Xiongnu Empire: A Visual History

The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic peoples who dominated the Mongolian steppe from about 209 BC, when Modu Chanyu united the tribes, until their split in the first century AD. They defeated the Han founder in 200 BC, extracted silk and grain tribute for decades, and controlled the trade routes of Central Asia. Han counter-offensives from 129 BC, civil wars and the secession of the southern Xiongnu broke their power; the northern remnant was driven west after 93 AD.

When it existed: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Xiongnu Empire. 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.

Xiongnu territory

Timeline of the Xiongnu Empire

1. 209 BC
   Modu becomes ChanyuKills his father Touman.
2. 200 BC
   Battle of BaidengThe Han emperor is besieged; peace by marriage follows.
3. 176 BC
   PeakModu's letter to the Han boasts of conquering 26 states.
4. 133 BC
   Han go on the offensiveThe Mayi ambush fails but war begins.
5. 119 BC
   Battle of MobeiHuo Qubing reaches the Khangai mountains.
6. 51 BC
   Huhanye submitsSouthern faction becomes Han client.
7. 48
   Final splitNorthern and southern Xiongnu.
8. 89
   Battle of Ikh BayanThe northern Xiongnu are destroyed and scatter west.

Modu and the steppe united

Modu seized power in 209 BC by murdering his father, having trained his men to shoot wherever his whistling arrow pointed. He conquered the Donghu, drove the Yuezhi from Gansu and built an empire from Manchuria to the Pamirs. In 200 BC he trapped Emperor Gaozu of Han at Baideng, and the Han bought peace with princesses and annual gifts of silk, grain and wine.

War with the Han

Emperor Wu abandoned appeasement in 133 BC. Generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing struck deep into the steppe, seizing the Ordos and Gansu corridor and forcing the Xiongnu court north of the Gobi. The wars were ruinously expensive for both sides. Zhang Qian's embassies to find allies against the Xiongnu opened what became the Silk Road.

Split and dispersal

Succession wars in the 50s BC divided the empire; one claimant, Huhanye, submitted to the Han and received the court lady Wang Zhaojun in marriage. A second split in 48 AD created southern Xiongnu, settled inside China as clients, and northern Xiongnu, who were crushed by Han and Xianbei attacks in 89-93 AD and vanished westward. The southern Xiongnu later founded short-lived states in north China. Whether the European Huns descended from them is still debated.

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

• Western Han dynasty (202 BC to 9)
• Eastern Han dynasty (25 to 220)
• Qin dynasty (221 BC to 206 BC)
• Xianbei state (93 to 234)
• Northern Xiongnu (48 to 155)
• Western Xiongnu (56 BC to 36 BC)
• Huns (370 to 469)
• Hunnic Empire (370 to 469)

Wars of the same era and region

• Warring States period and Qin's wars of unification (475 BC to 221 BC)

8 surprising things about the Xiongnu Empire

1. Modu tested his bodyguards' loyalty by ordering them to shoot his favourite horse, then his favourite wife, then his father; those who hesitated were executed.
2. The Han paid the Xiongnu tribute for about 60 years while calling it 'gifts' to a 'brother'.
3. The Xiongnu had a written treaty with China in 162 BC declaring the Great Wall the border between the two 'equal' empires.
4. The Han quest for allies against the Xiongnu produced the first Chinese contact with Persia and Rome's neighbours.
5. Wang Zhaojun, one of the 'Four Beauties' of Chinese legend, was married off to a Xiongnu chanyu in 33 BC.
6. The Xiongnu are the earliest steppe empire known to have had a fully organised decimal military structure, later copied by the Turks and Mongols.
7. Some scholars link the Xiongnu to the Huns who appeared in Europe 300 years later; the connection remains unproven.
8. Xiongnu tombs at Noin-Ula in Mongolia contained Roman glass, Chinese silk and Greek-style textiles.

Sources

• Xiongnu Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Xiongnu Wikipedia
• Xiongnu World History Encyclopedia
• Nicola Di Cosmo, Ancient China and Its Enemies (2002) Cambridge University Press

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