Trouble to see the officials click "Follow" in the upper right corner, which is convenient for you to discuss and share, and can bring you a different sense of participation, thank you for your support!
Text | Nan cat
Editor|Nancat
preface
The war and peace relations between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks were very complex, lasting about 200 years and involving multiple dynasties and rulers.
The war and peace relations between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks alternate, especially in the late Tang Dynasty, and the relationship of war and interdependence between the two sides became more pronounced.
The war and peaceful relations between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks were an important theme in Chinese history. This history, involving multiple dynasties and rulers, lasts about 200 years and is full of twists and turns and complex stories.
Starting with the Battle of Gaochang, this article will sort out the wars and peace of the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks, and explore their background, causes, results, and impact on later history.
1. The Battle of Gaochang
The Battle of Gaochang took place in 640 and was the first large-scale war between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks. The background of this war was that after the Tang Dynasty unified the north and south, it began to expand its sphere of influence to the west and entered the Western Regions.
And in this region, the Turks have always been one of the main rulers.
After the leader of Gaochang City, Li Li, betrayed the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty sent a large army to attack Gaochang City. The Tang army used tactics such as fire attacks and eventually conquered Gaochang City, forcing the Turks to relinquish control of the Western Regions and achieve domination of the Western Regions.
II. The Battle of the Five Cities
The Battle of Five Cities took place in 648 and was an important war between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks. In this war, the Tang Dynasty army, under the command of Liu Heimin, captured five Turkic cities.
The Turkic ruler Ashina was captured and forced to submit to the Tang Dynasty. The war marked a qualitative change in relations between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. The Tang Dynasty began to take more active measures to expand pressure on the Turks, and the Turks also began to turn to compromise with the Tang Dynasty.
Third, the Tubo invasion
The Tubo invasion was a war between the Tang Dynasty and the Tubo Dynasty, and also involved the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. During this period, the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo intensified, and the Turks also participated.
The Turks believed that the rise of Tubo would threaten their interests, so when the Tang Dynasty and Tubo were at war, the Turks joined forces with the Tang Dynasty against Tubo.
The relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks was thus more friendly, but this relationship did not last long, and later the Turks reunited with the Tubo and launched an attack on the Tang Dynasty.
Fourth, the Anshi Rebellion
The Anshi Rebellion was a major event in the history of the Tang Dynasty, and also involved the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks. The war began in 755 and was waged by warlords An Lushan and Shi Siming within the Tang Dynasty.
With the support of the Turks, they led an army to attack the Tang Dynasty. The war lasted for 8 years, inflicting heavy losses on the Tang Dynasty and destroying the economic and social foundation of the Tang Dynasty.
In the end, the Tang army defeated the Anshi Rebellion, but the strength of the Tang Dynasty had been greatly weakened, which also marked the beginning of the decline of the Tang Dynasty.
5. The Yellow Nest Rebellion
The Yellow Nest Rebellion occurred during the peasant uprising led by Huang Chao, and also had a certain impact on the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks. During this period, political and economic contradictions within the Tang Dynasty intensified, and civil revolts and rebellions arose.
The Huangchao Uprising broke out nationwide, threatening the dominance of the Tang Dynasty.
The Turks also saw this opportunity, and they sent troops to participate in the Huangchao Uprising, trying to gain a foothold in the turmoil within the Tang Dynasty. In the end, the Tang army defeated the Huangchao Rebellion and the Turkic army, but the Tang dynasty's dominance was already in jeopardy.
6. Peace between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks
The period of peace between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks, also known as "between the two Turks", refers to the period of mutual nonaggression and friendly relations between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks. The background of this period was that the war between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo had ended, and the Turks suffered heavy losses in the war and had to establish friendly relations with the Tang Dynasty.
The supreme ruler of this period was the Turkic Ashinamer Suwei, who established contact with Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty and signed the Treaty of Chang'an, agreeing that the two countries would not invade each other, trade with each other, and establish friendly relations.
This period also provided a peaceful and stable external environment for the prosperity and development of the Tang Dynasty.
VII. The evolution of Turks during the Tang Dynasty
During the Tang Dynasty, the Turks were a powerful nomadic people in the steppes of Central Asia, which underwent many political and cultural changes and gradually evolved into a powerful political entity.
In the exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the Turkic peoples, the Turkic people gradually divided into different tribes such as South Turk, Northern Turk, and Western Turkic, and different development trends appeared in politics, economy, culture and other aspects.
The Southern Turks, also known as the Khitan Turks, were a nomadic people in the steppes of Central Asia during the Tang Dynasty. The Southern Turks originated from the tribes in the southern part of the Turkic Khaganate, and later gradually developed and became an important political entity in Central Asia.
The rise of the South Turks was mainly due to their relationship with the Tang Dynasty, which further consolidated the friendly relations with the South Turks through joint attacks against the Western Turks and provided important support for the political and economic development of the South Turks.
The main political feature of the Southern Turks was the establishment of a strong centralized system, and the Khitan Khan was the supreme leader of the Southern Turks, ruling the various tribes of the Southern Turks. The South Turks also formulated a series of laws and systems, and established a relatively complete administrative management system.
Economically, the South Turks were mainly based on animal husbandry, but also developed trade and handicrafts, of which silk trade was an important source of income for the South Turks.
The Northern Turks were another important nomadic people in the steppes of Central Asia during the Tang Dynasty. In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, the Northern Turks were a powerful political entity in Central Asia, with great national and military power. However, in the wars between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, the Northern Turks gradually lost their advantage, which eventually led to their political and economic decline.
The decline of the Northern Turks was mainly due to the instability and internal divisions of its political system, the political system of the Northern Turkic Khanate lacked centralization, and the Khanate was governed by multiple separate tribes, so there were often differences in decision-making.
At the same time, the Northern Turkic armies also often had internal strife and rebellions, which led to the weakening of their military strength. In addition, the Northern Turks' wars with the Tang Dynasty also accelerated their decline, and the Tang Dynasty gained the upper hand in the war with the Northern Turks, gradually weakening the Northern Turks' strength.
The Western Turks were another important nomadic people in the steppes of Central Asia during the Tang Dynasty, and were a political entity with the Uighur tribe as the core. In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, the Western Turks were once the hegemons of Central Asia, and their national and military strength were very strong. However, in the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, the Western Turks were eventually destroyed by the Tang Dynasty.
The fall of the Western Turks was mainly due to its internal divisions and wars with the Tang Dynasty. During the wars between the Tang Dynasty and the Western Turks, the Western Turks were divided internally, leading to the weakening of their military strength.
The Tang Dynasty adopted flexible strategies and tactics in the war, which hastened the fall of the Western Turks. In the end, the Tang Dynasty completely defeated the Western Turkic army in the Battle of Tyros in 751, and the Western Turks perished.
The Eastern Turks were a branch of the Turks and one of the most important frontier peoples of the Tang Dynasty. The East Turks, mainly in present-day Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, were powerful and posed a threat to the northern frontiers of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Tang Dynasty, the evolution of the Eastern Turks went through three stages: the period of unified rise, the period of division and chaos, and the period of decline and decline.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Eastern Turks unified the Mongolian plateau and Central Asia and established their own regime. With the unified rise of the Eastern Turks, their power gradually expanded to the northern frontier of the Tang Dynasty. In the early days of the rise of the Eastern Turks, the Tang Dynasty contained the Eastern Turks through alliances and marriages.
During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the Eastern Turks began to split. Among them, the most powerful was the Tuyuhun with the help of the Tubo people, and the remaining branches gradually split into some small tribes. The Tang Dynasty took the opportunity to weaken the Eastern Turks and strengthen its control over northern Xinjiang. At this time, the Tang Dynasty's control over the Eastern Turks was relatively strong, and the tribes continued to fight among themselves, resulting in the Eastern Turks losing their original unity and cohesion.
By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the Eastern Turks had gone into decline. The Tang Dynasty established four towns in Anxi in the Eastern Turkic region to consolidate control over northern Xinjiang. The Tang Dynasty also implemented the "Xianning Northern Expansion", expanding northward, gradually squeezing the Eastern Turks out of the Mongolian Plateau and Central Asia. By the end of the Tang Dynasty, the power of the Eastern Turks was already very weak, and it was eventually destroyed by the Khitans.
During the Tang Dynasty, the Eastern Turks experienced a period of unified rise, division and chaos, and extinction and decline. During the Tang Dynasty, the rise of the Eastern Turks posed a threat to the northern frontiers of the Tang Dynasty, but as the Tang Dynasty gradually weakened the strength of the Eastern Turks, the power of the Eastern Turks gradually declined and was eventually destroyed by the Khitans.
VIII. Peace between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks
Despite many wars and conflicts between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, the two sides also maintained a relatively stable peace. Peace between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks was achieved mainly through the conclusion of peace treaties and exchange of trade.
The first peace treaty between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks was signed after the Battle of Yiwu in 635, and since then peace between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks has been signed several times, the most important of which was the "Peace Gift" signed after the Battle of the Ishikai in 659.
In this peace treaty, the Tang Dynasty and the Turks recognized each other's territory and statehood, gave each other valuable gifts, and established friendly diplomatic relations with each other.
In addition, trade between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks was also an important factor in peace. Trade relations between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks were very close, and the Tang Dynasty obtained large quantities of supplies such as horses and wool from the Turks, who in turn obtained silk and other luxury goods from the Tang Dynasty. This interconnected trade relationship helped maintain peace and stability between the Tang Dynasty and the Turkic peoples.
In addition, the Tang Dynasty also adopted some diplomatic means to strengthen contacts and exchanges with the Turkic people. For example, the Tang Dynasty would send envoys to Turkic camps to present gifts to the Turkic khans to demonstrate Tang etiquette and friendship. At the same time, the Tang Dynasty would also provide property to the Turks in order to gain their support at critical moments.
The author's opinion
The war and peace period between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks lasted for hundreds of years and had a profound impact on the history of the Tang Dynasty and the Turkic peoples.
During the war, the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks was mostly hostile, and the armies of the two countries frequently fought and invaded each other in Central Asia.
The peacetime was a turning point in the relations between the two countries, and the Tang Dynasty and the Turks established friendly relations of mutual trust and non-aggression, which provided an important external environment for the prosperity and development of the Tang Dynasty.
Although both the war and the period of peace between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks had a profound impact on the history of the two countries, the relationship between the two countries was not monolithic and immutable.
In the exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the Turkic peoples, there were often frictions and conflicts in political, economic, cultural and other aspects.
As these conflicts often affect the war and peaceful relations between the two countries, it is important to understand the history between the Tang Dynasty and the Eastern Turks to better understand the evolution of the history of Central Asia and to better respond to the challenges in the current world order.
Resources:
- Zhou Zuoren, Tang Dynasty and Turks, Commercial Press, 1996.
- Gao Chongmin, Tang Dynasty and Turks, China Social Sciences Press, 2007.
- Zhang Renming, Tang Dynasty and Turks, People's Publishing House, 1985.
- Li Bo, Tang Dynasty and Turks, Jilin Publishing Group Co., Ltd., 2012.
- Gao Chunyan, Research on the Relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Turks, Heilongjiang University Press, 2015.
- Chen Chunfu, "Peaceful Exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks and Their Impact", World History, No. 1, 2018.