In 184 AD, the Eastern Han Dynasty ushered in a vigorous Yellow Turban Rebellion, which marked the opening of the tomb of the first long-standing feudal dynasty in Chinese history. Although this uprising caused waves throughout the world, involving more than half of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the final outcome was a failure.
The failure of the Yellow Turban Uprising raises questions: after all, the scale of the Yellow Turban Uprising was relatively large in the peasant uprising in the whole of Chinese history, and it set off a nationwide uprising at the beginning, so why did it end in failure?
The primary reason is the lack of clarity of political objectives. The slogan of Zhang Jiao, the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, "The sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand; Although it is poetic for the illiterate community, it lacks a clear expression of the actual political demands of ordinary people. At that time, the Han court was extremely corrupt and the people were struggling to make a living, and the Yellow Turban Army failed to provide political goals close to the needs of life, which limited the further expansion of the scale of its uprising.
Secondly, the transportation is extremely inconvenient. Although the scale of the uprising was so large that it seemed that all states in the country were fighting together, in fact the uprisings in various places were fought separately, forming a scattered sand. The forces were too dispersed, so that they did not have any military advantage, and further weakened their resistance force.
The way in which the Yellow Turbans were recruited and the quality of the army also contributed to the failure. Zhang Jiao recruited the army through superstitious remarks, claiming that he had heavenly soldiers and generals, and that he could cure diseases without medicine, but only need spiritual talismans. This led to a general lack of independent thinking among the members of the constituent army, and a weak overall combat effectiveness. At the same time, some soldiers may have participated with illness and relied on spirit runes to sustain themselves, which became a major disadvantage in actual combat.
In addition, due to the existence of internal superstitions, the Yellow Turban Army** appeared some traitors, reported to the Eastern Han Dynasty**, and exposed the uprising plan in advance, resulting in the inadequate preparation of the rebel army, which became one of the key factors leading to defeat.
Overall, the failure of the Yellow Turban Uprising had profound reasons for its lack of clarity of political goals, inconvenient transportation, military recruitment methods, and internal superstitions. The complexity of this historical event gives us a deeper understanding of the political, military, and cultural landscape of the society at that time.
Yellow Nest Uprising