Western Xiongnu: A Visual History

The Western Xiongnu were the followers of Zhizhi Chanyu, who broke with his brother Huhanye during the Xiongnu civil wars of the 50s BC. While Huhanye submitted to the Han, Zhizhi moved west, subdued the Wusun and other peoples and built a fortified capital on the Talas river in modern Kazakhstan with the help of the Kangju. In 36 BC the Han officers Chen Tang and Gan Yanshou marched a multinational army across Central Asia without authorisation, stormed the city and beheaded Zhizhi.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Western Xiongnu. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

Zhizhi's forces at the final battle (Han estimates)

Han sources; the attacking force included many non-Chinese auxiliaries.

Timeline of the Western Xiongnu

1. 56 BC
   Zhizhi and Huhanye split
2. 51 BC
   Huhanye submits to the Han
3. 49 BC
   Zhizhi moves westDefeats the Wusun.
4. 44 BC
   Han envoy killedZhizhi burns his bridges.
5. 42 BC
   City built on the TalasAlliance with the Kangju.
6. 36 BC
   Battle of ZhizhiChen Tang storms the city.

The split

Five rival chanyus fought over the Xiongnu empire after 60 BC. Zhizhi and Huhanye emerged as the survivors; Huhanye went to Chang'an in 51 BC and accepted Han overlordship, and Zhizhi, holding the north, first sent his son as hostage to the Han and then, spurned, killed a Han envoy and moved west.

In the west

Zhizhi defeated the Wusun, Dingling and Jiankun and settled among the Kangju in the Talas valley, who wanted an ally against the Wusun. He mistreated his hosts, killed a Kangju princess and built a walled city with a double palisade, unusual for nomads and possibly reflecting captured Roman legionaries in his service, an old theory now generally rejected.

The Han strike

In 36 BC Chen Tang, a junior officer in the Western Regions, forged an imperial order and led a force of Han troops and allied contingents from the Tarim states west across the Pamirs. They besieged Zhizhi's city, breached its walls, killed him and 1,500 defenders and sent his head to Chang'an. Chen Tang was pardoned and rewarded; the western Xiongnu ceased to exist.

Related empires and wars

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

• Xiongnu Empire (209 BC to 93)
• Western Han dynasty (202 BC to 9)
• Northern Xiongnu (48 to 155)
• Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (256 BC to 125 BC)
• Indo-Scythian Kingdom (150 BC to 400)
• Parthian Empire (247 BC to 224)

8 surprising things about the Western Xiongnu

1. Chen Tang forged an imperial edict to raise his army; when the emperor's ministers demanded punishment, he replied that whoever offended the mighty Han would be executed however far away.
2. The Han account describes Zhizhi's defenders using a 'fish-scale' formation, which a 1950s theory read as Roman testudo tactics; most historians dismiss the idea.
3. The battle took place near modern Taraz in Kazakhstan, the farthest west a Han army ever fought.
4. Zhizhi killed his Kangju wife, a princess, and had hundreds of Kangju thrown into the Talas.
5. The village of Liqian in Gansu claims descent from Roman prisoners of this battle, a story with no archaeological support.
6. Zhizhi's head was displayed in Chang'an on the street of foreign envoys.
7. Huhanye, the brother who submitted, was rewarded with the court beauty Wang Zhaojun in 33 BC.
8. The Han officers who won the battle were rewarded modestly because they had acted without orders.

Sources

• Zhizhi Chanyu Wikipedia
• Battle of Zhizhi Wikipedia
• Xiongnu Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Nicola Di Cosmo, Ancient China and Its Enemies (2002) Cambridge University Press

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