जब तिब्बत और अरब ने चीन से लड़ाई की तो उसने दुनिया को बदल कर रख दिया

तलास की जंग इस्लाम की तीसरी सल्तनत बनू अब्बास डायनेस्टी और टांग डायनेस्टी के बीच हुई। तलास एक नदी का नाम है जो कजाकिस्तान और किर्गिस्तान में है। यह लड़ाई सिल्क रोड पर प्रभुत्व के कारण हुई। उस समय आज के चीन में कई देश थे। तिब्बत भी उनमें एक था । टांग डायनेस्टी धीरे धीरे सबको हराते हुए मध्य एशिया की तरफ बढ़ रही थी और अब्बासी सल्तनत ने बनू उम्मय्या को (जिसका एक शासक यज़ीद भी था) हराकर पूरे इलाके पर कब्ज़ा कर लिया था। दोनो की मुलाकात हुई तलास नदी के किनारे।

अरबियों की मदद तिब्बत ने की और एक गठबंधन सेना का निर्माण किया। मुसलमानो के लीडर ज़ियाद बिन सालेह थे। 5 से 6 दिन यह लड़ाई चली जिसमे टांग के साथ आये कारलुको ने मुसलमानो के साथ मिलकर टांग ही पर हमला कर दिया और यह लड़ाई मुस्लिम जीत गए

इस लड़ाई से चीनी बौद्ध धर्म का कनेक्शन भारत के बौद्ध धर्म से कट गया। हार के कारण टांग डायनेस्टी में गृहयुद्ध हुआ जिसके कारण टांग मध्य एशिया को भूल गए और ईरान, कजाकिस्तान, उज़्बेकिस्तान, अफगानिस्तान, ईरान,किर्गिस्तान में इस्लाम के प्रभाव को बढ़ावा मिला। उइघेर लोगो का भी इंट्रोडक्शन इस्लाम से हुआ और तिब्बत का भी।

बाद के अब्बासी खलीफा ने टांग डायनेस्टी की गृहयुद्ध में मदद भी की और लोकल राजाओ से उनका भूभाग वापस दिलवाने सेना भेजी। अब्बासी खलीफा अबु जफर अल मंसूर ने 4000 सैनिक टांग डायनेस्टी कों भेजे थे। जीत के बाद टांग के शासक सुजोंग ने 400 सैनिकों को चीन में बसने दिया और इस्लाम का प्रसार करने की अनुमति दी जिससे इस्लाम चीन तक पहुँचा

760 में एक और बागी तियान शेंगोंग पैदा हुआ जिसके नेतृत्व में चीन में अमीर फारसियो और मुस्लिम व्यापारियों को बड़े पैमाने पर मारा गया। फिर 879 में एक दूसरे बागी हुआंग चाओ के नेतृत्व में 1 लाख से डेढ़ लाख मुस्लिम, अरब, यहूदी, ईसाई, पारसी व्यापारी और लोगो को मारा गया।

लेकिन सबसे तगड़ा असर यह हुआ कि कागज़ बनाने की जो तकनीक चीनियों ने छुपा के रखी थी, वह मुसलमानो के हाथ लगी, जिससे वह तुर्की तक गयी और फिर यूरोप तक। इस तरह कागज़ बनाने की तकनीक आम हुई और इल्म का प्रसार तेज़ी से बढ़ा। मुस्लिम अगले 500 से 700 साल तरक्की करते रहे फिर यूरोपीयन लोग आगे निकल गए जो अब तक आगे चल रहे है।

The Battle of Talas, Battle of Talas River, or Battle of Artlakh (Chinese: 怛羅斯戰役; Arabic: معركة نهر طلاس‎) was a military engagement between the Arab Abbasid Caliphate along with their ally the Tibetan Empire against the Chinese Tang dynasty, governed at the time by Emperor Xuanzong. In July 751 CE, Tang and Abbasid forces met in the valley of the Talas River to vie for control over the Syr Darya region of central Asia. After several days of stalemate, the Karluks originally allied to the Tang defected to the Abbasids and tipped over the balance of power, resulting in a Tang rout. The defeat marked the end of Tang westward expansion and resulted in Muslim control of Transoxiana for the next 400 years. Control of this region was economically beneficial for the Abbasids because it was on the Silk Road. Historians debate whether or not Chinese prisoners captured in the aftermath of the battle brought paper-making technology to the Middle East, where it eventually spread to Europe.

Location
The exact location of the battle has not been confirmed but is believed to be near Taraz and Talas on the border of present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The Chinese name Daluosi (怛羅斯, Talas) was first seen in the account of Xuanzang. Du Huan located the city near the western drain of the Chui River. The war was the contention between Tang dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate at the Transoxiana area.

Background

Before the battle, there were other indirect encounters between some of the combatants, and the military might of China had been projected beyond the harsh continental climate and the dry desolate difficult terrain of the Tarim Basin, much of which consists of the Taklamakan Desert, as early as the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wu of Han sent military expeditions to seize horses, which got as far as the Fergana Valley. Then, in 715, Alutar, the new king of Fergana, was installed with the help of the Arabs of the Umayyad Caliphate. The deposed king Ikhshid fled to Kucha (seat of Anxi Protectorate), and sought Chinese intervention. The Chinese sent 10,000 troops under Zhang Xiaosong to Ferghana. He defeated the Arab puppet-ruler Alutar at Namangan and reinstalled Ikhshid. The inhabitants of three Sogdian cities were massacred as a result of the battle.

The second encounter occurred in 717, when Arabs were guided by the Turgesh and besieged two cities in the area of Aksu at the Battle of Aksu (717). The commander of the Chinese Protectorate General to Pacify the West, Tang Jiahui, responded using two armies, one composed of Karluk mercenaries led by Ashina Xin (client qaghan of Onoq) and another composed of Tang regulars led by Jiahui himself. The Tang dynasty Chinese defeated the Umayyad invaders at the battle of Aksu. The Arab Umayyad commander Al-Yashkuri and his army fled to Tashkent after they were defeated.

Arab sources claim Qutayba ibn Muslim briefly took Kashgar from China and withdrew after an agreement but modern historians entirely dismiss this claim.

In the year 750, Abu al-‘Abbas al-Saffah (As-Saffah), the founder of the Abbasid Caliphate, launched a massive rebellion (known as the Abbasid Revolution) against the incumbent Umayyad Caliphate from the province of Khurasan. After his decisive victory at the Battle of the Zab and eliminating those of the Umayyad family who failed to escape to Al-Andalus, As-Saffah sent his forces to consolidate his caliphate, including Central Asia, where his forces confronted many regional powers, including those of China’s Tang Dynasty.

Battle
The numeric quantities of the combatants involved in the Battle of Talas are not known with certainty; however, various estimates exist. The Abbasid army (200,000 Muslim troops according to Chinese estimates, though these numbers may be greatly exaggerated) which included contingents from their Tibetan ally met the combined army of 10,000 Tang Chinese and 20,000 Karluk mercenaries (Arab records put the Chinese forces at 100,000 which also may be greatly exaggerated).

In the month of July 751, the Abbasid forces joined in combat with the Tang Chinese force (the combined army of Tang Chinese and Karluk mercenaries) on the banks of the Talas river.

Modern view of Talas River, which starts in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and winds down into Kazakhstan. On the right side of the river is the city of Taraz.

The Tang army was subjected to a devastating defeat. The Tang dynasty’s defeat was due to the defection of Karluk mercenaries and the retreat of Ferghana allies who originally supported the Chinese. The Karluk mercenaries, two-thirds of the Tang army, defected to the Abbasids during the battle; Karluk troops attacked the Tang army from close quarters while the main Abbasid forces attacked from the front. The Tang troops were unable to hold their positions, and the commander of the Tang forces, Gao Xianzhi, recognized that defeat was imminent and managed to escape with some of his Tang regulars with the help of Li Siye. Out of an estimated 10,000 Tang troops, only 2000 managed to return from Talas to their territory in Central Asia. Despite losing the battle, Li did inflict heavy losses on the pursuing Arab army after being reproached by Duan Xiushi. After the battle, Gao was prepared to organize another Tang army against the Arabs when the devastating An Shi Rebellion broke out in 755. When the Tang capital was taken by rebels, all Chinese armies stationed in Central Asia were ordered back to China proper to crush the rebellion.

Aftermath and historical significance
Shortly after the battle of Talas, the domestic rebellion of An Lushan (755–63) and subsequent warlordism gave the Arabs the opportunity to further expand into Central Asia as Tang influence in the region retreated. The local Tang tributaries then switched to the authority of the Abbasids, Tibetans, or Uighurs and the introduction of Islam was thus facilitated among the Turkic peoples.

It was the An Lushan Rebellion and not the defeat at Talas that ended the Tang Chinese presence in Central Asia and forced them to withdraw from Xinjiang—Talas was of no strategic importance, because the Arabs did not advance any further after the battle.

A small minority of Karluks converted to Islam after the battle. The majority of Karluks did not convert to Islam until the mid 10th century under Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan when they established the Kara-Khanid Khanate.This was long after the Tang dynasty was gone from Central Asia.

Abu al-‘Abbas al-Saffah, whose forces were known to the Chinese as the Black Robed Ta-Shih, spent his wealth on warfare. He died in the year 752 CE. His brother who succeeded him as the second Abbasid Caliph Abu Jafar al-Mansur (r. 754–775 CE) (A-p’uch’a-fo) helped the Chinese Emperor Suzong of Tang after he appealed for help during the An-Shi Rebellion in regaining control of his capital Chang’an from the treacherous commander, An Lushan, or his successors in the abortive Yan Dynasty. Abu Jafar al-Mansur responded by sending 4,000 men who helped the Tang troops in recapturing the city and were well rewarded by the Chinese Emperor. After the rebellion was repressed they were allowed to settle down permanently in China which helped in founding of the earliest Muslim communities in China. Some of them married local Chinese people and their descendants became native-born Muslims who retained their religious tradition and unique way of life.

In 760, a large scale massacre of wealthy Arab and Persian merchants occurred in China during the Yangzhou massacre (760), at the hands of Chinese rebels led by Tian Shengong. In 879 during the Guangzhou massacre, 120,000 to 200,000 Arab Muslim, Persian Zoroastrian, Jewish, and Christian foreign merchants in Guangzhou were massacred by Chinese rebels under Huang Chao.

The culture of Central Asia, once a mixture of Persian, Indian, and Chinese influences, disappeared under the power struggles between the empires of the Arabs, Chinese, Turks, Tibetans, and Uyghurs. Islam grew as the dominant cultural force of Central Asia.

With the decline of Central Asian Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism was now cut off from Indian Buddhism and developed into an independent religion with distinct spiritual elements. Indigenous Buddhist traditions like Pure Land Buddhism and Zen emerged in China. China became the center of East Asian Buddhism, following the Chinese Buddhist canon, as Buddhism spread to Japan and Korea from China.

Among the earliest historians to proclaim the importance of this battle was the great Russian historian of Muslim Central Asia, Vasily Bartold, of 20th century according to whom, “The earlier Arab historians, occupied with the narrative of events then taking place in western Asia, do not mention this battle; but it is undoubtedly of great importance in the history of (Western) Turkestan as it determined the question which of the two civilizations, the Chinese or the Muslim, should predominate in the land (of Turkestan).”

The loss of 8,000 troops to the Tang empire can be compared to a troop strength of more than 500,000 before the Anshi rebellion. According to Bartold, for the history of the first three centuries of Islam, al-Tabari was the chief source (survived in Ibn al Athir’s compilation), which was brought down to 915. (Unfortunately, this important work was only compiled and published by a group of Orientalists in 1901.[citation needed]) It is only in Athir that we find an accurate account of the conflict between the Arabs and the Chinese in 751. Neither Tabari nor the early historical works of the Arabs which have come down to us in general make any mention of this; however, Athir’s statement is completely confirmed by the Chinese History of the Tang Dynasty.In all Arab sources, the events which occurred in the eastern part of the empire are often dealt with briefly. Another notable informant of the battle on the Muslim side was Al-Dhahabi (1274–1348).

The Battle of Talas did not mark the end of Buddhism or Chinese influence in the region. The Buddhist Kara-Khitan Khanate defeated the Muslim Seljuq Turks and the Muslim Kara-Khanid Turks at the Battle of Qatwan in 1141, conquering a large part of Central Asia from the Muslim Karluk Kara-Khanid Khanate in the 12th century. The Kara-Khitans also reintroduced the Chinese system of Imperial government, since China was still held in respect and esteem in the region among even the Muslim population,[38][39] and the Kara-Khitans used Chinese as their main official language. The Kara-Khitan rulers were called “the Chinese” by the Muslims.

Professor Denis Sinor said that it was interference in the internal affairs of the Western Turkic Khaganate which ended Chinese supremacy in Central Asia, since the destruction of the Western Khaganate rid the Muslims of their greatest opponent, and it was not the Battle of Talas which ended the Chinese presence.

Later during the reign of Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid, the Arabs terminated their alliance with the Tibetan Empire, and established an alliance with China after sending envoys to China in 789.

Papermaking

One of the five major steps in ancient Chinese paper making process.
The Battle of Talas was a key event in the history of paper—the technological transmission of the paper-making process. After the battle of Talas, knowledgeable Chinese prisoners of war were ordered to produce paper in Samarkand, or so the story goes.In fact, high quality paper had been known—and made—in Central Asia for centuries; a letter on paper survives from the fourth century to a merchant in Samarkand. But the Islamic conquest of Central Asia in the late seventh and early eighth centuries opened up this knowledge for the first time to what became the Muslim world, and so by the year 794 CE, paper manufacturing could be found in Baghdad, modern-day Iraq. The technology of paper making was thus transmitted to and revolutionised the Islamic world, and later the European West.The paper production was a state secret, and only some places and Buddhist Monks knew the technology. Of course, the paper was transported many kilometers as a Chinese luxury product, and as it was traded, the finding of paper in several places is not proof of production, but of use.

Geopolitical aftermath
Other than the transfer of paper, there is no evidence to support a geopolitical or demographic change resulting from this battle. In fact it seems that Tang influence over Central Asia even strengthened after 751 and that by 755, Tang power in Central Asia was at its zenith. Several of the factors after the battle had been taken note of prior to 751. Firstly, the Karluks never in any sense remained opposed to the Chinese after the battle. In 753, the Karluk Yabgu Dunpijia submitted under the column of Cheng Qianli and captured A-Busi, a betrayed Chinese mercenary of Tongluo (Tiele) chief (who had defected earlier in 743), and received his title in the court on 22 October.The Chinese Muslim historian Bai Shouyi wrote that furthermore, at the same time that Talas took place, the Tang also sent an army from Shibao city in Qinghai to Suyab and consolidated Chinese control over the Turgesh. Chinese expansion in Central Asia did not halt after the battle; the Chinese commander Feng Changqing, who took over the position from Gao Xianzhi through Wang Zhengjian, virtually swept across the Kashmir region and captured Gilgit shortly two years later. Even Tashkent reestablished its vassal status in 753, when the Tang bestowed a title to its ruler. The Chinese influence to the west of the Pamir Mountains certainly did not cease as the result of the battle; Central Asian states under Muslim control, such as Samarkand, continued to request aid from the Tang against the Arabs in spite of Talas and hence in 754, all nine kingdoms of Western Turkestan again sent petitions to the Tang to attack the Arabs and the Tang continued to turn down such requests as it did for decades. Ferghana, which participated in the battle earlier, in fact joined among the central Asian auxiliaries with the Chinese army under a summons and entered Gansu during An Lushan’s revolt in 756.Bai also noted that neither did the relations between the Chinese and Arabs worsen, as the Abbasids, like their predecessors (since 652), continued to send embassies to China uninterruptedly after the battle. Such visits had overall resulted in 13 diplomatic gifts between 752 and 798. Not all Turkic tribes of the region converted to Islam after the battle either—the date of their mass-conversion to Islam was much later, in the 10th century under Musa.