Battle of Maling 342 BC
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 342 BC | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Ancient (before 500) | derived from year |
| Location | China | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Warring States period | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 35.8858, 115.3975 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Maling (Chinese: 馬陵之戰) took place in Maling, currently Dazhangjia Town (大張家鎮), Shen County (莘县), Henan Province, in 342 BC during the Warring States period (476–221 BC). The combatants were the State of Qi, who fought on behalf of the State of Han, and the State of Wei. This battle is well recorded in history texts and is famous for the tactics of Sun Bin, known as the "Tactic of Missing Stoves", in which one side is led to underestimate the other by creating an illusion of soldiers running away from the enemy army.
In 342 BC, the state of Wei attacked the state of Han, and Han turned to its ally Qi for help. Sun Bin advised King Wei of Qi to provide military aid for Han, but only send out troops when the army of Wei had been depleted after prolonged fighting in order to preserve their own strength whilst garnering respect from Han.
Han was misled to believe that they could rely on the army of their ally Qi, and thus fought without reserve. After a year of resistance, Han was no longer able to resist and asked for help from Qi a second time. Instead of sending troops to save Han directly, Sun Bin suggested they should aim for the capital of Wei, Daliang.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Maling (revision 1377741005), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Jieqiao 191 · 122 km
- Battle of Guandu 200 · 130 km
- Battle of Julu 207 BC · 155 km
- Siege of Kaifeng (1232) 1232 · 155 km
- Battle of Chengpu 632 BC · 156 km
- Battle of Jinan 1948 · 167 km
Other battles of the Warring States period
- Battle of Lize 478 BC
- Battle of Changping 262 BC
All 3 battles of the Warring States period →
Browse more: battles in China · Asia · Ancient battles