| Battle of Talas | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of theMuslim conquest of Transoxiana | |||||||||
 Scheme of the battle | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Abbasid Caliphate Tibetan Empire | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Chinese sources: 200,000 20,000–30,000 Karluks[2][3] Modern estimate: 30,000[3] | Chinese sources: 10,000–20,000 Tang soldiers[2][3] 20,000–30,000 Karluks (later defected to Abbasid side)[2][3] Arab sources: 100,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Unknown | Chinese sources: 20,000–30,000 killed[1][4] ~2,000 survived and retreated[2] Arab sources: 45,000–50,000 killed[5] 20,000–25,000 captured[5] | ||||||||
TheBattle of Talas (Chinese:怛羅斯戰役;pinyin:Dáluósī Zhànyì;Arabic:معركة نهر طلاس,romanized: Maʿrakat nahr Ṭalās) was an armed confrontation between theAbbasid Caliphate along with theTibetan Empire against theTang dynasty and its allies in 751. In July of that year, the Tang and Abbasid armies clashed at theTalas River over control of the regions surrounding theSyr Darya. The Tang army underGao Xianzhi was defeated by the Abbasid army underZiyad ibn Salih [ar] and Karluk mercenaries. Sources differ on whether the Karluks defected to the Abbasids or if they were Abbasid allies from the start. The defeat marked the end of Tang influence in Transoxiana and halted Tang westward expansion.
After the battle, the caliph dispatched an envoy to the emperor, who arrived in December 752 to negotiate the restoration of diplomatic relations.[6] Chinese prisoners captured at Talas in 751 are said to have introducedpapermaking to the peoples ofWest Asia, although this account is disputed by several findings.
The exact location of the battle has not been confirmed but is believed to be nearTaraz andTalas, on the border between present-dayKazakhstan andKyrgyzstan. The Chinese name怛羅斯;Dáluósī was first seen in the account ofXuanzang.Du Huan located the city near the western drain of theChui River.[1]
The oasis towns on theSilk Road in central Asia had once been controlled by theTürgesh, but theTurkic tribal confederation plunged into chaos in the latter half of the 7th century.Empress Wu had retaken control of theTarim Basin from theTibetan Empire in 692 as part of theTang expansion in Inner Asia and the oasis towns became a major source of income for the Tang. In 705,Qutayba ibn Muslim started to lead the Umayyad army on campaigns to conquer towns across along the Silk Road, exploiting Türgesh infighting.[7] The caliphate conquered the oasis townsBukhara andSamarkand, expanding the border of their empire eastwards. At the same time, the Türgesh khaganSuluk began uniting the infighting Türgesh tribes.[8] The Muslim, Tibetan and Tang armies would have two encounters. In 715,Alutar was established as king ofFergana with the help of Umayyad and Tibetan soldiers. The deposedIkhshid fled to the Tang controlledKuqa and requested the aid ofEmperor Xuanzong of Tang; 10,000 Tang soldiers reinstated Ikhshid as Fergana's king. In 717, Umayyad soldiers, assisted by the Tibetan Empire, besiegedAksu City in the Tarim Basin, but were defeated by the Tang military in theBattle of Aksu.
In 715, the Tang emperor declined the demand of the Türgesh tribe leader Suluk to be recognized as Khagan, 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 ofAshina Xian.[9] Suluk and his soldiers regularly challenged Umayyad–Tang control of the oasis towns. Before Suluk's death, his soldiers were defeated by the Tang in 736 and by the Caliphate in 737.[10] At the same time, Türgesh tribes established metal industries in Tang-controlledFergana Valley, an area that was also home to important centres of iron production. TheKarluks, a federation of three Türgesh tribes with settlements aroundTian Shan, were producers and exporters of iron weapons to the Tibetan Empire and the Tang dynasty.[11]
In 747, the Tang generalGao Xianzhi, who had successfully fought the Tibetan empire in thePamir Mountains, established control over theGilgit region. In early 748, the Abbasid generalAbu Muslim occupiedMerv, the capital ofGreater Khorasan, and went on to lead what has become known as theAbbasid Revolution. In 750,Abu al-'Abbas al-Saffah was proclaimed the first Abbasid caliph in the great mosque ofKufa. TheUmayyad Caliphate fell in 750 at theBattle 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.[1] In Fergana, the Tang general Gao Xianzhi raised an army by recruiting Karluk Turks. During the reign ofLalitaditya Muktapida, theKarkota dynasty of Kashmir that acknowledged the Tang as suzerain or their vassal lord, supported the Chinese against the Tibetans.[13] According to art historians Denise Patry Leidy and Donna K. Strahan, Kashmir "helped defeat the Arabas at the Battle of Talas in 751".[14]
The confrontation first emerged during the incident in the land of Shash (modernTashkent). TheIkhshid of Ferghana came into conflict with the king of Shash and sought assistance from the Chinese ruler.Gao Xianzhi, the commander who led an army of Tang and Karluk soldiers against the kingdom of Shi (Shash) in Tashkent. The king of Shi surrendered and submitted to Chinese authority, after which he and his followers were treated without harm but Gao's army plundered the city anyways. The king was brought back to the Tang capital ofChang'an where he was executed by order ofEmperor Xuanzong of Tang. The king's son then sought assistance from the Abbasids in the year 133 AH / 751 CE.[2][15][16]
The number of the combatants involved in the battle of Talas are not known with certainty. According to Chinese sources, the Abbasid army consisted of 200,000 soldiers, included contingents from their Tibetan ally. On the opposite side, Arabic records put the combined Chinese forces at 100,000. Chinese sources record a combined army of 30,000 consisting of 10,000 Tang infantry and 20,000 Karluk mercenaries.[17] A Western estimate of Abbasid forces puts them at 30,000 strong.[3]
TheTongdian (801), the earliest narrative for battle itself by either side, suggests 30,000 deaths, and theOld Book of Tang (945) counted 20,000 deaths in this battle.[1] Arabic sources estimate Chinese casualties at between 45,000 and 50,000 dead, along with 20,000 to 25,000 captured.[18] Gao Xianzhi's official position was that of the Anxi Jiedu envoy,[19] 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.[20]
Gao Xianzhi was crossing thePamirs on his return trip to China when he received news of the advancing Arab army. He turned back to confront the Arab army, catching them on the southern bank of the Talas River near the modern city ofTaraz. In July 751, the Arab advance guard spotted the Tang forces and opted to hold their ground by digging trenches and forming a densely packed shield and spear formation. They held out until the main army under the command of Ziyad arrived, forcing the Tang forces to retreat to Taraz.[3]
The sequence of 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 with greater accuracy and ranged superiority in crossbows.[21][22] For five days, the two armies fought to a stalemate using similar tactics. They formed a shield wall with their infantry, behind which the archers shot volleys of arrows. Occasionally cavalry would charge the enemy and attempt to make a breakthrough.[3]
The Karluk mercenaries, two-thirds of the Tang army, defected to the Abbasids on the fifth day of the battle. Karluk troops attacked the Tang army from the rear while the main Abbasid forces attacked from the front. Gao's troops held out until nightfall before managing to retreat to their camp escape with some of his Tang regulars. Despite the defeat, Gao wanted to continue the battle the next day, however his lieutenantLi Siye convinced him that such a path would lead to their complete destruction. The next morning, the Tang forces started retreating eastward across theTian Shan mountain range. While they were crossing the mountains, their former Ferghanese allies suddenly attacked them. With the help of Li Siye, who led what remained of the armored cavalry to cut a path out of the encirclement, Gao and many his officers managed to escape, but most of their troops were captured. Out of an estimated 10,000 or 20,000 Tang troops, less than 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 byDuan Xiushi.[23][2][24][3]
Islamic sources give a different account of the battle. According to these sources, the Tang aided the recently deposedUmayyad Caliphate against theAbbasids inBukhara andSogdiana. The two sides engaged in a contest over theSilk Road and its neighboring kingdoms, resulting in the battle in 751, where the Abbasids defeated the Tang army.[5] According toal-Maqdisi andIbn al-Athir, approximately, 45,000 to 50,000 Chinese soldiers were killed and 20,000 to 25,000 fell as captives. as Arabic sources claim that the Tang commander, Gao Xianzhi, was also killed in action during the battle.[16] As this battle would not have been mentioned were it not for the fact that it determined the fate of Transoxiana, particularly in cultural and political terms. It marked the withdrawal of Tang political influence and the permanent retreat of Chinese civilization, as well as end of Tang expansion from Transoxania,[25] leaving it to fall under the control of Islamic political power first, and then under the enduring influence of Islamic civilization in religion, thought, art, and traditions to this day.[26] It also resulted in Tang being sidelined from the ongoing struggle between the Arabs and both the eastern and western Turks, bringing an end to the long-standing political, military, and economic cooperation between the Turks and the Tang Empire. This cooperation subsequently shifted from eastern to western Turkestan, meaning that after the battle the Turks changed their sphere of orientation and influence. They were left to confront Islamic power on their own, relying solely on their own efforts and resources. This led to their fragmentation, with some Turkic groups being allied with the Arabs while others opposed them for a long period, before eventually becoming integrated into Islamic civilization.[26] Finally, the Tang Empire was compelled to accept Muslim control over the major international trade routes passing through Transoxania. These routes had long been the reason for China's involvement in Turkic affairs, but from this point onward, their various branches and paths came under Muslim control.[26][27]
According to the 13th century historian,Al-Dhahabi, the Karluks had always been allied with the Abbasid army and entered the battle on their side. Historian Filippo Donvito speculates that the Karluks were simply biding their time to get rid of their Chinese overlords, who had by that time a long history of conquest in Central Asia while the Arabs were still relative newcomers, regardless of what agreement they had with Ziyad.[3]
From one perspective, the battle has been interpreted to be of great significance. The Arab-Islamic civilization prevailed over the Chinese civilization in Transoxania, consolidating Abbasid control of the region and the Silk Road, severing the alliance between the Chinese and the Turks, leading the submission and Islamization of the Turkic principalities,[28] and forcing the Tang withdraw from Central Asia west of Xinjiang,[29][30][31][32][33][28] marking the decline of the Tang Empire.[34][35] Another perspective argues that the battle was of no strategic importance. The Abbasid victory secured the permanent establishment of Islam up to theAmu Syr region and caused the decline ofCentral Asian Buddhism,[36] but no significant loss or gain of territory occurred and the borders remained relatively unchanged. The Muslims continued to solidify their control over western Central Asia and the battle was viewed as a mere border skirmish.[37] Relations between the Abbasids and the Tang went back to normal almost immediately and four visits by Arab envoys to the Tang court are recorded from 752 to 753. In 755, theAn Lushan rebellion forced the Tang to withdraw troops from theProtectorate General to Pacify the West, ending their presence in Central Asia.[38][39][40]
The Chinese historian Bai notes that at the same time that the Battle of Talas was taking place, the Tang also sent an army toSuyab and consolidated Chinese control over theTurgesh. Tang commanderFeng Changqing, who replacedGao Xianzhi, recapturedGilgit two years later. Shash (Tashkent) re-established its vassal status in 753 when its ruler received titles from the Tang. Central Asian states under Muslim control, such asSamarkand, continued to request aid from the Tang against the Abbasids.Ferghana, which participated in the battle earlier, joined the central Asian auxiliaries with the Chinese army and entered Gansu under summons during the An Lushan Rebellion in 756.[41]
In 752 CE, an embassy from theAfshin, which was a Sogdian title used for the ruler ofPrincipality of Ushrusana, arrived at the Tang court requesting aid against the Abbasids.[26][42][43]Emperor Xuanzong declined the request for military assistance, instead asking the Afshin to maintain peace in the region, possibly reflecting the Tang assessment of Abbasid military strength and a desire to avoid further conflict in Central Asia. While no direct Tang response against Ushrusana is recorded, according toal-Nasafi, Ziyad ibn Salih was dispatched by Abu Muslim against Barkath, described as a village in Ushrusana, where he killed the localdihqan, though it remains unclear whether these events were connected to the embassy.[44] Chinese sources mentioned that In 754, all nine kingdoms of Western Turkestan sent petitions to the Tang to attack the Abbasids, which the Tang continued to turn down as it did for decades.[41]
According to a text byAl-Maqdisi, one of the few Arabic sources on the battle that has survived, Abbasid generalAbu Muslim took 5,000 Chinese prisoners and confiscated possessions from the Tang military camp. Abu Muslim prepared his forces to invade further into Tang controlled territory, however he was called back by the caliphAs-Saffah to serve as governor ofKhurasan.[45] The Abbasids took the kingdom of Shash and coerced the Tang army to evacuate theGilgit region. In spite of this, the Tang retained considerable influence over eastern Central Asia. In 753, Tang forces under Feng Changqing recovered the kingdoms ofLittle and Great Balur in the Gilgit region. They also appointed a Turgesh khan over the tribes in the former territory of theWestern Turkic Khaganate.[46][47][48][49][50][51]
After the Battle of Talas, Military and political cooperation was severed for a considerable period between the Tang dynasty and the Eastern Turkic princes. With Chinese removed from the battlefield, it became inevitable for the Turkic princes to face the Abbasids alone, which led to their division. A segment of them sided with the Arabs, convinced that there was no benefit in continuing the fight, while the other segment no longer posed a serious threat but was limited to conducting hit-and-run raids.[52]
One of the outcomes of the Abbasid consolidation over Transoxania well into the mid-thirteen century, which Islam spread among the turkic people.[25] a small number of Karluks converted to Islam. However, the majority would not convert until the mid-10th century, whenSultan Satuq Bughra Khan established theKara-Khanid Khanate.[53][54][55][56][57] Despite fighting against the Tang in 751, the Tang continued to exert influence over the Karluks, who never again opposed the Chinese. In 752, theKarluk Yabghus sent two diplomatic missions to the Tang to cultivate closer relations, probably due to their unsuccessful efforts to overthrow theUyghur Khaganate. In 753, the Karluk Yabghus submitted to the army of Cheng Qianli and accepted appointment as Tang bridle officials. In late 753, the Karluks captured Abuz Yabghu, a Tang general of Turkic descent who had defected to theTongluo chief earlier in 743. As a reward, the Karluk Yabghu Tun Bilga was given the title of "Khagan of the Turgish" as well as the title of a Tang commandery prince on 22 October. An additional 130 tribal leaders who visited the Tang court were given substantial rewards, including official positions and material rewards. The Karluks' relationship with the Tang started drifting apart once again after the An Lushan Rebellion, and they migrated west.[58][40] The Karluks expanded their settlements aroundTian Shan, and also settled westwards in Abbasid-controlledFergana andTukharistan. Iron weapons continued to be exported to Tibet and China on the Silk Roads betweenKuqa andAksu near theTarim Basin. Arabic sources record that in the 10th century Aksu and Fergana had markets for arms traders.[11]
Caliph al-Saffah died in 754. Chinese sources record that his successor, the Abbasid caliphal-Mansur, sent his diplomatic delegations regularly to China. Al-Mansur's delegations were known in China asKhayi Tashi (Black Clothes).[59]
During the reign of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mansur (140–158 AH/757–775 CE), the Abbasid forces re-established control over Transoxiana and ended the Tang military presence in the region. The Chinese were unable to form a successful alliance with the Turkic forces of Transoxiana against the Abbasids. As a result, Muslim forces faced only the armies of the Turkic rulers without Chinese support. The Turkic groups, lacking external support, were unable to mount effective resistance against the Abbasid forces, and their political cohesion weakened.[60] They fragmented into smaller entities with limited regional influence, such as the Karluk principality east of the Syr Darya in 766 CE and the Oghuz in the same region. The Turkic groups were no longer able to form a unified military coalition or challenge Abbasid control of Transoxiana, and their activities were largely confined to occasional raids on its frontiers.[61]
Following Tang's decline in the region in the early years of Caliph al-Mansur's reign, Turkic resistance to Abbasid authority weakened significantly. The Abbasids maintained a defensive posture against potential movements by the Eastern Turks and suppressed local unrest in the frontier region. During this period, the most notable conflict on the eastern frontier involved the Ferghana Kingdom. Its ruler, Fanran ibn Afrakfun, either attacked trade caravans, refused to pay tribute to al-Mansur, or resisted Islamic expansion.[62] In response, Caliph al-Mansur dispatchedLayth ibn Tarif, who besieged the ruler in his capital,Kashgar. After a sustained campaign, the ruler of Ferghana was forced to negotiate peace and agree to pay a substantial sum. He subsequently sent one of his men, known as Batijur, toBaghdad, likely either to finalize the settlement with the Abbasid court or as a hostage to guarantee compliance.[62][63] According to Arabic sources, This action served to discourage other regional rulers from challenging Abbasid authority, particularly given concerns that the Tang forces might exploit regional instability to avenge their earlier defeat at Talas.[63]
Caliph al-Mansur established friendly relations with the Chinese. Historical sources mention a series of successive Arab embassies after the Battle of Talas. in 756, Abu Ja'far al-Mansur provided the ChineseEmperor Xuanzong of Tang with a contingent of 3,000 to 4,000 soldiers to suppress the rebellion that erupted against him. After suppressing this rebellion, the Emperor allowed them to settle in China's most important cities as a reward for the assistance they provided to the Emperor. Over time, these Arabs married Chinese women, and a new generation emerged, from whom came the Muslims of China.[64][65]
As a result of these good relations between both sides – the Abbasids and the Chinese – Arab merchants settled in China. They had a judge (qadi) who issued rulings according to Islamic law, led prayers, and performed Islamic rituals. The Chinese Empire granted Arabs special facilities for selling their goods, and the Emperor himself would order the purchase of some of these goods for his personal account. Thus, Arabs were able to penetrate deep into the country and practice trade with complete freedom. For a long time, Arabs found complete welcome there, to the extent that the shops of major Chinese merchants would supply Arab traders with all the products and fine manufactures they needed from their lands to be shipped in Arab caravans upon their return to the lands of Islam.[64]
The Abbasids continued to send embassies to China and 13 diplomatic gifts are recorded between 752 and 798.[66]
A massacre of foreign Muslim merchants by Tian Shengong, a former rebel who defected to the Tang, happened during the An Lushan rebellion in theYangzhou massacre (760).[67]
The Tibetan Empire began attacking China, during a period where the Tibetan army also conquered territory in theHindu Kush andPamir Mountains from Indian kingdoms and assisted the establishment of the eastern IndianPala Empire in the latter half of the 8th century.[68] Under the fifth Abbasid caliphHarun al-Rashid, a military alliance was established with the Tang andUyghurs, who engaged the Tibetan army on the western Tibetan frontier with the Abbasids. At the same time, the Uyghurs fought the Tibetans along the Silk Road.[69]
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 byBuddhist monks, had regularly visited the Tang court.[13] Chinese Buddhism developed into an independent religion with distinct spiritual elements, such asPure Land Buddhism andZen. China became the center ofEast Asian Buddhism, creating acanon and spreading on to Japan and Korea.[71] The Battle of Talas did not mark the end of Buddhism or Chinese influence in the region. The BuddhistKara-Khitan Khanate defeated theSeljuk and Kara-Khanid Turks at theBattle of Qatwan in 1141, conquering a large part of central Asia from the KarlukKara-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,[72][73] and the Kara-Khitans used Chinese as an official language.[74] The Kara-Khitan rulers were called "the Chinese" by the Muslims.[75]
According to the 11th-century historianAl-Thaʽālibī, Chinese prisoners captured at the Battle of Talas in 751 introducedpaper manufacturing toSamarkand.[76][77] They engaged in the craft of papermaking while living on land occupied by the Abbasids following Talas.[5] However, this account is unlikely to be factual.Paper was already in use throughoutCentral Asia by the 8th century; paper fragments dating to the 4th and 5th centuries have been found in the areas ofTurpan andGaochang, and letters written in theSogdian language between the 4th and 6th centuries have been found inDunhuang andLoulan. One such letter 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 nearPanjakent at Mount Mugh, a mountain stronghold, that likely predate theMuslim 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 ofbast 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.[78]
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 assilk weaving were practiced by Chinese prisoners of war while living on territory controlled by the Abbasids. 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 inBaghdad during the 10th century, Chinese craftsmen made paper inKhorasan. It was only after the firstpaper mill was built inBaghdad in 794–795 that paper was manufactured throughout the Islamic world and paper started to replacepapyrus.[79]
Among the earliest historians who proclaimed the importance of this battle was the Russian historianVasily 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 WesternTurkestan as it determined the question which of the two civilizations, the Chinese or the Muslim, should predominate in the land [of Turkestan]."[80]
As Bartold stated regarding the battle: "the battle determined that the Arab civilization should prevail over Chinese civilization in the lands beyond the river [Transoxiana], and the influence of this civilization remains evident in many cities of this region."[81]
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 byIbn al Athir—which was brought down to 915. Neither Tabari nor early Arabic historical works make any mention of this; however, Athir's statement is confirmed by the ChineseHistory of the Tang Dynasty.[82]
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)However, the Muslim Arabs were reported to be encroaching upon his territory and his authority. In response, the emperor sent a powerful Chinese expedition to reestablish his power. The Chinese entered the upper Syr Darya Val-ley but were heavily defeated by the Arab forces (led by Ziyad ibn Salih) at the Battle of Talas. This victory effectively put an end to Chinese attempts to rule in Transoxiana and was soon followed by the final submission and conversion to Islam of the rulers of the Turkistani principalities.
After the fall of Bukhara, Abu Moslem's forces were able to subjugate or pacify other areas across the Oxus, including Ḵottal, Farḡāna, Šāš (Čāč), and Keš (qq.v). In these areas, many of the local rulers were hostile to Abu Moslem, and a coalition of them appealed to T'ang China for help. A large Chinese force was sent to assist the Eḵšid (q.v.), the Sogdian ruler of Farḡāna, against the king of Šāš, and Abu Moslem retaliated by sending Ziād, his governor in Samarqand, to attack the Chinese and their allies; the main battle took place at Aṭlaḵ (Ṭarāz or Talas) in July 751 and ended in the complete rout of the Chinese coalition. Rarely mentioned by the Muslim historians (an exception is Ebn al-Aṯir, V, p. 449), the battle was of decisive importance in breaking Chinese influence in the region and beginning the process of the integration of Transoxiana into Khorasan (see Barthold, pp. 195-96; Gibb, pp. 97-98; Karev, 2002, pp. 11-16; Haug, pp. 154-58).
While such rebellions continued, Abū Muslim also oversaw expansion into Transoxiana that took caliphal authority further beyond the River Jaxartes than ever before. Perhaps one of the more widely known events in the history of early Abbasid Central Asia is the famed Battle of Talās - also known as Tarāz or Atlakh an engagement between armies of the Abbasid and Tang Empires that took place in July 751 along the River Taraz 12 km southeast of the city of the same name at a place called Atlakh. This confrontation, often seen as a battle for control over western Central Asia, resulted in a victory for the Abbasids and began the retreat of the Tang from Central Asia. Following the outcome of the battle, it would be over 1,000 years before the Qing Dynasty (r. 1644-1912) would bring Chinese rule back to Central Asia. As Karev has argued, this was not some accidental meeting of the two empires but the direct result of the ambitions of Abū Muslim, committed to asserting Muslim control over Transoxiana in the aftermath of the Abbasid Revolution
The ensuing confrontation between the Arabs and the Chinese has usually been referred to in western accounts as the Battle of Talas, after the city and river of that name, but it seems to have involved extensive manoeuvring over a wide expanse of territory over the course of several days, which tends to support the idea that most if not all of the combatants were mounted (Beckwith). In the last week of July 751, Kao Hsien-chih's forces clashed with an Arab advance guard under the command of Sa'd ibn Hamid, not far from the city of Talas. Sa'd appears to have stood on the defensive, until the approach of the main army led by Ziyad ibn Salih forced the Chinese to fall back on their own supports. Kao then deployed for battle around the town of Atlakh, and the next day Ziyad attacked him there. Tang sources say that the fighting lasted for five days, with no significant advantage gained by either side. This certainly suggests skirmishing tactics, whether or not the Arabs and their allies were exchanging missiles with Kao's troops from a distance or attempting to deliver blows with swords or lances. Neither army seems to have fielded an equivalent of the fully armoured charging cavalry that had dominated the warfare of sixth century China, and which might have forced a decision much sooner. The experience of European medieval, eighteenth century and Napoleonic warfare shows that heavy cavalry, with their vital parts protected by armour, often suffered very light casualties in combat against their equivalents, and two sides so equipped skirmishing at a distance could easily do so for a protracted period without either being seriously weakened. Finally, on the fifth day of fighting, the stalemate was broken when the Qarluq Turks suddenly defected en masse to the Arabs. The Chinese, now outnumbered, succeeded in extricating themselves under cover of darkness and fell back to their camp, where Kao held a hurried council of war. He was apparently proposing to resume the fight on the following day despite the odds against him, but his deputy commander, Li Ssu-ych, persuaded him that this course would inevitably lead to the annihilation of his army. The next morning, therefore, the Tang began a retreat to the east along a narrow track leading across a range of hills which the Chinese called the Pai-shih Ling, or White Stone Mountains. But the Ferghanans had got there first, blocking the pass with their baggage animals and retreating troops. Li Ssu-yeh, at the head of the Chinese cavalry, literally cut his way through, hacking and beating their former allies to death until the survivors abandoned the path and allowed them through. Thanks to this ruthless act Kao Hsien-chih and many of his senior officers escaped, but several thousand of the Chinese rank-and-file were overtaken by the victorious Muslims and captured. The Chinese prisoners seem on the whole to have been well treated, and as is well known, some of those incarcerated in Samarkand taught the Arabs the secret of making paper a transfer of technology to the west that would eventually have momentous consequences. Another prisoner of war, Tu Huan, travelled as far as Baghdad, and after his release in 762 returned to Ch'ang-an and wrote a book about his experiences. Kao Hsien-chih salvaged his reputation from the defeat, and continued to command Chinese armies in the civil war which was to follow. But the T'ang never returned west of the Pamirs. The only recorded battle of pre-modern times between a great Chinese dynasty and its western equivalent had ended in a disastrous Chinese defeat
The end of the Umayyad Caliphate also saw the end of any serious resistance to Islam in western Central Asia. It also was the end of any Chinese intervention in the west, and the last battle of Talas (or Taraz) in July 751 marks that end. Ziyad ibn Salih, lieutenant of Abu Muslim, the architect of the defeat first of Nasr ibn Sayyar and then of the Umayyads in Iraq, had suppressed a revolt in Bukhara, and then marched against a combined Chinese and Turkish army near Talas. The ruler of Shash had invaded Ferghana, whose king had called for assistance from the Chinese, while Shash allied with the Arabs. The Turks were Karluks, who had replaced the Türgesh in this part of Central Asia. At the battle the Kariuks deserted the Chinese, who were defeated, and many captives were brought to Samarkand, where, it is reported, they started a paper making industry.
The Ikhshid is supposed to have also requested aid from the Chinese emperor, who sent 100,000 men to attack Shash and had its ruler executed. In any event, it is certain that the Abbasid intervention in Central Asian affairs brought the Chinese into the conflict. The Abbasid forces, commanded by Ziyād b. Şalih, attacked the Chinese in a terrific battle near the Taraz river in Dhu'l-Hijja 133 (June 751 The Abbasids won a great victory, killing 50,000 men and taking 20,000 prisoners. This was one of the most significant Abbasid accomplishments in Central Asia, as it marked the perma-nent supremacy of Islamic over Chinese influence there. It also provided the Abbasids with considerable booty, including some fabulous jewels and the secret of manufacturing paper.
To stop an Arab invasion in this region, 30,000 Chinese forces, under General Gao Xianzhi, engaged the Arabs near Atlakh on the banks of the Talas River. The Chinese army suffered a devastating military defeat when their western Turkish (Qarluq) allies deserted them on the battlefield, resulting in their ground support being spread too thin.Arab rule, Islamic civilization, and power would dominate the area during the next 150 years..[..].The ramifications of the Battle of Talas were enormous for China. The Arabs captured many Chinese papermakers who worked in factories near the river. The Arabs proceeded to learn the art, keeping the papermaking process a secret, and began to export paper from distribution points outside Baghdad at inflated prices to European markets. Chinese silk workers, who were also taken as prisoners after the Battle of Talas, passed on their craft to the Arab world as well, but the quality of silk produced in the Near East never equaled that of China. Moreover,the loss of these provinces marked the decline in power of the Tang Dynasty under Emperor Xuanzong. China lost control of its main trade route, the Silk Road , for the next half century.
it was also near the end of his reign that the long decline of the Tang Dynasty began. In 751 c.e., the Chinese were defeated at the Battle of Talas River by a Muslim ՙAbbāsid army. This ended China's presence in Central Asia.
An embassy from the Afshin, the Sogdian title for the king of Usrüshana, arrived at the Tang court in 752 and suggested a coordinated attack against the Arabs in 'black robes' or the Abbasids. In response, the Emperor Xuánzōng asked the Afshin to help keep the peace. We do not know of any direct response against the Afshin but, according to Nasafi, Ziyād b. Şalih was sent by Abū Muslim against Bärkath, which he calls a village of Usrüshana, where he killed the dihqan, but it is not clear if these events are related.
{{citation}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)42°31′30″N72°14′0″E / 42.52500°N 72.23333°E /42.52500; 72.23333
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