Who Was When
Wars

Han–Xiongnu wars

See this year on the world timeline

Sides

The Han dynasty and its allies

Han dynasty, Southern Xiongnu (allied with the Han from 50 CE), Xin dynasty of Wang Mang (9–23 CE, between the Western and Eastern Han), which massed troops on the frontier against the Xiongnu, Wusun (attacked the Xiongnu from the west alongside the Han offensive of 71 BCE), Wuhuan (scouts for the Han against the Xiongnu after 119 BCE; settled inside the frontier as Han auxiliaries from 49 CE), Xianbei (attacked the northern Xiongnu for the Han from about 49 CE and killed the chanyu Youliu in 87 CE), and Qiang horsemen in Dou Xian's army of 89 CE

against
The Xiongnu and their allies

Xiongnu confederation (from 48 CE, the northern Xiongnu), Wuhuan and Xianbei, Xiongnu subjects who at times raided Han lands with them, until both changed sides by about 49 CE, and Western Qiang, who attacked Han towns in 112 BCE in league with the Xiongnu

Countries today: China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia

What happened

For more than two centuries the Han dynasty fought the Xiongnu, a confederation of steppe peoples centred on today's Mongolia. Early Han emperors kept peace with the Xiongnu through marriage alliances and gifts, but in 133 BCE Emperor Wu tried to ambush their ruler, the chanyu, at Mayi, and open war followed. Han armies under Wei Qing and Huo Qubing took the Ordos region in 127 BCE and the Hexi Corridor in 121 BCE, and in 119 BCE crossed the Gobi and drove the Xiongnu court north. After a civil war divided the Xiongnu, the chanyu Huhanye came to the Han court in 51 BCE, and in 36 BCE Han forces killed his rival Zhizhi near today's Taraz. The Xiongnu split again in 48 CE; the southern Xiongnu sided with the Han, and in 89 CE a Han and southern Xiongnu army under Dou Xian defeated the northern Xiongnu in Mongolia. No reliable count of the war's dead survives.

Outcome: The northern Xiongnu state was broken and its remnants moved west; the southern Xiongnu lived under Han rule inside the frontier, and the Han held the Hexi Corridor and, for long periods, the Tarim Basin.

Key events

Leaders

  • Emperor Wu of Han · Han emperor, 141–87 BCE; began the offensive war · The Han dynasty and its allies
  • Wei Qing · Han general; took the Ordos region, commanded at Mobei · The Han dynasty and its allies
  • Huo Qubing · Han cavalry general in the Hexi Corridor and at Mobei · The Han dynasty and its allies
  • Li Guang · Han frontier general · The Han dynasty and its allies
  • Gan Yanshou · Protector General of the Western Regions; led the attack on Zhizhi with Chen Tang · The Han dynasty and its allies
  • Dou Xian · Han general in the campaign of 89 CE · The Han dynasty and its allies
  • Junchen Chanyu · Xiongnu ruler at the time of Mayi · The Xiongnu and their allies
  • Yizhixie Chanyu · Xiongnu ruler at Mobei · The Xiongnu and their allies
  • Huhanye Chanyu · Xiongnu ruler who submitted to the Han in 51 BCE · The Xiongnu and their allies
  • Zhizhi Chanyu · Huhanye's rival; killed by Han forces in 36 BCE · The Xiongnu and their allies

Cultures it ended or changed

Meanwhile, elsewhere in

Sources