Page 130 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol V

turkic empire 1907

They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for
gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days
have a price. • Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931)

alliance did not work smoothly, the Türks often berating (“Ten Arrows”). They succumbed in 659 to Tang armies
Constantinople for having dealings with their “runaway that ventured deep into Central Asia.The more westerly
slaves,” the Avars. groupings of the Türks formed the Khazar state (c. 650–
c. 965), which encompassed the Volga-Ukrainian steppes,
The First Qaghanate: East the North Caucasus, and elements of the Eastern Slavs
(552–630 ce) and West (557–659 CE) and Finno-Ugric peoples. The Khazars were the main
The Türks were able to exploit the political fragmentation obstacle to Arab advance beyond the North Caucasus.
of northern China, whose competing dynasties were
only too willing to buy the Türks off with silk and trad- The Second Qaghanate: East (682–
ing privileges.The zenith of Türk power was reached dur- 742 ce) and West (c. 700–c.766 CE)
ing the reign of Taspar (or Tatpar, reigned 572–581), Although the Tang preserved the eastern Türks, planning
Muqan’s younger brother. Thereafter, China, reunited to use them as part of their border defense system against
under the Sui dynasty (581–618), regained the military other nomads, the Türks proved to be recalcitrant sub-
upper hand.This coincided with increasing strife among jects. The eastern Ashina Qutlugh (682–691), with a
the ruling Ashina. The Sui skillfully exploited these small band, rallied the Türks and reestablished the
internecine disputes and encouraged revolts by subject qaghanate in 682, taking the throne name Ilterish. He
peoples of the Türks. In the west, Tardu (d. c. 603), and his brother and successor, Qapaghan Qaghan
Ishtemi’s son, trying to exploit the rivalries of his eastern (reigned 691–716), ably assisted by their chief counselor,
cousins, made a bid for supreme power. Although his the Chinese-educated Tonyuquq, reestablished their hold
army was badly defeated around Herat by the Sasanid over the Inner Asian nomadic and forest peoples. In the
general Bahrâm Chôbîn of Iran in 589,Tardu recovered words of the Orkhon inscriptions, they “made the poor
and by the late 590s was on the verge of realizing his rich and the few many” (Tekin 1988, 12). This was
ambitions.The Sui, however, instigated a massive revolt achieved through continual warfare, memorialized in
of the subject tribes, in particular the Tiele union, and the Orkhon inscriptions, against their frequently rebel-
Tardu disappeared from view. When the Sui overex- lious subject tribes, a policy that his successor, Bilge
tended themselves with military ventures against Koguryo Qaghan (reigned 716–734), aided by his brother Köl
(in Korea), the Türks briefly revived.The Sui were swept Tegin (d. 731), was forced to continue due to ongoing
from power by the Tang dynasty (618–907), themselves resistance to Türk rule. Bilge Qaghan was poisoned, most
of probable Altaic origin and long familiar with the probably by someone within his entourage. There-
northern frontier zone.The Tang, like the Sui, capitalized after, the familiar pattern of dynastic bickering led to
on Ashina internal bickering and in 630 brought the east- the destruction of the eastern Türk Qaghanate in 742
ern Türks, exhausted also by natural disasters, under their by a coalition of subject tribes who were overthrown in
control.They were settled within China’s borders and the turn by the Uighurs, another Turkic-speaking Central
Ashina and clan nobles were taken into the ranks of the Asian people.
Chinese military service. Meanwhile, the western Türks (under eastern Türk
Tardu’s successors in the west fared better for a time. domination by 699) faced a growing threat from the
In the 620s the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (reigned Arabs. What had begun as Muslim raids in the late sev-
610–641) used Türk forces under the western quaghan, enth century became a more systematic program of con-
Tong Yabghu Qaghan (618–630), to defeat the Sasanids quest under Qutaybah ibn Muslim (d. 714), a general in
in 628. Tong Yabghu, however, was assassinated by an the service of the Arab Umayyad dynasty (661–750).
uncle, and the western Türks divided into two rival fac- Moreover, China and Tibet (now a major player in Cen-
tions, the Dulu and Nushibi, together termed the On Oq tral Asian affairs) were active in the region. Internecine