The Battle of Talas, 751 AD

Hello, I am working on the question, whether the time between 614 and 911 AD was a fake written by historians of the 11th, 12th and 13th Century for political reasons. To answer this question, the Battle of Talas between Chinas Tang army and the Muslim army is a important detail. Any comment or criticism will be highly welcome, especially from China and Korea.

Below please find an overview of the circumstances of the Battle of Talas so far as I could do research on it:

The Battle of Talas in the perspective of China, Korea and Arabia

Abstract

On July 10th 751 AD a battle between Chinese troups of the Tang Dynasty under command of Korean General Gao Xianzhi and Muslim troups under command of Persian Governor Abu Muslim of Khorasan together with Muslim General Ziad Ibn Salih from Samarkand started near Auli-Ata on the backs of the Talas river. The Muslims won this battle because the Quarluqs, a Turk contingent of the Chinese troups  deserted the Chinese coalition and changed to the Muslim side while the battle was ongoing. Gao Xianzhi escaped with the rest of his troops into China. After this battle Central Asia was affected by Muslim culture, not by Chinese, for more than 1300 years. The silk  trade between Muslims and Chinese on the silk road became disrupted for some time. Paper making technology was transmitted westward through the Tang prisoners of war into the Muslim and Christian countries.

For these consequences the battle of Talas is known as one of the most important battles in World�s history.

The Chinese view of the Battle of Talas

Goguryeo, a Korean kingdom in the northern part of Korea had lost a war against Tang China and General Go Sagye of Goguryeo had been captured by the Tang.

His son Gao Xianzhi (Kao Hsien-Chi, 고 전지) was born in Tang China and in the age of 20 was promoted to assistant commander of the Tang army and served along with his father in the western province of China near Kashgar in the Taklamakan Desert. While Gao Xianzhi had not a powerful build, he became famous as a extraordinary tactician.

The Tang under their reigning Emperor Hsuan-tsung tried to extend their political influence westward towards Transoxania in order to get more control over the Silk Route and to stop enemy attacks from tribes at their western border. Gao Xianzhi became famous by fighting the combined forces of Tibetans and Muslims in the area of Hindukush and Afghanistan in 747. For a few years Gao became the Tang�s counceler of Central Asia, controlling Tokmak, Kucha, Kashmir and Kabul. The petty kings of  Central Asia city-states continued to send embassies and gifts to Chinese emperor Hsuan-tsung. �Persia� sent 10 embassies between 713 and 755, without saying, that Persia was then a part of the Umayyad and after 750 of the Abbasid empire.

In 750 Gao fighted against Sogdian kingdom, conquered Tashkent and sent surrendered king of Tashkent to Tang capital Chang�an, where the King of Tashkent was executed.

In 750 the Abbasides had eliminated the Umayad Dynasty in Damascus. The Abassides wanted to export Islamic religion more aggressively into surrounding countries of Unbelievers and in July 751 started a massive Jihad attack against the Chinese on the backs of the Talas river. 150000 Muslim troups marched against 70000 warriors of Gao�s army. The battle lasted 5 days. The Chinese cavalry seemed to initially overwhelm the Arab cavalry but in the midst of the battle, the Quarluq troups, a Turk contingent of the Tang�s army,  deserted the Chinese coalition and changed to the Muslim side. The Quarluqs were allied with the Arabs from the beginning and attacked the Chinese from the rear as part of a battle plan that they carefully had prearranged with Ziyad ibn Salih who had promised wealth and freedom to the Quarluqs in return for embracing Islam and betraying their Chinese masters. The Quarluqs viewed this as an opportunity to throw off the Chinese yoke . The Quarluqs later played a major role in converting other Turkish tribes notably the Seljuks to Islam.

Many Chinese soldiers were killed or captured and Gao with the rest of his army escaped into China. Gao inteded to return after one month with a stronger army, but his deputies persuaded him, that they did not have enough resources and the plan was aborted. The same year the Southern division of the Chinese army had a disastrous defeat at the hands of the Thais, opening the once mighty empire for invasion by the Uighur Kha�Khans of Mongolia.

In 755 Gao was ordered to support the Tang during the rebellion of An Lushan and was in charge to defend Chang�an, the Tang�s capital. Gao was executed by the Tang emperor who believed the false rumors of his eunuchs that Gao had moved his troups without the emperor�s approval.

From 1200 onwards, the Mongols launched a fierce counter attack against the Muslims that cumulated in the sack of Baghdad in A.D. 1258  by Hulagu Khan.

The Muslim view of the Battle of Talas:

After the death of Prophet Muhammad in A.D. 632 the entire middle east had fallen to the Arabs. But the conquest of Central Asia was not so easy. Arab soldiers crossed the Oxus River (now Amu Darya) into Transoxania (now: Uzbekistan) in 654. In 705 Qutaiba ibn Muslim became Umayyad governor of Khorasan. He died in 715. Until 750 most of Transoxania had been incorporated into the Islamic realm. This conquest however put the Muslims on a collision course with Tang�s China which exerted hegemony over Turkestan and over Silk Road oases Kashgar, Kucha, Karashar etc.

In 750, two petty kingdoms Ferghana and Cach had quarrels that caused Ferghana to seek the military assistance of China. The Chinese governor of Kucha Kao Hsien-chih (Gao Xianzih) responded by besieging Cach, promising it�s king save passage and then treacherously decapitating him. The son of the executed king of Cach escaped to Abu Muslim, the Umayyad (or then Abassid ?) governor of Khorasan. Abu Muslim was a Persian who had converted to Islam. Sensing a golden opportunity to diminish China�s political role in Central Asia, Abu Muslim quickly mustered his army at Merv (now Turkmenistan), added enforcements from Tukharistan (Northern Afghanistan) and crossed the Oxus to march to Samarkand. There he rejoined the Ghazi army of Transoxania under Ziyad ibn Salih, formerly the Umayyad governor of Kufa in Iraq.  The Chinese had mobilized 100000 men and in July met the Islamic army of 40000 men on the Talas river (near Dzhambul). Arabic records are inconclusive as to the duration of the battle. In the midst of the battle, the Quarluq troups, a Turk contingent of the Tang�s army,  deserted the Chinese coalition and changed to the Muslim side. The Prince of Cach was a cousin of the Quarluq and in advance of the battle had convinced the Quarluqs that they had to help him to take revenge for the Chinese murders of his father.

Many Chinese soldiers were killed or captured and Gao with the rest of his army escaped into China. The Arabs learned from their Chinese captives paper making technology.

Historic evidence

On the arab side, key informations on the Battle of Talas came from Ibn al-Athir (1160-1233) and al-Dhahabri (1274-1348). Curiously, tho most outstanding early Muslim historian al-Tabari (839-923) has nothing to say about the Battle of Talas.

I don�t know, which Chinese and Korean historians have delt with the Battle of Talas.

Questions to the audience

1. Heaving Koreas historical epos Samguk Sagi in mind, the days of the Talas battle must have fallen into the days of Unified Silla (Tong-Il Silla) in Korea (668 to 935). What is Samguk Sagi telling us about the Battle of Talas and about famous Korean General Gao Xianzhi ?
2. Why is Go Sagye mentioned as a captured general of Goguryeo by the Tangs ? In those days Goguryeo should not have existed but had been part of Tong-il Silla. Was Tong-Il Silla in war with Tang�s China about 725 (26 years before the Battle of Talas) ?
3. Isn�t it unlikely that both sides risked disruption of the lucrative trade on the Silk Roadfrom which both parties made profit for centuries, only on behalf of two allied petty kings ?
4. If the Battle of Talas was so important, why was it mentioned by Muslim historians not earlier than in the 13th century, 500 years after the battle ?
5. Are Qutaiba ibn Muslim, governor of Khorasan (died 715) and Persian Abu Muslim, governor of Khorasan (alive in 751) the same person ?
6. To which Muslim party belonged Abu Muslim and Ziad ibn Salih in 751 ? Umayyad or Abbasid ?
7. When the quarrels in Tashkent began (in 750), Transoxania belonged to the Umayyad empire. In 750 the Umayadds were wiped out by the Abbasids. How in those uncertain times Arabs in Transoxania got the courage to launch such a big attack against China ?
8. If  Jihad was so important for the Muslims, isn�t it strange, that they did not invade China and destroyed the fleeing rest of the army of Gao Xianzhi ?
9. As so many soldiers have died in this battle, there should exist a lot of archaelogical findings in the area of river Talas. Who knows about those findings ?