To Lushan

An Lushan ( Chinese  安祿山  /  安禄山 , Pinyin Ān Lùshān ; * 703 ; † 757 ) began an uprising named after him, the An Lushan Rebellion (755-763) against the Tang dynasty , which heralded the downfall .

Life

An Lushan was a high-ranking general in command of Fan-yang (in what is now Beijing ). Historical sources seem to indicate that he paternal Iran - Sogdian and maternal western Chinese Turk was -Abstammung. In 736 he appeared in history with a defeat against the Kitan and was even supposed to be executed. People of his origin were encouraged by the first minister Li Linfu († 752), who wanted to create a counterweight to unreliable officials of Chinese origin. An Lushan soon held three command posts, his cousin An Ssu-hsun two. In addition, the post in the censorate and the trust of Emperor Xuanzong came in 747 , so that all in all he rose to the position of governor of the northern provinces. In 751 he suffered a heavy defeat against the Kitan after a victory in the previous year.

In addition, he became the adopted son of the imperial favorite concubine Yang Guifei in 751 (regardless of the actual circumstances) . Maybe he was her lover. In any case, he was her friend until the outbreak of the revolt, with constant access to her "events".

When An Lushan lost the power struggle against Yang Guozhong (the cousin of Yang Guifei) at court, he instigated an uprising in 755. The situation between the two rivals has been extremely tense since Li Linfu’s death . Yang Guozhong, now first minister, promoted General Geshu Han against An Lushan, his cousin and followers. Apparently there were also murder attempts, because in 754 An Lushan's return trip from the court was more like an escape. The emperor did nothing to separate the two rivals or to limit their power.

Coincidentally, Central China was just hit by famine due to drought and floods that year, which made An Lushan easy to find supporters. There were also other internal problems of the Tang .

An Lushan entered Luoyang in December 755 , defeated the Tang troops under Geshu Han between the fortress Tung-kuan and the Yellow River, took Geshu Han prisoner and was able to occupy Chang'an in June 756 . The emperor Xuanzong fled to Chengdu . Chang'an was pillaged. While on the run, the helpless emperor had to execute the first minister Yang Guozhong and the concubine Yang Guifei under pressure from his guards, as they were held responsible for the An Lushan uprising.

Emperor Xuanzong abdicated and his son Suzong (756–762) came to power in Gansu in his place . He called the barbarians , especially the Uyghur cavalry, to help and was able to recapture Chang'an and Luoyang in October 757. This was made possible primarily through the murder of An Lushan at the beginning of 757, instigated by his own son An Qingxu. Apparently it was about the treatment of the military leaders. (An Lushan is said to have suddenly gone blind beforehand.)

An Qingxu then got into an argument with his father's military leaders and finally fell in 759 at the hands of an ex-general. This Shi Siming was able to occupy Luoyang again in the summer of 760 and was also murdered by his own son. The uprising did not end until January 763, as the government had to clean up the remains of the rebels and keep the nomads (including Tibetans 763 in Chang'an) away.

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. An is the family name here, Lushan is the first name.