by the Ming dynasty , the raiding eventually developed into fully-fledged expeditionary warfare with the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598). The development in expeditionary operations reached a new level when during the Crusades the element of political alliance as an influence on

1666-477: The shape of the gunboat diplomacy approach. It was at this time that naval troops previously used almost exclusively for defence of vessels or minor beach operations were expanded to enable extended littoral operations. The colonial experience, though largely confined to the period before the First World War , persisted well into the 20th century . The period of the First World War and its aftermath in

1715-485: The sudden sight of incoming Han soldiers in the darkness further broke the Xiongnu's morale, routing them. This decisive pincer attack shattered the Chanyu 's line, nearly capturing him and completely overrunning his forces, killing over 10,000 Xiongnu soldiers in the process. The Han army pursued all the way to the modern Ulan Bator region, destroying the Xiongnu stronghold Zhao Xin Castle (趙信城) before returning in triumph with

1764-520: The two Xiongnu tribes to withdraw from the fertile Hetao region (the Ordos steppe ), and dealt devastating blow to their economy. The city of Shuofang (朔方城) was built, and later became a key stronghold for offensive and defensive campaigns against Xiongnu. In 124 BC, Wei Qing would be the vital part of the greatest Han victory over Xiongnu to date. When Xiongnu's Right Worthy Prince (右賢王) made harassing raids against outskirts of Shuofang, Wei Qing launched

1813-434: The unsuccessful amphibious landing at Gallipoli . Not only did this operation combine the elements of overall war planning context, multinational deployment of forces as part of the same operation, and use of troops prepared for the landings (as opposed to disembarkation ), as well as naval gunfire support that was limited during the era of sailing ships, but also included extensive use of combat engineering in support of

1862-485: The war against the Xiongnu . Wei Qing was born from humble means as a bastard child from a serf family. His father Zheng Ji (鄭季) was a low-level official for Pingyang County (平陽縣, in modern Linfen , Shanxi) and was commissioned to serve at the estate of Cao Shou (曹壽), the Marquess of Pingyang (平陽侯), and his wife Princess Pingyang (平陽公主, Emperor Wu's older sister). There, Zheng met and had an extramarital affair with

1911-627: The years 127 and 119 BC, eventually annexing the Hexi Corridor and expelling the Xiongnu from the Qilian Mountains . The expeditionary Han forces were primarily made up of cavalry and were typically arrayed in columns. They also frequently crossed vast distances–Huo Qubing is said to have travelled 2,000 li , roughly 620 miles, during one of his raids. Shortly after the collapse of the Roman empire in Italy,

1960-515: Was a Chinese military general and politician of the Western Han dynasty who was acclaimed for his campaigns against the Xiongnu , and his rags to riches life. He was a consort kin of Emperor Wu of Han as the younger half-brother of Emperor Wu's wife Empress Wei Zifu , and later the third husband of Emperor Wu's older sister Eldest Princess Yangxin . He was also the maternal uncle of Huo Qubing , another decorated Han general who participated in

2009-418: Was a subordinate of Huo Qubing at the time, later went to Wei Qing's home and assaulted him. Although Wei Qing decided to cool the heat and mercifully let the matter slide, Huo Qubing was greatly angered that his subordinate had the temerity to insult his uncle. He personally shot dead Li Gan during a hunting trip. After the 119 BC campaign, Wei Qing would see little combat action himself, largely remaining in

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2058-421: Was also the first modern expeditionary operation that used steam-powered warships and telegraph communications. The next development in the evolution of the expeditionary warfare was made during the expansion of the western European empires and the era of colonialism that also led to the inclusion of the expeditionary methods into the direct expression of national strategies to avoid full-scale conflicts in

2107-477: Was given his own command. After Huo Qubing's successful campaigns in the Hexi Corridor , Xiongnu strategically retreated to north of the Gobi Desert , as the barren lands would serve as a natural barrier that was very difficult to overcome for the Han forces. However, in 119 BC, Emperor Wu decided to defy the odds and launched a massive expeditionary campaign across the desert. In this engagement, Emperor Wu broke

2156-464: Was impressed by Ji's integrity in face of pressure and respected Ji greatly, often requesting Ji's opinion on important matters. Throughout his career, he refused to hire scholars to praise him and create favorable public opinions, and tried to maintain a relatively low profile. Despite his humble way of life, Wei's status in the Han army made him a distinguished figure in the country, attracting admiration, jealousy and hostility alike. Emperor Wu's uncle,

2205-454: Was made the "Grand General" (大將軍) of All Armed Forces, and his march was enlarged by 8,700 households. His three young sons Wei Kang (衛伉), Wei Buyi (衛不疑), and Wei Deng (衛登) were also made marquesses (an offer later refused by Wei Qing), as well as seven generals under his command. In 123 BC, Wei Qing set off from Dingxiang (定襄) and returned with several thousand enemy kills. A month later, Wei Qing again launched from Dingxiang, but would fight

2254-421: Was made to live as a lowly sheepherder . Unable to tolerate the abuse, Zheng Qing eventually ran away back to his mother's side during his early teenage years, and served as a stableboy in the marquess's estate of Pingyang. He then severed his paternal bond by adopting the surname "Wei" of his mother's family. Legend says that Wei Qing once followed his master on a visit to Ganquan Palace (甘泉宮) and encountered

2303-568: Was promoted to a higher command and created an acting Marquess of Guannei (關內侯), with a march of several hundred households. In 128 BC, Consort Wei Zifu gave birth to Emperor Wu's first son, Liu Ju , and was created Empress very soon after. Later that year, Wei Qing, who was now officially a trusted member of Emperor's extended family , led 30,000 cavalry from Shanwu (near present-day Youyuxian , Shanxi) in Yanmen Commandery , killing thousands of Xiongnu soldiers. In 127 BC, Wei Qing led

2352-464: Was rescued at the last moment by his friends, a group of fellow palace guards led by Gongsun Ao (公孫敖). In response to the incident and as a sign of annoyance towards Empress Chen and her mother, Emperor Wu appointed Wei Qing the triple role of Chief of Jianzhang Camp (建章監, equivalent to a chief security officer ), Chief of Staff (侍中) and Chief Councillor (太中大夫), effectively making him one of Emperor Wu's closest lieutenants. He also publicly made Wei Zifu

2401-527: Was the first revolution in military affairs that changed national strategies, operational methods, and tactics both at sea and on the land. One notable example of this evolution was the French invasion of Egypt (1798). Though a significantly expanded expeditionary operation, the Crimean War was the first example of a planned expeditionary campaign that was directed as part of a multinational coalition strategy. It

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