2021.10.01 03:18
The Battle of Talas [塔拉斯之戰: 탈라스 전투]
In the summer of 751, two imperial armies clashed in Central Asia near the town of Talas, somewhere along the border of the modern nation-states of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Neither of the belligerent forces was native to the region. In fact, both were trying to expand into Central Asia in order to incorporate it into their growing empires and to gain control over the fertile and wealthy Syr Darya region, which also occupied a section of the economically important Silk Road.
The two armies that met in the Talas River valley were those of the eastward expanding Abbasid Empire and the Westward expanding Tang Empire(唐帝国) of China. The Battle of Talas was the first and only military clash between China and the caliphate. The outcome of the battle, an Abbasid victory, had major short and long-term impacts on regional and global history.
Despite the importance of this battle and the far-reaching effects it had, it is one of the less well-known military encounters of the medieval period, especially casual historians.
One reason is that it falls outside the traditional boundaries of the interests of enthusiasts of medieval history. More importantly, the sources on this battle are rather scarce. Despite it being a Muslim victory, the Arabic sources say very little about it; most of the detailed information that we have regarding the Battle of Talas comes from Chinese sources.
So how did the armies of Caliphate and the Tang, two empires that were worlds apart, meet in Central Asia?
A concise review of the expansion of the Caliphate and the Tang Empire is required to contextualize the circumstances that led to the battle.
Shortly after the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632, the Arabs, now united under the rule of the caliphs in Medina, carried out a series of spectacular conquests. Within two decades they had conquered a vast empire that deprived the Eastern Roman Empire of its Middle Eastern provinces and completely conquered the Sassanian Empire.
By 654, the caliphate controlled the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and had expanded as far as northern Afghanistan. These expansions slowed down significantly in Central Asia.
The region comprised a number of kingdoms, principalities, and city-states inhabited by sedentary Iranian peoples. A large number of Turkic tribes also occupied the steppes and the spaces between these urban centers.
This region proved a much tougher challenge for the Arabs to conquer because they were not fighting one army representing one empire or ruler. Furthermore, they had to reduce each of the petty states and tribes individually.
Caliphal armies first crossed the Oxus River (also known as the Amu Darya: 阿姆河) into Transoxania ( also spelled as Transoxiana: 河中 and referred to as ma wara al-nahr in Arabic, meaning “the land beyond the [Oxus] river”) in 654, after having pacified the region that is modern-day Iran. They faced stiff resistance and even when they did conquer an area they had to contend with frequent revolts and often had to reconquer certain regions multiple times.
It took five decades for the Caliphate to see some positive results in Transoxania.
By this time caliphal rule had transferred to the Umayyad dynasty(倭馬亞王朝 : 661-750), which had its capital in Damascus.
It was during the tenure of the Umayyad governor Qutayba(庫泰巴) ibn Muslim (705-715) that Transoxania came more firmly under caliphal control. He was both an able administrator and military commander and is credited with making the greatest progress in region. He was able to consolidate Muslim rule in Transoxania conquering or reconquering the principalities of Tokharistan(托哈裡斯坦), Bukhara(布哈拉), Khwarezm(花剌子模), and Sogdia(粟特).
Qutayba’s policy of recruiting local Iranians into his army and incorporating some of the petty rulers of the various principalities into the power structure greatly aided in the pacification of the region.
This eastward expansion brought the caliphate into conflict with China, which also had ambitions in Central Asia.
China had long held interests in Central Asia. The Chinese had been involved in the region as far back as the second century BCE. At times they had even brought some of the petty kingdoms and principalities into their sphere of influence or exerted their hegemony over them directly.
This was especially the case in Turkestan(突厥斯坦), which makes up much of the modern province of Sinkiang(新疆) and over the towns and cities of the oases along the Silk Road(絲綢之路). China exerted its influence even farther west during the rule of the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
The Chinese had established themselves as the masters of Transoxania and the Silk Road trade. The links between China and Transoxania(河中) were commercial and diplomatic, and Chinese armies rarely marched that far to the west. However, these links were quite strong and the rulers of the Iranian city-states of Transoxania often sent embassies to China and received honorific Chinese titles from the Tang emperors.
These links continued even after Qutayba’s conquests. Therefore, with the Caliphate ever-expanding to the east and the Chinese trying to strengthen and tighten their control over the lands to their west, the clash between the two great empires was bound to happen.
The third important political and military entity in the region was the Turks(土耳其人). The Second Turkish Khaganate(第二土耳其汗国) /Empire ( 帝國: 682-744) dominated much of steppe regions of Inner Eurasia and also influenced and controlled sections of the Silk Road and the towns and cities along its route.
By the early 8th century it was going through a series of internal crises including succession struggles and infighting. The last effective Khagan of the Second Turkish Empire was Bilge Khagan (艙底可汗 : 717-734). He reunited the empire and fought a war with Tang China and defeated its armies pushing into Gansu(甘肅).
However, a peace treaty was negotiated and the Chinese paid the Turks a large tribute. Bilge was poisoned in 734, his most trusted and able advisors had also predeceased him. After his death the various tribal groups that made up his empire fought among one another and the Second Turkish empire collapsed and was succeeded by the Uighur(維吾爾)Empire.
The Turgesh(圖爾赫什, Turkish), a tribal confederation led by Suluk(蘇魯克), had seceded from the Second Turkish Empire during the succession crisis before the rise of Bilge Khagan to the throne.
They were one of the groups that Bilge was unable to bring back into the fold and they set up a Khaganate(汗國) in the west that lasted from 699-766. The Turgesh(圖爾赫什) played an important role in the history of Transoxania during the first half of the 8th century.
The recently conquered principalities sent messages to China and the Turkish in 719 asking for aid against the Arabs. The Turkish responded and invaded Transoxania while the local princes rebelled. From 720-737, Suluk waged a war against the Umayyads(倭馬亞人) in Transoxania. Allied with the several of the local principalities, including Shash (沙什. Tashkent: 塔什干 ) and Ferghana(費爾干納), he reversed many of Qutayba’s conquests and defeated the Umayyad armies on more than one occasion.
Two notable battles in this conflict were the Day of Thirst in 724 and the Battle of the Defile in 731.
The Day of Thirst(口渴的日子) was the culmination of a Muslim campaign that had been dispatched to reconquer the Ferghana valley. The Umayyads besieged Ferghana, but lifted the siege and withdrew when they learned that Suluk was leading a large Turkish army to the relief of the city.
The Turgesh defeated a section of the Umayyad forces in battle and pursued the main army west for eight days all the way to the Jaxartes(雅克薩特) River harassing it as it marched. Upon reaching the river, the Muslims found that their path was blocked by armies from Shash and Ferghana. The Arabs, thirsty and exhausted, burned their baggage and prepared for battle.
On the Day of Thirst, they were able to win through and cross the river to safety. However, they suffered heavy losses and only a fraction of the army returned to Samarqand(撒馬爾罕). At the Battle of the Defile in 731, the Umayyads were again defeated by the Turgesh and their Transoxanian allies.
The Muslim army marched to relieve Samarqand, which had been besieged by the Turkish. They took the quickest route, which went through a defile. While the army was in the defile, the Turkish attacked them from all sides.
The battle lasted for two days and the Umayyads were only able to break out of the defile because the defenders of Samarqand sallied out and distracted the Turkish. In the battle, the Umayyyads lost an estimated 20,000-40,000 men.
The Umayyads finally broke the Turgesh at the Battle of Khalistan(哈裡斯坦) in 737. Suluk’s camp and all his flocks of sheep were taken by the victorious Muslims. Due to this defeat and his loss of prestige, Suluk was murdered by a relative and the Turkish confederacy fell into a state of infighting and all but collapsed and was no longer a threat to the Umayyads. They were finally destroyed in 766 by another Turkic group, the Qarluqs(卡魯克斯), who was replacing them as the most powerful tribal group in the region. It is important to note that the Qarluqs would play an important role in the outcome of the Battle of Talas.
Although the Umayyads emerged as the victors in this struggle, it had taken a toll on them. Tens of thousands of experienced Syrian troops, the backbone of their military, had perished in the struggle to reassert caliphal control over Transoxania and elsewhere. They were left much weakened and were overthrown in 750 in a revolution that saw the Abbasid(阿拔斯) dynasty rise to power. It was an Abbasid army, only one year after the revolution that defeated the Tang force at Talas.
It was a local dispute between the kingdoms of Ferghana(費爾干納) and Shash that led to the clash between the two empires. In 750 the king of Ferghana asked for Chinese assistance against his rival in Shash(沙什)
Goa(高仙芝) besieged Shash. He took the city in a surprise attack after treacherously breaching a treaty he had previously made with its inhabitants. He also captured and executed the king of Shash. The city was also subjected to a dreadful sacking, which resulted in thousands of its inhabitants
The prince of Shash, now its king, fled to the Abbasids to seek help against the Chinese. Abu Muslim(阿布穆斯林), the Abbasid governor of Khurasan(呼羅珊), dispatched Ziyad ibn Salih(齊亞德·伊本·薩利赫), one of his lieutenants who was also the governor of Bukhara(布哈拉), at the head of a large army to fight Gao(高仙芝). The two forces met at Talas in 751 in what is modern-day Kazakhstan.
It is difficult to ascertain the size of the armies that fought at Talas. Some sources state that both sides fielded 100,000 men or more. Most scholars agree that these numbers are exaggerated.
The Abbasid army was composed of troops from Khurasan(呼羅珊), Tukharistan(圖哈裡斯坦), and Transoxania(河中). According to the Chinese sources, the Tang army under Gao Xianzhi’s(高仙芝’s) command was a combined force of Chinese soldiers and allied troops from Ferghana(費爾干納) numbered 30,000 men. In addition to these forces, the Chinese also had a contingent of Qarluq Turks(卡魯克土耳其人) on their side.
The Arab sources state that the Tang army was 100,000 strong. On the other hand, the Chinese accounts state that the Abbasid army was composed of 200,000 soldiers. Both of these assessments of the enemy are most certainly exaggerations and both armies most likely numbered anywhere between 30,000-50,000 soldiers. The flow of the battle and its duration both indicate that there was parity between the two sides.
According to the Chinese accounts, the battle lasted for five days. The fighting was hard and bloody. There are two accounts of the battle. The first account states that during the first three days the battle was a contest between the archers and infantrymen of both armies in the center and the cavalry units vying for control of the flanks.
The Chinese army had a larger number of infantrymen and archers, while the Abbasid force was comprised of 50% infantry and 50% cavalry. In the first account of the battle, the Chinese forces were attacked by their Qarluq allies in the rear on the fourth day of the battle while the Abbasids launched an all-out frontal attack. The Chinese army collapsed and was routed with heavy losses.
In the second account of the battle, the two armies faced off against one another for four days. Neither side was willing to fully commit to battle. Then on the fifth day a third army, a force of Qarluqs, attacked the Chinese in the rear at the same time as the Abbasids launched a direct assault against the Tang army resulting in its utter destruction.
In this second account, the Qarluqs had been the Abbasids’ allies from the start and Ziyad ibn Salih(齊亞德·伊本·薩利赫) had probably planned the simultaneous assault with them that took place on the morning of the fifth day. Either way, the battle was a decisive Abbasid victory. The Abbasids lost 10,000 based on the first account after four days of fighting and much fewer if we take the second account. In both versions, the Chinese army was destroyed with casualties numbering up to 30,000 men.
The consequences of the Battle of Talas were far-reaching. The caliphate was now the master of Central Asia centered on the wealthy city-states of Transoxania. In addition to its military successes, the caliphate was also able to draw in the population of the region by accommodating the princes and kings and incorporating them into the power structure of the empire. This policy of accommodation and coexistence put an end to concerted efforts by these kingdoms and principalities to rebel and break away from the caliphate.
Chinese expansion and influence in the region were halted after this encounter. Talas also marked the farthest eastern expansion of the Caliphate. Neither the Abbasids nor the Tang wanted a prolonged conflict in this region, which would have been a logistical nightmare for both empires with their center hundreds of miles away from this frontier zone.
Furthermore, Talas was not the sole reason for China’s withdrawal from the west. Tang armies operating in and near Central Asia were recalled in 755 to deal with the An Lushan rebellion, which would occupy them for the next seven years. The Tang also had to deal with other rivals including the Uighur Empire, the Tibetan Empire, and the Khitan(契丹) in Manchuria who would conquer much of Northern China.
Talas also resulted in cultural, religious, and technological consequences.
Over the next few centuries, there was a decline in the influence of Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, and Manichaeism in Central Asia. Furthermore, a unique form of Buddhism developed in China and Japan, now that the direct link to India had been severed.
Central Asia would very gradually become predominantly a Muslim region over the next several centuries. Additionally, among the Chinese prisoners taken at Talas, there were papermakers among other craftsmen (including fine silk weavers, gold and silversmiths, and painters). These prisoners set up the first paper mills in the caliphate, a technology that would eventually get transferred to Europe and forever change history.
Paper was easier and cheaper to make than parchment and more durable than papyrus making the recording of information, its transfer, and the maintaining of records much more feasible. According to Hugh Kennedy, this development had “a major impact on the literacy and culture of the Muslim and later European world.”
Although some scholars contend that paper was known to a degree in Sogdia, it was as a consequence of Talas that it spread far and wide. One of the Chinese prisoners captured by the Muslims at Talas was Du Huan(杜歡). He would spend a decade in Iraq before being released and returning to China. He was related to the author of the Chinese Encyclopedic History, Du You(杜友 ), and wrote his travel story called 經行記.
Du Huan(杜歡) provided the details, from his experiences, for the encyclopedic entry on the history of the Arabs and Islam. He took the sea route home (rather than overland along the Silk Road), which was becoming an alternative trade route between the Far East and the Caliphate, transforming the relationship between the two powers into a peaceful commercial one.
He also provides one of the detailed accounts of the Battle of Talas, a battle which was, according to Professor Hyunhee Park(樸賢熙): “one of the most dramatic political encounters in world history, the one between the Tang and the Abbasid empire, the consequences of which would transform the political, economic, and religious landscape of Central Asia and the Indian Ocean trade networks.”
Adam Ali is a lecturer at the University of Toronto.
Chronological Background
750 Sometime around this year Mexico's great city of Teotihuacan (Teotihuacán) is among those cities destroyed and left in ruins, its great palaces burned to the ground. The city's population is reduced to a few people living in hovels in a few sections of the city.
750 The Umayyad caliphs have lost people willing to fight for them. They have been overthrown by an army of mixed nationalities from Khurasan (east of Persia). The last Umayyad, Marwan II, is beheaded and his relatives are murdered. The new caliph is Abu-Abbas al-Sarah. Rule by the Abbasid caliphs has begun. The Abbasids begin ruling with a show of Islamic piety, and they talk of reforms. They give prominence in state affairs to Islamic theologians and experts in Islamic law.
750 Arabian mathematicians begin using numbers that originated in India are an advance of Roman numerals and that Muslims will pass to Europeans.
751 An Islamic army in Central Asia defeats the Chinese (at the Battle Atlakh). Muslims replace the Chinese as the dominant influence along the Silk Road.
751 The last Merovingian king of the Franks, Childeric III, is deposed. The Merovingians had ruled as they pleased, including enforcing what they thought was their right to deflower a commoner's bride before he was allowed to consummate his marriage. A new dynasty, the Carolingians, is begun by Pepin the Short, the son of Charles Martel.
755 Alliances and trade between Mayan city-states have begun to break down. Malnutrition is on the rise. A diminishing food supply might be creating social upheaval and war.
756 Abd Ar-Rahman, an Umayyad prince, has escaped slaughter by the Abbasids and establishes himself as emir at Cordoba, Spain.[This Battle was not even recorded in the History of World]
Talas : Kyrgyzstan
Abbasid Caliphate: the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet, Muhammad.
Contextualize; to place (something, such as a word or activity) in a context
Sassanian Empire: the last Persian imperial dynasty before the Muslim conquest in the mid-seventh century AD
Turkic tribes(突厥部落); a historical term for "military division, clan, or tribe" among the Turkic peoples.
Principality; the state, office, or authority of a prince
Transoxania; an ancient name referring to a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, southern Kazakhstan, and southern Kyrgyzstan. Umayyad dynasty; the ruling family of the Muslim caliphate between 661 and 750 and later of Islamic Spain between 756 and 1031. In the pre-Islamic period.
Tokharistan; an ancient Early Middle Ages name given to the area which was known as Bactria in Ancient Greek sources.
Bukhara: the fifth-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 247,644 as of 31 August 2016,[1] and the capital of Bukhara Region.
Khwarezm; a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia
Sogdia; an ancient Iranian civilization in present-day Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.
Turkish; a Turkic tribal confederation.
Ferghana; the capital of the Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan.
Qarluq Turks; a prominent nomadic Turkic tribal confederacy residing in the regions of Kara-Irtysh (Black Irtysh) and the Tarbagatai Mountains west of the Altay Mountains in Central Asia.
Ziyad ibn Salih; The Abbasid general Ziyad ibn Salih escaped from Tashkent to Samarkand where he gathered troops and marched.
Defile; a narrow passage (as between hills, rocks, or cliffs)
Thirst; an ardent desire: CRAVING, LONGING
2021.10.01 03:58
2021.10.01 12:49
"그런데 이 전투는 세계사 Timeline에 기록조차도 되어있지 않음이 놀라운 일이다. "
No wonder, I know why. I can guess why it was not mentioned in world history.
Arabic, Chinese, and all other ethnic groups, including 고구려 사람 高仙芝 (Gao Xianzhi’s)등등이
얽기고 섥긴 사연들에 다가, all confusing geographic names under the Arabic and Chinese,
have made history so complicated that even a genius historian could not have made it understandable.
So glad our Dr. KH Chung finally got the "mixed uncooked spaghetti" under control into an edible history.
高仙芝(Gao Xianzhi) might have been the first historical Korean whose name was once popular
in Central Asia. Even though he got defeated in his last war in Central Asia, he is still my Korean hero.
It all started from Dr. Ohn's "Wakhan Valley" of Afghanistan. I wish I can tour
the damn valley someday but, as my sun is about to set over the western horizon,
I doubt I will have time or energy to do the adventure of my lifetime.
It appears very appetizing to traverse (종주) Karakorum Highway someday as well. They say,
in spring, the valleys of Hindu Kush, Kashmir, and Himalaya are full of beautiful wildflowers.
The glacier and high peak climbs are over for me now but a wildflower tour may be not.
No local connections for me to go there but Dr. BB Lee might give himself a shot of
adventuring the forbidden and crazy place. He may need a Korean passport to be safe there.
2021.10.02 07:04
Was Gao Xianzhi recognized as an eminent general of his time on the world stage of the military campaigns? You bet he was. .
When you try to search him in Wikipedia, you will find the beginning of his story as follows:
Gao Xianzhi or Go Seonji (died January 24, 756) was a Tang dynasty general of Goguryeo descent. He was known as a great commander during his lifetime. And so on...
You will find the same or similar descriptions in Google, Bing, Yahoo, and some other search engines.
It has been 1,156 years since his unfortunate death, but his reputation has been compensated posthumously.
2021.10.02 07:31
Thank Dr. 정 for the detailed review about "Battle of Talas".
I strongly believe that Western civilization is greatly influenced
by Eastern one to begin with. I think Greeks and Romans
must have been waken up by Chinese and Arabs first. Then
Western civilization began. But the world history is designed
by them who are the winners of the present day. Battle of
Talas was the fight between Arabs and Chinese. None of them
is the designer of the world history. So it was ignored.
2021.10.03 01:00
Dear Dr. Ohn, I recently learned that papermaking from China and Mathematics from India were transferred to Islam countries and then eventually to Europe. Europeans and Americans finally developed science to its helm nowadays. However, science and other academic studies are not limited to some countries, but open to the whole world, which is certainly blessings.
2021.10.03 12:59
Dear BB: I certainly admire you for your ambition to study the history of Central Asian countries at our stage of life!
I also tried a quick study of those heroes and countries from Wikipedia.
This study requires patience, determination, and strong motivation.
Following is what I gleaned:
HISTORY OF Eurasian nomads
Hunza Valley: 罕薩山谷 : a mountainous valley in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan.
Timur Shah Durrani(帖木兒沙阿杜拉尼); the second ruler of the Durrani Empire, from 16 October 1773 until his death
Khanates(汗國) are a political entity ruled by a khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum.
Mongol-ruled Khanate: 蒙古人统治的汗国
1.1 Chagatai Khanate (1226–1347) : 察合台汗國
1.2 Il-Khanate (1256–1335): 汗國
The Ilkhanate (伊爾汗國), also spelled Il-khanate (Persian: ایل خانان, Ilxānān), known to the Mongols as Hülegü Ulus
(Mongolian: Хүлэгийн улс, Hu’legīn Uls) was a khanate
The Kimek–Kipchak confederation (基米克-欽察聯合會): a medieval Turkic((突厥語) state formed by seven peoples,
including the Yemeks(葉梅克斯) and Kipchaks(欽察人), in the area between the Ob(奧布) and Irtysh(額爾齊斯) rivers.
From the end of the 9th century to 1050, it existed as a khaganate, and as a khanate until the Mongol conquest in the early
13th century.
The Chagatai Khanate(察合台汗國), or Chagatai Ulus: 察合台烏魯斯 (Mongolian: Цагаадайн улс;
Uzbek: Chigʻatoy ulusi; Chinese: 察合台汗國; Persian: خانات جغتای), was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate
that comprised the lands ruled by Chagatai Khan(察合台汗), second son of Genghis Khan(成吉思汗) and his descendants
and successors.
Timur or Timur Chagatay (1336 – 1405) : 帖木兒察加台
a Turco-Mongol (突厥-蒙古) conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire(帖木兒帝國) in and around modern-day
Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia became the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty(帖木兒王朝 ),
the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world after defeating the Mamluks of Egypt and Syria(埃及和敘利亞的馬穆魯克),
女眞族 ; Female tribe ; 10세기(世紀) 이후(以後) 동(東) 만주(滿洲)와 연해주(沿海州) 방면(方面)에 살던, 수렵(狩獵)ㆍ목축(牧畜)을 주(主)로 하는 퉁구스계(Tungus系: 通古斯 )의 민족(民族).
Tungusic peoples (通古斯人) are an ethnolinguistic group formed by the speakers of Tungusic languages (or Manchu–Tungus languages). They are native to Siberia and Northeast Asia. The Tungusic phylum is divided into two main branches, northern (Evenic or Tungus) and southern (Jurchen–Nanai). An intermediate group (Oroch–Udege) is sometimes recognized.
2021.10.05 05:40
Dear BB: You had exceptional opportunities to visit these countries in or near central Asia.
You also had great determination to learn the history, culture, and even traditions.
I've had only limited experience in foreign travels, never to these areas such as central Asia or Islamic countries. I had only some interest in a few minorities or frontier countries or ethnics such as 흉노(the Huns) or 돌궐(the Turks).
The notorious Attila the Hun occupied the vast land comprising the West and a part of the East and sent a letter to a Chinese emperor for certain negotiation or cooperation, which probably was not delivered successfully.
I still want to make my travel to the western frontier including 옥문관, 안문관 & 누란 지역 at some days hopefully.
2021.10.10 02:16
Dear BB: If I am fortunate enough to make my second adventure in the western China, I might dream some ambitious plan to visit the above 3 historical places and the silk road(絲綢之路) with its 3 main routes(三個主要路線).
Why don't I dream of stepping those spots old adventurers had ventured despite hardships and life-threatening perils?
I might study the travel course in the mean time and wait for the opportunity which may or may not come.
Thanks for your great suggestion and encouragement.
탈라스 전투는 일반적으로 별로 알려지지 않았다. 나 역시 이것을 알게 된것은 몇년전 영문해설서에서 처음 읽게 되었고, 게다가 고선지 장군이 직접 당군을 이끌었다는 자세한 내용은 이번에 고선지 일대기를 쓸 때 처음 알게 되었다.
이 전투는 고선지의 마지막 서역전투이었고, 불행히도 대패로 막음을 한 후 멀지 않아서 그는 그와 관련이 없는 안록산의 반란군을 막고 있었는데, 간신의 참소로 사형을 당하였다.
역사적으로 이 전투당시 당조의 전성은 다른 이유로 끝나고 있었고, 전쟁의 대패로 중국은 다시는 서역진출을 하지 못했으며, 그러한 번영을 다시는 경험하지도 못했으며, 여러나라로 분열이 되어 자기들끼리 싸우기도 하였고, 결국 송조가 들어섰지만 문약한 왕조였고, 외족인 요, 금, 원등의 침입으로 결국 멸망하였다.
요약해보건대 장장한 중국5000년 역사에서 이러한 전성기는 오로지 전한 무제치하에서였고, 당조에서는 현종의 치하였을 뿐이다. 개인이나 국가나 이러한 전성기는 짧았고, 파멸로 끝났음을 보게된다.
그런데 이 전투는 세계사적으로 큰 영향을 끼쳤다.
종이 제작이 중국에서 중동 Muslim국가로 들어갔고, 불교의 전파길이 막혀서 중국을 비롯한 동북아 불교가 다른 면으로 발전하였고, 중앙아시아는 완전히 회교도의 지역으로 변해서 지금까지 Afghan의 폭력, 살인, 난동같은 것을 보게됨도 관련이 있다.
그때까지 Parchment에 겨우 기록하였던 Europe 문화와 문학이 종이제작이 중국으로부터 Muslim을 통하여 들어와서 학문의 대발전을 일으킨 일은 인류에게 큰 혜택을 주었다고 나는 믿는다.
그런데 이 전투는 세계사 Timeline에 기록조차도 되어있지 않음이 놀라운 일이다.