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149-592: The An Lushan rebellion was a civil war in China that lasted from 755 to 763, at the approximate midpoint of the Tang dynasty (618–907). It began as a commandery rebellion attempting to overthrow and replace the Tang government with the rogue Yan dynasty . The rebels succeeded in capturing the imperial capital Chang'an after the emperor had fled to Sichuan, but eventually succumbed to internal divisions and counterattacks by

298-405: A 22% risk of falling into civil war in a given five-year period, while a country with no primary commodity exports has a 1% risk. When disaggregated, only petroleum and non-petroleum groupings showed different results: a country with relatively low levels of dependence on petroleum exports is at slightly less risk, while a high level of dependence on oil as an export results in slightly more risk of

447-584: A Christian couple in Luoyang of a Nestorian Christian Sogdian woman, Lady An (安氏) who died in 821 and her Nestorian Christian Han Chinese husband, Hua Xian (花献) who died in 827. These Han Chinese Christian men may have married Sogdian Christian women because of a lack of Han Chinese women belonging to the Christian religion, limiting their choice of spouses among the same ethnicity. Another epitaph in Luoyang of

596-684: A Nestorian Christian Sogdian woman also surnamed An was discovered and she was put in her tomb by her military officer son on 22 January 815. This Sogdian woman's husband was surnamed He (和) and he was a Han Chinese man and the family was indicated to be multiethnic on the epitaph pillar. In Luoyang, the mixed raced sons of Nestorian Christian Sogdian women and Han Chinese men had many career paths available for them. Neither their mixed ethnicity nor their faith were barriers and they were able to become civil officials, military officers, and to openly celebrate their Christian religion and support Christian monasteries. Vajrayana Buddhist master Amoghavajra assisted

745-483: A Shi prince had fled to the various states around the region and told them of Gao's treachery, causing them to align with the Abbasids. When Gao heard this, he made a pre-emptory attack with 30,000 soldiers against Abbasids, reaching a town of Atlakh (in modern Talas region of Kyrgyzstan ) near the city of Talas (in modern Kazakhstan ) and meeting Abbasid forces there. The armies fought bitterly for five days before

894-703: A State. (b) That the insurgent civil authority exercises de facto authority over the population within a determinate portion of the national territory. (c) That the armed forces act under the direction of an organized authority and are prepared to observe the ordinary laws of war. (d) That the insurgent civil authority agrees to be bound by the provisions of the Convention. According to a 2017 review study of civil war research, there are three prominent explanations for civil war: greed-based explanations which center on individuals' desire to maximize their profits, grievance-based explanations which center on conflict as

1043-401: A civil war as "a violent conflict within a country fought by organized groups that aim to take power at the center or in a region, or to change government policies". Ann Hironaka further specifies that one side of a civil war is the state . Stathis Kalyvas defines civil war as "armed combat taking place within the boundaries of a recognized sovereign entity between parties that are subject to

1192-506: A civil war rises approximately proportionately with the size of a country's population. There is a correlation between poverty and civil war, but the causality (which causes the other) is unclear. Some studies have found that in regions with lower income per capita, the likelihood of civil war is greater. Economists Simeon Djankov and Marta Reynal-Querol argue that the correlation is spurious, and that lower income and heightened conflict are instead products of other phenomena. In contrast,

1341-419: A civil war than national dependence on another primary commodity. The authors of the study interpreted this as being the result of the ease by which primary commodities may be extorted or captured compared to other forms of wealth; for example, it is easy to capture and control the output of a gold mine or oil field compared to a sector of garment manufacturing or hospitality services. A second source of finance

1490-587: A close ally of An Lushan, killed An Qingxu and usurped the leadership. Shi Siming ruled for two years, but was in turn killed by his own son Shi Chaoyi , who ruled for another two years until the Yan dynasty fell to Tang forces on 17 February 763. There were also other anti-Tang rebel forces, especially those in An Lushan's base area in Hebei , as well as Sogdian forces and other opportunist parties who took advantages of

1639-472: A common authority at the outset of the hostilities." The intensity at which a civil disturbance becomes a civil war is contested by academics. Some political scientists define a civil war as having more than 1,000 casualties, while others further specify that at least 100 must come from each side. The Correlates of War , a dataset widely used by scholars of conflict, classifies civil wars as having over 1000 war-related casualties per year of conflict. This rate

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1788-453: A dramatic rise from the one-and-a-half-year average of the 1900–1944 period. While the rate of emergence of new civil wars has been relatively steady since the mid-19th century, the increasing length of those wars has resulted in increasing numbers of wars ongoing at any one time. For example, there were no more than five civil wars underway simultaneously in the first half of the 20th century while there were over 20 concurrent civil wars close to

1937-502: A mass migration of Han Chinese from northern China to southern China called 衣冠南渡(yì guān nán dù). These mass migrations led to southern China's population growth, economic, agricultural and cultural development as it stayed peaceful unlike the north. A massacre of foreign Arab and Persian Muslim merchants by former Yan rebel general Tian Shengong happened during the An Lushan rebellion in the Yangzhou massacre (760) . Since Tian Shengong

2086-589: A quarter of the empire's population, were no longer subject to the imperial revenue system. For these reasons, census numbers for the post-rebellion Tang are considered unreliable. The An Lushan rebellion was one of several wars in northern China along with the Uprising of the Five Barbarians , Huang Chao Rebellion, the wars of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and Jin–Song Wars which caused

2235-626: A response to socioeconomic or political injustice, and opportunity-based explanations which center on factors that make it easier to engage in violent mobilization. According to the study, the most influential explanation for civil war onset is the opportunity-based explanation by James Fearon and David Laitin in their 2003 American Political Science Review article. Scholars investigating the cause of civil war are attracted by two opposing theories, greed versus grievance . Roughly stated: are conflicts caused by differences of ethnicity, religion or other social affiliation , or do conflicts begin because it

2384-468: A result of Amoghavajrya's assistance in crushing An Lushan, Estoteric Buddhism became the official state Buddhist sect supported by the Tang dynasty, "Imperial Buddhism" with state funding and backing for writing scriptures, and constructing monasteries and temples. The disciples of Amoghavajra did ceremonies for the state and emperor. Tang dynasty Emperor Suzong was crowned as cakravartin by Amoghavajra after victory against An Lushan in 759 and he had invoked

2533-445: A standardized avenue to influence government and increase the commitment credibility of established peace treaties. It is the strength of a nation's institutionalization and good governance—not the presence of democracy nor the poverty level—that is the number one indicator of the chance of a repeat civil war, according to Walter. High levels of population dispersion and, to a lesser extent, the presence of mountainous terrain, increased

2682-460: A stronger emphasis should be put on personal data and human perspective of the people in conflict. Beyond Keen, several other authors have introduced works that either disprove greed vs. grievance theory with empirical data, or dismiss its ultimate conclusion. Authors such as Cristina Bodea and Ibrahim Elbadawi, who co-wrote the entry, "Riots, coups and civil war: Revisiting the greed and grievance debate", argue that empirical data can disprove many of

2831-522: A study by Alex Braithwaite and colleagues showed systematic evidence of "a causal arrow running from poverty to conflict". While there is a supposed negative correlation between absolute welfare levels and the probability of civil war outbreak, relative deprivation may actually be a more pertinent possible cause. Historically, higher inequality levels led to higher civil war probability. Since colonial rule or population size are known to increase civil war risk, also, one may conclude that "the discontent of

2980-530: A three-pronged attack of 10,000 cavalry soldiers, surprising both Lesser Bolü and its Tibetan garrisons. Lesser Bolü's king and queen were captured and brought back to Tang. However, Fumeng grew angry with Gao for directly reporting news of the victory to Emperor Xuanzong without first reporting to him, and threatened to kill him. The eunuch Bian Lingcheng, whom Xuanzong had sent to monitor Gao's forces, interceded on Gao's behalf and reported Fumeng's threats to Xuanzong. Xuanzong, in response, summoned Fumeng back to

3129-663: Is a small fraction of the millions killed in the Second Sudanese Civil War and Cambodian Civil War , for example, but excludes several highly publicized conflicts, such as The Troubles of Northern Ireland and the struggle of the African National Congress in Apartheid -era South Africa . Based on the 1,000-casualties-per-year criterion, there were 213 civil wars from 1816 to 1997, 104 of which occurred from 1944 to 1997. If one uses

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3278-707: Is in the economic best interests of individuals and groups to start them? Scholarly analysis supports the conclusion that economic and structural factors are more important than those of identity in predicting occurrences of civil war. A comprehensive study of civil war was carried out by a team from the World Bank in the early 21st century. The study framework, which came to be called the Collier–Hoeffler Model, examined 78 five-year increments when civil war occurred from 1960 to 1999, as well as 1,167 five-year increments of "no civil war" for comparison, and subjected

3427-400: Is national diasporas , which can fund rebellions and insurgencies from abroad. The study found that statistically switching the size of a country's diaspora from the smallest found in the study to the largest resulted in a sixfold increase in the chance of a civil war. Higher male secondary school enrollment, per capita income and economic growth rate all had significant effects on reducing

3576-404: Is not. The study therefore concluded that the economic model of opportunity cost better explained the findings. Most proxies for "grievance"—the theory that civil wars begin because of issues of identity, rather than economics—were statistically insignificant, including economic equality, political rights, ethnic polarization and religious fractionalization. Only ethnic dominance, the case where

3725-695: Is provided in the text of the Conventions. Nevertheless, the International Committee of the Red Cross has sought to provide some clarification through its commentaries on the Geneva Conventions , noting that the Conventions are "so general, so vague, that many of the delegations feared that it might be taken to cover any act committed by force of arms". Accordingly, the commentaries provide for different 'conditions' on which

3874-429: Is shown, for example, by the luxurious house Emperor Xuanzong built for him in 751, in the capital Chang'an . The house was furnished with luxuries such as gold and silver objects and a pair of ten-foot-long (3.0 m) by six-foot-wide (1.8 m) couches appliqued with rare and expensive sandalwood. He was appointed by Emperor Xuanzong (following the suggestion of Xuanzong's favorite concubine Yang Guifei and with

4023-653: The Guanzhong region, which had been a political and economic heartland of China at least since the Han dynasty , and a shift of the economic center of China towards the Jiangnan region. Beginning in 742, Eurasia entered a 13-year period of major political turmoil, with the regional empires generally suffering "a major rebellion, revolution, or dynastic change." In this year the Second Turkic Khaganate of

4172-513: The Jiangnan region in the south, which had escaped the events of the rebellion relatively unscathed and remained more firmly under Tang control. However, due in part to the jiedushi system, the Tang Empire by 907 devolved into what is known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period . Civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country ). The aim of one side may be to take control of

4321-690: The Salvadoran Civil War , Wood finds that traditional explanations of greed and grievance are not sufficient to explain the emergence of that insurgent movement. Instead, she argues that "emotional engagements" and "moral commitments" are the main reasons why thousand of civilians, most of them from poor and rural backgrounds, joined or supported the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front , despite individually facing both high risks and virtually no foreseeable gains. Wood also attributes participation in

4470-453: The Siege of Suiyang (January–October 757), almost two years after their initial capture of Luoyang. Originally, An Lushan's forces were blocked from the main imperial (or "Western") capital at Chang'an (modern Xi'an ), by loyal troops placed in nearly impregnable defensive positions in the intervening high mountain passes of Tongguan . Unfortunately for Chang'an, the two generals in charge of

4619-597: The Tang dynasty state against the An Lushan rebellion. He carried out Vajrayana rituals which were ostensibly effective in supernaturally attacking and destroying An Lushan's army including the death of one of An Lushan's generals, Zhou Zhiguang. Amoghavajra used his rituals against An Lushan while staying in Chang'an when it was occupied in 756 while the Tang dynasty crown prince and Xuanzong emperor had retreated to Sichuan. Amoghavajra's rituals were explicitly intended to introduce death, disaster and disease against An Lushan. As

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4768-492: The Turkic speaking Karluks turned against Gao. Tang forces were crushed and only a few thousand survived due to the efforts of Li Siye . Another subordinate of Gao who distinguished himself at the battle was Duan Xiushi , whom Gao recommended for promotion after the battle. The Talas conflict marked the end of Tang advances to the west, and the heavy losses by Abbasid forces despite the victory appeared to end Abbasid designs in

4917-531: The Umayyad dynasty , and eventually the absence of strong troops guarding the palace coupled with a string of natural disasters. An Lushan was very influential in the Tang court, his close relationship with Emperor Xuanzong led to him being adopted by the imperial concubine Yang Guifei. The positions of power of Yang clan members (the family of the preceding Sui dynasty into which the Tang emperor had married) were important in this situation, especially complicated by

5066-543: The ethno-linguistic fractionalization index (ELF) used by Fearon, Laitin and other political scientists is flawed. ELF, Cederman states, measures diversity on a country's population-wide level and makes no attempt to determine the number of ethnic groups in relation to what role they play in the power of the state and its military. Cederman believes it makes little sense to test hypotheses relating national ethnic diversity to civil war outbreak without any explicit reference to how many different ethnic groups actually hold power in

5215-458: The "Eastern Capital" city of Luoyang on 18 January 756, defeating the poorly supplied General Feng Changqing . There, on 5 February, ^ An Lushan declared himself Emperor of the new Great Yan dynasty (大燕皇帝). His next steps would be to capture the Tang western capital of Chang'an and then to attempt to continue into southern China to complete his conquest. However, the Battle of Yongqiu , in

5364-430: The 138 intrastate conflicts between the end of World War II and 2000 saw international intervention. A civil war is often a high-intensity conflict, often involving regular armed forces , that is sustained, organized and large-scale. Civil wars may result in large numbers of casualties and the consumption of significant resources. Civil wars since the end of World War II have lasted on average just over four years,

5513-531: The 1815 Congress of Vienna as the United Kingdom , Habsburg Austria , Prussia , France , and Russia ) would frequently coordinate interventions in other nations' civil wars, nearly always on the side of the incumbent government. Given the military strength of the Great Powers, these interventions nearly always proved decisive and quickly ended the civil wars. There were several exceptions from

5662-427: The 19th century and in the early 20th century tended to be short; civil wars between 1900 and 1944 lasted on average one and a half years. The state itself formed the obvious center of authority in the majority of cases, and the civil wars were thus fought for control of the state. This meant that whoever had control of the capital and the military could normally crush resistance. A rebellion which failed to quickly seize

5811-516: The Acala vidyaraja against An Lushan. The Tang dynasty crown prince Li Heng (later Suzong) also received important strategic military information from Chang'an when it was occupied by An Lushan though secret message sent by Amoghavajra. In the beginning of 757 and continuing through October of that year, a protracted stalemate between the Yan and Tang forces occurred in Suiyang . The siege was noted for

5960-536: The Chang'an region and took up position at Shang Commandery (陝郡, roughly modern Sanmenxia , Henan ). Bian Lingcheng was made Gao's monitor. Meanwhile, Feng Changqing was sent to the eastern capital Luoyang to prepare its defenses, but once Feng discovered upon arriving that he was given inadequate weapon supplies, and was defeated by the An army. Feng retreated to Shan, and suggested to Gao that Shan could not be easy defended, and so they should retreat to Tong Pass , which

6109-717: The East Christians like the Bactrian Priest Yisi of Balkh helped the Tang dynasty general Guo Ziyi militarily crush the An Lushan rebellion, with Yisi personally acting as a military commander and Yisi and the Nestorian Church of the East were rewarded by the Tang dynasty with titles and positions as described in the Nestorian Stele . Epitaphs were found dating from the Tang dynasty of

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6258-590: The King of Qi before submitting to Tang rule. Wang Wujun also ruled Chengde Circuit as a de facto independent Kingdom of Zhao before submitting to Tang again under Emperor Dezong . Liang Chongyi seized control of the Shannan East Circuit before being defeated by Tang in 781. 「賊臣不救，孤城圍逼，父陷子死，巢傾卵覆。」 — Excerpt from Yan Zhenqing 's Draft of a Requiem to My Nephew about the deaths of Yan Gaoqing (Magistrate of Changshan) and Yan Jiming Censuses taken in

6407-484: The London School of Economics is one of the major critics of greed vs. grievance theory, defined primarily by Paul Collier, and argues the point that a conflict, although he cannot define it, cannot be pinpointed to simply one motive. He believes that conflicts are much more complex and thus should not be analyzed through simplified methods. He disagrees with the quantitative research methods of Collier and believes

6556-876: The Prince of Guangping (the son of Li Heng, who by this point had taken imperial title as Emperor Suzong), with aid from Huige , was able to recapture Chang'an in summer 757 by defeating Yan forces in the Battle of Xiangji Temple . Tang forces under Li Chu and Huige forces then advanced east, toward Luoyang. In winter 757, An put together his forces and sent them, under Yan Zhuang's command, to defend Shan Commandery (陝郡, roughly modern Sanmenxia , Henan). When Yan forces engaged Tang forces, however, they saw that Huige forces were on Tang's side, and, in fear, they collapsed. Yan Zhuang and Zhang Tongru (張通儒) fled back to Luoyang to inform An, and An, after executing some 30 Tang generals who had been captured, abandoned Luoyang and fled north, to Yecheng , which he converted to Ancheng Municipality. At

6705-414: The Prince of Guichuan and made him the jiedushi of Fanyang Circuit; instead, Shi, hoarding the supplies that An Lushan had previously shipped to Fanyang, began to disobey An Qingxu's orders, and An Qingxu could not keep him in check. When the Tang general Guo Ziyi attacked Tong Pass, intending to recapture Chang'an, however, An was able to send forces to repel Guo's attack. However, the Tang prince Li Chu

6854-541: The Sogdian-Turkic General An Lushan had worked himself into a position of trust with the Tang emperor Xuanzong and his consort Yang Guifei . An Lushan was a general of uncertain birth origins, but thought to have been adopted by a Sogdian father and Göktürk mother of the Ashina tribe . Eventually he managed to become a favorite of the reigning emperor of China. His success in this regard

7003-500: The Tang and their allies. The rebellion spanned the reigns of three Tang emperors: Xuanzong , Suzong , and Daizong . On 16 December 755, An Lushan , the jiedushi of the Taiyuan Commandery , mobilized his army and marched to Fanyang . An Lushan led the rebellion for two years before he was assassinated by his son An Qingxu . Two years after An Qingxu's ascension, Shi Siming , the governor of Pinglu Commandery and

7152-576: The Tang army's determination to fight to the last man, as well as the large-scale cannibalism practised by the defenders, who in this way were able to hold out longer. Their resistance effectively blocked the Yan forces from attacking the extensive areas south of the Yangzi River , which remained relatively untouched by the An–Shi disturbances. The Tang imperial forces were helped by the newly formed dynasty's internal fighting. On 29 January 757, An Lushan

7301-510: The Tang general Wei Boyu ( 衛伯玉 ). Shi Siming was angered by Shi Chaoyi's failures and considered punishing him and the generals below him. On 18 April, Shi Siming ordered Shi Chaoyi to build a triangular fort with a hill as its side, to store food supplies, and ordered that it be completed in one day. Near the end of the day, Shi Chaoyi had completed it, but had not plastered the walls with mud, when Shi Siming arrived and rebuked him for not applying mud. He ordered his own servants to stay and watch

7450-470: The Tang in 756 against An Lushan. With Uyghur assistance, the Tang Imperial forces recaptured both Chang'an and Luoyang in late 757. However, they failed to capture or subdue the rebel troops, who fled to the rebel heartland in the northeast. Uyghur Khaganate diplomats clashed against Arab Abbasid diplomats over who would enter the diplomatic hall in Chang'an first in 758. The Nestorian Church of

7599-498: The Tang's weakness, proceeded to briefly capture Chang'an on 18 November 763 before conquering much of Tang's territories in Central Asia . In 765, Pugu Huai'en , allied with Uyghur and Tibetan forces launched another siege on Chang'an. Furthermore, Yan generals who had surrendered to Tang were allowed by Emperor Daizong to retain as independent military governors (Jiedushi), this began an era of warlordism that plagued Tang for

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7748-546: The Turk Ashina Chengqing . High nosed Sogdians were slaughtered in Youzhou in 761. Youzhou had Linzhou, another "protected" prefecture attached to it, and Sogdians lived there in great numbers. Gao Juren, like Tian Shengong, wanted to defect to the Tang dynasty and wanted them to publicly recognize and acknowledge him as a regional warlord, according to the book, "History of An Lushan" (安祿山史記). Another source says

7897-488: The agreement of Chancellor Li Linfu ) to be Jiedushi of three garrisons in the north— Pinglu , Fanyang and Hedong . In effect, An was given control over the entire area north of the lower reaches of the Yellow River , including garrisons about 164,000 strong. He took advantage of various circumstances, such as popular discontent with an extravagant Tang court, the synchronous Sogdian-involved Abbasid Revolution against

8046-582: The application of the Geneva Convention would depend; the commentary, however, points out that these should not be interpreted as rigid conditions. The conditions listed by the ICRC in its commentary are as follows: (1) That the Party in revolt against the de jure Government possesses an organized military force, an authority responsible for its acts, acting within a determinate territory and having

8195-638: The army on the verge of mutiny, the Emperor had no choice but to agree, ordering the strangling of Lady Yang. The incident made Xuanzong fear for his own safety, so he fled to Chengdu at once. However, people stopped his horse, not wanting him to go away. So he made the crown prince, Li Heng, stay to hold the fort. Instead, Li Heng fled in the other direction to Lingzhou (today called Lingwu , in Ningxia province). Later, on 12 August, after reaching Sichuan, Xuanzong abdicated (becoming Taishang Huang ), in favor of

8344-474: The capital Chang'an in the new year of 748 and promoted Gao to take over his position. Gao arrested several of Fumeng's subordinates for attacking him—fellow deputy military governor Cheng Qianli (程千里), and army officers Bi Sichen (畢思琛) and Wang Tao (王滔)—but then released them and allowed them to continue serving under him. He entrusted Feng Changqing as his assistant, often having Feng lead troops or, when he himself led troops in campaigns, had Feng in charge of

8493-490: The capital and control of the military for itself normally found itself doomed to rapid destruction. For example, the fighting associated with the 1871 Paris Commune occurred almost entirely in Paris , and ended quickly once the military sided with the government at Versailles and conquered Paris. The power of non-state actors resulted in a lower value placed on sovereignty in the 18th and 19th centuries, which further reduced

8642-430: The capital now lay open. With rebel forces clearly an imminent threat to the imperial seat of Chang'an, and with conflicting advice from his advisers, Tang emperor Xuanzong determined to flee to the relative sanctuary of Sichuan with its natural protection of mountain ranges so the Tang forces could reorganize and regroup. He brought along the bulk of his court and household. The route of travel from Chang'an to Sichuan

8791-459: The causes of the unrest. Some lost faith in themselves, concluding that a lack of moral seriousness in intellectual culture had been the cause of the rebellion. However, a political and cultural recovery eventually did occur within Tang China several decades after the rebellion, until about 820, the year of the death of Emperor Xianzong of Tang . Much of the rebuilding and recovery occurred in

8940-459: The centralized bureaucracy of the Tang dynasty, especially in regards to its perimeters. Virtually autonomous provinces and ad hoc financial organizations arose, reducing the influence of the regular bureaucracy in Chang'an. The Tang dynasty's desire for political stability in this turbulent period also resulted in the pardoning of many rebels. Indeed, some were even given their own garrisons to command. Political and economic control of large swathes of

9089-456: The chance of civil war. Specifically, a male secondary school enrollment 10% above the average reduced the chance of a conflict by about 3%, while a growth rate 1% higher than the study average resulted in a decline in the chance of a civil war of about 1%. The study interpreted these three factors as proxies for earnings forgone by rebellion, and therefore that lower forgone earnings encourage rebellion. Phrased another way: young males (who make up

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9238-445: The chance of conflict. Both of these factors favor rebels, as a population dispersed outward toward the borders is harder to control than one concentrated in a central region, while mountains offer terrain where rebels can seek sanctuary. Rough terrain was highlighted as one of the more important factors in a 2006 systematic review. The various factors contributing to the risk of civil war rise increase with population size. The risk of

9387-544: The chaos. The rebellion was an important turning point in the history of medieval China, as the military activities and associated casualties caused significant depopulation from famine, displacement, and large-scale infrastructure destruction, significantly weakening the Tang dynasty, collapsing the prestige of the Tang emperors as the Khan of Heaven and leading to the permanent loss of the Western Regions . Even though

9536-418: The city and declared himself emperor of a new state of Qin (later changed to Han). In 784, Zhu Ci was defeated and killed. Li Huaixian and fellow Yan generals Xue Song, Li Baochen, and Tian Chengsi submitted to Tang thus were allowed to keep their territory. Li Huaixian was made the military governor (jiedushi) of Lulong Circuit (headquartered in modern Beijing) consisting of Youzhou , the core territory of

9685-474: The civil war to the value that insurgents assigned to changing social relations in El Salvador , an experience she defines as the "pleasure of agency". Ann Hironaka , author of Neverending Wars , divides the modern history of civil wars into the pre-19th century, 19th century to early 20th century, and late 20th century. In 19th-century Europe, the length of civil wars fell significantly, largely due to

9834-433: The colonized, caused by the creation of borders across tribal lines and bad treatment by the colonizers" is one important cause of civil conflicts. The more time that has elapsed since the last civil war, the less likely it is that a conflict will recur. The study had two possible explanations for this: one opportunity-based and the other grievance-based. The elapsed time may represent the depreciation of whatever capital

9983-410: The combined forces of the Tang and their Huige allies were led by his eldest son. This son, first named Li Chu, was renamed Li Yu in 758, after being named crown prince. On 18 May 762, on the death of his father, he became Emperor Daizong of Tang . By this time it was clear that the new Yan dynasty would not last and Yan officers and soldiers began to defect to the Tang side. Then, in the winter of 762,

10132-514: The conduct of internal conflicts". James Fearon and David Laitin find that ethnic and religious diversity does not make civil war more likely. They instead find that factors that make it easier for rebels to recruit foot soldiers and sustain insurgencies, such as "poverty—which marks financially & bureaucratically weak states and also favors rebel recruitment—political instability, rough terrain, and large populations" make civil wars more likely. Such research finds that civil wars happen because

10281-695: The country average”, going against the opportunity-based explanation for civil war outbreak. Michael Bleaney, Professor of International Economics at the University of Nottingham , published a 2009 paper titled Incidence, Onset and Duration of Civil Wars: A Review of the Evidence , which tested numerous variables for their relationship to civil war outbreak with different datasets, including that utilized by Fearon and Laitin. Bleaney concluded that neither ethnoreligious diversity, as measured by fractionalization, nor another variable, ethnic polarization, defined as

10430-507: The country avoided ethnic dominance. The study interpreted this as stating that minority groups are more likely to rebel if they feel that they are being dominated, but that rebellions are more likely to occur the more homogeneous the population and thus more cohesive the rebels. These two factors may thus be seen as mitigating each other in many cases. David Keen, a professor at the Development Studies Institute at

10579-478: The country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies. The term is a calque of Latin bellum civile which was used to refer to the various civil wars of the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. Most modern civil wars involve intervention by outside powers. According to Patrick M. Regan in his book Civil Wars and Foreign Powers (2000) about two thirds of

10728-438: The crown prince, who had already been proclaimed emperor. In July 756 An Lushan and his rebel forces captured Chang'an, an event that had a devastating effect upon this thriving metropolis. Before the revolt, estimates put the population within the city walls at from 800,000 to 1,000,000. Including small cities in the vicinity forming the metropolitan area, the census in 742 recorded 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons. Much of

10877-432: The data set to regression analysis to see the effect of various factors. The factors that were shown to have a statistically significant effect on the chance that a civil war would occur in any given five-year period were: A high proportion of primary commodities in national exports significantly increases the risk of a conflict. A country at "peak danger", with commodities comprising 32% of gross domestic product , has

11026-647: The defection of the Karluk Turks in the midst of the battle. However, the Arabs did not proceed any further after the battle, and the Tang retained their Central Asian territories until the An Lushan rebellion. Further, southern expansion of the Tang was limited by the ineffective, and even disastrous, campaigns against the Kingdom of Nanzhao . However, the concurrent Tang campaign against the Tibetan Empire

11175-558: The east as well. Gao was then made a commanding general of the imperial guards and Wang Zhengjian replaced him as jiedushi of Anxi. In 755, Gao was created the Duke of Miyun. In 755, An Lushan , the jiedushi of Fanyang (范陽, headquartered in modern Beijing ), rebelled against the Tang. Emperor Xuanzong nominally commissioned his son, Li Wan (李琬) the Prince of Rong, the commander of the forces against An's rebels, and put Gao Xianzhi in charge as Li Wan's deputy. Gao gathered 50,000 soldiers from

11324-659: The eastern Eurasian Steppe was overthrown and then replaced by Sogdian-influenced Uighur rulers. This was apparently the first of several revolutionary events either led by or intimately connected with the merchants and tradespeople involved with the international commerce often referred to as the Silk Road . In 747, the Abbasids began their rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate in Merv , Khurasan , resulting in

11473-537: The eastern capital Luoyang was retaken by Tang forces for the second time. Yan Emperor Shi Chaoyi attempted to flee, but was intercepted early in 763. Shi Chaoyi chose suicide over capture, dying on 17 February 763, ending the eight-year-long rebellion. The end of the rebellion was a long process of rebuilding and recovery . Due to the Imperial Court's weakened condition, other disturbances flared up. The Tibetan Empire under Trisong Detsän , taking advantage of

11622-476: The edict for Feng's execution. Feng was beheaded, and upon the completion of that execution, Bian then read the second edict ordering Gao's execution. Gao cried out: I retreated when I encountered the bandits [(i.e., An's army)], and I should die for this. But I swear to the heaven above and the earth below -- the accusations that I stole the food supplies and the imperial rewards are false! The soldiers cried out for Gao as well, but Bian still beheaded Gao. As Gao

11771-433: The empire became intermittent or was lost, and these areas came to be controlled by fanzhen , autonomous regional authorities headed by the jiedushi (regional military governors). In Hebei, three fanzhen became virtually independent for the remainder of the Tang dynasty. Furthermore, the Tang government also lost most of its control over the Western Regions , due to troop withdrawal to central China to attempt to crush

11920-510: The end of the Cold War . Since 1945, civil wars have resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people, as well as the forced displacement of millions more. Civil wars have further resulted in economic collapse; Somalia , Burma (Myanmar), Uganda and Angola are examples of nations that were considered to have had promising futures before being engulfed in civil wars. James Fearon , a scholar of civil wars at Stanford University , defines

12069-422: The extent to which individuals in a population are distributed across different ethnic groups, were "a sufficient measure of diversity as it affects the probability of conflict." In a state torn by civil war, the contesting powers often do not have the ability to commit or the trust to believe in the other side's commitment to put an end to war. When considering a peace agreement, the involved parties are aware of

12218-496: The former Yan. In 768, Li Huaixian was killed by his subordinates Zhu Xicai , Zhu Ci and Zhu Tao who then took over command of the circuit. Lulong Circuit remained a semi-independent fief, survived the fragmentation of Tang until being annexed by Li Cunxu 's Jin state in 913. Li Baozhen kept control of the Chengde Circuit . His son Li Weiyue , along with Tian Chengsi's son Tian Yue, rebelled against Tang in 781 but

12367-406: The general Xue Song to Fanyang to seek aid from Shi, offering the throne to him. Shi thus advanced south toward Yecheng. Meanwhile, Tang forces, under the command of nine generals (with Li Siye having died during the siege), were uncoordinated. On 7 April 759, Shi engaged Tang forces—and, when a storm suddenly arrived, both armies panicked; Shi's forces fled north, and Tang forces fled south, lifting

12516-611: The general Cai Xide (蔡希德) at Taiyuan to watch Li Guangbi's actions. He also sent the general Yin Ziqi (尹子奇) to attack the city of Suiyang , then under the defense by the Tang generals Zhang Xun and Xu Yuan (許遠), intending to capture Suiyang first and then send Yin south to capture Tang territory south of the Huai River (Yin, however, was locked into a siege of Suiyang that would last until winter 757, stopping any possibility of Yan's advancing south). To show favor to Shi, he created Shi

12665-408: The general rule of quick civil wars during this period. The American Civil War (1861–1865) was unusual for at least two reasons: it was fought around regional identities as well as political ideologies, and it ended through a war of attrition , rather than with a decisive battle over control of the capital, as was the norm. The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) proved exceptional because both sides in

12814-561: The geographical distribution of ethnic groups within countries, as this can affect their access to regional resources and commodities, which in turn can lead to conflict. A third theme explored by Cederman is that ethnolinguistic fractionalization does not quantify the extent to which there is pre-existing economic inequality between ethnic groups within countries. In a 2011 article, Cederman and fellow researchers describe finding that “in highly unequal societies, both rich and poor groups fight more often than those groups whose wealth lies closer to

12963-455: The half-century before the rebellion show a gradual increase in population, with the last census undertaken before the rebellion, in 755, recording a population of 52,919,309 in 8,914,709 taxpaying households. However, a census taken in 764, the year following the end of the rebellion, recorded only 16,900,000 in 2,900,000 households. Later censuses count only households, but by 855 this figure had risen to only 4,955,151 households, little over half

13112-697: The headquarters. Li Siye also first distinguished himself as an army officer under Gao. As a result of Gao's first successful campaign, Tang began to contend for influence with the Abbasid Caliphate and Tibetan Empire in the area of modern northern Pakistan and Afghanistan . Around 72 regional Indian and Sogdian kingdoms became Tang vassals, ending the Tibetan dominion of the Pamir Mountains. During his service as jiedushi of Anxi, places such as Tokmak , Kucha , and Kashmir came under

13261-701: The high incentives to withdraw once one of them has taken an action that weakens their military, political or economical power. Commitment problems may deter a lasting peace agreement as the powers in question are aware that neither of them is able to commit to their end of the bargain in the future. States are often unable to escape conflict traps (recurring civil war conflicts) due to the lack of strong political and legal institutions that motivate bargaining, settle disputes, and enforce peace settlements. Political scientist Barbara F. Walter suggests that most contemporary civil wars are actually repeats of earlier civil wars that often arise when leaders are not accountable to

13410-519: The incentive to secede. The two major global ideologies, monarchism and democracy , led to several civil wars. However, a bi-polar world, divided between the two ideologies, did not develop, largely due to the dominance of monarchists through most of the period. The monarchists would thus normally intervene in other countries to stop democratic movements taking control and forming democratic governments, which were seen by monarchists as being both dangerous and unpredictable. The Great Powers (defined in

13559-603: The insurgents recognition as belligerents for the purposes only of the present Convention; or (d) That the dispute has been admitted to the agenda of the Security Council or the General Assembly of the United Nations as being a threat to international peace, a breach of the peace, or an act of aggression. (4) (a) That the insurgents have an organization purporting to have the characteristics of

13708-447: The largest ethnic group comprises a majority of the population, increased the risk of civil war. A country characterized by ethnic dominance has nearly twice the chance of a civil war. However, the combined effects of ethnic and religious fractionalization, i.e. the greater chance that any two randomly chosen people will be from separate ethnic or religious groups, the less chance of a civil war, were also significant and positive, as long as

13857-473: The latter half of the dynasty that continued into the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period for decades after the ultimate demise of the Tang. The fear of repeating Tang's commandery secessionism also led the Song dynasty that followed to distrust and oppress prominent military commanders even when invaded by hostile foreign states such as Liao , Western Xia and Jin . It also triggered the long-term decline of

14006-410: The less-stringent 1,000 casualties total criterion, there were over 90 civil wars between 1945 and 2007, with 20 ongoing civil wars as of 2007. The Geneva Conventions do not specifically define the term "civil war"; nevertheless, they do outline the responsibilities of parties in "armed conflict not of an international character". This includes civil wars; however, no specific definition of civil war

14155-443: The looting in battle—a large supply of diamonds, several camel-loads of gold, prized horses, and other treasures. In spring 751, Gao personally visited Chang'an, and, for his contributions, Xuanzong gave him the honorific title Kaifu Yitong Sansi (開府儀同三司) and was poised to move him to Hexi where the jiedushi An Sishun resisted to be ousted. However Xuanzong decided to allow An to remain at Hexi and Gao to remain at Anxi. Meanwhile,

14304-563: The loss of a sixth of the world's population at that time, though Pinker stated that the figure was controversial. Matthew White, from whom Pinker had taken the figure of 36 million, later revised his figure down to 13 million (based on a different calculation from the census results) in his book The Great Big Book of Horrible Things . White's revised figure is repeated by cultural historians such as Johan Norberg . Historians such as Charles Patrick Fitzgerald argue that claims of massive depopulation are incompatible with contemporary accounts of

14453-434: The major European powers divested themselves of their colonies at an increasing rate: the number of ex-colonial states jumped from about 30 to almost 120 after the war. The rate of state formation leveled off in the 1980s, at which point few colonies remained. More states also meant more states in which to have long civil wars. Hironaka statistically measures the impact of the increased number of ex-colonial states as increasing

14602-439: The means of respecting and ensuring respect for the Convention. (2) That the legal Government is obliged to have recourse to the regular military forces against insurgents organized as military and in possession of a part of the national territory. (3) (a) That the de jure Government has recognized the insurgents as belligerents; (b) That it has claimed for itself the rights of a belligerent; or (c) That it has accorded

14751-523: The nature of the conflicts as battles for the power center of the state, the strength of centralized governments, and the normally quick and decisive intervention by other states to support the government. Following World War II the duration of civil wars grew past the norm of the pre-19th century, largely due to weakness of the many postcolonial states and the intervention by major powers on both sides of conflict. The most obvious commonality to civil wars are that they occur in fragile states . Civil wars in

14900-707: The number of civil wars. For example, the pirates of the Barbary Coast were recognized as de facto states because of their military power. The Barbary pirates thus had no need to rebel against the Ottoman Empire – their nominal state government – to gain recognition of their sovereignty. Conversely, states such as Virginia and Massachusetts in the United States of America did not have sovereign status, but had significant political and economic independence coupled with weak federal control, reducing

15049-485: The number recorded in 755. The difference in the census figures amounts to 36 million people less, two-thirds of the population of the empire, though scholars have attributed this to factors including a breakdown in taxation and census gathering. The figure of 36 million was used in Steven Pinker 's book The Better Angels of Our Nature , where it is presented as proportionally the largest atrocity in history with

15198-443: The plastering. He then angrily stated, "After I capture Shan Prefecture, I will kill you, thief!" That night, Shi Chaoyi's subordinates Luo Yue ( 駱悅 ) and Cai Wenjing ( 蔡文景 ) warned him that he was in dire straits—and that if he refused to take action to depose Shi Siming, they would defect to Tang. Shi Chaoyi agreed to take action, and Luo persuaded Shi Siming's guard commander General Cao (personal name lost to history) to agree with

15347-435: The plot. That night, Luo led 300 soldiers and ambushed Shi Siming, binding him and then beginning a return to Luoyang with the troops. On the way back to Luoyang, Luo feared that someone might try to rescue Shi Siming, and so strangled him to death. Shi Chaoyi was enthroned as the new emperor of Yan even though he failed to get widespread support from the other Yan generals. By 762, Emperor Suzong had become seriously ill; and

15496-464: The population fled at the approach of the rebels. Then the city was captured and looted by the rebel forces and the remaining population put in jeopardy. The third son of Xuanzong, Li Heng, was proclaimed Emperor Suzong at Lingzhou (modern-day Lingwu ), although another group of local officials and Confucian literati tried to promote a different prince, Li Lin, the Prince of Yong , at Jinling (modern-day Nanjing ). One of Suzong's first acts as emperor

15645-405: The position of Yang Guifei's relative Yang Guozhong in the Tang governmental administration. The An Lushan rebellion signaled a period of disorder spanning the reigns of three Tang dynasty emperors, beginning during the final ( Tianbao era) period of the reign of Xuanzong (8 September 712 to 12 August 756), continuing through the reign of Suzong (12 August 756 to 16 May 762) and ending during

15794-613: The position of general by his 20s and served with his father in Kashgar under the Protectorate General to Pacify the West . He successively served under the jiedushi Tian Renwan (田仁琬) and Gai Jiayun (蓋嘉運), but received no further promotions. However, Gai's successor Fumeng Lingcha (夫蒙靈詧) was impressed by him, and repeatedly recommended him to his superiors. By the end of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang 's Kaiyuan era (727-741), Gao

15943-475: The post-World War II incidence of civil wars by +165% over the pre-1945 number. Gao Xianzhi Around the beginning of the year 756, Gao and fellow general Feng Changqing offended the powerful eunuch Bian Lingcheng (邊令誠) while defending the Tong Pass against the rebel An Lushan , who had rebelled in 755. Bian then accused Feng of cowardice and Gao of corruption, and both were executed. Gao Xianzhi

16092-456: The proclamation of a new Abbasid Caliph in about 750. This rebellion also seems to have been organized by merchants and persons identifying themselves as merchants. The western expansion of the Tang Empire was checked in 751 by the defeat of a large expeditionary force led by General Gao Xianzhi in the Battle of Talas in the modern Fergana Valley , with the Abbasid victory attributable to

16241-402: The proponents of greed theory and make the idea "irrelevant". They examine a myriad of factors and conclude that too many factors come into play with conflict, which cannot be confined to simply greed or grievance. Anthony Vinci makes a strong argument that "fungible concept of power and the primary motivation of survival provide superior explanations of armed group motivation and, more broadly,

16390-577: The protectorate's jurisdiction. In late 749, Shilidaqieluo (失里怛伽羅), a prince of the Tuhuoluo (吐火羅, possibly Tocharians ), reported to Tang that the king of Qieshi (朅師, the present day Chitral valley in Northern Pakistan), had been aligned with Tufan in pinning down Chinese forces stationed at Lesser Bolü, and suggested that Emperor Xuanzong send forces the region. In spring 750, Xuanzong sent Gao Xianzhi to attack Qieshi. Its king Botemo (勃特沒)

16539-402: The public, when there is poor public participation in politics, and when there is a lack of transparency of information between the executives and the public. Walter argues that when these issues are properly reversed, they act as political and legal restraints on executive power forcing the established government to better serve the people. Additionally, these political and legal restraints create

16688-460: The rate of new civil wars had not increased appreciably; the drastic rise in the number of ongoing wars after World War II was a result of the tripling of the average duration of civil wars to over four years. This increase was a result of the increased number of states, the fragility of states formed after 1945, the decline in interstate war, and the Cold War rivalry. Following World War II,

16837-649: The rebellion and deal with subsequent disturbances. Continued military and economic weakness resulted in further subsequent erosions of Tang territorial control during the ensuing years, particularly in regard to the Tibetan empires. By 790 Chinese control over the Tarim Basin area was completely lost. Moreover, during the rebellion, the Tang general Gao Juren massacred all the Sogdians in Fanyang, who were identified through their noses and faces. The political decline

16986-485: The rebellion was fought over and thus increase the opportunity cost of restarting the conflict. Alternatively, elapsed time may represent the gradual process of healing of old hatreds. The study found that the presence of a diaspora substantially reduced the positive effect of time, as the funding from diasporas offsets the depreciation of rebellion-specific capital. Evolutionary psychologist Satoshi Kanazawa has argued that an important cause of intergroup conflict may be

17135-417: The rebellion was ultimately suppressed by a large-scale alliance between the imperial dynasty and various participants, including local militias and foreign support, the dynasty did not overall change the structure of the military committee, but only followed the old principles of establishing territory. It was a direct cause of the dynasty's decline, and led to rampant secessionism among regional warlords during

17284-486: The reign of Daizong (18 May 762 to 23 May 779), as well as spanning the four imperial claimants of the failed Yan dynasty. At the end of 755 An Lushan revolted. On 16 December, his army surged down from Fanyang (near modern Beijing ). Along the way, An Lushan treated surrendered local Tang officials with respect. As a result, more and more of them joined his ranks. He moved rapidly along the Grand Canal and captured

17433-726: The relative availability of women of reproductive age. He found that polygyny greatly increased the frequency of civil wars but not interstate wars. Gleditsch et al. did not find a relationship between ethnic groups with polygyny and increased frequency of civil wars but nations having legal polygamy may have more civil wars. They argued that misogyny is a better explanation than polygyny. They found that increased women's rights were associated with fewer civil wars and that legal polygamy had no effect after women's rights were controlled for. Political scholar Elisabeth Wood from Yale University offers yet another rationale for why civilians rebel and/or support civil war. Through her studies of

17582-623: The rest of the dynasty. In 781, The Circuits of Shannan East, Chengde, Weibo and Zhiqing rose up against Tang court in what was called the Four Garrisons Rebellion ( Chinese : 四镇之乱 ). In 782, a Tang general-governor of Huaxi-Cicuit, Li Xilie also rebelled in 782 and proclaimed as the Emperor of Chu. In 783, the Jingyuan mutiny forced the Emperor Dezong to flee Chang'an. Zhu Ci , the jiedushi of Lulong, captured

17731-418: The sides stalemated. At this time, Shi was described as cruel and prone to kill, terrorizing his army. He favored Shi Chaoqing over Shi Chaoyi and considered creating Shi Chaoqing crown prince and killing Shi Chaoyi. In spring 761, Shi Siming began another attempt to attack Shan Prefecture, wanting to attack Chang'an. He had Shi Chaoyi serve as his forward commander, but Shi Chaoyi was repeatedly repelled by

17880-516: The siege on Yecheng. An Qingxu's forces gathered the food and supplies abandoned by Tang forces, and An thereafter considered, with Sun Xiaozhe (孫孝哲) and Cui, the possibility of refusing Shi, who gathered his troops and again approached Yecheng, admittance. Shi himself was not communicating with An, but was feasting his soldiers and watching Yecheng. Zhang and Gao Shang (高尚) requested permission to meet Shi, and An agreed; Shi gave them gifts and let them return to Yecheng. An, unsure what to do, again offered

18029-597: The slaughter of the Hu barbarians serving Ashina Chengqing was done by Gao Juren in Fanyang in order to deprive him of his support base, since the Tiele, Tongluo, Sogdians and Turks were all Hu and supported the Turk Ashina Chengqing against the Mohe, Xi, Khitan and Goguryeo origin soldiers led by Gao Juren. Gao Juren was later killed by Li Huaixian, who was loyal to Shi Chaoyi. The rebellion of An Lushan and its aftermath greatly weakened

18178-483: The soldiers resented Cui for his harshness. By winter 758, the Tang generals Guo Ziyi, Lu Jiong (魯炅), Li Huan (李奐), Xu Shuji (許叔冀), Li Siye , Ji Guangchen (季廣琛), Cui Guangyuan (崔光遠), Dong Qin (董秦), Li Guangbi , and Wang Sili (王思禮), were gathering at Yecheng and putting it under siege. An Qingxu tried to fight out of the siege, but was defeated by Tang forces, and his brother An Qinghe (安慶和) was killed. Meanwhile, with Shi recently having again rebelled against Tang, An sent

18327-520: The spring of 756, went badly for An Lushan. Although his army, under Linghu Chao, was numerous, it was unable to make further territorial gains due to the failure to wrest control of Yongqiu (modern Qi County, Kaifeng , in Henan ) and (later) the nearby Suiyang from the Tang defenders led by Zhang Xun . This prevented the Yan forces from conquering southern China, before the Tang were able to recover. The Yan army did not take control of Suiyang until after

18476-622: The state is weak; both authoritarian and democratic states can be stable if they have the financial and military capacity to put down rebellions. Some scholars, such as Lars-Erik Cederman of the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology , have criticized the data used by Fearon and Laitin to determine ethnic and religious diversity. In his 2007 paper Beyond Fractionalization: Mapping Ethnicity onto Nationalist Insurgencies , Cederman argues that

18625-460: The state. This suggests that ethnic, linguistic and religious cleavages can matter, depending on the extent to which the various groups have ability and influence to mobilize on either side of a forming conflict. Themes explored in Cederman's later work criticizing the use of ethnic fractionalization measures as input variables to predict civil war outbreak relate to these indices not accounting for

18774-459: The struggle received support from intervening great powers: Germany , Italy , and Portugal supported opposition leader Francisco Franco , while France and the Soviet Union supported the government (see proxy war ). In the 1990s, about twenty civil wars were occurring concurrently during an average year, a rate about ten times the historical average since the 19th century. However,

18923-664: The throne to Shi, which Shi declined. Shi instead suggested to him that perhaps they could both be emperors of independent, allied states. An, pleased, exited Yecheng and met with Shi to swear to the alliance. On 10 April 759, An Qingxu was killed by Shi Siming who enthroned as Emperor Zhaowu of Yan. Shi Siming soon left Empress Xin's son Shi Chaoqing ( 史朝清 ) in charge of Fanyang and headed south. He quickly captured Bian Prefecture (汴州, roughly modern Kaifeng , Henan) and Luoyang, but his further attempts to advance were rebuffed by Tang forces at Heyang (河陽, in modern Jiaozuo , Henan) and Shan Prefecture (陝州, roughly modern Sanmenxia , Henan), and

19072-506: The time that An arrived at Yecheng, he had only 1,000 infantry soldiers and 300 cavalry soldiers. Soon, however, Yan generals Ashina Chengqing (阿史那承慶), Cai Xide, Tian Chengsi , and Wu Lingxun (武令珣), who had been attacking other Tang cities, headed to Yecheng and coalesced there, allowing An to have over 60,000 soldiers under his disposal and thus regaining some measure of strength. Meanwhile, apprehensive of Shi, he sent Ashina and An Shouzhong (安守忠) to Fanyang to order Shi to contribute troops, but

19221-418: The troops at Tong Pass, Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing, were executed due to a court intrigue involving the powerful eunuch Bian Lingcheng. Yang Guozhong, with grossly inept military judgment, then ordered the replacement General Geshu Han , who was in charge of the troops in the passes, together with reinforcement troops, to attack An's army on open ground. On 7 July, the Tang forces were defeated. The road to

19370-437: The vast majority of combatants in civil wars) are less likely to join a rebellion if they are getting an education or have a comfortable salary, and can reasonably assume that they will prosper in the future. Low per capita income has also been proposed as a cause for grievance, prompting armed rebellion. However, for this to be true, one would expect economic inequality to also be a significant factor in rebellions, which it

19519-438: The war, which was fought intermittently over three or four provinces. They point out that the numbers recorded on the postwar registers reflect not only population loss, but also a breakdown of accuracy of the census system as well as the removal from the census figures of various classes of untaxed persons, such as those in religious orders, foreigners and merchants. In addition, several of the northern provinces, with approximately

19668-508: The way, an incident occurred at Mawei Inn, in today's Xingping in Xianyang , Shaanxi . Xuanzong's bodyguard troops were hungry and tired, and very angry with Yang Guozhong for exposing the whole country to danger. They demanded the death of the much-hated Yang Guozhong, and then of his cousin and imperial favorite, Yang Guifei. Soon the angry soldiers killed Yang Guozhong, Yang Xuan (his son), Lady Han and Lady Qin (Yang Guifei's sisters). With

19817-546: Was An Lushan's eunuch after this and highly used and trusted by him. Li Zhu'er and another two men helped carry the obese An Lushan when he was taking off or putting on his clothes. Li Zhu'er helped clothe and unclothe at the Huaqing (Hua-ch'ing) steam baths granted by Emperor Xuanzang. Li Zhuer was approached by people who wanted to assassinate An Lushan after An Lushan became paranoid and blind, stricken with skin disease and started flogging and murdering his subordinates. An Lushan

19966-692: Was a more suitable defensive position. Gao agreed, and the two of them took up position at Tong Pass. When An's forces attacked Tong Pass, they failed, and historians credited Gao with the improved defenses. However, during the campaign, Gao had caused much offence against Bian, as Bian was making demands of him that he was not meeting. When Bian returned to Chang'an, he accused Feng of exaggerating An's strength, and accused Gao of improperly abandoning Shan as well as corruptly withholding food supplies and imperial rewards to soldiers for personal benefit. Xuanzong, believing Bian, issued edicts for Feng's and Gao's executions. After Bian returned to Tong Pass, he first read

20115-426: Was betrayed and killed by his son, An Qingxu , (An Lushan's violent paranoia posed too much of a threat to his entourage). The rebel An Lushan had a Khitan eunuch named Li Zhu'er (李豬兒) (Li Chu-erh) who was working for An Lushan when he was a teenager but An Lushan used a sword to sever his genitals and he almost died after losing multiple pints of blood. An Lushan revived him after smearing ashes on his injury. Li Zhu'er

20264-421: Was captured and Botemo's son Sujia (素迦) was crowned king. Gao then made a peace treaty with the state of Shi (石國, modern Tashkent , Uzbekistan ) and once Shi stood down its defenses, attacked it without warning. The Shi king Chebishi (車鼻施) was captured and sent to Chang'an to be executed. This angered the nearby states, particularly after Gao slaughtered the old and weak captives. Gao also personally profited from

20413-587: Was defecting to the Tang dynasty and wanted them to publicly recognize and acknowledge him as a regional warlord without him giving up territory, and the Tang court portrayed the war as between rebel Hu barbarians of the Yan against Han Chinese of the Tang dynasty, Tian Shengong slaughtered foreigners as a blood sacrifice to prove he was loyal to the Han Chinese Tang dynasty state. He killed other foreign Hu barbarian ethnicities as well whose ethnic groups were not specified, not only Arabs and Persians, since it

20562-422: Was directed against all foreigners. The former Yan rebel general Gao Juren, of Goguryeo descent, ordered a mass slaughter of West Asian (Central Asian) Sogdians in Fanyang, also known as Jicheng (Beijing) , in Youzhou. They were identified through their big noses and lances were used to impale their children when he rebelled against the rebel Yan emperor Shi Chaoyi and defeated rival Yan dynasty forces under

20711-476: Was hacked to death in his stomach and abdomen by Li Zhuer and another conspirator, Yan Zhuang (Yen Chuang) (嚴莊) who was beaten by An before. An Lushan screamed "this is a thief of my own household" as he desperately shook his curtains since he could not find his sword to defend himself. An Lushan's intestines came out of his body as he was hacked to death by Li Zhuer and Yan Zhuang. A horse was once crushed to death under An Lushan's sheer weight due to his fatness. It

20860-725: Was intending to have Ashina and An Shouzhong take over Shi's command if possible. Instead, Shi arrested Ashina and An Shouzhong and submitted to Tang. Many other cities previously under Yan's control also submitted to Tang, and An Qingxu's territory shrank to just Yecheng and the surrounding area. It was said that An Qingxu became cruel and paranoid in light of these military losses, and that if generals submitted to Tang, he would slaughter their families if they were Han and their tribes if they were non-Han. Meanwhile, believing accusations that Zhang made against Cai, he killed Cai, which further led to dissension among his soldiers, particularly since he then put Cui Qianyou (崔乾祐) in command of his army, and

21009-709: Was later killed by his officer Wang Wujun . Chengde's last ruler, Wang Rong later founded the Zhao Dynasty that lasted until 921. Tian Chengsi had full control of the Weibo Circuit . He later annexed Xue Song 's Zhaoyi Circuit. Weibo Circuit remained independent until integrated with the Later Liang state in 910. Li Zhengji became the powerful ruler of the Pinglu Circuit (modern Tai'an, Shandong). His son Li Na rebelled and proclaimed to be

21158-520: Was notoriously difficult, requiring hard travel on the way through the intervening Qin Mountains . However, the geographical features of the terrain were not the only hardships on the journey: there was a matter that first had to be settled, involving the relationship between Xuanzong and the Yang family, especially the emperor's beloved Yang Guifei. So, before progressing more than a few kilometers along

21307-411: Was paralleled by economic decline, including large Tang governmental debt to Uighur money lenders. The old taxation system of Zu Yong Diao no longer functioned after the rebellion. In addition to being politically and economically detrimental to the empire, the rebellion also affected the intellectual culture of the Tang dynasty. Many intellectuals had their careers interrupted, giving them time to ponder

21456-520: Was proceeding more successfully, with the campaign to capture the Tibetans' Central Asian territories appearing nearly successful. With the assassination of the Tibetan emperor Me Agtsom in 755 in the midst of a major rebellion within the Tibetan polity, final Tang victory over the Tibetan Empire seemed all but assured. However, back in the increasingly financially challenged Chinese heartland,

21605-467: Was said that An Qingxu was an introvert who couldn't speak to others properly. As a result, Yan Zhuang advised him not to meet officials frequently, and he entrusted most of affairs of state to Yan and created Yan the Prince of Fengyi. He tried to ingratiate his generals by promoting their positions. Meanwhile, with the major general Shi Siming besieging the Tang general Li Guangbi at Taiyuan , An Qingxu ordered Shi to return to his base of Fanyang and leave

21754-424: Was serving as Fumeng's deputy. At that time, Lesser Bolü , a city state around modern Gilgit , Pakistan , was allied with the Tibetan Empire , and 20 city states around it also became Tibetan vassals. A Tibetan princess became the wife and queen of Lesser Bolü's king. Tian Renwan, Gai Jiayun, and Fumeng Lingcha had all tried to attack Lesser Bolü in the past, but were unable to defeat it. In 747, Gao Xianzhi led

21903-562: Was the son of Go Sagye , a Goguryeo general. Goguryeo was defeated by Tang Dynasty in 668 AD and Go Sagye was captured by the Tang army, which he then served under. Gao Xianzhi was born in Tang's western regions. Historical records state that Gao Xianzhi was neither muscular nor particularly strong like other army officers and his father was constantly concerned about his son's poor health. However, he demonstrated great courage from an early age and possessed skills in horseriding and archery. Gao Xianzhi's loyalty and bravery allowed him to net

22052-586: Was to appoint the generals Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi to deal with the rebellion. The generals, after much discussion, decided to borrow troops from an offshoot of the Turkic Tujue tribe, the Huihe, or Huige, also known as the Uyghur Khaganate , who were ruled by Bayanchur Khan until his death in the summer of 759. Three thousand Arab mercenaries were sent by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur to join

22201-478: Was to be killed, he looked at Feng's body and stated: Feng Er [(i.e., the second son from the Feng household, thus implying that Feng was the second son)], you became prominent from your low station. I promoted you to be my assistant, and you later succeeded me as jiedushi . It is fate that we die together here today. Gao's defeat, which marked the end of Tang's expansion to the west, was partially fictionalized by

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