War of the Eight Princes

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Areas of power of the eight princes at the beginning of the civil war (291).
Battles in the War of the Eight Princes

The War of the Eight Princes (Chinese bawang zhi luan ) was a civil war in ancient China of the Jin Dynasty , which lasted from 291 to 306.

The eight princes

The conflict got its name because of its participants, who as members of the ruling dynasty fought against each other for supremacy in the country. The central counterparties were:

Causes of the Civil War

One of the main reasons for the Eight Princes' civil war was the distribution of land by the ruling Jin Dynasty. The imperial family tried to provide as many members of the family as possible with large estates; the princes (a total of 27 were appointed) could fall back on strong reserves and had their own armies. The central government had also not succeeded in eliminating the other powerful families, so many of them maintained private militias (buqu) of up to 5,000 men. In addition, the government in Luoyang began to demobilize its own armies in 280, which further weakened the position of the emperor against the nobility.

course

Jin Huidi ascends to the throne

From 265, Emperor Jin Wudi ruled the Jin Empire. In 280 he had also completed the unification of China and thus ended the period of the Three Kingdoms . According to sources, his eldest son and heir, Crown Prince Sima Zhong, had very little intellectual intelligence and there were votes at court to appoint another Crown Prince. The emperor therefore decided to test his son's skills. According to tradition, Sima Zhong's wife, Jia Nanfeng , found someone who was able to answer the emperor's questions and passed the answers on to her husband. So he was able to pass the test of his father and remained crown prince. Emperor Wudi died in 290 and his son Sima Zhong ascended the throne of China as Jin Huidi .

The "Tyranny" of Jia Nanfeng; Sima Liang and Sima Wei passed away

As empress, Jia Nanfeng is said to have displayed tyrannical behavior and lived sexually dissolute. Allegedly, Jin Dynasty sources claim, she killed several of her lovers. She had the Empress Mother grabbed Yang and locked her up. She starved herself to death in custody. Yang's father, the regent Yang Jun, was also overthrown on April 23 or 24, 291. Jia Nanfeng then appointed Prince Sima Liang, the first of the so-called eight princes, to be Prime Minister. A younger brother of the emperor, Sima Wei, became the commandant of the troops in the capital. A few weeks later, Sima Wei led an attack on the prime minister, in which he was killed. Apparently Sima Wei acted on behalf of the emperor and the empress. However, Jia Nanfeng's involvement was subsequently veiled; An imperial edict alleged that Sima Wei acted on her own initiative against Sima Liang without the emperor's permission. Thereupon he lost the support of his troops. Jia Nanfeng has now arrested Sima Wei. He was executed on May 27, 291. At the court, Jia Nanfeng began to replace long-established dignitaries with her favorites over the next few years. To safeguard her power, she allegedly used a ruse to force her husband's son and another woman, Sima Yu, to commit suicide. Sima Yu's mother, wife and child were also killed.

Jia Nanfeng is overthrown by Sima Lun and Sima Jiong

With the death of Sima Yu, Jia Nanfeng turned large parts of the imperial family against her and some of her followers turned away from her. In 30000, the emperor's half-brother Sima Lun and his relative Sima Jiong marched into the capital, Luoyang, and arranged for Jia Nanfeng to be arrested. The empress was executed a little later.

Rebellion of Sima Jiong against Sima Lun

After the execution of the empress, Sima Lun took over the reign of Emperor Jin Huidi, but wanted to take over the throne and crown herself emperor. An opposition to Sima Lun then formed, within which Prince Sima Jiong played a central role. Sima Jiong's revolt was successful; Sima Lun was militarily beaten and executed in 301. The reign now fell to Sima Jiong.

Rebellion of Sima Yong, Sima Ying and Sima Ai against Sima Jiong

Incited by an intrigue and a forged edict, Prince Sima Yong rose against the central government under Sima Jiong a short time later. He received support from Sima Ying and Sima Ai. This phase of the conflict was already decided in 302: Sima Jiong was beaten and killed by the Emperor's brother, Sima Ai.

Sima Ai's rise and fall

During the civil war, Sima Ai supported the two princes Sima Yong and Sima Ying in their rebellion against the imperial regent Sima Jiong. He defeated Sima Jiong's army in 302, killed him and was thus able to become regent for the emperor himself. Since Sima Yong was not satisfied with Sima Ai's gained position of power and had hoped for more from the rebellion for himself, he instigated Sima Ying to fight with him against Sima Ai. An attempt to diplomatically divide the empire between the two failed because of Sima Ai's refusal. During the fighting, he was betrayed by soldiers and officers of his army and handed over to the enemy General Zhang Fang . He had Sima Ai burned alive.

Sima Yong's conquest of Luoyang

After the victory over Sima Ai, power first fell to Sima Ying, as he had a larger army and, as the emperor's brother, also had more legitimacy than Sima Yong. But Sima Ying ultimately did not succeed in stabilizing the empire permanently. There were a number of revolts by governors and non-Chinese groups. In 304 Sima Yue rose against him, but was defeated in the Battle of Tangyin on September 9th. Sima Ying's power sank very quickly afterwards. This created a power vacuum in the capital, Luoyang. Sima Yong then sent a force of 20,000 men under the command of Zhang Fang to take them, which they succeeded. Zhang Fang took control of the city-based Emperor Jin Huidi and abducted him to Chang'an .

Sima Yue's rebellion against Sima Yong

Sima Yong had formally deposed Sima Ying as regent, but his reign should not last very long either. In 305 Sima Yue, the last of the eight princes, rebelled against him to free the emperor and escort him back to Luoyang. Sima Yue was related to Sima Yi through his grandfather . He held the title of Prince of Donghai . In January 306, a force under the command of Sima Yue's allies Sima Xiao and Liu Kun crossed the Bian River near Guandu and defeated an army of Sima Yong near Xiao (present-day Anhui Province ). Sima Yong's general Liu Qiao fled to Nanyang after his defeat and Liu Kun was able to occupy Xuchang , which willingly opened its gates. Faced with impending defeat, Sima Yong killed his general Zhang Fang and sent Sima Yue's head to mediate peace; this did not materialize, however, because Sima Yue refused to negotiate with Sima Yong. Weng later, in March 306, Chang'an fell to an army of Liu Kun and the emperor was brought back to Luoyang, now under the control of Sima Yue. This then appointed himself taifu and thus the de facto regent of the country. The mercenaries of the Xianbei and Wuhuan who fought in Sima Yue's army played an important role in his victory over Sima Yong . Sima Ying was caught on the run that same year and executed by imperial edict. Sima Yong and his sons were killed a little later, probably between January 8th and February 19th, 307, in an ambush Sima Yue, which ended the war of the eight princes.

consequences

Sima Yue had ultimately won the War of the Eight Princes; other conflicts and civil wars, which had already started in parallel, continued during his reign. During the civil war, with its changing alliances, several Chinese princes and generals had concluded agreements with foreign peoples to attract new troops. These foreign groups, especially the Tuoba , Tibetans , Xianbei and the Xiongnu tribes , then poured inland. Their strength had increased by 280 after the Jin troops demobilized. Combined with famine and natural disasters, this led to large population shifts. Many locals fled to southern China, while barbaric kingdoms emerged in the north. Sima Yue failed to keep the newcomers under control. He died in 311 of complications from stress . A little later, the Jin Empire split in half and the time of the Western Jin Dynasty came to an end.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jessey JC Choo: The Debate on Moving the Capital Back to Luoyang. In: Wendy Swartz et al. a. (Ed.): Early Medieval China. A Sourcebook, New York 2014 p. 18.
  2. ↑ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer: Military aspects of the War of the Eight Princes 300-307, in: Nicola di Cosmo (ed.): Military Culture in Imperial China, Cambridge u. a. 2009, p. 114.
  3. ↑ Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer: History of China up to the Mongol conquest 250 BC Chr. -1279 AD (Outlines of History 26), Munich 1999, p. 42.
  4. ↑ Lim SK .: Chinese Imperial Women, 2nd ed., 2010 Singapore, p. 66.
  5. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 115.
  6. ↑ Lily Xiao Hong Lee / AD Stefanowska / Sue Wiles: Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 BCE - 618 CE, London / New York 2007, p. 305.
  7. ^ Lim SK, p. 67.
  8. ↑ Xiao Hong Lee / Stefanowska / Wiles, p. 305.
  9. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 127.
  10. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 128.
  11. ↑ Ibid.
  12. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 130.
  13. ↑ David Knechtges / Taiping Chang (ed.): Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature, Vol. 1. A Reference Guide, Leiden / Boston, p. 542.
  14. ↑ Ibid.
  15. ^ Robin Yates / Ralph Sawyer, p. 116.
  16. ↑ David Knechtges / Taiping Chang, p. 543.
  17. ^ Yates / Sawyer 2009, p. 134.
  18. ^ Yates / Sawyer 2009, p. 135
  19. ↑ Helwig Schmidt-Glintzer, p. 42.
  20. ^ Yates / Sawyer 2009, p. 136