he period of the Warring States (Zhanguo or Chan-Kuo) refers to the era of about 475 BCE to 221 BCE. It commenced at a time of when the numerous petty city-state kingdoms had been consolidated into about seven major contenders and a few minor enclaves. The above map shows a delineation of the area. The exact description of the states is subject to some uncertainty and the above map is based upon the map of the Warring …showed first 75 words of 310 total…

…showed last 75 words of 310 total…previous eras the fighting was done by aristocrats in chariots. Chariots were not produced on a mass production basis so participation in the battles was limited to a small proportion of the population, the ruling elite of the city-states. But with the development of the casting of individual weapons there was a marked advantage to states with the economic resources to produce the weapons and the population to provide large armies to use these weapons.