An Lushan Rebellion - One of the Bloodiest Conflicts in History

[Music] the middle of the 8th century was a period of profound turmoil across eurasia from the carolingian unrest in 751 to the abbasid revolution of 746 and the tibetan rebellion of 755. however the most devastating of these upheavals was undoubtedly the anlushan rebellion in tang china this cataclysmic but lesser-known conflict ended the high tang golden age and resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of people welcome to our video on the anluchan rebellion but before we jump to the video allow us to say thanks to the sponsor of this video world of warships blitz this free-to-play game available on google play and the app store allows you to conquer the seas commanding some of the most iconic warships in exciting tactical combat and there are always new ships being added to the roster so enter the intense pvp battles and experience fantastic 3d graphics install world of warships blitz now using our link in the description below reach level 3 and get a free ship a tier 3 battleship uss south carolina installing the game from our link is the only way to get this bonus after a period of disunity lasting over two centuries china finally began its reunification in 581 when the sway dynasty overthrew the northern zhou by 587 sway had easily crushed and subjugated the smaller western liang afterward they struck south invading the southern chen dynasty by 589 china had been reunified for the first time in centuries since the fall of the han though the dynasty's reign was short a number of key aspects of future chinese civilization were instituted during it including the grand canal rebuilding the great wall and the construction of more public works however the strain of unification and these momentous achievements also caused discontent to grow the final straw was a series of costly and unsuccessful military expeditions into korea which finally broke sway power despite this it has been said that the sway laid the foundation for the greatness of their eventual tang successors rebellion finally broke out against the sway in 613 and one of their most experienced generals li wan was dispatched to modern shan xi with an army in order to defend the capital in 615 and 616 he moved north and destroyed some local bandit groups as well as repelling a turkic incursion despite his efforts rebellion soon spread across the country and as reports of the mounting anarchy reached taiwan liyuan's advisors encouraged him to seize power in 617 he marched south and successfully besieged the capital as changhan installing a puppet emperor for a few months but then elevating himself to the position after popular acclaim finally establishing the tang dynasty in 618. over the next century china attained its highest territorial political and cultural position yet and many scholars consider this period of the high tongue to be a golden age during which china was probably the most powerful and wealthy state in the world the eastern turkic cargonet was subjugated in 630 followed by its western counterpart in 642 with these victories the town gained unquestioned hegemony over central asia and the prosperous silk road caravan cities in the tarim basin it also successfully expanded into vietnam and korea rising above the failures of previous dynasties in the bustling cities of china writers such as lee bai and created some of the most revered poetry in the ancient chinese lyrical tradition while beautiful paintings and expertly crafted pottery were created and even exported throughout the world to do this a quasi-modern export industry was developed where town craftsmen would produce goods for specific markets such as bowls inscribed with islamic symbology for sale in the muslim caliphate to the west in the bustling markets and streets of the imperial capital of changhan and other large tang cities indians persians arabs koreans syrians sagdians and others functioned as merchants and worshipped in their own manner tolerated and encouraged by the high tang aristocracy and monarchy it truly was an age of gold but it was not to last as emperor schwanzong came to the throne in 712 the town golden age reached its apex the early part of his reign was the period of greatest creativity of the dynasty and many of the greatest aforementioned works of the period were created in it this all changed in 736 when li lin fu was appointed the chief minister at the same time shuang zhang was influenced by religion and his favorite courtesan and became less interested in ruling in 742 lee lin foo conducted a series of purges getting rid of the most talented potential adversaries at court by 747 he was the de facto dictator arguably the most damaging of leland foo's policies was that of exclusively employing non-chinese generals as military governors by entrusting armies to men with no political ties to the court he hopes to prevent rivals from rising to power however this also meant that the army commanders were less loyal to the central government one of them was anne lushan a general of sogden and gotok origin as one of the most powerful frontier commanders he commanded a 164 000 strong army in the northeast and had his headquarters near modern day beijing he was responsible for controlling the nomadic kitan people and other nomadic tribes in the manchurian region in addition schwanzong and lilian fu gave him unprecedented favor appointing him to high-ranking offices giving him the rank of prince and the right to mint coins meanwhile emperor schwanzong's favorite mistress influenced him to appoint several of her kin to important government positions as the late 740s progressed one of these family members yang guojong began to make alliances with the enemies of li lin fu challenging his power he also began conspiring to remove his courtly rivals ally and luchan from his command the situation became even more dangerous in 752 as li lin fu passed away yan guo jong took control of the imperial court and sought to eliminate ann lushan the reasoning for what occurred next is debated it could be that ann lushan felt threatened in his position by the fickle court in changhan or that he simply desired to usurp the tang dynasty or even that he began to fear that he was losing the emperor's favor whatever the case may be after continuous escalations between ann lushan and his enemies he set off from fan yang in early 755 with around 150 000 soldiers marching south in the direction of loi yang the eastern tang capital at this point in the dynasty the majority of experienced forces were on guard at the various frontiers so there were no adequate forces to initially oppose the rebels although the emperor began to recall his loyal generals and armies from the western regions it would take time to gather enough forces a long-term consequence of this withdrawal would be the loss of xi you the western regions for almost a millennia one of the generals who had returned with haste from the tarim basin fung chang ching quickly assembled a 60 000 strong levy force and moved to confront and luchan in a series of encounters in the eastern capitals outlying regions the untested and raw forces of fung proved no match for the battle-hardened rebel army and was defeated with the beaten commander withdrawing west to the impenetrable tongue mountain pass with what remained of his army fung chang ching was then joined here by another experienced general gaushan ji who had recently returned from central asia after being defeated at the battle of talus a few months later luo yang surrendered to ann lushan he entered the city and treated the surrendered tang officials there with respect and dignity an act which caused many of them to come over to him at the dawn of the year 756 and lucian declared himself emperor of a new yan dynasty with luo yang as its capital as the main rebel army prepared to march on the tong pass where the loyalists had entrenched themselves and luchan dispatched other prongs of his army to the north west and northeast his northwestern advance thrust towards the bend of the yellow river in order to secure strategic territories in the region his eastern deployment was far more critical as his army had initially dashed south to capture luo yang he had not secured the marching path with garrisons or pledges of loyalty due to this pockets of tang loyalist resistance began to spring up on the path from fan yang to luo yang cutting and luchan's connection to his home base in the north and consequently delaying his attack on the tong pass by the summer of 756 and lucian had regained control of his home territory and turned in changhan's direction once again concurrently emperor xuanzong made two catastrophic tactical errors furious at fun chang jing and gao shuanji for their inability to defeat the rebels he had them executed and replaced by a sycophantic subordinate he then ordered this new commander to abandon their strong defensive position and attack and luchan's force immediately the attempted frontal assault turned into a disaster when the army was led into an ambush and destroyed on july 9 after marching through a narrow pass the way to changhan and the imperial capital was open and there was now nothing to defend it it seemed as though the new yan dynasty had won the few survivors of the massacre in the mountain pass fled to the west and reported what had happened to the emperor alarmed at the news schwanzong and his heir suzong fled the grandeur of the imperial capital two weeks later as they reached a relay station the royal entourage was turned on by their soldier escort and schwanzong was forced to execute many of his bureaucrats who the soldiers blamed probably correctly for the disaster at tong pass after placating his warriors shuanzong fled south and eventually reached the city of modern chengdu in sichuan province while his heir advanced north and approached lingzhou in the autumn of 756. three days after his arrival suzong was persuaded to usurp the throne from his exiled father who was granted the title shanghuang or retired emperor the tongue's longest and most glorious reign was at an end meanwhile ann lushan's main rebel army entered and occupied the capital at changhan reportedly massively depopulating the city in the process it is not known if he massacred a great portion of the city's population or if the disruption simply caused many to flee but the formerly glorious city was greatly diminished by this part of the war from his new base in the north west suzong began to gather forces to him in 757 he decided to borrow troops from both the abbasid caliphate in the west and the newly ascendant uyghur cargonet in the north who likely prospered from chinese trade and did not want it to be damaged or were promised privileges after the rebellion had been quelled at the same time perhaps frustrated by the inability of unluchan to successfully advance either west to the tarin basin or south to the yang sir in the face of increasingly stubborn resistance a group of his immediate followers assassinated him and installed his son and ching shu in his place however this coup led to the weakening and implosion of the burgeoning yan dynasty enabling the tongue to strike back with the assistance of newly gathered frontier forces and their new allies the newly enthroned emperor suzong marched south once again and regained the twin capitals of changhan and luo yang from the rebels the existential threat to the tang dynasty was over but the victory had been won at great consequence the effect of the rebellion on china had been utterly devastating it is not known how many tang subjects perished as a result but the death toll is widely estimated to range from 15 million to 40 million as the loyalists had been forced to withdraw both their generals and armies from the frontiers to fight the rebels their border defenses also collapsed with armies from vietnam and the surrounding region attacking the undefended canton region maintaining control over it for half a decade in 763 the tongue's long-standing tibetan rivals took advantage of their weakness and briefly occupied changhan before they were forced to retreat the tarim basin and north west was permanently lost along with its rich horse-rearing pastures and wealthy oasis cities during the rebellion and lucha had also seized the grand canal cutting off the flow of grain cloth and money to changan furthermore after he had seized the capitals the imperial government lost all of the granary contents and the wealth in its treasuries as a result the previously prosperous realm was now in dire need of funds and began selling titles and positions which had before been occupied by skilled and examined bureaucrats this situation was not helped by the fact that the old taxation and land system completely collapsed in the rebellion as many tax rolls were destroyed or became obsolete due to the massive casualties and amounts of civilian displacement the last embers of yan rebellion were not extinguished for another decade and the impacts of this conflict would plague the tang dynasty for the rest of their reign they would rule for another 150 years before the unified china once again fragmented but would never again reach the heights they had achieved before the rebellion of andlu shan we have many interesting stories to tell so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise via the link in the description this is the kings and generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 796,337

Keywords: Rebellion, An Lushan, Golden Age, Sui, Tang, China, Chinese history, An Lushan Rebellion, Silk Road, chinese wars, an lushan rebellion history, an shi rebellion, tang dynasty history, emperor xuanzhong, ancient chinese history, wars of china, yang guifei, yan dynasty, tang dynasty army, ancient china battles, ancient china wars, kings and generals, full documentary, history lesson, mobei, talas, War of the Heavenly Horses, war - topic, animated documentary, documentary film

Id: YAvldyKxTJA

Length: 16min 49sec (1009 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 18 2019