Fuzzy and Nutz have been on a trip through time, showing us what life was like with the
dinosaurs, what the worst jobs in history were, and the worst natural disasters ever.
Now they've found themselves in ancient China, smack-dab in the middle of one of the worst
wars in history!
In the middle of the 8th century AD, China- ruled by the Tang Dynasty- was at the height
of a cultural golden age, yet major military losses on its borders to Arab armies in the
west and the kingdom of Nanzhao to the south had put severe strain on the kingdom.
To turn the tide of bad luck for the Chinese army, Emperor Xuanzong appointed one of his
greatest generals, An Lushan, to lead a force of over 150,000 troops.
On December 16, 755 though An Lushan rebelled and turned his force against the emperor,
announcing the formation of a new empire called the Great Yan Empire with him as the first
emperor.
Seizing the eastern Tang capital at Luoyang and then the main capital at Chengdu, An Lushan
was poised to defeat what remained of the Tang when infighting started to tear his newly
created empire apart.
First An Lushan was killed by his son, An Qingxu, who declared himself emperor and was
then killed in turn by An Lushan's old friend Shi Siming.
Shi Siming continued the war against the Tang with great success, but he would shortly after
be killed by his own son, Shi Chaoyi.
Proving to not be the military leader his father or An Lushan was, Shi Chaoyi would
lead his troops to ruin and commit suicide as the Tang retook all their former territory.
The war devastated China, with death estimates ranging from 13 million to 36 million, and
brought to an end a Chinese cultural golden age.
Not one war, but a series of back-to-back wars, the Napoleonic wars were the direct
result of one single man's ambitions, Napoleon Bonaparte.
Ending the chaos of the French Revolution, Napoleon created a strong, stable state with
a formidable army- but believing France to be weak, a joint Austrian and Russian coalition
waged war on France.
Scoring his greatest victory, Napoleon crushed the Austrian and Russian forces at Austerlitz
in December 1805, bringing an end to the war.
However, concerns about increasing French power led to a new war led by Prussia and
the Russians in October 1806.
Napoleon quickly defeated the Prussian forces and forced Russia to surrender a year later
in 1807.
Peace fell on Europe for a short while, but in 1809 Austria declared war on France again.
Napoleon would go on to decisively defeat Austria at the Battle of Wagram, but would
suffer serious casualties.
Hoping to shore up his control over a defeated Europe, Napoleon turned his attention to Britain
and tried to isolate Britain economically by invading Spain.
Napoleon simultaneously tried to invade Russia in 1812, but would suffer major losses.
Encouraged by Napoleon's defeat, Prussia, Austria and Russia allied together and captured
Paris in 1814.
The coalition placed Napoleon in exile on the island of Elba off the coast of Italy,
but Napoleon would go on to escape a year later and regain control of France.
A massive alliance involving nearly every major European power would rise up against
Napoleon and decisively defeat him at the battle of Waterloo, after which he would be
exiled permanently to the remote island of St. Helena in the middle of the south Atlantic.
Taking place over 12 years of near-constant fighting, Napoleon's wars would decimate Europe,
killing between 2.5 million and 3.5 million soldiers and up to 3 million civilians.
Just over a hundred years later though, humanity would see the most devastating war in all
of history.
World War II would span across the entire planet and involve every major power on the
Earth.
With conflict from Europe to Asia, and everywhere in between, the Second World War would kill
over 25 million soldiers and a staggering 80 million civilians, or over 3% of the entire
human population!
This darkest of all periods in human history would last six years and would see the dual
nightmares of the Holocaust and the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
Though it would be the deadliest conflict of all time, as a silver lining the war would
also strengthen the resolve of all nations to ensure lasting peace, leading to the creation
of the United Nations and the longest period of peace between major powers in human history.
World War II showed us what war can be like with modern technology, but have you ever
wondered what life was like before any technology at all...?