The Uyghurs overthrow the Turks: the Uyghur Khaganate
After Bilge Qaghan’s death the Second Turkic Khaganate sank into strife, and in 742 the Basmyls, Uyghurs and Karluks rose against it. In 744 the Basmyls killed the Turkic khagan, and the Uyghurs and Karluks then destroyed the Basmyls: the Uyghur chief Guli Peiluo proclaimed himself khagan, set up his court at Ötüken and was recognised by the Tang. His Uyghur Khaganate ruled the Mongolian steppe until 840.
- Date
- 744year known
- Place
- Ötüken (Orkhon Valley)approximate locationtoday: Orkhon Valley, Övörkhangai and Arkhangai provinces, Mongolia · Central and Northern Asia
- Participants
- Uyghur Khaganate, Qutlugh Bilge Kül Qaghan, Second Turkic Khaganate, Karluks, Tang dynasty
- Threads
- Central Asia and the steppe (6th–10th c.)
- Also known as
- Uyghur Khaganate; Uighur Empire; Toquz Oghuz; Basmyls; Ozmysh Qaghan; Baimei Qaghan; Kutlug I Bilge Qaghan; Huairen Qaghan; Guli Peiluo; Уйгурский каганат; Токуз-огузы; Басмылы; Озмыш-каган; Баймэй-хан; Кутлуг I Бильге Пэйло; Хуайжэнь-каган; Гули Пэйло
The khagans who followed Bilge Qaghan reigned briefly amid murders and coups, and the tribes subject to the Turks fell away. In 742, by the account of the Zizhi tongjian, the Basmyls, Uyghurs and Karluks together killed the ruler who had seized power, made the Basmyl chief their khagan and styled the Uyghur and Karluk leaders left and right yabghu, while the remaining Turks enthroned Ozmysh Qaghan. The Tang general Wang Zhongsi urged the three peoples on and attacked the Turks himself. In the eighth month of 744 (September–October) the Basmyls killed Ozmysh and sent his head to Chang’an; soon afterwards the Uyghurs and Karluks turned on their ally and killed the Basmyl khagan. The Uyghur leader Guli Peiluo (Külüg Boyla) proclaimed himself Qutlugh Bilge Kül Qaghan, and Emperor Xuanzong confirmed him with the title Huairen Qaghan.
The new khagan set up his court in the Ötüken mountains, the old heart of the Turkic realm, and ruled nine clans headed by his own Yaglakar clan (often identified with the Toquz Oghuz), to whom the Basmyls and the Karluks were later added: eleven tribes in all, each under its own governor, with the two subject peoples always sent first into battle. In 745 he killed the last Turkic khagan, Baimei, and sent his head to the Tang court, and Bilge Qaghan’s widow went over to China with her people. The Uyghurs now held the former Turkic lands from the Shiwei in the east to the Altai in the west and across the Gobi in the south. The Karluks, who fell out with them, moved west into the Seven Rivers country, where by 766 they had taken over the lands of the Türgesh.
Qutlugh Bilge Kül Qaghan died in 747. His son Bayanchur (Moyun Chur) built the capital Ordu-Baliq on the Orkhon, and in 757 Uyghur cavalry helped the Tang to recover Chang’an and Luoyang from An Lushan’s rebels. Allied with the Tang for most of its history and trading horses for Chinese silk, the Uyghur Khaganate lasted until the Yenisei Kyrgyz destroyed it in 840.
Connections
Related events
- The Tang destroy the Eastern Turkic Khaganate: Taizong becomes “Heavenly Khagan”13 December 629 – 2 May 630 · Central and Northern Asiaa century earlier the Uyghurs had also risen, with the Xueyantuo, against the Eastern Turks
- Qutlugh (Ilterish) restores the Turkic Khaganate682 · Central and Northern Asiathe Turkic Khaganate restored by Ilterish in 682 came to an end
- The Orkhon inscriptions: memorial stelae of Kül Tegin and Bilge Qaghan1 August 732 – 735 · Central and Northern Asiabarely a decade after the Orkhon stelae were raised, the khaganate they celebrated fell
- An Lushan rebellion16 December 755 – 17 February 763 · East AsiaUyghur horsemen sent by the khagan helped the Tang retake Chang’an and Luoyang from the rebels in 757
- Bögü Qaghan makes Manichaeism the religion of the Uyghursbetween 762 and 763 · Central and Northern Asiathe khaganate founded in 744 adopted Manichaeism under its third khagan
Same participants
- Reign of Emperor Xuanzong: the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras8 September 712 – 12 August 756 · East Asiavia Tang dynasty
- Battle of TalasJuly 751 · Central and Northern Asiavia Karluks
Same place
- Bumin overthrows the Rouran: the Turkic Khaganate is foundedbetween February and March 552 · Central and Northern Asia
- Civil war and split of the Turkic Khaganate581–603 · Central and Northern Asia
- Karakorum becomes the Mongol capital1235 · Central and Northern Asia
- Death of Yaroslav II in Karakorum30 September 1246 · Central and Northern Asia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Mission of Boniface in Germany15 May 719 – 5 June 754
Eastern Europe
- Volyntsevo culture: the Slavs of the Dnieper Left Bank in the Khazar agebetween 700 and 750 – between 813 and 833
- The Khazar rulers adopt Judaismbetween 740 and 861
Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague in Constantinople, 746–747746 – between 747 and 748
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843
Middle East and Egypt
- Abu Hanifa and Malik: the oldest surviving Sunni schools of lawbetween 737 and 738 – 795
Africa
- Berber Revolt against the Umayyadsbetween 739 and 740 – between 742 and 743
South Asia
- Lalitaditya Muktapida rules Kashmir: the Sun temple of Martandbetween 724 and 725 – between 760 and 761
East Asia
- Emperor Shōmu’s Great Buddha of Tōdai-ji6 November 743 – 26 May 752
- Reign of Emperor Xuanzong: the Kaiyuan and Tianbao eras8 September 712 – 12 August 756
North America
- The Late Woodland period in eastern North Americac. 500 – c. 1000
- Plum Bayou Mounds: a planned ceremonial centre in the Arkansas valleyc. 650 – c. 1050
- Basketmaker III: pottery, beans and the bow on the Colorado Plateauc. 500 – c. 750
Latin America
- Wari culture and the Middle Horizon state in the Central Andesc. 600 – c. 1000
- Tiwanaku culture at its height by Lake Titicacac. 600 – c. 1000
- Nazca culture and the Nazca Linesbetween 200 and 100 BC – between 500 and 800
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Uyghur Khaganate
- Wikipedia (English): Kutlug I Bilge Qaghan
- Wikipedia (English): Second Turkic Khaganate
- Wikipedia (Russian): Уйгурский каганат
- Wikipedia (Russian): Кутлуг I Бильге Пэйло
- Сыма Гуан. Цзычжи тунцзянь, гл. 215.
- Лю Сюй и др. Цзю Тан шу (Old Book of Tang), гл. 195: жизнеописание уйгуров.
- Barfield T. J. The Perilous Frontier: Nomadic Empires and China. — Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989.