Among the peoples who ruled the steppes of northern China, the Turks were a very important one. This is not only because of its influence on Chinese history, but also because after the westward migration of the Turks, Turkic culture spread to Central and Western Asia and took root, where it still has an important influence today.
At the same time, the history of the Turks is more controversial and difficult to sort out among the northern nomads. The first reason is that cremation was popular among the Turks, leaving very few tombs and very few physical objects available for archaeologySecond, under the influence of Pan-Turkism, there are many far-fetched contents, which need to be discerned. Here's a concise and easy-to-understand combing.
1. The period of origin (about 400 years ago - 522 A.D.).
2. The period of rise (522-552).
3. The period of expansion (552-583).
4. The period of turmoil (583-609).
5. The period of revival at the end of the Sui Dynasty (609-626).
6. The fall of the early Tang Dynasty (626-657).
7. The post-Turkic period (657-745).
8. The period of the Turkic Empires of Central and Western Asia (Seljuk Empire, Ottoman Empire).
Regarding the ethnic origin of the Turks, there are four main theories in ancient Chinese historical materials.
The first is the theory of the eastward migration of Central Asia, which can be found in the "Northern History", "The Turks, who first lived on the right side of the West Sea (possibly the Aral Sea), were only tribes, and covered other species of the Xiongnu....”；
The second is the Mobei-Siberian saying, which is found in the Book of Zhou, "the first Turkic, out of the Suo country, in the north of the Xiongnu";
The third is the northwestern mixed-race theory, which is found in the "Book of Sui", "the first Turkic, Pingliang Zahu, surnamed Ashina";
Fourth, the Turpan wolf species said, seen in the "Book of Zhou", "the northwest mountain of Gaochang country, there are caves in the mountains, and there are Pyongyang lush grass in the caves, and there are hundreds of miles around the circle, and there are mountains on all sides." The wolf hid among them, and gave birth to ten boys. The ten boys grew up, and their wives were pregnant, and each of them had a surname, and Ashina was one."
In 1992, Xue Zongzheng, a Turkic historian of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, proposed in his book "Turkic History" that the distant ancestors of the Turkic patrilineal ancestors had encountered the change of the country, and later there was a complex ethnic migration, the paternal totem was a cow, and the matrilineal totem was a wolf, so there was a legend of a wolf wife and a wolf mother, and the ancestors of the Ashina clan had some kind of connection with the Xiongnu.
In 2022, Fudan University extracted the DNA of Empress Ashina, a Turkic princess who married Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, from the tomb of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which is the world's first detection of Turkic royal DNA. The conclusion is that its genes originated in Northeast Asia, and shared more genes with the Donghu people.
Archaeological site of the tomb of Empress Ashina.
However, women can only inherit X mitochondria, not Y chromosomes, which can only prove that the mother of the Turkic princess is related to the Donghu people, which may be formed by intermarriage between the Turks and Rouran, Xianbei, etc., and cannot prove which group the Turkic paternal line comes from.
Linguistic studies have shown that the Xiongnu language is one of the sources of the Turkic language, and the Xiongnu language has some more words of Old Persian than the Turkic language.
On the whole, the ancestors of the Turks may be a branch of the Cypriots, but regardless of the fact that the ancestors of the Turks came from, at least in the period of the formation of the Turkic people, they were active in the Altai region, and their language and culture were greatly influenced by the Xiongnu. It is likely that the Turks, like the Xiongnu, were predominantly yellow people, but mixed with Europa races (the southern Xiongnu were basically yellow, and the northern Xiongnu had quite a few Caucasians). Considering that the Altai-Yenisei region was the dividing line between the activities of the ancient yellow race and the white race, the Turkic mixed race should have been even higher than that of the Xiongnu.
The Altai-Yenisei region was the dividing line between the activities of the ancient yellow and Caucasian races.
Then, around 400 AD at the latest, the Turks had formed a larger tribe. At that time, the ruler of the northern steppes was Rouran, so the Turks were still a vassal tribe of Rouran when they first appeared. In order to fight against Xianbei, Rouran Khan Shelun carried out military reforms and established heavy cavalry following Xianbei's example. The heavy cavalry needed a lot of iron armor and weapons, and Shelun gave this errand to the Turks. In the eyes of the Rouran people, this is a chore, they don't need to do it themselves, and they secretly call the Turks "forging slaves".
Rouran heavy cavalry.
But in reality, it was a veritable military industry, which the Turks mastered, laying the ambush for its rapid rise.
During this period, the Turks borrowed from Sogdian, a form of the ancient Iranian language, to create the Turkic script. Thus, Turkic is a phonetic script. It can also be seen from this that the Turks and Sogdians (white people from Central Asia, descendants of the Kangju people) had frequent interactions.
The Turks rose very quickly and became the rulers of the northern steppes in a short time.
In 522 A.D., Ashina Dayehu participated in the war of Rouran against Gaochang, which shows that the Turks further strengthened at this time and had become a relatively important military force under Rouran's rule.
The Turks regarded Ashina Tumen as the founding monarch.
The Turks entered the field of vision of the Central Plains a little later. The name "Turkic" was first seen in the 27th volume of the Book of Zhou, "Yuwen Survey Biography", which records that before the eighth year of the Great Unification of the Western Wei Dynasty (542), in order to prevent the raids and plunders of the Turks, the northern prefectures and counties of the Western Wei Dynasty had to move their residents, cattle and sheep to Wubao in advance in winter.
By 545 AD, the Northern Wei Dynasty began to attach importance to the Turks and sent envoys to the Turks. The Turks were very happy, believing it to be a proof of their strength. The following year, they thought they should be on an equal footing with Rouran, so they proposed to Rouran, and after being rejected, Ashina Tumen killed Rouran's envoy and officially broke with Rouran. The word Tumen originally meant "10,000" in the Turkic language, and the Tuman, Tongwan, Tuwan, Tumen, Tumen, Tumen, and Tumen all had different transliterations of this meaning in Chinese, meaning "10,000 chiefs", "10,000 masters", "10,000 households", etc., according to which it was judged that the Turks had reached tens of thousands of troops at this time.
In 550 AD, the Turks unified the Ele tribes in the northwest, subduing 50,000 households and becoming the most powerful force in the northwest region. Two years later, the Turks defeated Rouran with the forces of Ele and unified the entire northern desert. Ashina Tumen called himself "Ilkhan", and the "Turkic Khanate" officially stepped onto the stage of history.
Ashina Tumen died shortly after being proclaimed Khan. After him, his son Koro ascended the throne and became known as the Khan of Yixiji. But only a year later, he also died of illness. Considering the young age of his son, Yixi Khan appointed his younger brother Qi Jin as the new khan before his death.
This appointment of the Khan laid the foundation for the future Turkic Khanate.
Wooden pole Khan pounds.
After his accession to the throne, he was called the Khan of the Wooden Pole. During his reign (553-572), the territory of the Turkic Khanate increased significantly.
Around 560, the Turks conquered Tuyuhun, conquered the Western Regions, and united with Persia to flank the White Xiongnu, making today's Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia the territory of the Turkic Khanate. Subsequently, the Khan moved the Khan's court to Dujin Mountain, which is the area of present-day Hangai Mountain in Mongolia, and continued to expand his territory. According to the Northern History, the territory of the Turkic Khanate during this period was 10,000 miles from east to west and 5 or 6 thousand miles from north to south ("from the west of the Liaohai Sea in the east, to the West Sea in the west, from the desert to the north in the south, and to the North Sea in the north").
The Wooden Khan also began to gradually intervene in the Central Plains.
Schematic diagram of the Turkic attack on Jinyang.
In 564 AD, Muzhu Khan personally led 100,000 cavalry southward and joined forces with the Northern Zhou to attack Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi), an important town in the Northern Qi Dynasty, but failed to break through.
This strategic failure made the wooden pole Khan firm in the strategy of "left and right". On the one hand, he married his daughter to Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Yuwen Yong, as the empress, and established a "political-marriage" alliance with him (the one mentioned earlier who was tested for DNA by Fudan University).On the other hand, he "reverted to Qi" and took the initiative to ease political and diplomatic relations with Northern Qi.
In this context, both the Northern Qi and the Northern Zhou were "deferential" to the Turkic Khanate.
In 572 AD, the Khan of Wooden Poles died and his younger brother Tubo Khan ascended to the throne. During his reign, the Turks still completely suppressed the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi, but their external expansion was basically at a standstill.
Map of the situation during the Northern and Southern Dynasties.
In 580 AD, Princess Qianjin of the Northern Zhou Dynasty married Tubo Khan. The following year, the Khan died. The son of the Khan of the Wooden Pole, Da Luo, was proclaimed as the new Khan, known as the Apo Khan in history. However, the prestige of Apo Khan was not high, and he was opposed by internal forces.
Apo Khan's cousin not only opposed Apo Khan, but also took the initiative to proclaim the son of Tubo Khan, Vara as "Khan". Soon, Luo took the initiative to give the Khan position to the photographer, and he became the "Second Khan". As a result, the strongest photographer became the actual Khan, known as the Shabalu Khan in history.
Shabalu Khan is considered one of the finest Turkic khans.
Thus, in the region east of the Altai Mountains in 581, there was a situation in which the two powers of the Taktu (Shabalu Khan) and the Great Rakhan (Apo Khan) were juxtaposed.
At the same time as the Eastern Turks expanded, the Western Turks also expanded, and at a rapid pace. At the beginning of the Turkic establishment, Tumen's younger brother Mur Dianmi served as the "little khan" in the west, and soon took control of Central Asia.
This period was the period of the Turkic Civil War and the official ** Eastern and Western Turks.
In 583, a civil war broke out in the Turkic Khanate. At that time, the Apo Khan, who had been excluded by the photo, united with the Datou Khan of the Western Turks, and launched an attack on the photo. This military campaign made the Turkic Khanate officially the eastern and western divisions. From then on, with the Altai Mountains as the boundary, it was divided into Eastern Turks and Western Turks, and the two sides were hostile to each other.
(1) On the Eastern Turkic side:
The Eastern Turks soon clashed with the Sui Dynasty and were defeated by the Sui, coupled with the threat of the Khitan in the east, and the internal attack of the Western Turks Datou Khan and the Great Luobian, they had to write to the Sui Dynasty to "claim the title of vassal" in exchange for the opportunity to recuperate. In 586 AD, the Sui Dynasty issued an almanac to the Eastern Turks, recognizing their status as vassal states.
Soon after, Shabalu Khan died and was succeeded by his younger brother Luo Hou, known as Yehu Khan or Mohe Khan.
In 587 A.D., Yehu Khan, under the banner given by the Sui Dynasty, attacked Daluobian in the west. The other party thought that Yehu Khan was supported by Sui soldiers, and many tribes came to join him, which made Yehu Khan overwhelmed, and Apo Khan himself was captured by him, and the Eastern Turks were temporarily unified.
In 588 AD, Yehu Khan led another 300,000 troops to attack Persia through the Western Turks, but died in battle.
After the death of Yehu Khan, Yongyu Lu was elected as the new Khan by everyone, known as Dulan Khan in history. During his reign, the Eastern Turkic Khanate repeatedly took the initiative to send envoys to the Sui Dynasty to pay tribute "as a sign of friendship", which was richly rewarded.
But a "stable and united" Eastern Turk was something the Sui Dynasty did not want to see. As a result, the Sui Dynasty started a "discordant plan".
In 597 AD, the Sui Dynasty married Princess Anyi to the son of Yehu Khan, the new "Turki Khan" Dye Gan (the second eldest of the Eastern Turks, also known as the "Little Khan"), and successfully provoked a war between the Dulan Khan and the Tuli Khan.
Dulan Khan and Datou Khan jointly raised troops to fight against Dyegan.
In 598 AD, Dulan Khan and the Datou Khan of the Western Turks jointly raised an army to defeat Dyegan. Dyegan's side suffered a crushing defeat, his sons and nephews were almost slaughtered, and he fled to the territory of the Sui Dynasty in embarrassment "with only five horsemen". Subsequently, the Sui Dynasty marched north on the grounds of "supporting dyeing and drying" and defeated Dulan Khan.
After the situation stabilized, the Sui Dynasty not only sealed and dyed Gan as the "Khan of Qimin", but also built the "Dali City" in Shuozhou, Shanxi Province for him to live in, and married Princess Yicheng to him. With the support of the Sui Dynasty, the power of dyeing and drying grew rapidly.
However, unwilling to fail, Dulan Khan frequently led troops to crusade against Dyegan, and also wantonly invaded the border of the Sui Dynasty.
In 599, the Sui dynasty decided to gather superior forces with the aim of eliminating the Dulan Khan in one fell swoop. However, before the army could be drawn, Dulan Khan was killed by his subordinates, and the civil war of the Eastern Turkic Khan was basically over.
In 609 A.D., Dzengan died of illness, and his son Du Jishi succeeded to the throne, known as Shibi Khan.
During the reign of Shibi Khan, the Eastern Turks recovered.
During the reign of Shibi Khan (609-619), the rule of the Sui Dynasty had declined, which gave the Turks an excellent opportunity to recuperate. Under the careful management of Shibi Khan, the Eastern Turkic Khanate soon showed signs of recovery, ending a period of internal strife and turmoil, and successively conquering local governments and nomadic tribes such as the Khitan, Murwei, Tuyuhun, and Gaochang.
(2) The Western Turkic side:
In 588 AD, after Yehu Khan captured Apo Khan, Datou Khan had to withdraw from Mobei and temporarily launched the "Battle for the Khan Throne". In 600 AD, the Sui army attacked the Western Turkic Datou Khan. In order to avoid the advance of the Sui army, Datou Khan chose to avoid the battle and did not suffer any losses, but the Sui Dynasty did not give up the blow to him. In 601, the Sui Dynasty, with Yang Su as the marshal, led the Sui army and the Eastern Turkic army to the north to conquer Datou Khan.
Under the blow of the Sui army, the position of Datou Khan was greatly weakened, and more than ten tribes in the Western Turks, such as Tiele and Servants, defected from Datou Khan. Datou Khan became weak, and had to flee to Tuyuhun in disarray, and finally died around 610.
(1) On the Eastern Turkic side:
In the last years of the Sui Dynasty, the local warlords of the Central Plains in the first state tried their best to collude with the Turkic rulers in order to win assistance, so that the Turks once again faced a favorable situation.
In 617, when Li Yuan, the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, "raised troops in Taiyuan" (also known as Jinyang raised troops), he sent his advisor Liu Wenjing to take the initiative to meet Shibi Khan to seek military assistance. Li Yuan proposed that if the coalition forces of the two sides took Chang'an, they would be rewarded with heavy money. As a result, Shibi Khan sent 2,000 cavalry to assist the Tang army in conquering Chang'an. In exchange, the Turkic army entered the city and ransacked the city, seized a large amount of property, and fled.
Li Yuan Jinyang raised troops.
While Shibi Khan gave Li Yuan great support, he "did not refuse to come" to other warlords of the Central Plains who asked for help.
This move of Shibi Khan caused great resistance to the process of great unification of the Tang Dynasty.
In 619 A.D., Shibi Khan died, and his younger brother Tong Lifushi ascended the throne, known as Chuluo Khan. However, he died of illness after only one year of reign. Soon, the younger brother of Chuluo Khan ascended the throne and was known as Jieli Khan.
During his reign, Jieli Khan not only continued to support the warlord separatist forces entrenched in North China, but also frequently led his troops south to raid and plunder.
In 622 and 625 AD, the Turks attacked Shanxi twice and plundered.
In 626 A.D., Jieli Khan "led more than 100,000 horsemen into Kouwugong, and the Beijing division was under martial law", and the troops reached the bank of the Weishui River, and Li Shimin was forced to cut off a white horse and form an alliance with the Turks, that is, the "Weishui Alliance".
(2) The Western Turkic side:
After the Datou Khan was weakened, the grandson of the Datou Khan, the Khan of Shekui, regrouped and unified the various departments of the Eile in 612 A.D., and the control area was "east to Jinshan, west to the sea, and all the countries west of Yumen were served", which showed signs of recovery.
After the death of the Khan, his younger brother Tong Ye Hu ascended the throne, known as Tong Ye Hu Khan. Under his management, the Western Turkic Khanate ushered in a revival.
In order to stabilize his rule, Tongyehu Khan established a tent in Barihe, near present-day Balkh, Afghanistan, known as the "Southern Tooth". Tongye Hu Khan once received Master Xuanzang who went to the Western Heaven to learn scriptures.
During this period, under the blows of the Tang army, the Eastern and Western Turks fell one after another. Among them, the Eastern Turks fell very quickly, mainly by Li Jing, and the Western Turks lasted longer, mainly by Su Dingfang.
(1) The fall of the Eastern Turks (626-634).
In August 626, Li Shimin ascended the throne, and then the plan to "exterminate the Turks" was also put on the official agenda.
Portrait of Li Shimin.
Because they could not bear the exploitation and suppression of Jieli Khan, the Xue Yantuo, Uighurs, Bayegu and other tribes in the Eastern Turkic Khanate rebelled one after another. After hearing the news, Jieli Khan appointed Shibi Khan's son and nephew of the "Tuli Khan" at the time to lead the troops to suppress it, but suffered a serious defeat and almost wiped out the entire army. Enraged, the Khan severely punished Shibabi and imprisoned him.
The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he became, and soon he became rebellious. In 628 A.D., Shi Bobi sent an envoy to the Tang Dynasty to "send an envoy to make a gap with Jieli, and please attack it". The following year, Xue Yantuo proclaimed himself Khan, and while taking the initiative to send "tribute" to the Tang Dynasty, he also asked to join forces with the Tang army to attack the Eastern Turkic Khanate.
As the saying goes, "Blessings are incomparable, but disasters do not go alone", the Eastern Turkic Khanate, which was already very tense at home and abroad, encountered heavy snow and famine that had not been seen in a century, and was in a difficult situation. But even so, Jieli Khan still forcibly expropriated and extorted, and finally encountered a large-scale rebellion, and the people's hearts were lost.
Map of the surrounding situation of the Tang Dynasty after the Eastern Turks were destroyed.
In order to save the country's declining situation, the desperate Jieli Khan once proposed to "call the courtier" to the Tang Dynasty and asked for "Xiu Son-in-law Ceremony" to become the son-in-law of the Tang Dynasty emperor. However, the opportunity for revenge is in front of him, how could Tang Taizong give up so easily?
In 629 AD, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty issued an edict to conquer the Eastern Turks. In September of the same year, "the Turks led three thousand people to surrender";"Ba Yegu, the servant bones, the Tongluo, the chief Xi and lead the people to descend";In November, the Tang army sent troops from east to west in five directions to attack the Eastern Turkic Khanate in an all-out way. In February of the following year, Li Jing broke the army of Jieli Khan in Yinshan;In March, Jieli Khan was captured by the Tang army. At this point, the Eastern Turkic Khanate was declared extinct.
Schematic diagram of the Tang Dynasty's battle to destroy the Eastern Turks.
In 634 A.D., Jieli Khan died, and he was posthumously presented to the king of Guiyi, and he was called a famine. Soon, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty ordered his countrymen to be buried, cremated according to the etiquette of the Turks, and finally buried in the east of Bashui.
(2) The fall of the Western Turks (628-657).
At the time of the fall of the Eastern Turks, the Western Turks were still expanding, and their sphere of influence stretched from Kashmir in the south to the Altai Mountains in the north to the Sassanid Persian Empire in the west. However, in the later period, the Khan of Tongye Hu swelled day by day, and he was powerful and powerful to his subordinates, which aroused the resentment of various tribes. Therefore, when the Tang Dynasty was preparing to use troops against the Western Turks, it happened that the Commander Yehu Khan was killed by his tribe. As a result, the Western Turkic Khanate was divided into two and entered a turbulent period of civil war.
During the last 30 years of the Western Turkic Khanate, there were seven khans. Over time, the nomadic tribes and oasis city-states within the territory became independent.
In 657, the Tang Gao sect sent the general Su Dingfang and others to unite with the Hui people and led the army to launch a large-scale attack on the Western Turks, and the Western Turkic Khan Ashina Helu was captured by the Tang army, and the Western Turkic Khanate was destroyed.
During this period, it was called the Second Turkic Khanate abroad, and the Post-Turkic in ancient Chinese books. Among them, the Later Western Turks implemented the fetters system because they were far away from the Tang Dynasty and basically existed as a subject state of the Tang Dynasty, while the Later Eastern Turks did not regain their status until more than 20 years later and opposed the Tang Dynasty. In addition, some Western Turkic tribes became independent of the Western Turkic Khanate and established the Turgish Khanate, which was initially loyal to the Tang Dynasty and later fought with the Tang Dynasty for Central Asia.
Map of the situation in the post-Turkic period.
(1) Later Eastern Turkic Khanate (682-745).
During this period, the Later Eastern Turkic Khanate experienced a process of revival and then decline, and because of the relatively short period of time, it is counted here as a period.
After the fall of the Eastern Turkic Khanate, the Tang Dynasty set up the Yanran Protectorate (later renamed the Hanhai Protectorate and the Anbei Protectorate) to govern the Southern Turks and the Tiele Prefecture of the Northern Desert.
However, in the last years of Tang Gaozong, the situation changed, and the emerging Tibetan Empire and the Tang Dynasty repeatedly fought for the four towns of Anxi, and the remnants of Goguryeo and the Silla people in the northeast were always making trouble, involving many forces of the Tang army. As a result, the Tang Dynasty's dominance over the Turkic homeland weakened. In addition, the Tang Dynasty continued to fight foreign wars for many years, and a large number of Eastern Turkic young people were sent to serve in the army, so that the dissatisfaction of various tribes gradually accumulated, and the idea of recovering the country gradually began to breed.
In this context, the remnants of the Eastern Turks finally broke away from the Tang Dynasty in 682, and the leader Ashina Gululu proclaimed himself Khan, and spent more than ten years to reunify the entire Mobei and establish the "Later Turkic Khanate", which we call here the Later Eastern Turks.
After the Eastern Turkic Khanate grew stronger, it began its westward expedition in 708 and entered Sogdia (present-day western Kazakhstan) around 712, but then encountered the Arabs near Samarkand, was cut off from logistics in battle, suffered considerable losses, and returned to the Altai Mountains in 713-714.
At that time, the right virtuous king of the Later Eastern Turks was called Que Te Qin, the youngest son of Gu Lulu, and the younger brother of the Later Eastern Turk Khan at that time. After his death, the Tang Dynasty sent envoys to mourn and sent craftsmen to assist in erecting the monument, which was later discovered and became known as the Que Secret Service Monument, which is one of the important materials for understanding the history of the Turks and the classification of ethnic minorities in northern China.
Que Special Service Monument. In general, although the rulers of the Later Eastern Turkic Khanate have always regarded themselves as "Turkic orthodoxy", the internal strife and the constant rebellion of the northern Tiele tribes have made the rule of the Later Eastern Turkic Khanate unstable and its political influence less than that of the Eastern Turkic Khanate.
In 744 AD, the Uighur leader Gulipero established himself as khan and established the Uighur Khanate. The following year, the Uighur army defeated and killed the White Eyebrows Khan of the Later Turkic Khanate. At this point, the Later Eastern Turkic Khanate was declared extinct.
(2) Later Western Turkic Khanate (657-742).
The Tang Dynasty exercised feudal rule over the Later Western Turks, so the Later Western Turks could be said to be a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty.
As mentioned earlier, Su Dingfang's capture of Ashina Helu marked the end of the Western Turkic Khanate. After that, the Tang Dynasty divided the Western Turks into two, canonized two khans, namely the Xingxi Death Khan and the Jiji Khan, and founded the Kunling and Mengchi two fetters to protect the capital.
The two khans also served as the protector of the capital, among which the Khan of the Rising and Dead and the protector of Kunling, governed the area east of the Shaye River;In order to carry on the past and never the Khan and the protection of the pond, he governed the area west of the Shaye River, and implemented the division of the two compartments, containing each other, which was convenient for the Tang Dynasty to control. Both prefectures were under the jurisdiction of the Anzai Prefecture.
Schematic diagram of Kunling Metropolitan Protection and Mengchi Imperial Protection.
The two khans of "Carrying on the Past and Passing Away" have been passed down for four generations. In 742, Ashina Xin, the successor Khan of the past dynasty, was ordered to go to Turgish to quell the civil strife, and was killed by the Turgish leader Mohe Dagan in the Zhambyl region of Kazakhstan, marking the end of the post-Western Turkic period.
(iii) The Turgish Khanate (691-744).
The leader of the Western Turkic tribe of Turgish, Uzhil (r. 690-706), was known for his prestige, and after coming to power, he annexed some of the surrounding tribes and became powerful. Subsequently, the Turgish captured the city of Broken Leaves, which served as the location of its Great Tooth Tent, and for a time dominated the Western Regions.
Schematic diagram of the location of the broken leaves, the broken leaves are still Li Bai's place of origin.
In 706, the Tang Dynasty adopted the Huairou policy and named Wu Zhile as the king of Huaide County. In the same year, Uzhile died, and his son Suo Ge succeeded him to the title. After Suoge's death, his subordinate Sulu usurped power, proclaimed himself Khan, and no longer obeyed the Tang Dynasty, and was at war with the Tang Dynasty for many years.
At this time, the Arab armies were also expanding in Central Asia and began to fight against the Turgish. In 724, Sulu defeated the Arab invaders in the Thirsty Water War.
Schematic diagram of the location of the Turgish.
At the end of 734, the Sulu Khan sued for peace with the Tang Dynasty. Tang Xuanzong doubted his sincerity and secretly prepared to attack the Turgish.
In the spring of 736, in the first month of the first month, the capital of the North Court took the initiative to attack the Tuqi Shi, but the Tuqi Shi was defeated, and since then he has not dared to invade Anxi and the North Court.
In 737, the Arab armies also took the opportunity to attack the Turgish. In the Battle of Jurjan, the Turgish army was annihilated by the Arab army. The Khan of Sulu escaped death and fled back to Broken Leaves. In the summer of 738, Sulu was killed by his generals, and after that, civil strife in Turgish was frequent.
In 744, the Tang army defeated and killed the new leader of the Turgish, Mohedagan, and recovered the Issyk-Kul region and the Ili River valley, marking the fall of the Turgish.
After the fall of the Later Turkic Khanate, its tribes migrated westward on a large scale and gradually entered Central Asia. The descendants of some Turkic tribes later founded the Seljuk Turkic Empire and the Ottoman Empire.
Territory of the Seljuk Empire.
Let's start with the Seljuk Turkic Empire. Around 1000 AD, a group of the Western Turks of Central Asia, led by the sheikh Seljuk, marched west to occupy Baghdad in 1055, forcing the Arab Caliph to confer the title of Sultanate. Subsequently, the Seljuk Turks continued to expand into Western Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa, reaching their peak at the end of the 11th century, stretching from the Hindu Kush Mountains in India in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, becoming the largest empire in West Asia at that time. The Seljuk Turkic Empire was later destroyed by the Khorezmians in the early 13th century.
In the 12th century, a Turkic tribe of the Seljuk Turks, known as the Ottomans, moved to Siadin. They rose to prominence after the fall of the Seljuk Turks, destroying the Byzantine Empire in 1453 and capturing Constantinople and establishing the vast Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire continued to expand, and by the middle of the 16th century, it had occupied northern Africa, eastern Europe, and Iran, becoming a vast empire spanning three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Ottoman territory.
During the period of Ottoman Turkic rule, the West Asians who ruled the core area were forced to switch to Turkic languages, which led to the gradual cultural integration of the Turks and the locals. After World War I, the Ottoman Empire collapsed and its main body became Turkey, whose name also means Turkic. But most of the Turks are not of Turkic descent, they are of Greek descent, but they have become Turkic linguistically and culturally under the rule and transformation of the Turks.