Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu
| Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Qin dynasty | Xiongnu | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Meng Tian | Touman | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Reported as 100,000 or 300,000 troops[1][2] | — | ||||||
In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huangdi ordered General Meng Tian to set out against the Xiongnu tribes in the Ordos region, and establish a frontier region at the loop of the Yellow River.[1] Believing that the Xiongnu were a possible threat, the emperor launched a preemptive strike against the Xiongnu with the intention to expand his empire.[1]
Later in the year, Meng Tian succeeded in defeating the Xiongnu, driving them from the Ordos and seizing their homeland.[3] After the catastrophic defeat at the hands of Meng Tian, the Xiongnu leader Touman was forced to flee far north into the Mongolian Plateau.[4] As a result of the northward expansion, the threat that the Qin empire posed to the Xiongnu ultimately led to the reorganization of the many different Xiongnu tribes united into a confederacy against the unified Chinese state.[5]
Aftermath
Following the victory against the nomads, Meng Tian was instructed to secure the frontier with a line of fortifications, which would become known as the Great Wall of China.[6] Crown Prince Fusu and General Meng Tian were stationed at a garrison in Suide and soon began with the construction of the walled defenses, which would be connected with the old walls from the Qin, Yan, and Zhao states.[7] The Qin walls ran from Liaodong to Lintao, thus enclosing the conquered Ordos region.[3] However, the garrison was abandoned from the civil war after the death of Qin Shi Huang leading the dynasty's collapse. The chaos of the interregnum Chu–Han Contention allowed the Xiongnu under Modu Chanyu to recapture the territory that they had previously lost to the Chinese and to conquer and subjugated other nomadic tribe such as the Yuezhi and Donghu. Before long, they began raids into China under the newly established Han dynasty leading up the Emperor Gaozu of Han to launch a campaign against them at the Battle of Baideng, which result into total humiliating defeat by the Nomads, that almost costed the emperor life.[3]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Cosmo 1999, 964.
- ^ Ebrey, Walthall & Palais 2009, 51.
- ^ a b c Beckwith 2009, 71.
- ^ Beckwith 2009, 71–72.
- ^ Cosmo 1999, 892–893.
- ^ Higham 2004, 221.
- ^ Cheng 2005, 15.
Bibliography
- Beckwith, Christopher I. (2009). Empires of the Silk Road: A History of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the Present. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691150345.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Cheng, Dalin (2005). "The Great Wall of China". Borders and border politics in a globalizing world. Lanham: SR Books. ISBN 0-8420-5103-1.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Cosmo, Nicola Di (1999). "The northern frontier in pre-imperial China". The Cambridge history of ancient China: From the origins of civilization to 221 B.C. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-47030-7.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Ebrey, Patricia Buckley; Walthall, Anne; Palais, James B. (2009). East Asia: A cultural, social, and political history (2nd ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0-547-00534-8.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Higham, Charles F.W. (2004). Encyclopedia of ancient Asian civilizations. New York: Facts On File. ISBN 0-8160-4640-9.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)