Battle of the Talas
| date | July / August 751 |
|---|---|
| place | On the Talas River near today's Taras ( Kazakhstan ) in northern Kyrgyzstan |
| output | Abbasid victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| unknown | unknown |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
Al-Hira - Jarmuk - Kadesia - Heliopolis - Nehawend - Constantinople I - Constantinople II - Talas
In the Battle of Talas in Taras the victorious Abbasid - Caliphate under General Ziyad ibn Salih 751 on the under the Korean General Gao Xianzhi after Transoxania had penetrated Chinese ( Tang Dynasty ). The battle marks the culmination of the Sino-Arab confrontation in Central Asia, which has spanned decades.
background
Chinese interests
Chinese interests in the region had existed for centuries. The 8th century in Asia was characterized by constant wars with changing alliances. Tang China was in constant conflict with the powerful Tibetan Empire, which under Songtsan Gampo became an important factor in Central Asia. In addition, the Chinese Empire was in conflict with the Uyghurs on the northwest border and Thai peoples in the south.
Despite these conflicts, China tried to gain control in Central Asia. For this they used less military means, but concluded treaties on trade and territories with local rulers.
Arab interests
In 651 the Sassanid Empire fell victim to the Arab conquest , after which the slow conquest of Central Asia began, which was not without setbacks. The Türgesch and local city lords in Sogdia successfully provided resistance for a long time, which could only be broken around 740. At the same time there was an open conflict between the Caliphate and the powerful Tang Dynasty Empire.
In 715 the first military conflicts between the two great powers broke out in what is now Afghanistan . In the following decades there were further battles between the Arab-Tibetan alliances, which had arisen out of similar interests, and the China of the Tang Dynasty for supremacy in Central Asia. When the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyad Caliphate in 750 , they intensified efforts to expand eastwards.
course
In 751, an Arab-led alliance of Arabs and local groups under the famous general Ziyad ibn Salih met the Chinese army and Gao Xianzhi. The battle ended in a victory for the Arab Alliance.
The reason for the Chinese defeat was possibly that the auxiliary troops fighting in the Chinese army ( Karluken , Oghusen ) defected to the Muslims , because Gao Xianzhi had turned them against him with the autocratic beheading of the Prince of Tashkent .
meaning
It was one of the decisive battles in world history (even if only viewed in retrospect, since the military defeat was less serious; besides, the victory did not attract much attention from contemporary chroniclers), as Chinese influence was pushed back and Islam was introduced to the Turkic peoples and Central Asia has been part of the Islamic world ever since. The Chinese prisoners included experts in papermaking , who are said to have brought this knowledge to the Islamic world (in fact, there were paper mills there a few decades before, as Chinese craftsmen were already there).
literature
- Christopher Beckwith: The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia. Princeton 1987, p. 108 ff.