• Battle of Talas
  • 怛羅斯戰役
  • معركة نهر طلاس
Part of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana

Movement into Central Asia:
  Chinese (Tang army)
  Turks (Tang army, later Abbasid army)
  Arabs (Abbasid army)
  Tibetans (Tibetan army)
DateMay – September 751
Location
Result Abbasid–Tibetan victory
Belligerents
Commanders and leaders
Strength
30,000 Abbasid troops 10,000 Tang troops
20,000 Turkic mercenaries[a][2][3]
Casualties and losses
Unknown Unknown

The Battle of Talas (Chinese: 怛羅斯戰役 Dáluósī zhànyì; Arabic: معركة نهر طلاس Maʿrakat nahr Ṭalās) was an armed confrontation between the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tibetan Empire against the Tang dynasty in 751 CE. In July of that year, the Tang and Abbasid armies clashed at the Talas River over control of the regions surrounding the Syr Darya. According to Chinese sources, it was initially marked by several days of military stalemate before the balance of power was decisively tipped in the Abbasids' favour due to the defection of a Tang-allied mercenary column, consisting of some 20,000 Karluk Turks, who subsequently played a vital role in routing the Tang army.

This defeat was seen[when?] by the Western world as the end of the Tang dynasty's westward expansion. However, the caliph quickly dispatched an envoy to Chang'an, who arrived on 7 December 752 to ask for the restoration of diplomatic relations.[4] In response, the Tang emperor forgave the Abbasids' provocation, but continued to expand into Central Asia; the Tang army, under the leadership of Feng Changqing, launched an offensive against the Great Blue Kingdom in present-day Kashmir in 753. By 821, the Arab Muslims had lost direct control over their Central Asian territories, and the Turkic-origin Ghaznavids rose to power in the region in 977. The gains brought about by the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana were entirely lost in 1124, when the non-Muslim Qara Khitai conquered the region. The Abbasids placed great value on controlling this area as it was a strategic point on the Silk Road; Chinese prisoners captured at Talas in 751 are said to have introduced papermaking to the peoples of West Asia.

Location edit

 
Map of the Transoxiana area, with the Talas River in the upper right

The exact location of the battle has not been confirmed but is believed to be near Taraz and Talas, on the border between present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Chinese name 怛羅斯; Dáluósī was first seen in the account of Xuanzang. Du Huan located the city near the western drain of the Chui River.[1]

Background edit

 
The territorial extent of the Tang dynasty c. 700, showing the long and narrow Hexi Corridor connecting its expanded western frontier to China proper

The oasis towns on the Silk Road in central Asia had once been controlled by the Türgesh, but the Turkic tribal confederation plunged into chaos in the latter half of the 7th century. Empress Wu had retaken control of the Tarim Basin from the Tibetan Empire in 692 as part of Tang expansion in Inner Asia and the oasis towns became a major source of income for the Tang.[5] In 705, Qutayba ibn Muslim started to lead the caliphal army on campaigns to conquer towns across along the Silk Road, exploiting Türgesh infighting.[6] The caliphate conquered the oasis towns Bukhara and Samarkand, expanding the border of their empire eastwards. At the same time, the Türgesh khaganSuluk began uniting the infighting Türgesh tribes.[5] The Muslim, Tibetan and Tang armies would have two encounters. In 715, Alutar was established as king of Fergana with the help of Umayyad and Tibetan soldiers. The deposed Ikhshid fled to the Tang controlled Kuqa, requested the aid of the emperor Xuanzong of Tang and 10,000 Tang soldiers reinstated Ikhshid as Fergana king. In 717, Arab Umayyad soldiers, assisted by the Tibetan Empire, besieged Aksu City in the Tarim Basin, but were defeated by the Tang military in the Battle of Aksu.[7]

 
Penjikent mural depicting the siege of Samarkand

In 715, the Tang emperor declined the demand of the Türgesh tribe leader Suluk to be recognized as Qaghan, instead offering him the rank of duke within the Tang military. In response, Suluk invaded the Tarim Basin along with the Tibetans, but they were driven out by the cavalry of Ashina Xian.[8] Suluk and his khagan soldiers challenged the Umayyad and Tang control of the oasis towns regularly. Before Suluk's death, his soldiers were defeated by the Tang in 736 and by the Caliphate in 737.[9] At the same time, Türgesh tribes established metal industries in Tang-controlled Fergana Valley, an area that was also home to important centers of iron production. The Karluks, a federation of three Türgesh tribes with settlements around Tian Shan, were producers and exporters of iron weapons to the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty.[10]

In 747, the Tang general Gao Xianzhi, who had successfully fought the Tibetan empire in the Pamir Mountains, established Tang control over the Gilgit region.[11] In early 748 the Persian Abbasid general Abu Muslim occupied Merv, the capital of Greater Khorasan, and went on to lead what has become known as the Abbasid revolution. In the year 750, Abu al-'Abbas al-Saffah was proclaimed the first Abbasid caliph in the great mosque of Kufa. The Umayyad Caliphate fell in 750 at the Battle of the Zab.[12] Abu Muslim had raised an army that included Muslims and non-Muslims, which he dispatched westwards to take control over Umayyad territory. The Tang general and the Abbasid general would eventually meet in 750 when the kings of the Silk Road towns Tashkent and Ferghana sought the support of their imperial overlords in a battle of dominance. Gao Xianzhi conquered the Abbasid-controlled Tashkent after a siege. The Abbasid general Ziyad ibn Salih escaped from Tashkent to Samarkand, where he gathered troops and marched eastwards to confront the Tang army. In Fergana, the Tang general Gao Xianzhi raised an army by recruiting Karluk Turks.[11] During the reign of Lalitaditya Muktapida, the Karkota dynasty of Kashmir, a vassal of the Tang dynasty, supported the Chinese against the Tibetans.[13] Additionally, Kashmir participated in the Battle of Talas to aid the Tang dynasty.[14]

Battle edit

 
Modern view of Talas River, which starts in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and winds down into Kazakhstan. On the right side of the river is the city of Taraz.

The numeric quantities of the combatants involved in the battle of Talas are not known with certainty. The Abbasid army consisted of 200,000 soldiers according to Chinese estimates, which included contingents from their Tibetan ally. On the opposite side, Arab records put the combined Chinese forces at 100,000. But Chinese sources record a combined army of 10,000 Tang and 20,000 Karluk mercenaries.[15] The Tongdian (801), the earliest narrative for battle itself by either side, suggests 30,000 deaths, and the Old Book of Tang (945) counted 20,000 deaths in this battle.[16] The earliest Arabic account for the battle, itself from Al-Kamil fi al-Tarikh (1231) suggests 50,000 deaths and 20,000 prisoners.[17] Gao Xianzhi's official position was that of the Anxi Jiedu envoy,[18] The total number of Tang troops in the jurisdiction was 24,000 and was stationed in the four countries of Qiuzi, Yanqi, Khotan, and Shule.[19]

In July 751, the Muslim forces, including the Karluk mercenaries, joined with the Tang forces on the banks of the Talas River. The Muslim General had assembled his troops in a standard formation, with his archers in the front, the spearmen behind them and heavy Calvary with his guard. Gao Xianzhi had assembled his army in a similar manner, with his crossbowmen in the front, his spearmen in the second line, and the Ferghana mercenaries behind, with the Karluk Turks on the extreme far right and left flanks.[20] Arab and Chinese sources describing the first three days of the battle were similar to each other, with the Chinese attacking first from the front, with their archers and crossbowmen dealing substantial damage to the Arab archers. Tang crossbowmen fired bolts that penetrated the Arab armour, almost annihilating half of the Arab archer contingent.[21][20] Arab archers had to retreat behind their spearmen and the Arab spearmen charged ahead, with the infantry lines colliding between the Tang and Abbasid spearmen. However, the Tang infantry had better armour than their Arab counterparts, and managed to push the Arab infantry backwards.[22] The Muslim general attempted to alleviate the pressure on his infantry by sending his heavy Calvary to attack the lighter column Calvary on the Chinese flanks. However, this attack failed to outflank Gao's units, but the Chinese general had to move his reserves into a fray. A similar sequence of events happened on the second and third days, but on the fourth day, the Karluk mercenaries betrayed the Chinese and attacked their flanks from the left and right while the Arab infantry made a frontal assault.[23]

The Tang army was subjected to a devastating defeat, owing to the defection of the Karluk mercenaries and the retreat of Ferghana allies who originally supported the Chinese. The Karluk mercenaries, two-thirds of the Tang army, defected to the Abbasids during the battle; Karluk troops attacked the Tang army from close quarters while the main Abbasid forces attacked from the front. The Tang troops were unable to hold their positions, and the commander of the Tang forces, Gao Xianzhi, recognized that defeat was imminent and managed to escape with some of his Tang regulars with the help of Li Siye. Out of an estimated 10,000 Tang troops, only 2,000 managed to return from Talas to their territory in central Asia. Despite losing the battle, Li did inflict heavy losses on the pursuing Arab army after being reproached by Duan Xiushi.[24]

Aftermath edit

 
Two armoured horsemen from the Karluk dominion of Semirechye, c. 800. Anikova dish, Hermitage Museum.[25][26]

According to one of the few Arabic sources on the battle that has survived, a text by Al-Maqdisi, the Muslim general Abu Muslim took 5,000 Chinese prisoners and confiscated possessions from the Tang military camp. According to Al-Maqdisi, Abu Muslim prepared his forces and equipment to invade more Tang controlled territory. However, he was first presented with a letter from the caliph As-Saffah, in which he was informed that his services were needed as governor of Khurasan.[27]

The An Lushan Rebellion ended the Tang presence in central Asia and forced them to withdraw from the northwestern frontier; because the Arabs did not advance any further after the battle, Talas was of no strategic importance.[28][29] After the battle, a small number of Karluks converted to Islam. However, the majority would not convert until the mid-10th century, when Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan established the Kara-Khanid Khanate.[30][31][32][33][34] This occurred well after Tang dynasty was gone from central Asia.

Caliph Al-Saffah died in 754. Chinese sources record that his successor, the Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur, sent his diplomatic delegations regularly to China. Al-Mansur's delegations were known in China as Khayi Tashi (Black Clothes).[35] Shortly after the battle of Talas, the domestic An Lushan rebellion and subsequent warlordism gave the Arabs the opportunity to further expand into central Asia as Tibetans took over the region between the Arabs and China and Tang influence in the region retreated.[36] The An Lushan Rebellion started in 755 and lasted until 763, forcing the Tang army to retreat from the northwestern frontier after enjoying around a century of sovereignty. This effectively ended the Tang presence in central Asia.[37] In 756 Al-Mansur sent 3,000 mercenaries to assist Emperor Xuanzong of Tang in the An Lushan rebellion.[38] A massacre of foreign Arab and Persian Muslim merchants by Tian Shengong happened during the An Lushan rebellion in the Yangzhou massacre (760).[39][40]

 
Tang dynasty officer of the Guard of Honour c. 644

The Tang dynasty recovered its power decades after the An Lushan rebellion and was still able to launch offensive conquests and campaigns like its destruction of the Uyghur Khaganate in Mongolia during 840–847.[41] It was the Huang Chao rebellion in 874–884 by the native Han rebel Huang Chao that permanently destroyed the power of the Tang dynasty since Huang not only devastated the north but marched into southern China which An Lushan failed to do due to the Battle of Suiyang. Huang's army in southern China committed the Guangzhou massacre against foreign Arab and Persian Muslim, Zoroastrian, Jewish and Christian merchants in 878–879 at the seaport and trading entrepot of Guangzhou,[42] and captured both Tang dynasty capitals, Luoyang and Chang'an. A medieval Chinese source claimed that Huang Chao killed 8 million people.[43] Even though Huang Chao was eventually defeated, the Tang Emperors lost all their power to regional jiedushi and Huang Chao's former lieutenant Zhu Wen who had defected to the Tang court turned the Tang emperors into his puppets and completed the destruction of Chang'an by dismantling Chang'an and transporting the materials east to Luoyang when he forced the court to move the capital. Zhu Wen deposed the last Tang Emperor in 907 and founded Later Liang (Five Dynasties), plunging China into the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period as regional jiedushi warlords declared their own dynasties and kingdoms.

The Tibetan Empire began attacking China, during a period where the Tibetan army also conquered territory in the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains from Indian kingdoms and assisted the establishment of the eastern Indian Pala Empire in the latter half of the 8th century.[44] It was only under the fifth Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid that a formal military alliance between the Tang, the Uighur Turks and the Abbasid engaged the Tibetan army on the western Tibetan frontier with the Arabs. At the same time, the Uighur Turks fought the Tibetans along the central Asian Silk Roads.[45] The Karluks expanded their settlements around Tian Shan, and also settled westwards in Abbasid-controlled Fergana and Tukharistan. Iron weapons continued to be exported to Tibet and China on the Silk Roads between Kuqa and Aksu near the Tarim basin. Arab sources record that in the 10th century Aksu and Fergana had markets for arms traders.[10]

 
Buddhist expansion in Asia: Mahayana Buddhism first entered China during the Han dynasty through the Silk Road during the Kushan Empire's existence. Maritime and overland trade routes were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".[46]

Talas is in modern-day Kyrgyzstan and had been part of the Silk Road: From Dunhuang in China, along the edge of the Takla Makan desert, passing through oasis towns such as Kucha, roads went through a region Arabs called Transoxiana. The Silk Roads in Transoxiana went through Talas, Tashkent, Samarkand, and Khwarazm. Turning south, roads went through Kunduz in presentday Afghanistan, the Pamir Mountains could be crossed on roads going through Kulob and Balkh in the Bactria region. From there present day India could be reached on a road through Bamyan that lead over the Hindu Kush. Muslim influence along these central Asian trade routes had started in the 8th century, one key event being the battle of Talas. Prior to which Buddhists controlled much of the roads. Central Asian Buddhism went into a decline after the battle of Talas.[47]

Following the An Lushan rebellion, the diplomatic exchange between Buddhist Indian kingdoms and the Tang dynasty all but ceased. Prior to the An Lushan rebellion, between 640 and 750 diplomatic envoys from Indian kingdoms, often accompanied by Buddhist monks, had regularly visited the Tang court.[13] Chinese Buddhism developed into an independent religion with distinct spiritual elements, such as Pure Land Buddhism and Zen. China became the center of Buddhism in East Asia, creating a canon and spreading on to Japan and Korea.[48] The Battle of Talas did not mark the end of Buddhism or Chinese influence in the region. The Buddhist Kara-Khitan Khanate defeated the Muslim Seljuk and Kara-Khanid Turks at the Battle of Qatwan in 1141, conquering a large part of central Asia from the Karluk Kara-Khanid Khanate during the 12th century. The Kara-Khitans also reintroduced the Chinese system of Imperial government, since China was still held in respect and esteem in the region among even the Muslim population,[49][50] and the Kara-Khitans used Chinese as an official language.[51] The Kara-Khitan rulers were called "the Chinese" by the Muslims.[52]

Papermaking edit

 
The oldest printed book in the world to be reliably dated, a Chinese copy of the Diamond Sutra found at Dunhuang, printed around 868

According to the 11th century Persian historian, Al-Thaʽālibī, Chinese prisoners captured at the Battle of Talas in 751 introduced paper manufacturing to Samarkand.[53][54] They engaged in the craft of papermaking while living on land occupied by the Abbasids following Talas.[55]

However this account is unlikely to be factual. Paper had been used throughout Central Asia by the 8th century. Paper fragments dating to the fourth and fifth centuries have been found in the Turpan and Gaochang areas and letters written in the Sogdian language dating to the 4th-6th centuries have been found in Dunhuang and Loulan. One of the letters was a communication with Samarkand. According to Jonathan Bloom, paper was used in Samarkand, and probably produced there, several decades before the battle. Several paper documents have also been discovered near Panjakent at Mount Mugh, a mountain stronghold, that likely predate the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. They were either local or came from Buddhist monks active in the region. By the 8th century, Chinese paper was mostly made of bast fibers while Islamic papers were mostly made of rag fibers. Bloom suggests that papermakers were already active in Central Asia for quite some time and had learned to use rag fibers rather than bast fibers as their primary papermaking material.[56]

No historic Chinese source records this transfer of technology through prisoners of war and no contemporary Arabic accounts of the transfer of paper exist. Du Huan, who was captured by the Abbasid army at the battle of Talas and upon his return to China published his travel writings, documented that Chinese crafts such as silk weaving were practiced by Chinese prisoners of war while living on territory controlled by the Abbasids.[57] It may have been a convention to reference Chinese craftsmen, who had long been esteemed in Islamic lands, and Chinese paper remained a prized product for centuries. According to Al-Nadim, a writer in Baghdad during the 10th century, Chinese craftsmen made paper in Khorasan.[56]

It was only after the first paper mill was built in Baghdad in 794–795 that paper was manufactured throughout the Islamic world and paper started to replace papyrus.[58]

Modern historic evaluation edit

Among the earliest historians who proclaimed the importance of this battle was the Russian historian Vasily Bartold, according to whom: "The earlier Arab historians, occupied with the narrative of events then taking place in western Asia, do not mention this battle; but it is undoubtedly of great importance in the history of Western Turkestan as it determined the question which of the two civilizations, the Chinese or the Muslim, should predominate in the land [of Turkestan]."[59]

The Tang loss of 8,000 troops can be compared to a total strength of more than 500,000 on the eve of the An Lushan rebellion.[60] According to Bartold, during the first three centuries of Islam, al-Tabari was the chief source—which has survived to the present in a compilation by Ibn al Athir—which was brought down to 915. Neither Tabari nor the early historical works of the Arabs make any mention of this; however, Athir's statement is confirmed by the Chinese History of the Tang Dynasty.[61]

Professor Denis Sinor said that it was interference in the internal affairs of the Western Turkic Khaganate which ended Chinese supremacy in central Asia, since the destruction of the Western Khaganate rid the Muslims of their greatest opponent, and it was not the Battle of Talas which ended the Chinese presence.[62]

The Chinese historian Bai Shouyi wrote that furthermore, at the same time that Talas took place, the Tang also sent an army from Shibao city in Qinghai to Suyab and consolidated Chinese control over the Turgesh. According to Bai, Chinese expansion in central Asia did not halt after the battle of Talas.[page needed] The Chinese commander Feng Changqing, who took over the position from Gao Xianzhi through Wang Zhengjian, virtually swept across the Kashmir region and captured Gilgit shortly two years later. Even Tashkent re-established its vassal status in 753, when the Tang bestowed a title to its ruler. Bai also maintains that the Chinese influence to the west of the Pamir Mountains certainly did not cease as the result of the battle. Central Asian states under Muslim control, such as Samarkand, continued to request aid from the Tang against the Arabs and in 754, all nine kingdoms of Western Turkestan again sent petitions to the Tang to attack the Arabs and the Tang continued to turn down such requests as it did for decades. Ferghana, which participated in the battle earlier, in fact joined among the central Asian auxiliaries with the Chinese army under a summons and entered Gansu during the An Lushan Rebellion in 756.[63] Bai also noted that neither did the relations between the Chinese and Arabs worsen, as the Abbasids, like their predecessors since 652, continued to send embassies to China uninterruptedly after the battle. Such visits had overall resulted in 13 diplomatic gifts between 752 and 798.[64]

Professor Xue Zongzheng came to the conclusion that other than the transfer of paper, there is no evidence to support a geopolitical or demographic change resulting from this battle. In fact, it seems that Tang influence over central Asia even strengthened after 751 and that by 755, Tang power in central Asia was at its zenith. Several of the factors after the battle had been taken note of prior to 751. Firstly, the Karluks never in any sense remained opposed to the Chinese after the battle. In 753, the Karluk Yabghu submitted under the column of Cheng Qianli and captured A-Busi, a Chinese mercenary who had defected to the Tongluo chief earlier in 743, receiving his title in court on 22 October.[65]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Tang-allied Karluks, later defected to the Abbasid army

References edit

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42°31′30″N 72°14′0″E / 42.52500°N 72.23333°E / 42.52500; 72.23333