Wars with the Xiongnu
Wars with the Xiongnu

Author: Guang Sima

Publisher:

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 704

ISBN-13: 9781449006044

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This volume of - Wars with the Xiongnu is about a nomadic confederation - the Kingdom of Xiongnu to the north of ancient China, most notably for the relentless, atrocious and bloodletting wars that lasted for over two centuries with the mighty Han dynasty, comparable in size and power as Rome during its height. The roaming Xiongnu people, so powerful boasted of having a kingdom striding from Eastern Siberia to the west at the Altai Mountains in Central Asia, with territories so vast - even larger than the mighty Han at its zenith, were a wrath to its immediate neighbours for a period of no less than six centuries; yet with an estimated population of only one and a half million they were able to hold the Han Kingdom, during its height of fifty million people at bay. The powerful nomadic Kingdom rose to power from the midst of nowhere, reached its zenith, ran its course, its vitality and vigour spent, declined and vanished into oblivion without so much as a trace in the mists of time, albeit burial remains and textual references, predominantly from Chinese textual sources. This captivating page of history has prompted many eastern and western scholars to make in-depth studies into these fascinating people. Sushi tonguing, the text which this translation is based, does not offer us with any satisfactory explanations to the vicissitudes of the mighty kingdom, nonetheless there are clues and evidence throughout the text, the reader is encouraged to make his or her own hypothesis and conclusions. The accounts in the book are direct translations from the narratives of Sushi tonguing, the first time this part of the text that has been translated into English.

The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 BC–89 AD
The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 BC–89 AD

Author: Scott Crawford

Publisher: Pen and Sword Military

Published: 2023-12-30

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 152679067X

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The Han-Xiongnu War (133 BC – AD 89) pitted the Han dynasty of China against a confederation of nomadic steppe peoples, the Xiongnu Empire. In campaigns waged on a huge scale by the standards of contemporary Western warfare (perhaps half a million soldiers were fielded at the Battle of Mobei in 119 BC), the two states fought for control of Central Asia, hungry for its rich resources and Western trade links. China’s victory set the stage for millennia of imperial rule and a vast sphere of influence in Asia. Scott Forbes Crawford examines the war in a lively, engaging narrative. He builds a mosaic encompassing the centuries of conflict through biographies of fifteen historical figures: the Chinese and Xiongnu emperors who first led their armies into battle; ‘peace bride’ Princess Jieyou, whose marriage to a steppe king forged a vital Chinese alliance; the explorer-diplomat Zhang Qian, who almost-inadvertently established the Silk Road, among other key individuals. Their stories capture the war’s breadth, the enduring impact on Han society and statecraft in what became a Chinese golden age, and the doomed resistance of the Xiongnu to an ever-strengthening juggernaut.

The History of Mongolia (3 Vols.)
The History of Mongolia (3 Vols.)

Author: David Sneath

Publisher: Global Oriental

Published: 2010-05-01

Total Pages: 1152

ISBN-13: 9004216359

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A significant aspect of this work is the emphasis on source materials, including some translated from Mongolian and other languages for the first time. The source materials and other articles are all fully contextualized and situated by introductory material by the volume’s editors. This is the first work in English to bring together significant articles in Mongolian studies in one place, which will be widely welcomed by scholars and researchers in this field. This essential reference in two volumes includes works by noted scholars including Charles Bawden, Igor de Rachewiltz, David Morgan, Owen Lattimore and Caroline Humphrey. It also includes excerpts from translations of source documents, such as the works of Rashid al-Din, The Secret History of the Mongols and the Yuan Shih. In addition, more recent historical periods are covered, with material such as Batmonh’s speech that heralded Mongolia’s versions of glasnost and perestroika, as well as Baabar’s Buu Mart, a key work associated with the Democratic Revolution of 1990.

The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 Bc-89 Ad
The Han-Xiongnu War, 133 Bc-89 Ad

Author: Scott Crawford

Publisher: Pen & Sword Military

Published: 2023-12-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781526790668

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The Han-Xiongnu War (133 BC - AD 89) pitted the Han dynasty of China against a confederation of nomadic steppe peoples, the Xiongnu Empire. In campaigns waged on a huge scale by the standards of contemporary Western warfare (perhaps half a million soldiers were fielded at the Battle of Mobei in 119 BC), the two states fought for control of Central Asia, hungry for its rich resources and Western trade links. China's victory set the stage for millennia of imperial rule and a vast sphere of influence in Asia. Scott Forbes Crawford examines the war in a lively, engaging narrative. He builds a mosaic encompassing the centuries of conflict through biographies of fifteen historical figures: the Chinese and Xiongnu emperors who first led their armies into battle; 'peace bride' Princess Jieyou, whose marriage to a steppe king forged a vital Chinese alliance; the explorer-diplomat Zhang Qian, who almost-inadvertently established the Silk Road, among other key individuals. Their stories capture the war's breadth, the enduring impact on Han society and statecraft in what became a Chinese golden age, and the doomed resistance of the Xiongnu to an ever-strengthening juggernaut.

The Western Regions, Xiongnu and Han
The Western Regions, Xiongnu and Han

Author: Joseph P. Yap

Publisher: Independently Published

Published: 2019-01-29

Total Pages: 796

ISBN-13: 9781792829154

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The chapters in this book document the plight of the small states in the Western Regions, the perennial struggle of Han China to contain the unending incursions of the Xiongnu into their land and the Xiongnu's belligerent and bellicose tactics for survival through the only means they knew - looting and plundering. Through centuries of geopolitics and interactions of over three entities, the great trade routes between ancient China, Central Asia and the West came into being. Dr. Jan Walls, Professor Emeritus in Humanities, Simon Fraser University, "This volume of translations from the chapters of the Shiji, the Hanshu and the Hou Hanshu can be considered as the Causal Nexus of the trade routes from the very beginning at the time of Emperor Gaozu of Han to the end of Eastern Han. "This book will be both a useful reference tool and source of diverse Chinese perspectives and interpretations of Han Dynasty relations with the peoples of the Western Regions and with the notorious Huns (Xiongnu) in particular. The author/translator offers well-annotated maps of Central Asia, the Western Regions, the Han and Xiongnu territories as well as commentaries on historical contexts and previous publications on this topic. This is a thorough piece of research, competently translated into English, and Joseph Yap is to be congratulated for his achievement."

Peace and Peril
Peace and Peril

Author: Jonathan Markley

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9782503530833

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Emperor Wu is generally recognized as the greatest ruler of the Han Dynasty, and his wars against the steppe warrior Xiongnu as one of his greatest undertakings. To the chief narrator of these events, ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, the turning point in Han Dynasty history was the way Emperor Wu had abandoned the policy of peaceful relations with the Xiongnu, and launched China on a series of campaigns that would last for decades. This has been almost universally accepted as truth in modern scholarship, but these claims cannot be taken at face value. Firstly, this book identifies ways in which the Shiji account is riddled with inconsistencies and deliberately misleading information, and provides explanations for this. He hid signs of rising disquiet with the peace policy of earlier rulers, and concealed indications that for at least two decades China's leadership had been searching for alternatives. Secondly, the work reconstructs a more accurate narrative of events for one hundred years of Han - Xiongnu relations than can be gained by a straight-forwarding reading of individual chapters of the Shiji. A narrative emerges of an historian with an agenda, and of a century of Han - Xiongnu relations that is markedly different from any previously produced.

Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity
Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity

Author: Nicola Di Cosmo

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-04-26

Total Pages: 1284

ISBN-13: 1108547001

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Empires and Exchanges in Eurasian Late Antiquity offers an integrated picture of Rome, China, Iran, and the Steppes during a formative period of world history. In the half millennium between 250 and 750 CE, settled empires underwent deep structural changes, while various nomadic peoples of the steppes (Huns, Avars, Turks, and others) experienced significant interactions and movements that changed their societies, cultures, and economies. This was a transformational era, a time when Roman, Persian, and Chinese monarchs were mutually aware of court practices, and when Christians and Buddhists criss-crossed the Eurasian lands together with merchants and armies. It was a time of greater circulation of ideas as well as material goods. This volume provides a conceptual frame for locating these developments in the same space and time. Without arguing for uniformity, it illuminates the interconnections and networks that tied countless local cultural expressions to far-reaching inter-regional ones.

The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe
The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe

Author: Hyun Jin Kim

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-04-18

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1107067227

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The Huns have often been treated as primitive barbarians with no advanced political organisation. Their place of origin was the so-called 'backward steppe'. It has been argued that whatever political organisation they achieved they owed to the 'civilizing influence' of the Germanic peoples they encountered as they moved west. This book argues that the steppes of Inner Asia were far from 'backward' and that the image of the primitive Huns is vastly misleading. They already possessed a highly sophisticated political culture while still in Inner Asia and, far from being passive recipients of advanced culture from the West, they passed on important elements of Central Eurasian culture to early medieval Europe, which they helped create. Their expansion also marked the beginning of a millennium of virtual monopoly of world power by empires originating in the steppes of Inner Asia. The rise of the Hunnic Empire was truly a geopolitical revolution.

The Huns
The Huns

Author: Hyun Jin Kim

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-11-19

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1317340906

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This volume is a concise introduction to the history and culture of the Huns. This ancient people had a famous reputation in Eurasian Late Antiquity. However, their history has often been evaluated as a footnote in the histories of the later Roman Empire and early Germanic peoples. Kim addresses this imbalance and challenges the commonly held assumption that the Huns were a savage people who contributed little to world history, examining striking geopolitical changes brought about by the Hunnic expansion over much of continental Eurasia and revealing the Huns' contribution to European, Iranian, Chinese and Indian civilization and statecraft. By examining Hunnic culture as a Eurasian whole, The Huns provides a full picture of their society which demonstrates that this was a complex group with a wide variety of ethnic and linguistic identities. Making available critical information from both primary and secondary sources regarding the Huns' Inner Asian origins, which would otherwise be largely unavailable to most English speaking students and Classical scholars, this is a crucial tool for those interested in the study of Eurasian Late Antiquity.

Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900
Medieval Chinese Warfare 300-900

Author: David Graff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1134553536

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Shortly after 300 AD, barbarian invaders from Inner Asia toppled China's Western Jin dynasty, leaving the country divided and at war for several centuries. Despite this, the empire gradually formed a unified imperial order. Medieval Chinese Warfare, 300-900 explores the military strategies, institutions and wars that reconstructed the Chinese empire that has survived into modern times. Drawing on classical Chinese sources and the best modern scholarship from China and Japan, David A. Graff connects military affairs with political and social developments to show how China's history was shaped by war.