The An Lushan Rebellion was a devastating rebellion against the Tang Dynasty of China. The rebellion overtly began on 16 December 755, when general An Lushan declared himself emperor in Northern China, thus establishing a rival Yan Dynasty, and ended when Yan fell on 17 February 763 (although the effects lasted past this). This event is also known (especially in Chinese historiography) as the An–Shi Rebellion or An–Shi Disturbances(simplified Chinese: 安史之乱; traditional Chinese: 安史之亂; pinyin: Ān Shǐ Zhīluàn), as it continued after An Lushan's death under his son An Qingxuand his deputy and successor Shi Siming, or as the Tianbao Rebellion (天宝之乱), as it began in the 14th year of that era.
Background
Beginning in 742, Eurasia entered a thirteen-year period of major political turmoil, with the regional empires generally suffering "a major rebellion, revolution, or dynastic change."[1] In this year, the Türk dynasty of the EasternSteppe was overthrown and then replaced by Sogdian-influenced Uighur rulers.[1] 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.[2] The Abbasidsbegan a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate, beginning in 747, in Merv,Khurasan, and resulting in the proclamation of a new Abbasid Caliph in about 750.[3] This rebellion also seems to have been organized by merchants and persons identifying themselves as merchants.[3]
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 Arab victory attributable to the defection of the Karluk Turks during the midst of the battle. Further, southern expansion of the empire was limited by the ineffective, and even disastrous, campaigns against the Kingdom of Nanzhao. However, the concurrent Tang campaign against the Tibetan Empire was proceeding more successfully, with the campaign to capture the Tibetans' Central Asian territories appearing to be near to success. 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. But, meanwhile, back in the increasingly financially challenged Chinese heartland, the Sogdian-Turkic general An Lushan had worked himself into a position of greatest trust with the Tang emperor Xuanzong and his consort Yang Guifei.
General An Lushan
An Lushan was a general of uncertain birth origin, but thought to have been adopted by a Sogdian father and Turk mother;[4] eventually, he managed to become a favorite of the reigning emperor of China. His success in this regard is shown, for example, by the luxurious house which Emperor Xuanzong had built for him in the capital Chang'an, in 751, furnished with such things as gold and silver objects and a pair of ten foot long by six foot wide couches appliqued with rare and expensive sandalwood.[5] He was appointed by Emperor Xuanzong (following the suggestion of Xuanzong's favourite concubine Yang Guifei and with the agreement of chancellor Li Linfu) to be commander (节度使) 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 Rebellion against theUmayyad Dynasty,[6] and eventually the absence of strong troops guarding the palace coupled with a string of natural disasters. He was a favorite in the Tang court, even calling himself the adopted son of Yang Guifei. He was thus protected from criticism, even when her relative the chief minister, Yang Guozhong, demanded his dismissal.
Death toll
There is no doubt that the rebellion resulted in a major death toll, in general, and that the Tang empire's population was greatly reduced. The devastation of the population was not only a direct result of the combat casualties and civilian deaths as a direct result of warfare, but due to the widespread dislocations of the social and economic system, especially in the north and middle areas of China, mass starvation and disease also resulted in death by the millions. However the number of deaths is difficult to estimate even in approximate terms.
Censuses taken in the half-century before the rebellion show a gradual increase in population, with the last census undertaken before the rebellion, that of 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 the number recorded in 755.[13] Some scholars have interpreted the difference in the census figures as implying the deaths of 36 million people, about two-thirds of the population of the empire. This figure was used in Steven Pinker's bookThe Better Angels of Our Nature, where it is presented as proportionally the largest atrocity in history with the loss of a sixth of the world's population at that time,[14] though Pinker noted that the figure was controversial.[15]
Historians such as Charles Patrick Fitzgerald argue that a claim of 36 million deaths is incompatible with contemporary accounts of the war.[16] They point out that the numbers recorded on the post-war registers reflect not only population loss, but also a breakdown of the census system, as well as the removal from the census figures of various classes of untaxed persons, such of those in religious orders, foreigners, and merchants.[17] For these reasons, census numbers for the post-rebellion Tang are considered unreliable.[13] Another consideration is the fact that the territory controlled by Tang central authority was diminished by the equivalent of several of the northern provinces, so that something like a quarter of the surviving population were no longer within the area subject to the imperial revenue system.[18]
Background
Beginning in 742, Eurasia entered a thirteen-year period of major political turmoil, with the regional empires generally suffering "a major rebellion, revolution, or dynastic change."[1] In this year, the Türk dynasty of the EasternSteppe was overthrown and then replaced by Sogdian-influenced Uighur rulers.[1] 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.[2] The Abbasidsbegan a rebellion against the Umayyad Caliphate, beginning in 747, in Merv,Khurasan, and resulting in the proclamation of a new Abbasid Caliph in about 750.[3] This rebellion also seems to have been organized by merchants and persons identifying themselves as merchants.[3]
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 Arab victory attributable to the defection of the Karluk Turks during the midst of the battle. Further, southern expansion of the empire was limited by the ineffective, and even disastrous, campaigns against the Kingdom of Nanzhao. However, the concurrent Tang campaign against the Tibetan Empire was proceeding more successfully, with the campaign to capture the Tibetans' Central Asian territories appearing to be near to success. 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. But, meanwhile, back in the increasingly financially challenged Chinese heartland, the Sogdian-Turkic general An Lushan had worked himself into a position of greatest trust with the Tang emperor Xuanzong and his consort Yang Guifei.
General An Lushan
An Lushan was a general of uncertain birth origin, but thought to have been adopted by a Sogdian father and Turk mother;[4] eventually, he managed to become a favorite of the reigning emperor of China. His success in this regard is shown, for example, by the luxurious house which Emperor Xuanzong had built for him in the capital Chang'an, in 751, furnished with such things as gold and silver objects and a pair of ten foot long by six foot wide couches appliqued with rare and expensive sandalwood.[5] He was appointed by Emperor Xuanzong (following the suggestion of Xuanzong's favourite concubine Yang Guifei and with the agreement of chancellor Li Linfu) to be commander (节度使) 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 Rebellion against theUmayyad Dynasty,[6] and eventually the absence of strong troops guarding the palace coupled with a string of natural disasters. He was a favorite in the Tang court, even calling himself the adopted son of Yang Guifei. He was thus protected from criticism, even when her relative the chief minister, Yang Guozhong, demanded his dismissal.
Death toll
There is no doubt that the rebellion resulted in a major death toll, in general, and that the Tang empire's population was greatly reduced. The devastation of the population was not only a direct result of the combat casualties and civilian deaths as a direct result of warfare, but due to the widespread dislocations of the social and economic system, especially in the north and middle areas of China, mass starvation and disease also resulted in death by the millions. However the number of deaths is difficult to estimate even in approximate terms.
Censuses taken in the half-century before the rebellion show a gradual increase in population, with the last census undertaken before the rebellion, that of 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 the number recorded in 755.[13] Some scholars have interpreted the difference in the census figures as implying the deaths of 36 million people, about two-thirds of the population of the empire. This figure was used in Steven Pinker's bookThe Better Angels of Our Nature, where it is presented as proportionally the largest atrocity in history with the loss of a sixth of the world's population at that time,[14] though Pinker noted that the figure was controversial.[15]
Historians such as Charles Patrick Fitzgerald argue that a claim of 36 million deaths is incompatible with contemporary accounts of the war.[16] They point out that the numbers recorded on the post-war registers reflect not only population loss, but also a breakdown of the census system, as well as the removal from the census figures of various classes of untaxed persons, such of those in religious orders, foreigners, and merchants.[17] For these reasons, census numbers for the post-rebellion Tang are considered unreliable.[13] Another consideration is the fact that the territory controlled by Tang central authority was diminished by the equivalent of several of the northern provinces, so that something like a quarter of the surviving population were no longer within the area subject to the imperial revenue system.[18]
