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Both the Muslim Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty had been expanding their territories towards central asia and
their growth finally culminated at the Battle of Talas in 751
This conflict is relatively unknown and its initial results changed very little in the region
However the ripples created by this battle would have a number of implications in later centuries and influence the history of the world
The Tang Dynasty came to power in China in 618 and started its expansion towards the west
By 6:30 the territory of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate was incorporated into the Tang domain and by
657 the Western Turkic Khaganate was decisively defeated
Despite the rivalry with be tibetan empire to the south and the second Turkic Khaganate to the north by
715 the Tang Empire became the biggest chinese state since the Han and gained vast influence in Central Asia
with many of the smaller states in the region becoming its vassal
To the west the Muslim Caliphate managed to defeat both the eastern Roman and the
Sassanid empires in the middle of the seventh century and established a vast empire of its own a
new Umayyad dynasty controlled territory from Spain to Central Asia and from Arabia to the Caucasus
The Caliphate fought a number of local wars against the turkic tribes of Central Asia
and by 715 controlled most of transoxiana
The two great empires now shared control of the Silk Road a conflict became inevitable
The details of the initial clashes are not clear, but we know that the first conflict have heard in the Fergana Valley in 715
And despite Tibetan assistance the Muslims were defeated
The same thing happened two years later when the Chinese sent an army of Karluk mercenaries who beat the Arabs and Tibetans
Umayyad expansion was also curbed by revolts a
number of them failed but finally in 750 a
Rebellion led by As-Saffah defeated the Umayyads and the new Abbasid dynasty came to power
It seems that the Chinese knew about the internal strife within the Caliphate and attempted to use it to subdue Central Asia
in
747 the local Chinese
Commander Gao Xiangshi started a campaign against the city-state of gilgit which was allied to the Tibetan Empire
His victory in this campaign was Swift
He was appointed the governor of the region and forced many petty kingdoms to become town vassals
The local states of Fergana and Tashkent were feuding during that period
the former asked for the Chinese to help and in the spring of 750 Gao attacked and captured Tashkent the
Princes of Tashkent had no other choice, but to cool upon the Arabs
The local Muslim force led by Ziad ibn Said left, Samarkand and started marching along the Talas River
Gao was slowly retreating to unite with his Karluk allies
the two armies finally met in the second half of
751 somewhere along the modern-day border of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan
The numbers of participants in the battle are recorded very differently across the Arabic and Chinese sources
The former claim that both sides had around 100,000 troops while the latter insists there were about
200,000 Caliphate troops and
30,000 to town warriors
However the flow of battle suggests that there was parity between both sides
And as the battle took place on the edges of the two empires
hundreds of kilometers away from their respective centers with very little prior preparation
It is conceivable that both sides had between thirty and fifty thousand
Ziad ibn Said's army consisted of Arabic troops with added
Contingents from the tibetan empire and the Turkic Turkish Khaganate
Gao's forces were predominantly from China with an infusion of local Allied troops from Fergana
The sources are not clear on whether the Karluk Turks were with Gao from the beginning of the battle
Or didn't join his army at all
The Chinese army was more infantry heavy while their counterparts had an equal number of cavalry and infantry units
There are two central depictions of the battle and we will present both of them
according to the first see a dip and Sally deployed his troops in a standard formation a
Line of archers in front and spearmen behind them heavy cavalry in the rear with his guard and the light cavalry in reserve
Gao similarly had his crossbowmen and archers in front with his spearmen in the second line his guard and the Fergana
Contingent in the third with Karluk turks on his extreme flanks
The first three days of the battle were nearly identical
The Chinese troops attacked across the front and their archers got the better of their
counterparts dealing substantial damage to the enemy missile units
The Arab archers had to retreat behind their spearmen and the infantry lines collided as
Gao's spearmen had better armor they managed to push the foe back
The Muslim general attempted to alleviate the pressure on his infantry by sending his heavy cavalry to attack the lighter column
cavalry on the Chinese flanks
this attack failed to outflank Gao's units, but the Chinese general had to move his reserves into the fray a
similar sequence of events happened on the second and third days
but on the fourth day the Karluk turks betrayed the Chinese and attacks their infantry from the flanks while the Arab army made a
frontal charge
Gao's army collapsed between 10 and 20 thousand Arabs died in this battle while the Chinese
Probably lost close to 30,000
The second account of the battle is very different
The Chinese and Muslim forces did not dare to attack each other for four straight days
While a third army a smaller Karluk force stayed beyond the Talas River not joining either side
On the morning of the fifth day the Karluk attacks the Chinese army from the left flank and the Muslim forces
Entered the battle and attacked them from the front
It is not clear if the Karluks and Arabs planned this but in any case
The Chinese army was broken and only a few thousand of the troops close to Gao were able to escape
The Tang sends new armies to the area and contained Arabian expansion, but in
755 a great rebellion started in China and the troops operating in Central Asia had to return home
The Abbasids also failed to establish stable control over these lands and Turkic influence continued to rise
The Battle of Talas had a number of implications
the influence of Buddhism in the region was on the decline after it and as China and India were no longer connected by Al and
differences between the two branches of Buddhism in these countries became more prominent throughout the centuries
Meanwhile the Turks started adopting Islam
And that set up the Seljuk conquests in the Middle East the Crusades the fall of
Byzantium and the rise of the Ottoman Empire and
most importantly of all
papermaking technology
Which was previously kept secret by the Chinese states was stolen by the abbasids and found its way to the Middle East and Europe
Thank you for watching our documentary on the Battle of Talas
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