Battle of the Altai Mountains
(Redirected from
Battle of Ikh Bayan
)| Battle of Altai Mountains | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Han–Xiongnu War | |||||||
 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Northern Xiongnu |
Southern Xiongnu | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Northern Shanyu † |
Dou Xian[1] Deng Hong Tuntuhe Anguo | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 200,000 |
c. 18,000[1] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| entire Xiongnu's army destroyed (with more than 200,000 prisoners) | 3400+ | ||||||
The Battle of Altai Mountains (
Northern Xiongnu by the Han dynasty in June AD 89. The battle was a success for the Han under Dou Xian (d. AD 92).[2][3][4]
In June AD 89, the Han dispatched a force which promptly advanced from
the Northern Chanyu at the Altai Mountains and pursued them westwards.[2][3][4] The Han forces killed 13,000 Xiongnu troops and accepted the surrender of 200,000 Xiongnu from 81 tribes.[5]
Dou Xian brought the main body of his troops in triumphal progress north to the
Dundgovi Province
by scholars from Mongolia and China in August 2017.
Aftermath
After the successful campaign of AD 89, the Xiongnu state was destroyed.[7] After the battle, Dou Xian led his forces back, and the "Northern Chanyu", whose name has not survived, sought to negotiate peace. Tuntuhe Chanyu of the Southern Xiongnu, however, was anxious to destroy his rival completely, and early in AD 90, as embassies were still being exchanged, Dou Xian launched an attack, captured his rival's seal and treasure and his wives and daughters.[2][8]
General
Juyan and defeated the Northern Xiongnu ruler, captured his mother, killed 5,000 of his armies, and drove him in flight again to the west from Altayn Nuruu. He was not heard from again.[2][8] The rest of the Xiongnu left in Dzungaria,[10] specifically near Lake Barkol, had not been directly affected, and some part of the shattered polity was reconstructed under a new chanyu. The new chanyu, however, was killed in 93, and after him, no chanyu of the Northern Xiongnu was ever heard of again.[11] On the frontier of the Han dynasty in present-day Mongolia, the hostile Xiongnu state was ended.[2][8]
References
- ^ a b c Graff 2002, p. 40.
- ^ .
- ^ a b c d Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 47.
- ^ a b c d An Tian, "Dou Xian Po Beixiongnu Zhi Zhan" ("The Battle of Dou Xian's Defeating on the Northern Xiongnu")[permanent dead link].
- ^ a b Yü (1986), 415; Crespigny (2007), 171.
- ^ 《封燕然山铭》辞曰：铄王师兮征荒裔，剿凶虐兮截海外，夐其邈兮亘地界，封神丘兮建隆嵑，熙帝载兮振万世 Inscriptions of Yanran.
- ^ Lewis (2007), 138.
- ^ a b c Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 47, 48 (for modern annotation on location see Bo Yang's Edition of Zhi Tongjian).
- ^ Tucker et al. (2010), 142.
- .
- .
Bibliography
- Crespigny, Rafe de (2007). A biographical dictionary of later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23 - 220 AD). Leiden: Brill Publishers. ISBN 90-04-15605-4.
- Fan Ye et al., Hou Hanshu. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1965. ISBN 978-7-101-00306-2
- Lewis, Mark Edward (2007). The early Chinese empires: Qin and Han. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-02477-9.
- Sima Guang, comp. Zizhi Tongjian. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 1956. ISBN 978-7-101-00183-9
- Graff, David A. (2002). Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300 – 900. ISBN 0-415-23955-9.
- Tucker, Spencer C. et al. (2010). A global chronology of conflict: From the ancient world to the modern Middle East. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO ISBN 978-1-85109-667-1.
- An, Tian, "Dou Xian Po Beixiongnu Zhi Zhan" ("The Battle of Dou Xian's Defeating on the Northern Xiongnu")[permanent dead link]. Encyclopedia of China, 1st ed.
- Yü, Ying-shih (1986). "Han foreign relations". The Cambridge History of China: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han empires, 221 B.C. - A.D. 220. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-24327-0.