Battle of Talas
| Battle of Talas | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty conflict over Central Asia | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Abbasid Caliphate | Chinese Tang Dynasty | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Qutayba ibn Muslim |
Gao Xianzhi Li Siye Duan Xiushi | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| around 150,000 | over 30,000 (20,000 Tang troops + troops of Chinese protectorates + Qarluq mercenaries) | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | Gao retreated with several thousand survivors | ||||||
The Battle of Talas in CE 751 was a conflict between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty over the control of Central Asia. Chinese infantry were routed by Arab cavalry near the bank of the River Talas after the supporting Qarluq mercenaries defected to the Abbasids and cut off the infantry from the rest of the Chinese troops. The commander of the Tang forces, Gao Xianzhi, escaped, with only a few thousands out of 20,000 soldiers had survived.
Due to this defeat and the domestic rebellion of An Lushan and subsequent warlordism, the Tang ceased to be influential in Central Asia. The local Tang tributaries then switched to the authority of the Abbasids, and the introduction of Islam was thus facilitated among the Turkic peoples. Well supported by the Ummayads, the Qarluqs established a state that would be absorbed in late 9th century by the Kara-Khanid Khanate.
In the long run, the battle is significant because it marks the last major Tang expedition to the west and the western limit of Chinese cultural and political influence before the An Lushan rebellion collapsed Tang power, thereby determining that Central Asia would be more influenced by Islamic culture than by Chinese culture. Importantly, the technology of paper making was transmitted to Central Asia and the Middle East as knowledgeable Chinese POWs were ordered to produce paper in Samarkand, and with the successful cooperation of Arabs and Turkic Peoples, Islam began its inevitable influence upon the Turkic culture.
The exact location of the battle has not been confirmed but is believed to be in Kyrgyzstan, southeast of Taraz (once named Zhambyl) in present day Kazakhstan.
Aftermath and the Travel of Du Huan
Du Huan, born in Chang'an, was one of Chinese POWs that was captured in this battle along with artisans Fan Shu and Liu Ci, and fabric weavers Le Wei and Lu Li as mentioned in his travels. After a long journeys through Arab countries, he was returned by ship to Guangzhou in 762. There he wrote his Jingxingji (Record of Travels), a work which was almost completely lost except for a few extracts survived in Tongdian under volume 192 and 193, an encyclopaedia compiled in 801 by a relative Du You (735-812). Here are the some of notes on Du Huan's travels in Du You's encyclopaedia. On Molin (North Africa), Du Huan himself is quoted (Tongdian, 193) in the 8th-century as following:
We also went to Molin, southwest of Jerusalem. One could reaches this country after having crossed the great desert of Sinai and having travelled 2,000 li (approx. 1500 km). The people there are black, and their customs are bold. There is little rice and cereals, with no grass and trees on this land. The horses are fed with dried fish, and the people eat Gumang. Gumang is a Persian date. Subtropical diseases (Malaria) are widespread. After crossing into the inland countries there is a mountainous country, which gathered a lot of confessions here. They have three confessions, the Arab, Byzantine and Zimzim. The Zimzim practise incest, and in this respect are worst of all the barbarians. The followers under the confession of Arab have a means to denote the degrees of family relations, but it is degenerated and they don't bother about it. They don't eat the meat of pigs, dogs, donkeys and horses, they don't respect neither the king of the country, neither their parents, they don't believe in supernatural powers, perform only sacrifice to heaven and to no one else. According their customs every seventh day is a holiday, on which no trade and no currency transactions are done, whereas when they drink alcohol, and behaving in a ridiculous and undisciplined way during the whole day. In within the confession of Byzantine, there's kind medical doctors know diarrhea, or they could recognize it before the outbreak of this disease, or worms come out after removing the braincase.