Battle of Talas 751 AD - Part 1/2

 

As the summer sun rose above the flat expanses of northern Transoxiana, figures appeared on the road, silhouetted against the morning sky.

 The ground trembled as the armies of the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tang Empire of China marched along the banks

 of the Talas river.

 What started as a frontier dispute escalated into a regional conflict that will now be decided

 on the battlefield, nearby.

 War was to come,

 and now it was here…

 Following the death of

 Prophet Muhammad,

 the swiftness of the Arab conquest was nothing short of astonishing.

 In less than two decades

 the Eastern Roman Empire

 was deprived of its' lands

 in the Middle East,

 and the Sassanian Empire

 was conquered entirely.

 But, further afield, Central Asia was much harder to subdue,

 then settled by sedentary

 Iranian peoples,

 divided into a number of small kingdoms, principalities, and city states, as well as Turkic tribes roaming the steppes and the expanses between urban centers.

 Instead of fighting a single enemy, the Arab armies had to reduce the petty states one by one, facing determined resistance and contending with frequent revolts and setbacks over the next 50 years...

 By then, caliphal rule had passed on to the Umayyad dynasty,

 which saw the appointment of Qutayba ibn Muslim as governor of Khorasan, an excellent administrator and military commander, who was able make significant inroads, and through clever policies of recruiting local Iranians into his army, as well as integrating some of the petty rulers into the power structure of the Caliphate, he was able to greatly pacify the region, of which Transoxiana was of greatest importance.

 These were some of the wealthiest lands in the world during medieval times, thanks to extensive trade with China, mostly in silk and jade,

 and with Europe, in goods such as amber, furs, honey, and walrus ivory, making Transoxiana one of the most strategically important areas on the planet.

 But… with these territorial acquisitions the Caliphate entered the sphere of interest of the Tang Empire of China.

 For several centuries China made its’ presence felt in Central Asia, and during the reign of Tang Emperor Xuanzong, its’ westward ambitions grew in scale.

 Xuanzong was a diligent and astute ruler who, with the help of his famous three chancellors, is credited for bringing Tang China to the pinnacle of culture and power.

 Most notably, his military reforms saw the replacement of the Fubing System with the Jiedushi Military Command.

 Inefficient massive conscript armies were replaced by a multicultural well-drilled volunteer corps, enabling the Tang Empire to assemble a 500,000 strong professional army, in just a few years.

 These reforms were what propelled the Chinese westward push.

 Although Tang armies rarely ventured too far west beyond the Tarim Basin, rare military interventions were launched to pacify disloyal petty kings and princes of Central Asia.

 But it was mostly through strong economic and diplomatic ties that China established a firm foothold in the region, which persisted even after the Umayyad conquest, with numerous city-states continuing to send embassies to China, receiving pompous, mostly symbolic titles from the Emperor.

 This reliance on “soft power” and the establishment of trade agreements, as well as nominal protectorates and vassalships, enabled the Tang Empire to maintain strong influence in Central Asia without the need for military conquest.

 At this time, the biggest threat to China’s westward ambitions was the powerful Tibetan Empire which successfully challenged the Tang for control over the Tarim Basin, a mostly desert wasteland dotted with strategically important urban towns and cities along the Silk Road.

 The military importance of these urban oases was equally significant, regarded by the Chinese as

 the “Gateway to the Western Regions” that the Imperial armies could pass through to reach Central Asia.

 In addition, Turkic Uighurs to the north also posed a significant threat to Tang interests in this period, but through careful diplomacy, tributes, and Xuanzong’s reforms, by 728 AD the Chinese managed to establish full control over this vital region.

 It was during this time of Tang consolidation in the vast Tarim Basin that the unstoppable Umayyad armies pushed east into Central Asia.

 The power of the Caliphate was such that they were able to overthrow a Chinese-backed Sogdian ruler of the Principality of Ferghana and install a puppet regime,

 right on the Tang Empire’s doorstep.

 However, Umayyad superiority, rarely challenged before, would meet its’ match, as the Celestial Empire moved to militarily suppress the Arab expansion.

 An intervention force of 10,000 troops marched towards the Islamic controlled Ferghana, successfully defeating the Umayyad puppet-ruler, before massacring three entire Sogdian metropolises as punishment, and restoring the pro-Chinese regime back onto the throne of Ferghana.

 The Caliphate responded by allying themselves with the Tibetan Empire and the Turgesh Khaganate, and just a year later, a combined force struck east, aiming to destroy the “Four Garrisons of Anxi”, from where the Tang controlled the Tarim Basin.

 This invasion, if successful, would’ve crippled China’s westward military ambitions… But the Chinese dealt a massive defeat to the Umayyads at the town of Aksu, almost completely

 destroying their army.

 In the aftermath of the battle, Turgesh tribes, formerly allied to the Umayyads, switched their allegiance and launched attacks from the north, while the Tang army marched against the Caliphate from the east, effectively expelling the Arabs from Transoxiana.

 “Never again”, the Chinese thought, would the Arabs be able to meddle in the affairs of the Tang dynasty.

 While the Umayyads made limited efforts to re-establish their rule in the lost eastern territories, their main focus shifted west, away from the region,

 and with this a power vacuum was created that allowed the House of Abbas to slowly build prominence in the remote, but important region of Khorasan.

 In the ensuing decades, the Abbasids carefully intrigued against the Umayyads, recruiting followers from discontented and dispossessed locals,

 eventually raising the banner of revolution.

 The revolt spread quickly under military leadership of Abu Muslim, a commander in the service of the Abbasids, culminating with the victory in the Battle of Zab, which effectively ended Umayyad rule and led to the proclamation of the first Abbasid Caliph.

 With most of their power base located in Persia, the new regime shifted their military focus east, recognizing the importance of the phenomenally rich lands of Transoxiana.

 But… the cunning Emperor Xuanzong exploited the instability within the Caliphate during the three years long Abbasid Revolution, by launching a three pronged attack.

 This time, however, the Tang armies were ordered to establish a firm military foothold in Central Asia.

 With the Korean General Gao Xianzhi in command, the Emperor subjugated Tibet’s strategically valuable allies, eroding their presence in the area, and vassalized roughly 72 city states in the important mountainous regions of the Pamir and Hindukush.

 With these developments the Chinese now directly challenged the Abbasids for control over Central Asia.

 In the turmoil, what triggered the conflict between the two empires was a local dispute between the petty kingdoms

 of Ferghana and Chach.

 The king of Ferghana, having been under heavy Chinese influence for the past 35 years, asked his overlords for assistance.

 Gao heeded their cries for help and moved to subjugate the Chachean kingdom.

 The capital city was besieged and the Tang general promised its’ king safe passage… But once the king accepted surrender and left the safety of his city walls, he was treacherously

 captured and beheaded.

 His son, however, escaped and managed to get word to the Abbasid governor of Khorasan, asking for military assistance.

 Sensing an opportunity to gather their forces and diminish Tang influence, the Abbasids mustered their troops and marched out of Merv.

 On the way, reinforcements from parts of Tukharistan, that were still under the Caliphate’s control, were summoned to join the main army.

 As they approached Samarkand, Ziyad ibn Salih, a former Umayyad governor of Kuffa, joined with his contingent and assumed command of the whole army, continuing the march east, determined to restore Islamic power long bereft, to the steppes of Central Asia…