An Lushan Rebellion

Tang Dynasty around 700

The An Lushan Rebellion ( Chin.安史之亂, Ān Shǐ Zhīluàn ) against the Tang Dynasty , named after its leader, shook much of China in the 8th century AD . It was triggered on December 16, 755 by the military governor An Lushan (* 703 , † 757 ) and ended on February 17, 763 with a Pyrrhic victory of the imperial troops, which ushered in the decline of the Tang Empire.

To Lushan

An Lushan was a high-ranking general and supreme commander of Fan-yang (in what is now Beijing ). He was of Sogdian origin on his father's side and Turkic on his mother's side . His father An Yanyan was an officer in the Turkish service, his mother belonged to the Ashina clan . In particular, military personnel of foreign descent such as Sogdier (Chinese hu ), who formed a minority in China, were encouraged by Chancellor Li Linfu , who wanted to counterbalance the large group of unreliable and corrupt officials of Chinese origin.

After assuming responsibility for a total of three command posts, being appointed censor, imperial adviser, governor of the northern provinces and adoption by the imperial favorite concubine Yang Guifei , he instigated an uprising against the emperor in 755. Due to the famine in central China that year, numerous supporters gathered around An Lushan, which enabled him to declare his own inner-Chinese state called Yan .

Warring parties

As warring parties, the Tang Dynasty and the inner-Chinese state of Yan, founded by An Lushan, faced each other with the following military leaders: Tang Xuanzong , Tang Suzong , Tang Daizong , Feng Changqing, Gao Xianzhi, Geshu Han, Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Zhang Xun ( all Tang), An Lushan, An Qingxu, Shi Siming , Shi Chaoyi (all Yan). From time to time, 600,000–700,000 soldiers fought on the side of the emperor against 200,000–300,000 soldiers from Yan, spread over several theaters of war throughout the Reich.

Course of the war

In the summer of 756, An Lushan's attack turned into a large-scale offensive. An Lushan occupied the imperial city of Chang'an . The emperor fled and, under popular pressure, had his ministers executed, who were held responsible for the war. At the end of 756 the emperor had to abdicate. His son took over the government and formed an alliance with the Uyghurs who came to his aid. With heavy losses he was able to retake Chang'an in October 757 and initially fend off further attacks. In February 757, An Lushan was assassinated by his own son. In the summer of 760, the government troops captured Luoyang , the rebel capital. But the war was carried on by An Lushan's general Shi Siming ; hence the name An-Shi-Rebellion as an alternative name to An-Lushan-Rebellion . It wasn't until early 763 that the last of the insurgents were defeated.

consequences of war

From the fact that the census in 754 showed a population of almost 53 million, while the census of 764 only around 17 million, older accounts of the An Lushan rebellion concluded that 36 million Chinese were killed, around two Third of the population. In fact, this drastic slump primarily documents the collapse of the bureaucracy as a result of the war - and with it the possibility of carrying out a comprehensive census. How great the population losses actually were cannot be determined. What is certain is that the An Lushan Rebellion devastated large parts of the country and permanently weakened the Tang Dynasty. China lost its political influence over the neighboring peoples, Uyghurs and Tibetans gained power and independence.

Individual evidence

^ Wolfram Eberhard : History of China. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 413). 3rd, expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-520-41303-5 , pp. 224-228.
^ Charles Patrick Fitzgerald : Consequences of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan upon the Population of the T'ang Dynasty . In: Philobiblon (Nanking), vol. 2, issue 1 (September 1947), pp. 4-11.
^ Edward Schafer: The Golden Peaches of Samarkand . University of California Press, Berkeley / Cambridge University Press, London 1963, p. 280, footnote 18 (to p. 9).
^ Edwin George Pulleyblank : The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1955, pp. 175-176.
^ Edwin George Pulleyblank: Registration of population in China in the Sui and T'ang periods . In: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , Vol. 4 (1961). ISSN 0022-4995 . Pp. 289-301.
^ Wolfram Eberhard: History of China. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 413). 3rd, expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-520-41303-5 , p. 227.

[1] Wolfram Eberhard : History of China. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 413). 3rd, expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-520-41303-5 , pp. 224-228.

[2] Charles Patrick Fitzgerald : Consequences of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan upon the Population of the T'ang Dynasty . In: Philobiblon (Nanking), vol. 2, issue 1 (September 1947), pp. 4-11.

[3] Edward Schafer: The Golden Peaches of Samarkand . University of California Press, Berkeley / Cambridge University Press, London 1963, p. 280, footnote 18 (to p. 9).

[4] Edwin George Pulleyblank : The Background of the Rebellion of An Lu-shan . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1955, pp. 175-176.

[5] Edwin George Pulleyblank: Registration of population in China in the Sui and T'ang periods . In: Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient , Vol. 4 (1961). ISSN 0022-4995 . Pp. 289-301.

[6] Wolfram Eberhard: History of China. From the beginnings to the present (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 413). 3rd, expanded edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-520-41303-5 , p. 227.