The changes in the territory of the Tang Dynasty were one of the most complex dynasties in Chinese history. In this era, there were more political powers on The territory of China, and the competition for the western region, northeast and southwest was very fierce, so it was difficult to use one or two maps to reflect the changes of the times. Coupled with the controversy over the territorial extent of each period of the Tang Dynasty, the map of this era was difficult to make. Tan Qijun's map that currently exists is firstly not objective, and second, it is difficult to reflect the changes in the territory of the Tang Dynasty over the past 200 years. Xiaobian specially wrote this article, using his own hard-earned map to show everyone the changes in the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, I did not make a map, so I can get a general understanding by quoting the map made by the "Wind and Clouds new way" on the World War I Network. At the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, there were countless separatist regimes in the Central Plains of China, and Tang was only one of them. At this time, the Eastern Turks in the desert were very powerful, and basically all the northern separatist regimes (including the Tang Dynasty) paid tribute to the Turks and accepted the Turkic canonization. In the western region, the Western Turks were strong, and the main attention was that the "Ten Arrows" tribe of the Western Turks lived along the Ili River, while Sogdia (Zhaowu Jiu surname), Tocharian and Gaochang, Shule, Guizi, Yanqi, and Khotan were all vassal states controlled by the Western Turks.
The first chapter of my system is chosen for the year 629, because in this year, the Tang Dynasty had unified the interior and the Xueyantuo Khanate was established. At that time, Tang Taizong had just come to power, and the Eastern Turks, Goguryeo, Tuguhun, Western Turks, and Xue Yantuo who traveled everywhere were all difficult to deal with, surrounded by various powers. Of course, the rise of the Xueyantuo Khanate led to the rapid decline of the Eastern Turks, which provided an opportunity for the Tang Dynasty to quickly destroy the Eastern Turks.
The second map, chosen in 649, was the last year of Emperor Taizong's reign. In the 20 years from 629 to 649, Tang Taizong led the Tang Dynasty to expand its territory, destroy the Eastern Turks, Gaochang, get the four towns of Anxi and Tingzhou, defeat Tuguhun, destroy the Xueyantuo Khanate, and conquer Goryeo in the east. In the year of Tang Taizong's death, the territory of the Tang Dynasty exceeded 10 million square kilometers. However, at this time, the Tubo of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was also unified, and Tubo would become one of the greatest enemies of the future Tang Dynasty.
The third map, selects the period of Emperor Gaozong of Tang (669). On the basis of Tang Taizong, Emperor Gaozong of Tang continued to expand his territory and destroy Goryeo, Baekje, Western Turki, etc., making the territory of the Tang Dynasty reach its peak. However, Tubo annexed the Tuguhun region during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, and Silla also took the opportunity to occupy the land south of the Datong River, and the Tang Dynasty at this time had gains and losses. After the fall of the Western Turks, the Tang Dynasty controlled the Ili River Valley, but did not form control over the Tocharian and Sogdian states, so do not think that the entire territory of the Western Turks was incorporated into the Tang Dynasty.
During the reign of Wu Zetian, the internal political struggle of the Tang Dynasty was serious, and the surrounding Tubo attacked the Tang Dynasty on a large scale, and the Turks took the opportunity to restore the country, and the territory shrank significantly. The map of the Western Regions in the figure was not always in the hands of the Tang Dynasty, and some of them were attacked by Tubo several times, but because the Tang Dynasty still had the advantage during this period, it was not assigned to the Tubo side. In the northeast region, the Zhen state (Bohai state) began to appear, reflecting the weakening of the Tang Dynasty's control over the northeast, which was related to the rise of the post-Turkic khaganate.
The territory formed in the early days of Tang Xuanzong, that is, during the Kaiyuan period, is as follows. The earthquake country has developed into a Bohai state. The post-Turkic khanate remained strong. The Tang Dynasty's control over the Western Regions was also faltering. During this period, the western region of the period appeared a very powerful Turki Khanate, which repeatedly defeated the invasion of the Arab Empire and made great contributions to Chinese civilization. The Turkic Khanate also repeatedly prevented the Western Expedition of the Later Turks.
The late Tang Xuanzong period, that is, the Tianbao period. At this time, although the economy had gone downhill and domestic politics were unstable, the external situation was more favorable to the Tang Dynasty. After the Turkic Khaganate was destroyed by the Uighurs, the border defense pressure in the north of the Tang Dynasty was much smaller. In the Western Regions, the Tang Dynasty joined forces with the Arab Empire to eliminate the Turkishi Khanate, and the Tang Dynasty began to expand on a large scale in the Western Regions, once destroying the Xiaobolu and other states, but was defeated by the Arab Empire and failed to enter the Sogdian region. At this time, the State of Nanzhao rose silently in the southwest and began to annex the lands of the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty was defeated many times.
In the decades after the Anshi Rebellion, warlord divisions within the Tang Dynasty began to emerge, and external expansion was weak. During this period, Tubo took the opportunity to attack the Hexi Corridor of the Tang Dynasty, which interrupted the connection between the four towns of Anxi and the interior. However, after losing the support of the native region, the four towns of Anxi continued to fight against Tubo alone, and it was not until 790 years later that the western region was completely occupied by Tubo. At this time, Both Nanzhao and bohai were seeking expansion.
By the beginning of the 9th century, the situation in East Asia had changed dramatically, with Tubo occupying the Tarim Basin and dominating the western region, while the Uighur Khaganate, not to be outdone, defeated Gelulu to the west and annexed the Ili River region. Since then, the two countries have fought in the western region. The invasion of The Tubo and Uighurs into the western region also hindered the Arab invasion of the east. In the southwest, Nanzhao continued to annex the surrounding lands, and the territory reached its peak. In the northeast, the Bohai state annexed the Tang Dynasty Liaodong, defeated Silla, conquered the Heishui Jing, dominated the northeast, and became the "Haidong Shengguo".
After 840, both the Tubo and Uighur khaganates collapsed, while the Tang Dynasty continued to survive. After defeating the Uighurs, the Tugas dominated the desert north for more than 10 years, and then retreated to the same place, leaving too much space in the desert. The Khitan in the northeast continued to send troops to Murong Wei, causing the various tribes of Murong Wei to rush into the north of the desert, and then formed the Mongols. In the Western Regions, the descendants of the Uighurs established the Uighur and Qarakhanid dynasties in Xizhou here, and will dominate Central Asia in the future. After the collapse of Tubo, the Hexi Corridor was recovered by Zhang Yichao. The Tang Dynasty in this period looked powerful in terms of territory, but in fact the internal feudal towns were divided, the peasant revolts continued, and it was also on the verge of collapse.
The situation that has continued since the beginning of the Tang Dynasty has completely changed after 900 years. The Tang Dynasty collapsed in 907, and soon after, Silla, Nanzhao, Bohai, etc. perished, while the Liao Kingdom, the Northern Song Dynasty, the Western Xia, the Later Goryeo, and Dali gradually formed, and a new era was coming.