title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Also in 650, the general Gao Kan () – whose army had been launched by Emperor Taizong against the newly reconstituted Göktürk state under Chebi Khan Ashina Hubo prior to Emperor Taizong's death—captured Ashina Hubo and brought him back to Chang'an. Emperor Gaozong spared Ashina Hubo and made him a general, putting his people directly under Tang rule. Meanwhile, with two of the states of the Western Regions previously conquered by Tang and governed by Tang-installed kings, Kucha and Karasahr in disturbance, Emperor Taizong returned their previously captured kings, Bai Helibushibi () and Long Tuqizhi () respectively, to their thrones.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 651, the Western Turkic Khaganate prince Ashina Helu, who had sought and received protection from Emperor Taizong, broke away from Tang and defeated the Western Turkic Khaganate's Yipishekui Khan, taking over the Western Turkic Khaganate himself and no longer subordinate under Tang. In fall 651, Ashina Helu attacked Tang's Ting Prefecture (庭州, roughly Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang), and Emperor Gaozong responded by commissioning the generals Liang Jianfang () and Qibi Heli () to attack Ashina Helu. Liang and Qibi achieved some victories against Ashina Helu's general Zhuxie Guzhu (), but then withdrew without engaging Ashina Helu.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, as Empress Wang was sonless, her uncle, the chancellor Liu Shi, suggested to her that she ask Emperor Gaozong to create his oldest son Li Zhong, whose mother Consort Liu was of low birth and therefore considered nonthreatening, crown prince so that Li Zhong would be grateful of her in the future. Liu also persuaded Zhangsun to suggest the idea as well, and in fall 652, Emperor Gaozong created Li Zhong crown prince.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: By this point, however, Empress Wang was facing a major threat from another romantic rival. When Emperor Gaozong was crown prince, he had an affair with one of Emperor Taizong's concubines, Consort Wu. After Emperor Taizong's death, all of his concubines who did not bear sons, which included Wu, were housed at Ganye Temple () to be Buddhist nuns. In either 650 or 651, Emperor Gaozong was visiting Ganye Temple to offer incense to Buddha when he saw Consort Wu. Both of them wept. When Empress Wang heard this, she, wanting to divert Emperor Gaozong's favor from Consort Xiao, secretly instructed Consort Wu to grow her hair back, while suggesting to Emperor Gaozong that he take her as a concubine. Consort Wu was intelligent and full of machinations, and therefore, when she first returned to the palace, she acted humbly and flattered Empress Wang, who trusted her greatly and recommended her to Emperor Gaozong. Soon, Emperor Gaozong became enamored with Consort Wu.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, Emperor Gaozong's sister Princess Gaoyang and her husband Fang Yi'ai (房遺愛, Fang Xuanling's son), were implicated in 652 of conspiring with another brother-in-law Chai Lingwu (), the general Xue Wanche () and Emperor Gaozong's uncle Li Yuanjing () the Prince of Jing to make Li Yuanjing emperor. Fang, knowing that Zhangsun had long been apprehensive of Li Ke, falsely implicated Li Ke in the plot as well, hoping to ingratiate Zhangsun sufficiently that he would be spared. nevertheless, in spring 653, at the suggestion of Zhangsun and Cui Dunli – despite Emperor Gaozong's initial inclination to spare Li Yuanjing and Li Ke—Emperor Gaozong ordered that Fang, Xue, and Chai be executed, and that Li Yuanjing, Li Ke, and the Princesses Gaoyang and Baling (Chai's wife) be forced to commit suicide. Zhangsun took this opportunity to accuse several other officials friendly with Fang or hostile to him—the chancellor Yuwen Jie, Li Daozong the Prince of Jiangxia, and the general Zhishi Sili () – of being friendly with Fang and had them exiled. He also deposed and exiled Li Ke's mother Consort Yang and Consort Yang's other son Li Yin () the Prince of Shu, as well as Fang's brother Fang Yizhi () and Xue's brother Xue Wanbei ().


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: By 654, both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao had lost favor with Emperor Gaozong, and the former romantic rivals joined forces against Consort Wu, but to no avail, and as a sign of his love to Consort Wu, in 654 he conferred posthumous honors on her father Wu Shihuo (). Later that year, Consort Wu gave birth to a daughter that died shortly after birth. Evidence implicated Empress Wang as the killer, although some historians believe Consort Wu killed her own daughter in order to frame Empress Wang, but no concrete evidence of this exists. In anger, Emperor Gaozong considered deposing Empress Wang and replacing her with Consort Wu, but wanted to make sure that the chancellors would support this, and so visited Zhangsun's house with Consort Wu, awarding him with much treasure, but when he brought up the topic that Empress Wang was sonless (as an excuse for deposing her), Zhangsun repeatedly found ways to divert the conversation, and subsequent visits by Consort Wu's mother Lady Yang and the official Xu Jingzong, who was allied with Consort Wu, to seek support from Zhangsun were also to no avail.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In summer 655, Consort Wu accused Empress Wang and her mother Lady Liu of using witchcraft. In response, Emperor Gaozong barred Lady Liu from the palace and demoted Liu Shi. Meanwhile, a faction of officials began to form around Consort Wu, including Li Yifu, Xu, Cui Yixuan (), and Yuan Gongyu (). On an occasion in fall 655, Emperor Gaozong summoned the chancellors Zhangsun, Li Shiji (who by now was using the name Li Ji to observe naming taboo for Emperor Taizong's name Li Shimin), Yu Zhining, and Chu to the palace—which Chu deduced to be regarding the matter of changing the empress. Li Ji claimed an illness and refused to attend. At the meeting, Chu vehemently opposed deposing Empress Wang, while Zhangsun and Yu showed their disapproval by silence. Meanwhile, other chancellors Han Yuan and Lai Ji also opposed the move, but when Emperor Gaozong asked Li Ji again, Li Ji's response was, "This is your family matter, Your Imperial Majesty. Why ask anyone else?" Emperor Gaozong therefore became resolved. He demoted Chu to be a commandant at Tan Prefecture (roughly modern Changsha, Hunan), and then deposed both Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, putting them under arrest and creating Consort Wu, as empress (皇后, huánghòu) and the most powerful woman in the empire (天下母, Tiānxià Mǔ) instead to replace Empress Wang. (Later that year, Empress Wang and Consort Xiao were killed on orders by the new Empress Wu after Emperor Gaozong showed signs of considering their release.) Then, at Xu's suggestion, in spring 656, Emperor Gaozong demoted Li Zhong to be the Prince of Liang and created Empress Wu's oldest son Li Hong the Prince of Dai crown prince instead.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 655 as well, Emperor Gaozong commissioned the general Cheng Zhijie () to attack Ashina Helu, but while the campaign saw some victories over Western Turkic Khaganate's substituent tribes Geluolu () and Chuyue (), it was hindered by Cheng's inability to restrain his assistant Wang Wendu () from pillaging and inappropriately halting the army. After the campaign ended in early 657, both Cheng and Wang were deposed from their offices.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 657, Emperor Gaozong commissioned the general Su Dingfang, who had served under Cheng Zhijie in the earlier failed campaign, to command a campaign against Ashina Helu, assisted by Ren Yaxiang and Xiao Siye (). They were joined by the Western Turkic Khaganate's leaders Ashina Mishe and Ashina Buzhen, who had submitted to Tang during Emperor Taizong's reign. The campaign caught Ashina Helu by surprise, and Su defeated him in several battles, causing him to flee to the kingdom Shi (石國, centering modern Tashkent, Uzbekistan), which arrested him and delivered him to Su, thus largely ending the Western Turkic Khaganate as an organized state. (Emperor Gaozong would try to continue the Western Turkic Khaganate's existence as a vassal stage by dividing it in half and creating Ashina Mishe and Ashina Buzhen as khans of the two halves.)


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu, aligned with Empress Wu, and became strong enough to fight for power, began to carry out a campaign of reprisal on her behalf. Empress Wu, on the other hand, persuaded Emperor Gaozong to work with the removal of the chancellors appointed by Emperor Taizong to consolidate the emperor's power. In 657, they accused Han Yuan and Lai Ji of plotting treason with Chu Suiliang, who was then serving as the commandant at Gui Prefecture (桂州, roughly modern Guilin, Guangxi). Emperor Gaozong demoted Han and Lai to be prefects of distant prefectures, and demoted Chu and Liu Shi to even more distant prefectures—in Chu's case, to the extremely distant Ai Prefecture (愛州, roughly modern Thanh Hóa Province, Vietnam), and Chu's subsequent petition, sent from Ai Prefecture, pleading with Emperor Gaozong, fell on deaf ears.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Empress Wu's reprisals did not end there. In 659, Zhangsun Wuji became the next target. At that time, two low level officials, Wei Jifang () and Li Chao () had been accused of improper associations, and when Emperor Gaozong put Xu and Xin Maojiang of investigating, Xu falsely accused Wei and Li to be part of a treasonous plot by Zhangsun. Emperor Gaozong, without meeting with Zhangsun, believed Xu, and put Zhangsun under house arrest in exile at Qian Prefecture (黔州, roughly modern southeastern Chongqing). Xu further implicated Chu, Liu, Han, and Yu Zhining in the plot as well. Yu was removed from his post. Chu, who had died in 658, was posthumously stripped of all titles, and his sons Chu Yanfu () and Chu Yanchong () were executed. Orders were also issued to execute Liu and Han, although Han died before the execution order reached his location. Meanwhile, Zhangsun, once he reached his place of exile, was forced to commit suicide. It was said that after Han's and Lai's deaths, no official dared to criticize the emperor any further.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Also in 659, a vassal of Western Turkic Khaganate (Pin. "Tujue"), Duman (), the commander of the Esegels (aka "Izgil", , Ch. "Asijie", "Sijie" 思結) Tribe, rebelled against Tang occupation, along with the Western Turkic Khaganate's subject kingdoms Shule (), Zhujupo (), and Yebantuo () (all in modern Kashgar, Xinjiang). The joint forces commanded by Duman quickly defeated the Tang vassal Yutian (于田, in modern Hotan, Xinjiang). In winter 659, Emperor Gaozong sent Su Dingfang against Duman, and once he arrived in the vicinity of Duman's army, he selected 10,000 infantry soldiers and 3,000 cavalry soldiers and made a surprise attack on Duman. When he arrived at Duman's headquarters, Duman was surprised, and after Su initially defeated Duman, Duman was forced to withdraw within the city. Su put the city under siege, and Duman surrendered. In spring 660, Su took Duman back to the eastern capital Luoyang, where Emperor Gaozong was at the time, to present Duman to him. Some officials requested that Duman be executed, but Su made a plea on Duman's behalf—that he had promised Duman life before Duman surrendered—and Emperor Gaozong stated that while under the law, Duman should die, he would honor Su's promise, and so he spared Duman.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: On the other end of the Tang atmosphere of influence, on the Korean Peninsula, Baekje had been attacking the Tang ally Silla. Once Su returned from the Esegel campaign, Emperor Gaozong commissioned him to head over the sea to attack Baekje, in conjunction with Silla. Su quickly captured the Baekje capital Sabi, forcing Baekje's King Uija and his crown prince Buyeo Yung to surrender. Emperor Gaozong ordered that Baekje be annexed as Tang territory. Emperor Gaozong then followed up by commissioning Su, along with Qibi Heli, Liu Boying (), and Cheng Mingzhen (), to attack Goguryeo.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 660, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu toured Bian Prefecture (modern-day Taiyuan), and Empress Wu had the opportunity to invite her old neighbors and relatives to a feast. Later that year, Emperor Gaozong began to suffer from an illness that carried the symptoms of painful headaches, persistent dizziness, occasional seizures and loss of vision, generally thought to be hypertension-related or stroke, and Emperor Gaozong began to have Empress Wu make rulings on petitions and suggestions made by officials. It was said that Empress Wu had quick reactions and understood both literature and history, and therefore, she was making correct and error-free rulings. Emperor Gaozong's illness worsened over time, and lasted until his death. If he was well, he also would accept Empress Wu's help, asking her to read the documents to him, he consulted with her on important matters and write down the rulings he had issued. Even until midnight, when he was exploring the memorials, he had Empress Wu by his side to decide if anything went wrong, and he became very dependent on her advice over time, and, as usual, because of his illness, he allowed Empress Wu to act in his name. Thereafter, her authority rivaled Emperor Gaozong's, after this point on, Empress Wu became the undisputed power behind the throne until the death of Emperor Gaozong.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, just after Su Dingfang left Baekje territory to attack Goguryeo, the Buddhist monk Dochim () and the former Baekje general Gwisil Boksin rose to try to revive Baekje. They welcomed the Baekje prince Buyeo Pung back from Japan to serve as king, with Juryu (주류, 周留, now Seocheon County, South Chungcheong) as their headquarters. They put the Tang general Liu Renyuan () under siege in Sabi. Emperor Gaozong sent the general Liu Rengui, who had previously been demoted to commoner rank for offending Li Yifu, with a relief force, and Liu Rengui and Liu Renyuan were able to fight off the Baekje resistance forces' attacks, but were themselves not strong enough to quell the rebellion, and so for some time the armies were in stalemate.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, Su advanced on the Goguryeo capital Pyongyang and put it under siege, but was unable to capture it quickly. In spring 662, after the general Pang Xiaotai () was defeated by Goguryeo forces at Sasu River (蛇水, probably Botong River) and was killed along with his 13 sons, Su ran into harsh snowstorms and withdrew.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Around the same time, after the death of the Huige chief Yaoluoge Porun (), who had been obedient to Tang, Yaoluoge Porun's nephew Yaoluoge Bisudu () rose in rebellion with the Tongluo () and Pugu () tribes in conjunction with other Tiele Confederation tribes. Emperor Gaozong sent the general Zheng Rentai () to attack the Tiele, but while Zheng was initially victorious, his officers became bogged down in pillaging and eventually suffered great losses after being caught in poor weather. Emperor Gaozong instead sent Qibi, who was ethnically Tiele, assisted by Jiang Ke, to Tiele to try to persuade them to surrender. Qibi was able to do so, and rebel leaders were arrested and turned over to Tang. Qibi executed them and ended the rebellion.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, for reasons unknown, also in 662 Emperor Gaozong sent the general Su Haizheng () to attack Qiuzi and ordered Ashina Mishe and Ashina Buzhen to assist him. Ashina Buzhen, who had a rivalry with Ashina Mishe, falsely informed Su that Ashina Mishe was set to rebel and would attack the Tang army, and Su responded by ambushing Ashina Mishe, killing him and his chief assistants. The Western Turkic Khaganate tribes, angry over Ashina Mishe's death, largely turned away from Tang and submitted to the Tibetan Empire instead, and when Ashina Buzhen died later that year, Tang influence in the region was greatly reduced.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: During these years, Li Yifu had been, due to favors from Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, exceedingly powerful, and he grew particularly corrupt. In 663, after reports of Li Yifu's corruption were made to Emperor Gaozong, Emperor Gaozong had Liu Xiangdao and Li Ji investigate, finding Li Yifu guilty. Li Yifu was removed from his post and exiled, and would never return to Chang'an.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: During the years, Empress Wu had repeatedly, in her dreams, seen Empress Wang and Consort Xiao, in the states they were after their terrible deaths, and she came to believe that their spirits were after her. For that reason, Emperor Gaozong started remodeling a secondary palace, Daming Palace (), into Penglai Palace (), and when Penglai Palace's main hall, Hanyuan Hall (), was completed in 663, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu moved to the newly remodeled palace (which was itself later renamed to Hanyuan Palace). (However, Empress Wang and Consort Xiao continued to appear in her dreams even after this, and therefore, late in Emperor Gaozong's reign, he and Empress Wu were often at the eastern capital Luoyang, not at Chang'an.)


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Also in 663, the Tibetan Empire attacked a Tang vassal state, the Tuyuhun. Tuyuhun's Ledou Khan Murong Nuohebo, unable to withstand the Tibetan attack, took his people and fled into Tang territory to seek protection, thus ending Tuyuhun's existence as a state.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, also in 663, Liu Rengui and Liu Renyuan, in conjunction with Munmu of Silla and the former Baekje crown prince Buyeo Yung, defeated Buyeo Pung and Japanese forces sent to assist him, at the Battle of Baekgang. Buyeo Pung fled to Goguryeo, ending the Baekje resistance movement. Emperor Gaozong recalled Liu Renyuan, leading Liu Rengui in charge of former Baekje territory, but in 664 sent Liu Renyuan back to Baekje and tried to recall Liu Rengui. Liu Rengui petitioned to remain to prepare for another attack on Goguryeo, and Emperor Gaozong agreed to let him remain.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: By 664, Empress Wu, who felt that her power was well established, was extending her influence further in the political arena and increases her controlling behavior over Emperor Gaozong and arbitrarily makes many government decisions. According to Song dynasty historian Sima Guang in the "Zizhi Tongjian":


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In the same year when the eunuch Wang Fusheng () reported to Emperor Gaozong that she had engaged the sorcerer Guo Xingzhen () – an act that was strictly forbidden—Emperor Gaozong, in anger, summoned the chancellor Shangguan Yi to consult Shangguan. Shangguan suggested that he depose Empress Wu. He agreed, and had Shangguan draft an edict to that effect. However, Empress Wu had received information that that was happening, and she emerged to defend herself, when she reached the main palace, she saw the emperor holding a decree and asked seriously: "What is this?" And when Empress Wu found out, she cried, which prompted Emperor Gaozong to stop. Emperor Gaozong could not carry out the removal, and instead blamed Shangguan, and Emperor Gaozong said to Empress Wu: As both Shangguan and Wang had previously served the former crown prince Li Zhong, Empress Wu had Xu Jingzong falsely accuse Shangguan, Wang, and Li Zhong of conspiring against Emperor Gaozong's life. Around the new year 665, Shangguan and Wang were executed, and Li Zhong was forced to commit suicide.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: After the events ended, Empress Wu told Emperor Gaozong: Therefore, after this step, every day that Emperor Gaozong presided over imperial meetings, Empress Wu would sit behind a pearl screen behind him to hear the reports, and before the emperor can decide, he must ask the empress: therefore she got involved in everything pertaining to the empire and discussed and helped decide all "great and small" military and state affairs; her power is no different from that of the emperor. Since Empress Wu began to listen to politics in court, she established herself and Gaozong in the same position in front of the civil and military ministers of the Tang dynasty. In fact, if anyone with a request to make at Court obtains an audience or is allowed to speak, the emperor hears him indeed, but will give no definite answer of "Yes or No", referring him promptly to empress. frequently Emperor Gaozong was unable to go to the court because of a headache, and Empress Wu was "obliged" to go to the court alone and decide. As a result, she increasingly took control of great and small decisions made throughout Emperor Gaozong's reign. She and Emperor Gaozong were thereafter referred to as the "Two Saints." The extent of Empress Wu's authority from 665 until the end of Emperor Gaozong, all historians and historical yearbooks state:


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: The second book: according to Song dynasty historians Ouyang Xiu and Song Qi, in the New Book of Tang:


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 665, Emperor Gaozong and his powerful wife Empress Wu went to Luoyang and began preparation in earnest to make sacrifices to heaven and earth at Mount Tai – a traditional ceremony for emperors that were rarely carried out in history due to the large expenses associated with them. At Empress Wu's request—as she reasoned that the sacrifice to earth also included sacrifices to past empresses (Emperor Gaozong's mother Empress Zhangsun and grandmother Duchess Dou, posthumously honored as an empress), she believed that it would be more appropriate to have females offer the sacrifices rather than male officials, as had been tradition in the past. Emperor Gaozong decreed that the male ministers would offer sacrifices first, but Empress Wu would next offer sacrifices, followed by Princess Dowager Yan, the mother of Emperor Gaozong's younger brother Li Zhen the Prince of Yue. In winter 665, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu and headed for Mount Tai. On the lunar new year (10 February 666), he and she initiated the sacrifices to heaven, which were not completed until the next day. On 12 February, sacrifices were made to earth. He and she gave general promotions to the imperial officials, and it was said that starting from this time, promotions of imperial officials, which were strict and slow during the reigns of Emperors Gaozu and Taizong, began to become more relaxed and often excessive. He and Empress Wu also declared a general pardon, except for long-term exiles.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Japan, India, the Persian court in exile, Goguryeo, Baekje, Silla, the Turks, Khotan, the Khmer, and the Umayyad Caliphate all had representatives attending the Feng and Shan sacrifices held by Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu in 666 at Mount Tai.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In summer 666, Yeon Gaesomun died and was initially succeeded as "Dae Mangniji" by his oldest son Yeon Namsaeng. As Yeon Namsaeng subsequently carried out a tour of Goguryeo territory, however, rumors began to spread both that Yeon Namsaeng was going to kill his younger brothers Yeon Namgeon and Yeon Namsan, whom he had left in charge at Pyongyang, and that Yeon Namgeon and Yeon Namsan were planning to rebel against Yeon Namsaeng. When Yeon Namsaeng subsequently sent officials close to him back to Pyongyang to try to spy on the situation, Yeon Namgeon arrested them and declared himself "Dae Mangniji", attacking his brother. Yeon Namsaeng sent his son (later known as Cheon Heonseong/Quan Xiancheng (), as Yeon Namsaeng changed his family name from Yeon () to observe naming taboo for Emperor Gaozu, whose personal name was the same character) to Tang to seek aid. Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu saw this as the opportunity to destroy Goguryeo, and he initially commissioned Qibi Heli to aid Yeon Namsaeng, and also sent the generals Pang Tongshan () and Gao Kan () to attack Goguryeo.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, Empress Wu's sister, the Lady of Han (who had married the low-level official Helan Yueshi ()), and her daughter Lady Helan had both been frequently visiting the palace and were said to be "favored" by Emperor Gaozong. When Lady of Han died in 666, Emperor Gaozong created Lady Helan the Lady of Wei, and wanted to let her live in the palace, but hesitated because he thought Empress Wu would be jealous. When Empress Wu heard this, she was indeed jealous, and therefore she poisoned meat offered by her nephews Wu Weiliang () and Wu Huaiyun (), who had been on poor relations with her and whose grandmother were not her mother Lady Yang; she then gave the poisonous meat to Lady Helan, who ate it and died. Empress Wu then implicated Wu Weiliang and Wu Huaiyun in Lady Helan's death and executed them.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Around the new year 667, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu further commissioned Li Ji to be the overall commander of the attack on Goguryeo, assisted by Hao Chujun. In fall 667, Li Ji crossed the Liao River and captured Sinseong (新城, in modern Fushun, Liaoning). The Tang forces thereafter fought off counterattacks by Yeon Namgeon and joined forces with Yeon Namsaeng, although they were initially unable to cross the Yalu River. In spring 668, Li Ji turned his attention to Goguryeo's northern cities, capturing the important city Buyeo (扶餘, in modern Siping, Jilin). In fall 668, he crossed the Yalu and put Pyongyang under siege. Yeon Namsan and King Bojang surrendered, and while Yeon Namgeon continued to resist in the inner city, his general, the Buddhist monk Shin Seong () turned against him and surrendered the inner city to Tang forces. Yeon Namgeon tried to commit suicide, but was seized and treated. This was the end of Goguryeo, and Tang annexed Goguryeo into its territory, with Xue Rengui being put initially in charge of former Goguryeo territory as protector general. Furthermore, Emperor Gaozong was much ailing, so Empress Wu took a pacifist policy, and the Tang Empire was diverting resources towards other priorities. This situation favored Silla, because soon Silla would have to forcibly resist the imposition of Chinese rule over the entire peninsula, and there was much resistance to Tang rule (fanned by Silla, which was displeased that Tang did not give the Goguryeo territory to it), and in 669, following Emperor Gaozong's and Empress Wu order, a part of the Goguryeo people were forced to move to the region between the Yangtze River and the Huai River, as well as the regions south of the Qin Mountains and west of Chang'an, only leaving old and weak inhabitants in the original land.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 670, Wu's mother, Lady Yang, died and by Emperor Gaozong's and Empress Wu orders, all of the imperial officials and their wives attended her wake and mourned her. Later that year, with the realm suffering from a major drought, Empress Wu offered to be deposed which Emperor Gaozong rejected, so she remained his empress and continued to exercise power by "speaking to him" (like a "co-ruler") or "on his behalf" (de facto "regent"). At her request, He further posthumously honored Wu Shiyue (who had previously been posthumously honored as the Duke of Zhou) and Lady Yang by giving them the titles of the Prince and Princess of Taiyuan.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In summer 670, the Tibetan Empire captured the 18 prefectures that Tang had established over the Western Regions ("Xiyu"), and Emperor Gaozong, in response, commissioned Xue Rengui, assisted by Ashina Daozhen () and Guo Daifeng (), to attack the Qinghai Lake area, to try to open a second front against the Tibetan Empire as well as to try to restore the territory previously held by Tuyuhun. However, Guo, who felt himself to be Xue's equal as a general, was displeased at serving as an assistant, and their discord eventually led to a major defeat at the hands of the Tibetan Empire's prime minister Gar Trinring Tsendro. For the time being, the Xiyu territory was lost. By 672, Emperor Gaozong gave up the hopes of reestablishing Tuyuhun and moved Murong Nuohebo and his people deep into Tang territory.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: By 674, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu was displeased at King Munmu of Silla encouragement of Goguryeo revival movements who continued to resist Tang rule over the region and he stripped King Munmu of all Tang-bestowed titles, including the title of King of Silla, and arbitrarily conferred them on King Munmu's brother Kim Immun () instead, commissioning Liu Rengui, assisted by Li Bi (李弼, Li Ji's brother) and the ethnically Mohe general Li Jinxing (), to escort Kim Immun back to Silla territory. However, King Munmu formally apologized and offered tribute, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu drawal and recalled Kim Immun.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: The Sassanian prince Peroz III fled to China during this time around 670. The Chinese Emperor, who allowed Sassanian refugees fleeing from the Arab conquest to settle in China.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 674, one of Empress Wu claims concerned the title and power of empress; arguing that the Emperor was called Son of Heaven (天子, Tiānzǐ), his wife should logically be called Empress of Heaven (天后, Tiānhòu). As a result, she linked her co-rule with divine right. Around the new year 675, Empress Wu submitted twelve suggestions. One was that the work of Laozi (whose family name was Li and to whom the Tang imperial clan traced its ancestry), Tao Te Ching, should be added to the required reading for imperial university students. Another was that a three-year mourning period should be observed for a mother's death in all cases, not only in those cases when the father was no longer alive. Moreover, degradation and rejection of flattering officials, allowing all officials to speak to the level of chancellors, promotion of competent mid-level officials, military expenses were reduced, taxes cut, salaries of deserving officials raised, retirees given a viable pension, and vast royal lands near the capital turned over to husbandry. Emperor Gaozong praised her for her suggestions and adopted them.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 675, Li Jinxing reached Silla territory with Mohe forces that submitted to Tang. However, Tang forces were repelled by Silla army at Maeso fortress.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: The emperor over the years suffered much more severe headaches from consuming many of the dangerous substances that Empress Wu ordered. Because he could not run the empire, power in the imperial court gradually passed to Empress Wu. Meanwhile, by this time, even more Emperor Gaozong was continuously suffering from a persistent headache, and he considered making Empress Wu regent, to gain all power. Both Hao Chujun and Li Yiyan objected strenuously, and Emperor Gaozong did not make her regent, but until the end of his reign, she has decision-making power on most events in the governmental and border matters. Toward the end of Gaozong's life, Wu began engaging a number of mid-level officials who had literary talent, including Yuan Wanqing (), Liu Yizhi, Fan Lübing, Miao Chuke (苗楚客), Zhou Simao (周思茂), and Han Chubin (韓楚賓), to write a number of works on her behalf, including the Biographies of Notable Women (列女傳), Guidelines for Imperial Subjects (臣軌), and New Teachings for Official Staff Members (百僚新誡). Collectively, they became known as the "North Gate Scholars" (北門學士), because they served inside the palace, which was to the north of the imperial government buildings, and Empress Wu sought advice from them to divert the powers of the chancellors: They thus act as a secret secretariat, "to process for the empress memorials addressed to the throne, and to make decisions on the policy which were properly the functions of the chancellors". (The modern Chinese historian Bo Yang suggested that Emperor Gaozong's illnesses may be the result of long-term poisoning by Empress Wu, because of his long and debilitating illness, he often left his responsibilities to Empress Wu, or had to rely on her when himself wanted to address political issues, but did not provide evidence of how the poisoning took place.)


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Also in 675, Li Hong the Crown Prince died suddenly—with traditional historians largely attributing his death to poisoning by Empress Wu, due to her anger that he tried to curb her power grab and had shown sympathy to his two older sisters born of Consort Xiao—Princesses Yiyang and Gao'an. Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu, in grief, posthumously honored Li Hong as an emperor, and he created Empress Wu's second son, Li Xian the Prince of Yong, crown prince.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Along with the war with Silla, some resistance of Goguryeo people continued to plague Tang rule there. In 676, Xue Rengui crossed the Yellow Sea to fight against Silla. However, Silla navy expelled Tang forces on the coast of western Silla.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu order withdrawal of Tang forces from the Korean Peninsula entirely and moved the Protectorate General to Pacify the East to Liaodong (遼東, in modern Liaoyang, Liaoning) and the commandant of Xiongjin (), who governed the former Baekje territory at Sabi, to Geonan (建安, in modern Yingkou, Liaoning), allowing Silla eventually to expel Tang out of the Korean Peninsula and unified the parts of the peninsula south of the Taedong River.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 677, he bestowed on Goguryeo's former King Bojang, Go Jang, the titles of Prince of Chaoxian and commandant of Liaodong, giving him the forcibly removed Goguryeo people. He also bestowed on Buyeo Yung the title of Prince of Daifang and commandant of Xiongjin—with the intent of letting Go Jang and Buyeo Yung to rebuild Goguryeo and Baekje as loyal vassals to counteract Silla. To accommodate these movements, the Protectorate General was further moved to Xincheng. (Buyeo Yung was not able to make any headway in leading his people back to Baekje territory, while Go Jang tried to break away from Tang rule in alliance with the Mohe; when this was discovered, Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu recalled him to Chang'an and exiled him to Qiong Prefecture.)


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, Tang had to endure multiple attacks from the Tibetan Empire, and in 677, he commissioned Liu Rengui, then a chancellor, to take up defense position at Taohe Base (洮河軍, in modern Haidong Prefecture, Qinghai), to prepare a counterattack against the Tibetan Empire. However, Liu's proposals were repeatedly blocked by another chancellor, Li Jingxuan. In order to retaliate against Li Jingxuan, even though Liu knew that Li Jingxuan was not capable in military matters, he nevertheless recommended that Li Jingxuan take over for himself, and despite Li Jingxuan's attempt to decline, Emperor Gaozong commissioned Li Jingxuan to command the army against the Tibetan Empire. In fall 678, Li Jingxuan's forces engaged Tibetan forces commanded by Lun Qinling, and was soundly defeated, with Li Jingxuan's assistant Liu Shenli () captured by the Tibetan Empire. Li Jingxuan was only able to escape after being protected by the ethnically Baekje general Heichi Changzhi.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, the Western Turkic Khaganate chieftain Ashina Duzhi had claimed the title of Shixing Khan and was allied with another chieftain, Li Zhefu (), and they pillaged Anxi (i.e., Suyab). Emperor Gaozong was ready to commission an army against Ashina Duzhi and Li Zhefu, but the official Pei Xingjian (), who had previously served as secretary general at Xi Prefecture (西州, roughly modern Turfan Prefecture, Xinjiang), opposed—instead proposing that a small detachment be announced to escort the Persian prince Narsieh back to Persia to contend for regal title. Emperor Gaozong agreed and put Pei in charge of the detachment. When Pei arrived at Xi Prefecture, he, under the guise of a hunting party, summoned a number of tribal chiefs loyal to Tang in the area, and once they arrived, launched a surprise attack on Ashina Duzhi, who, caught by surprise, was forced to surrender; Li Zhefu then surrendered as well. (Narsieh, having been used in this manner, was left in the region to fend for himself.)


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, though, another trouble was flaring up for Tang. The former Göktürk territory, over which Tang had established 24 prefectures with the tribal chiefs serving as prefects, rebelled, and, under the leadership of Ashide Wenfu () and Ashide Fengzhi (), supported Ashina Nishoufu as khan. Emperor Gaozong sent Xiao Siye to attack Ashina Nishoufu, but after Xiao achieved a few victories, he became careless, and a counterattack by Ashina Nishoufu crushed him, advancing as far as Ding Prefecture. Ashina Nishoufu also encouraged the Xi and the Khitan to attack Ying Prefecture (營州, roughly modern Zhaoyang, Liaoning), although those attacks were fought off. Around the new year 680, after Pei returned from the Western Turkic Khaganate front, Emperor Gaozong commissioned him to attack the Göktürks. Pei defeated and captured Ashide Fengzhi, and Ashina Nishoufu's subordinates killed him and surrendered, ending the rebellion.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Meanwhile, Li Xian's relationship with Empress Wu was deteriorating, as Li Xian heard rumors that he was not born of Empress Wu but her sister Lady of Han, and was fearful. Meanwhile, earlier, Ming Chongyan (), a sorcerer trusted by Empress Wu and Emperor Gaozong, had repeatedly stated that he believed Li Xian did not have the abilities to be emperor, that his younger brother Li Zhe the Prince of Ying had an appearance like Emperor Taizong, and that another younger brother, Li Dan the Prince of Xiang, had the most honored appearance of all. Knowing that Li Xian was fearful of her, Empress Wu had the North Gate Scholars author teachings on filial piety to give to Li Xian, and also personally rebuked him, further causing him to be alarmed. When Ming was assassinated in 679, Empress Wu suspected Li Xian of carrying out the assassination. She had a report made to Emperor Gaozong that accused Li Xian of assassinating Ming. When the officials Xue Yuanchao, Pei Yan, and Gao Zhizhou were put in charge of investigations, they discovered a number of armors in Li Xian's palace. Empress Wu thus accused Li Xian of treason, and while Emperor Gaozong initially wanted to take no actions against Li Xian, at Empress Wu's insistence he relented. In fall 680, he with her advice reduced Li Xian to commoner rank, and created Li Zhe as the new crown prince.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 681, the Göktürk territory flared up again, as the chieftain Ashina Fu'nian claimed khan title and allied with Ashide Wenfu to attack Chinese territory. Emperor Gaozong again commissioned Pei to attack Göktürk forces. Pei's assistant Cao Huaishun () was initially defeated by Ashina Fu'nian, but after Pei sent spies to spread rumors, the rumors led to discord between Ashina Fu'nian and Ashide Wenfu. When Pei's forces approached Ashina Fu'nian's position, Ashina Fu'nian arrested Ashide Wenfu and surrendered. (Against Pei's recommendation to spare Ashina Fu'nian, Emperor Gaozong executed him.)


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: In 682, the Western Turkic Khaganate chieftain Ashina Chebo () rebelled against Tang rule, and Emperor Gaozong initially was to commission Pei again, but before the army could depart, Pei died. However, the commandant at Anxi, Wang Fangyi (王方翼, Empress Wang's cousin) was able to defeat Ashina Chebo and crush the rebellion.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Also in 682, the Göktürk chief Ashina Gudulu rose, in alliance with Ashide Yuanzhen (), to claim khan title. This, unlike the several earlier rebellions, actually saw the Göktürk khanate being permanently reestablished to Tang's north and persisting for decades, and would plague the last two years of Emperor Gaozong's reign as well as the reigns of his successors.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Late in 683, Emperor Gaozong was seriously ill, and he, who was then at Luoyang, and only the Empress Wu were allowed to see her; the chancellors were not, and she attending to his; and at his direction (of course, she was in ruling power for many years), handling the all major affairs of state, and he at her request, summoned Li Zhe, then in charge of Chang'an, to Luoyang to meeted to him, so that at the time of his death he might sit on the throne. In November his illness led him to blindness. Imperial physician Qin Minghe (秦鳴鶴), hailing from the West/Daqin (now believed to be from Syria/Eastern Roman Empire) offered a cure of acupuncture and bloodletting, which was applied (and healed the blindness) despite Empress Wu's protests. Of course, he quickly became ill again, and his condition worsened. On 27 December 683, he died. At the time of his death, Empress Wu issued orders forbidding anyone from visiting him, which is why her enemies, and especially later historians, thought that she had killed the emperor.


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Li Zhe succeeded him (as Emperor Zhongzong), but all actual power still would be in the still hands of Empress Wu, who became empress dowager; Emperor Gaozong wrote a will that the Crown Prince Li Zhe should immediately seize the throne and that Empress Wu should act as regent (, "linchao tingzheng Zhì: Came to the court to listen and rule over the government"):


title: Emperor Gaozong of Tang

text: Known in Hui Islamic legends as Yung Wei, which was in fact the name of the first era in his reign (Yonghui era from February 650 to February 656; see era name), Islamic sources credit him with building the first mosque in China, the Huaisheng Mosque that still stands in Guangzhou.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: On the morning of 7 April 2017, the United States launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from the Mediterranean Sea into Syria, aimed at Shayrat Airbase controlled by the Syrian government. The strike was executed under responsibility of U.S. President Donald Trump, as a direct response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack that occurred on 4 April.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The strike was the first unilateral military action by the United States targeting the Syrian government during the Syrian Civil War. President Trump stated shortly thereafter, "It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons."


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The Syrian Air Force launched airstrikes against the rebels from the base only hours after the American attack. It was reported that advance warning was given to Russia, an ally of the Syrian government, by the US prior to the missile strike.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: On the evening of 6 April, President Trump notified members of the U.S. Congress of his plan on the missile strike. According to a White House official, more than two dozen members of Congress were briefed at the notification. Internationally, the United States also notified several countries, including Canada, the UK, Australia, and Russia, in advance of the strike. The U.S. military stated it communicated with the Russian military to minimize any chance of Russian casualties. The strike was conducted without either U.S. congressional or United Nations Security Council approval. Commodore Tate Westbrook commanded the Navy task force in charge of the missile launch.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: It was the first time that the United States had acknowledged intentionally carrying out military action against the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The strike targeted Shayrat Airbase in the Homs Governorate, which was believed by U.S. intelligence to be the base for the aircraft that carried out a chemical weapons attack on 4 April, and was intended to destroy air defenses, aircraft, hangars and fuel. The US avoided striking a suspected sarin gas storage facility at the targeted airport. 59 Tomahawk missiles were said to have been launched from two U.S. Navy warships, and , at around 20:40 EDT (04:40 local time). Reconnaissance was provided by Python 73, a Boeing RC-135 of the 55th Wing.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: U.S. Central Command stated in a press release that Tomahawk missiles hit "aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, defense systems, and radars". Initial U.S. reports claimed "approximately 20 planes" were destroyed, and that 58 out of the 59 cruise missiles launched "severely degraded or destroyed" their intended target. According to the satellite images the runways and the taxiways have been reportedly undamaged and combat flights from the attacked airbase resumed on 7 April a few hours after the attack, although U.S. officials did not state that the runway was a target. In a later statement on 10 April 2017, the US Secretary of Defense James Mattis claimed that the strike destroyed about 20% of the Syrian government's operational aircraft and the base had lost the ability to refuel or rearm aircraft.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: An independent bomb damage assessment conducted by ImageSat International counted hits on 44 targets, with some targets being hit by more than one missile; these figures were determined using satellite images of the airbase 10 hours after the strike. Among the targets struck was a 2K12 Kub (SA6) missile battery composed of five elements.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the strike damaged over a dozen hangars, a fuel depot, and an air defense base.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Al-Masdar News reported that 15 fighter jets were damaged or destroyed and that the destruction of fuel tankers caused several explosions and a large fire.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: According to the claims of Russian defense ministry, the "combat effectiveness" of the attack was "extremely low"; they claimed that only 23 missiles hit the base destroying six aircraft, and it did not know where the other 36 landed. Russian television news, citing a Syrian source at the airfield, said that nine planes were destroyed by the strikes (5 Su-22M3s, 1 Su-22M4, and 3 Mig-23ML) and that all planes were thought to have been out of action at the time. The Israeli satellite imagery services company ImageSat International later released high resolution satellite images of the base taken within 10 hours of the attack showing that at a minimum, 44 targets had been hit, and that some had been hit multiple times.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Lost Armour's online photographic database, for vehicle losses in the War in Syria, has images of 10 destroyed aircraft at Shayrat airbase.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Seven or nine Syrian soldiers were killed, including a general; Russian military personnel were also present at the airbase at the time it was attacked. According to Syrian state news SANA, nine civilians were also killed in the attack, including four children. SANA also stated that five of the civilians were killed in the village of Shayrat, outside the base, while another four were killed in the village of Al-Hamrat, and that another seven civilians were wounded when a missile hit homes in Al-Manzul, four kilometers (two and a half miles) away from the Shayrat air base. According to Russian defense ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov, four Syrian soldiers were killed and another two were missing.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Some observers believe that the Russian government warned the Syrian government, which had enough time to move planes to another base.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Hours after the U.S. missile strike, Syrian government's warplanes took off from the Shayrat base to attack rebel positions again, including the town of Khan Shaykhun. Commentators attributed the ability of the Syrian government to continue to operate from the base to the fact that the US gave Russia, Syria's ally, an advanced warning regarding the strike, which enabled Syrians to shelter many of its aircraft from the attack.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Within a day of the attack, Russia announced it would strengthen Syria's air defenses and formally notified the Pentagon that as of 21:00 GMT (00:00 Moscow Time, 8 April 2017), Russia had suspended the U.S.–Russia Memorandum of Mutual Understanding, which had established a hotline between the countries′ militaries designed to avoid collisions between their aircraft over Syria. As a result, Belgium suspended its air operations in Syria, and the US began limiting itself to only the most essential air strikes.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: According to some local sources, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant took advantage of the attack and absence of the Syrian Air Force in eastern Homs, by launching several attacks on the Syrian Army's defenses in the western Palmyra countryside. It also attacked the checkpoints outside the village of al-Furqalas, but those attacks were repelled. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Shayrat airbase remained operational and Syrian warplanes took off from it the following day. The price of oil briefly rose over 2% following the strike.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: After both the chemical attack and missile strike, the U.S. administration was in disagreement and contradiction to U.S. policy from 2013 until 30 March 2017, as well the statements by U.S. ambassador to U.N. Nikki Haley, United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and National Security Advisor H. R. McMaster differed on the change of U.S. military posture toward Syria and prioritization of regime change.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: On 7 April 2017, an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council was held: Bolivia′s ambassador Sacha Llorenty requested a closed session to discuss the U.S. strike, but U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley, serving as the council president for April, forced the meeting to be held in public view. United Nations News Centre reported that while some delegates expressed support for the strikes as a response to the Syrian Government's alleged use of chemical weapons, others condemned it as a unilateral act of aggression, underlining that the Council must authorize any such intervention.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: On 8 April 2017, the UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson issued a statement that announced that, upon consultations with the U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, he had cancelled his trip to Moscow scheduled for 10 April. On 11 April 2017, after the meeting at Lucca in Italy the Group of Seven unanimously blamed the Syrian government's military for the chemical attack and agreed that Assad must step down as part of any peace solution, but European allies rejected the US and UK push for sanctions against Russia and Syria.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: On 19 April 2017, two US defense officials said that the Syrian government had relocated the majority of its combat planes to Khmeimim Airbase shortly after the strike.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: In September 2020, U.S. President Trump mentioned that he wanted to kill al-Assad in 2017, by saying: "I would have rather taken him out. I had him all set, Mattis didn't want to do it."


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Reactions from members of Congress were largely supportive but not uniform by political party. Paul Ryan (R–WI), the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, said the strike was "appropriate and just". House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) said, "Assad has made his disregard for innocent human life and long-standing norms against chemical weapons use crystal clear. Tonight's strikes show these evil actions carry consequences." House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) said, "Tonight's strike in Syria appears to be a proportional response to the regime's use of chemical weapons." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R–KY) said the strike was "perfectly executed and for the right purpose". Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D–NY) said, "Making sure Assad knows that when he commits such despicable atrocities he will pay a price is the right thing to do." Senator Bill Nelson (D–FL) expressed his support, and said, "I hope this teaches Assad not to use chemical weapons again." Senator Marco Rubio (R–FL) called it an "important decisive step". Quoting the President's statement, Senator Orrin Hatch (R–UT) tweeted, "'No child of God should ever suffer such horror.' Amen." In a joint statement, Senators John McCain (R–AZ) and Lindsey Graham (R–SC) said, "Unlike the previous administration, President Trump confronted a pivotal moment in Syria and took action. For that, he deserves the support of the American people." Their sentiment was shared by fellow Senators Bob Corker (R–TN), Tom Cotton (R–AR), Joni Ernst (R–IA), Cory Gardner (R–CO), David Perdue (R–GA), Ben Sasse (R–NE), and Thom Tillis (R–NC). Many members who supported the action showed lack of worry about the authority issues or did not know the legal and constitutional rationale that supported the action.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Other lawmakers criticized the President's actions, or urged caution. Representative Adam Schiff (D–CA), the Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee, was informed of the strike by Dan Coats, the Director of National Intelligence, as it was happening. He urged the administration "not to make this a military effort to change the regime". In a joint statement, Representatives and Iraq War veterans Seth Moulton (D–MA) and Steve Russell (R–OK) said, "We cannot stand by in silence as dictators murder children with chemical weapons, but military action without clear goals and objectives gets us nowhere." Senator Chris Coons (D–DE) said he was "gravely concerned that the United States is engaging further militarily in Syria without a well-thought-out, comprehensive plan". Representative Ted Lieu (D–CA) and Senator Tim Kaine (D–VA) called the strike unconstitutional, with the former tweeting, "This was done with no debate in Congress and no explanation to the American people." Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) tweeted that the strike could lead the U.S. into a new long-term quagmire, and that "such engagements are disastrous for American security, for the American economy, and for the American people". Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D–HI) gave a more critical message, and said, "This escalation is short-sighted and will lead to the death of more civilians, more refugees, the strengthening of al-Qaeda and other terrorists, and a possible nuclear war between the United States and Russia." Other lawmakers expressing criticism included Senators Michael Bennet (D–CO), Ben Cardin (D–MD), Ted Cruz (R–TX), Dick Durbin (D–IL), Ed Markey (D–MA), Jeff Merkley (D–OR), Elizabeth Warren (D–MA), and Representatives Joaquín Castro (D–TX) and Steny Hoyer (D–MD).


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: A number of Republicans with libertarian leanings also criticized the strike. Senator Mike Lee (R–UT) said, "President Trump should make his case in front of the American people and allow their elected representatives to debate the benefits and risks of further Middle East intervention to our national security interests." Senator Rand Paul (R–KY) tweeted, "While we all condemn the atrocities in Syria, the United States was not attacked." Representatives Justin Amash (R–MI) said, "Airstrikes are an act of war. Atrocities in Syria cannot justify a departure from Constitution, which vests in Congress the power to commence war", and Thomas Massie (R–KY) called it a "big mistake". Former congressman Ron Paul argued that because in Syria "things [had been] going along reasonably well for the conditions", there was "zero chance" that Assad had deliberately used chemical weapons, and called the attack a "false flag".


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Major U.S. media outlets, such as "The New York Times", "The Washington Post", MSNBC and CNN, were all generally supportive of the administration's decision to use airstrikes against Syria; Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting, a progressive watchdog group, claimed that out of the 47 most-read American newspapers which published editorials about the airstrike, 39 expressed varyingly favorable opinions of it, seven were more ambiguous in tone, and only one (the "Houston Chronicle") was explicitly negative.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: A poll conducted by "The Washington Post" and ABC News reported that a "bare majority" of Americans supported the missile strikes and a similarly narrow majority opposed any further military action against the Syrian Government. A poll conducted by "The Huffington Post" and YouGov reported that around 51% of Americans supported the decision, and slightly more than one-third opposed both the decision and any further military action, with 45% unsure regarding future action. A poll conducted by CBS News reported that a small majority (nearly 6/10) supported the attack, but the appearance of consensus ends regarding future action. A poll conducted by Politico and Morning Consult reported that 66% supported the strikes, which includes 35% who strongly support and 31% who somewhat support them.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Some right-wing populist commentators criticized Trump's reversal of policy towards war in Syria and the Middle East. Ann Coulter pointed out that Trump "campaigned on not getting involved in Mideast" and this was one of the reasons many voted for him.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: A joint command center of Russian and Iranian military in Syria, who support the Syrian government, said the strike crossed "red lines" and threatened to "respond with force" to "US aggression".


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Syrian state media condemned the strike, calling it an "act of aggression", and claiming it caused unspecified losses. The Syrian Army said that its response will be to continue to "crush terrorism" and restore "peace and security to all Syrians". The Governor of Homs, Talal Barazi, said that the strike proves that the United States is supporting terrorism within Syria. Barazi told the Syrian News Channel that "they are not surprised today to see the supporting parties interfering directly after the failure of terrorists in targeting Syria".


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The spokesperson for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called the missile strikes "unjust and arrogant aggression", and an "outrageous act", and that the attack "does not change the deep policies" of the Syrian Government. The Syrian Ambassador Bashar Jaafari at the UN Security Council session stated that "this act makes America a partner of ISIL, Al-Nusra and other terrorist groups", and it was a violation of the U.N. Charter. President Assad later told the Agence France-Presse that the chemical attack was "100% fabricated" and accused the United States of being "hand-in-glove with the terrorists" over the chemical attack. He also explained that the chemical attack was made up in order to give the United States an excuse to bomb the Shayrat airbase in retaliation.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Najib Ghadbian, a representative of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, welcomed the strikes: "They are first good steps but we would like them to be part of a bigger strategy that would put an end to the mass killing, an end to impunity and eventually we hope that they will lead to a kind of a political transition [in Syria]." The pro-Turkish Kurdish National Council welcomed the missile strikes in Syria. "All Syrian people, including the Kurds, are happy and welcoming such an air campaign by the United States", a leader in the Kurdish Unity Party, part of the KNC, stated.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Salih Muslim Muhammad, co-leader of the Democratic Union Party, stated that the attack "must yield positive results since the parties who did not believe in a political solution" will "reconsider" and "see that there is no military solution", and the US was "forced" to execute the attack. The PYD "hoped" that the US will not only attack the Syrian government, but "other parties have also used it, in Sheikh Maqsood, in Rojava, and Raqqa".


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The Russian President′s spokesperson said the U.S. strike was "an act of aggression against a sovereign country violating the norms of international law under a trumped-up pretext", which "substantially impair[ed]" Russia–United States relations. The Russian Government also alleged that the strike was an attempt to distract the world from civilian casualties in Iraq (an apparent reference to U.S. airstrike in Mosul that killed more than 200). The Russian foreign ministry denounced the strike as being based on false intelligence and against international law, suspended the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Prevention of Flight Safety Incidents that had been signed with the U.S., and called an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov compared the strike to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Russian prime minister Dimitry Medvedev said the attack had placed the U.S. on the cusp of warfare with Russia. Russia has sent the frigate "Admiral Grigorovich" to the east Mediterranean in response, and warned that the US strike could have "extremely serious" consequences.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Iran's president Hassan Rouhani condemned the U.S. military strike, saying Trump had claimed that "he wanted to fight terrorism, but today, all terrorists in Syria are celebrating the U.S. attack". According to Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif's tweet, "Not even two decades after 9/11, U.S. military fighting on same side as al-Qaida & ISIS in Yemen & Syria. Time to stop hype and cover-ups." He described U.S. concerns regarding chemical attacks as hypocritical, inasmuch as the United States had supported Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein as they massively used chemical weapons during the Iran–Iraq War.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: During Friday prayers in Tehran, worshipers protesting the strike chanted "Death to America" and "Death to Al Saud" – referring to the Saudi royal family. Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani, who led the Friday prayers, called the United States "crazy" and blasted its "crimes". Ayatollah Kashani said that the Americans "gave chemical weapons and substances to the terrorists, while creating terrorists all over the world".


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: According to an analyst writing for "HuffPost", the 2017 Deir ez-Zor missile strike by Iran suggests that the country has shifted its three decades-long policy of testing, but not using missiles, as a reaction to Donald Trump's escalation in the Middle East, including "needless increase" in America's military involvement in the Syrian proxy war.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The governments of Albania, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom generally supported the strike, some calling it a just response and strong message against the use of chemical weapons. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union have also expressed support for the attack. During the 10 April European Union summit in Madrid, the leaders of southern EU nations (Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain) said that a US missile strike on a Syrian airbase in retaliation for a suspected chemical attack was "understandable".


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, noted that the U.S. and Trump's change in policy toward Assad government was surprising, and considered an international diplomatic effort as a solution. Slovakia and Netherlands said they understood why the strike was carried out, but that it is important to de-escalate the situation as soon as possible. Finland stressed the role of the UN Security Council to work for a ceasefire and political negotiations to achieve sustainable peace. Austria also called for de-escalation of the situation and consider there can be only a political and not military solution for the conflict in Syria. The government of Cyprus believes the strike is not beyond international law if it concerns a serious violation of humanitarian law.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The Chinese, Greek, and Swedish governments offered neutral responses to the attack while the Indonesian government expressed concern over the attack. Trump told Xi Jinping, China's paramount leader and his guest at Mar-a-Lago, that he had ordered the attack; the missiles were near their targets as the Chinese leader left the resort. Xi told Trump that he understood the need of a military operation to respond when children were killed, according to Rex Tillerson. The Egyptian foreign ministry called on the United States and Russia to "contain the conflict" and reach a comprehensive and final resolution to the crisis, as did Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó who said that the civil war "cannot be resolved without an American-Russian accord" and Colombian President and 2016 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Juan Manuel Santos who called for a political solution to the conflict in Syria and dialogue between the United States and Russia to avoid escalating the already complex situation. The government of Switzerland has urged the international community to tackle the escalating Syrian crisis through diplomatic means rather than military confrontation. Taoiseach Enda Kenny of Ireland has described the strike as a "matter of grave concern"


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The governments of Belarus, Brazil, Bolivia, Russia and Venezuela criticized the strikes, with Bolivia describing the actions as a violation of international law and Iran arguing that the strike would strengthen terrorists and complicate the war. Bolivian ambassador Sacha Llorenty accused the U.S. for "imperialistic action" and related the current US Security Council situation with the one from 2003 about the Iraq War, when Colin Powell wrongly alleged that Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction. Belarus condemned the attack as "unacceptable", while Venezuela described the attack as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs Aloysio Nunes Ferreira condemned the “unilateral use of force” by the United States without authorization from the United Nations. North Korea said that the strikes were an unforgivable act of aggression and that the strikes demonstrate why the country is entitled to its nuclear weapons program.


title: 2017 Shayrat missile strike

text: The U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres appealed "for restraint to avoid any acts that could deepen the suffering of the Syrian people", and that "there is no other way to solve the conflict than through a political solution".


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Mohit Chauhan (born 11 March 1966) is an Indian playback singer, known for his work in Hindi films. He was a part of the Silk Route band. Chauhan has received two Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer and three Zee Cine Award For Best Male Playback Singer awards. He has recorded several songs for films and albums many different languages, and is one of is one of the most prominent Indipop singers.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Mohit Chauhan was born in the town of Nahan, Sirmaur district, Himachal Pradesh, on 11 March 1966. He has an elder brother and a younger sister. Because of his father's transferable job, he studied in various schools of Himachal Pradesh, including Our Lady of Snows Highschool in Kullu, and St. Luke's Senior Secondary School, Solan. Chauhan earned a Master of Science in Geology from a government college at Dharamshala affiliated to Himachal Pradesh University. He has not received any formal training in music, but he often practiced singing with his brother. He got influenced by his grandfather who was a classical singer and played harmonium. He was also influenced by legendary singer Kishore Kumar.He wanted to become an actor before his debut in the music industry.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Chauhan, Kem Trivedi, Atul Mittal and Kenny Puri formed the band Silk Route. Chauhan was the vocalist, while Kem played the keyboards, Atul Mittal was the lead guitarist and Kenny Puri played the drums. Their first album, "Boondein", was released in 1998 and featured the popular songs "Dooba Dooba" and "Pehchan". The second album was released in 2000. After Silk Route was discontinued in 2008, he released another album "Fitoor" in 2009.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Chauhan's film singing career began in 2002 when he sung "Pehli Nazar Mein Dari Thi" from the film "Road". His songs "Khoon Chala" from "Rang De Basanti" and "Tum Se Hi" from "Jab We Met" are regarded as his most notable. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer prize in 2010 for the song "Masakali".


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: In 2011, he was featured in the third episode of "The Dewarists" for his song "Maaya". He was also featured on MTV Unplugged in the same year. In 2017, he made his Gujarati language debut with the song "Jaag Re Banda" from the movie "Last Chance". His first ever Himachali songs were "Puchhe Amma" and "Deva Mere" from the film "Saanjh".


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: After the massive success of "Dooba Dooba" and "Boondein", which earned him awards and recognition, Chauhan was approached by composer Sandesh Shandilya to sing in films. Chauhan made his debut with Shandilya's composition of the song "Pehli Nazar Me Dari Thi" from the 2002 film "Road". The next year, he sang for the films "Main Madhuri Dixit Banana Chahati Hoon" and "Kyun", but didn't get any recognition.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: This was followed by "Sabse Peeche Hum Khade" for the 2004 film "Let's Enjoy", "Paintra" and "Guncha Koi" for the 2005 film "Main Meri Patni aur Woh" in which he also served as composer, and the song "Angna" and "Rowan Akhiya" for the film "Adharma".


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: A.R. Rahman, who had noticed Chauhan at the award win for Silk Route, called him to sing "Khoon Chala" for the film "Rang De Basanti". The song proved to be a breakthrough for him, and in 2007, he followed this up with his first major hit song in the Pritam-composed romantic ballad "Tum Se Hi" for the film "Jab We Met", penned by Irshad Kamil; both Pritam and writer-director Imtiaz Ali wanted Chauhan to lend his voice for this romantic track.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Chauhan followed the success of "Tum Se Hi" with the song "Kuchh Khaas Hai" in 2008, composed by Salim–Sulaiman, for "Fashion". He reunited with Pritam for "Kismat Konnection" where he performed "Kahi na Lage Man (Is This Love) " along with Shreya Ghoshal. "Ankhon Hi Ankhon Mein", a soft romantic number from "EMI", had him appear on screen for the first time in the song's music video. He also sang for his first animated film "Bolt" where he sang the Hindi version of "I Thought I Lost You".


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: 2009 was the most successful year in Chauhan's career, as of the 8 songs he recorded, 4 of them "Masakali" from "Delhi-6", "Yeh Dooriyan" from "Love Aaj Kal", "Pehli Baar Mohabbat" from "Kaminey" and "Tune Jo Na Kaha" from "New York" were huge chartbusters, establishing him as an audience favourite among the younger generation. 2010 proved to be a moderately successful follow-up to Chauhan's success from the previous year, as his songs became popular. Among his 2010 songs, the romantic number "Pee Loon" from "Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai", picturized on Emraan Hashmi, was a rage.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Chauhan had his biggest rise to national prominence in 2011 as he attracted mainstream attention for his contribution to the soundtrack of "Rockstar", which reunited him with Ali and Rahman after almost half-a-decade; the 9 songs he recorded for the film as the voice of the protagonist Jordan played by Ranbir Kapoor were all massive chartbusters at the time of release, and continue to be treated as cult songs till date. Among other successful songs he recorded that year, "Abhi Kuch Dino Se" from "Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji" and "Khwabon Ke Parinday" from "Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara", "Acha Lagta Hai" from "Aarakshan" were highly popular.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: In 2020, Chauhan sang "Dheere Dheere Se" for the film Guns of Banaras, composed by Sohail Sen and written by Sameer. He sang "Yeh Dooriyaa" which is composed by Pritam from the film Love Aaj Kal (2020). This song is new version of "Yeh Dooriyaan" chartbuster from the film Love Aaj Kal (2009). Both the version are written by Irshad Kamil There is a remix version too which is released by Sony Music India. He sang "Meethi Meethi Gallan", "Kisi Gair Ka Nahi", and "Salaam". Salaam is a tribute to corona warriors by Chauhan. He also features in a video of " Hum Haar Nahi Maanenge" composed by AR Rahman.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: In 2019 Chauhan performed at Kargil Vijay Diwas, he sung "Khoon Chala" his song from Rang De Basanti, as a tribute to the brave Indian Soldiers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi & Defence Minister Rajnath Singh were present. The event held at Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium in New Delhi.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Mohit is an active participant in the not-for-profit public limited companies National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), which encourages young people to follow beneficial vocational training initiatives.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Chauhan regularly fed 60-70 stray dogs in Delhi at the time of Lockdown in India due to COVID-19 pandemic. "Before the Lockdown, there were people who would feed the strays. But now, they’ve stopped. The stray dogs in Delhi don’t hunt and depend on humans to feed them. So, I’ve been going around giving them food and water", says Chauhan.


title: Mohit Chauhan

text: Chauhan has received two Filmfare Awards, one IIFA Award, three Zee Cine Awards, and one Screen Award. He was listed in the Forbes Celebrity 100 of 2012.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to separate the church from public and political life.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Some have opposed clergy on the basis of moral corruption, institutional issues and/or disagreements in religious interpretation, such as during the Protestant Reformation. Anti-clericalism became extremely violent during the French Revolution because revolutionaries claimed the church played a pivotal role in the systems of oppression which led to it. Many clerics were killed, and French revolutionary governments tried to put priests under the control of the state by making them employees.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Anti-clericalism appeared in Catholic Europe throughout the 19th century, in various forms, and later in Canada, Cuba, and Latin America.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: According to the Pew Research Center several post-communist states are current practitioners of political anti-clericalism, including Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, China and North Korea.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed on July 12, 1790, requiring all clerics to swear allegiance to the French government and, by extension, to the increasingly anti-clerical National Constituent Assembly. All but seven of the 160 bishops refused the oath, as did about half of the parish priests. Persecution of the clergy and of the faithful was the first trigger of the rebellion; the second being conscription. Nonjuring priests were exiled or imprisoned and women on their way to Mass were beaten in the streets.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The anti-clericalism during the French Revolution initially began with attacks on church corruption and the wealth of the higher clergy, an action with which even many Christians could identify, since the Roman Catholic church held a dominant role in pre-revolutionary France. During a two-year period known as the Reign of Terror, the episodes of anti-clericalism grew more violent than Europe would see until the rise of State Atheism in communist Eastern Europe. The new revolutionary authorities suppressed the church; abolished the Catholic monarchy; nationalized church property; exiled 30,000 priests and killed hundreds more. Many churches were converted into "temples of reason", in which services were held. There has been much scholarly debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated. As part of the campaign to dechristianize France, in October 1793 the Christian calendar was replaced with one reckoning from the date of the Revolution, and Festivals of Liberty, Reason and the Supreme Being were scheduled. New forms of moral religion emerged, including the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and France's first established state sponsored atheistic Cult of Reason, with all churches not devoted to these being closed. In April and May 1794, the government mandated the observance of a festival of the Cult of the Supreme Being. When anti-clericalism became a clear goal of French revolutionaries, counter-revolutionaries seeking to restore tradition and the Ancien Régime took up arms, particularly in the War in the Vendée (1793 to 1796). Local people often resisted dechristianization and forced members of the clergy who had resigned to conduct Mass again. Eventually, Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety denounced the dechristianization campaign and tried to establish their own religion, without the superstitions of Catholicism.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: When Pope Pius VI took sides against the revolution in the First Coalition (1792–1797), Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Italy (1796). French troops imprisoned the Pope in 1797, and he died after six weeks of captivity.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: After a change of heart, Napoleon then re-established the Catholic Church in France with the signing of the Concordat of 1801, and banned the Cult of the Supreme Being.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Many anti-clerical policies continued. When Napoleonic armies entered a territory, monasteries were often sacked and church property secularized.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: A further phase of anti-clericalism occurred in the context of the French Third Republic and its dissensions with the Catholic Church. Prior to the 1905 French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State, the Catholic Church enjoyed preferential treatment from the French state (formally along with the Jewish, Lutheran and Calvinist minority religions, but in practice with much more influence than those). During the 19th century, public schools employed primarily priests as teachers, and religion was taught in schools (teachers were also obliged to lead the class to Mass). In 1881–1882 Jules Ferry's government passed the Jules Ferry laws, establishing free education (1881) and mandatory and lay education (1882), giving the basis of French public education. The Third Republic (1871–1940) firmly established itself after the 16 May 1877 crisis triggered by the Catholic Legitimists who wished for a return to the "Ancien Régime".


title: Anti-clericalism

text: During the 1880s, several anti-clerical international gatherings took place in Paris, leading to the establishment of the Fédération nationale de la libre pensée, a strongly anti-clerical society regrouping socialists, anarchists and liberals engaged for the separation of State and Churches.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In 1880 and 1882 Benedictine teaching monks were effectively exiled. This was not completed until 1901.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: A law of 7 July 1904 preventing religious congregations from teaching any longer, and the 1905 law on separation of state and church, were enacted under the government of Radical-Socialist Émile Combes. Alsace-Lorraine was not subjected to these laws as it was part of the German Empire then.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In the "Affaire des Fiches" (1904-1905), it was discovered that the anti-clerical War Minister of the Combes government, General Louis André, was determining promotions based on the French Masonic Grand Orient's card index on public officials, detailing which were Catholic and who attended Mass, with a view to preventing their promotions.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In the years following their relocations, boarding schools of congregants were accused by some senators of trying to "recruit" French youth from abroad, placing the French Republic "in jeopardy":


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Republicans' anti-clericalism softened after the First World War as the Catholic right-wing began to accept the Republic and secularism, which aimed to prevent socialist parties. However, the theme of subsidized private schools in France, which are overwhelmingly Catholic but whose teachers draw pay from the state, remains a sensitive issue in French politics and the "Fédération Nationale de la Libre-Pensée", now commonly associated with the anti-clerical far-left, maintains its strongly anti-clerical stance.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Emperor Joseph II (emperor 1765–1790) opposed what he called "contemplative" religious institutions – reclusive Catholic institutions that he perceived as doing nothing positive for the community. His policy towards them are included in what is called Josephinism.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Joseph decreed that Austrian bishops could not communicate directly with the Curia. More than 500 of 1,188 monasteries in Austro-Slav lands (and a hundred more in Hungary) were dissolved, and 60 million florins taken by the state. This wealth was used to create 1,700 new parishes and welfare institutions.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The education of priests was taken from the Church as well. Joseph established six state-run "General Seminaries". In 1783, a Marriage Patent treated marriage as a civil contract rather than a religious institution.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Catholic Historians have claimed that there was an alliance between Joseph and anti-clerical Freemasons.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The "Kulturkampf" (literally "culture struggle") refers to German policies in reducing the role and power of the Catholic Church in Prussia, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Prime Minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Bismarck accelerated the "Kulturkampf", which did not extend to the other German states such as Bavaria (where Catholics were in a majority). As one scholar put it, "the attack on the church included a series of Prussian, discriminatory laws that made Catholics feel understandably persecuted within a predominantly Protestant nation." Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans and other orders were expelled in the culmination of twenty years of anti-Jesuit and antimonastic hysteria.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In 1871, the Catholic Church comprised 36.5% of the population of the German Empire, including millions of Germans in the west and South, as well as the vast majority of Poles. In this newly founded Empire, Bismarck sought to appeal to liberals and Protestants (62% of the population) by reducing the political and social influence of the Catholic Church.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Priests and bishops who resisted the "Kulturkampf" were arrested or removed from their positions. By the height of anti-Catholic measures, half of the Prussian bishops were in prison or in exile, a quarter of the parishes had no priest, half the monks and nuns had left Prussia, a third of the monasteries and convents were closed, 1800 parish priests were imprisoned or exiled, and thousands of laypeople were imprisoned for helping the priests.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The Kulturkampf backfired, as it energized the Catholics to become a political force in the Centre party and revitalized Polish resistance. The "Kulturkampf" ended about 1880 with a new pope Leo XIII willing to negotiate with Bismarck. Bismarck broke with the Liberals over religion and over their opposition to tariffs; He won Centre party support on most of his conservative policy positions, especially his attacks against Socialism.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Anti-clericalism in Italy is connected with reaction against the absolutism of the Papal States, overthrown in 1870. For a long time, the pope required Catholics not to participate in the public life of the Kingdom of Italy that had invaded the Papal States to complete the unification of Italy, prompting the pope to declare himself a "prisoner" in the Vatican. Some politicians that had played important roles in this process, such as Giuseppe Garibaldi and Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour, were known to be hostile to the temporal and political power of the Church. Throughout the history of Liberal Italy, relations between the Italian government and the Church remained acrimonious, and anti-clericals maintained a prominent position in the ideological and political debates of the era. Tensions eased between church and state in the 1890s and early 1900s as a result of both sides' mutual hostility toward the burgeoning Socialist movement. Initially also anticlerical, fascist Benito Mussolini tempered such rhetoric to win support from Catholics and later as dictator, official hostility between the Holy See and the Italian state was finally settled by Pope Pius XI and him: the Lateran Accords were finalised in 1929.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: After World War II, anti-clericalism was embodied by the Italian Communist (PCI) and Italian Socialist (PSI) parties, in opposition to the Vatican-backed party Christian Democracy (DC). Since the PSI joined DC-led coalition governments, the DC under Aldo Moro turned centre-left. In 1978, with support of the PSI, the DC-led coalition government legalized abortion despite strong opposition from the Catholic Church and DC conservative factions.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The revision of the Lateran treaties during the 1980s by the PSI Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, removed the status of "official religion" of the Catholic Church, but still granted a series of provisions in favour of the Church, such as the eight per thousand law, the teaching of religion in schools, and other privileges.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Since the 1990s, the Catholic Church has took a more aggressive stance in Italian politics, in particular through Cardinal Camillo Ruini, who often made his voice heard commenting the political debate and indicating the official line of the Church on various matters. This interventionism increased with the papacy of Benedict XVI, culminating in the 2008 Italian political crisis caused due to Catholic politicians withdrawing their support from the government. Anti-clericalism, however, is not the official stance of most parties (with the exception of the Italian Radicals, who, however identify as laicist), as most party leaders consider it an electoral disadvantage to openly contradict the Church: since the demise of the DC as a single party, practicing Catholic votes are often swinging between the right and the left wing, and are considered to be decisive to win an election. In recent years, the rise of Populist and Anti-establishment politics, combined with a decline in the number of practicing Catholics has contributed to loosening of the Church's grip over Italian politics.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Your Movement is an anti-clerical party founded in 2011 by politician Janusz Palikot. Palikot's Movement won 10% of the national vote at the 2011 Polish parliamentary election.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The fall of the Monarchy in the Republican revolution of 1910 led to another wave of anti-clerical activity. Most church property was put under State control, and the church was not allowed to inherit property. The revolution and the republic allegedly took a "hostile" approach to the issue of church and state separation, like that of the French Revolution, the Spanish Constitution of 1931 and the Mexican Constitution of 1917. As part of the anti-clerical revolution, the bishops were driven from their dioceses, the property of clerics was seized by the state, wearing of the cassock was banned, all minor seminaries were closed and all but five major seminaries. A law of February 22, 1918, permitted only two seminaries in the country, but they had not been given their property back. Religious orders were expelled from the country, including 31 orders comprising members in 164 houses (in 1917 some orders were permitted to form again). Religious education was prohibited in both primary and secondary school. Religious oaths and church taxes were also abolished.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The first instance of anti-clerical violence due to political conflict in 19th-century Spain occurred during the Trienio Liberal (Spanish Civil War of 1820–1823). During riots in Catalonia, 20 clergymen were killed by members of the liberal movement in retaliation for the Church's siding with absolutist supporters of Ferdinand VII.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In 1836 following the First Carlist War, the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal () promulgated by Juan Álvarez Mendizábal, prime minister of the new regime abolished the major Spanish Convents and Monasteries.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Many years later the Radical Republican Party leader Alejandro Lerroux would distinguish himself by his inflammatory pieces of opinion.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The Republican government which came to power in Spain in 1931 was based on secular principles. In the first years some laws were passed secularising education, prohibiting religious education in the schools, and expelling the Jesuits from the country. On Pentecost 1932, Pope Pius XI protested against these measures and demanded restitution. He asked the Catholics of Spain to fight with all legal means against the injustices. June 3, 1933, he issued the encyclical Dilectissima Nobis, in which he described the expropriation of all Church buildings, episcopal residences, parish houses, seminaries and monasteries.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: By law, they were now property of the Spanish State, to which the Church had to pay rent and taxes in order to continuously use these properties. "Thus the Catholic Church is compelled to pay taxes on what was violently taken from her" Religious vestments, liturgical instruments, statues, pictures, vases, gems and other valuable objects were expropriated as well.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: During the Civil War in Spain started in 1936, Catholics largely supported Franco and the Nationalist forces in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939. Anti-clerical assaults during what has been termed by the Nationalists Red Terror included sacking and burning monasteries and churches and killing 6,832 members of the clergy.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Prior to the Falangists joining Francisco Franco's unified alliance of right-wing parties, the party exhibited anti-clerical tendencies. The party was less fervent in its support for the Catholic Church, which it saw as an elite being an obstacle for the movement to be able to fully control the state. Despite this, no massacres of Catholics have been caused by Falangists, who supported the Church as a result of their alliance to monarchists and other nationalist movements.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: There are accounts of Catholic faithful being forced to swallow rosary beads, thrown down mine shafts and priests being forced to dig their own graves before being buried alive. The Catholic Church has canonized several martyrs of the Spanish Civil War and beatified hundreds more.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Philippine anti-clericalism is rooted in the anti-clericalism of 19th-century Spain. José Rizal, a member of the "ilustrado" class during the Spanish colonial period and one of the most prominent of the Philippines' national heroes held anti-clerical views until his eventual recantation before his day of execution. The Katipunan, the secret society that spearheaded the Philippine Revolution after Rizal's execution, was also noted for its anti-clericalism. After Philippine independence was recognized by the United States, the inclusion of Rizal's novels "Noli me tangere" and "El filibusterismo" in the country's formal-education curricula was strongly opposed by the domestic Catholic Church hierarchy.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Rodrigo Duterte, the country's current president, has adopted a combative verbal stance toward the Church hierarchy and its staunchest supporters. In 2015, he blamed and cursed Pope Francis for the traffic congestion in the national capital; he later apologized and clarified that it was the government's fault and not the pope's. In 2019, he predicted the Church's temporal demise in 25 years. Duterte, however, has underscored that his animosity toward the Church was purely personal and warned the otherwise uninvolved public against taking unethical action against the clergy.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In French Canada following the Conquest, much like in Ireland or Poland under foreign rule, the Catholic Church was the sole national institution not under the direct control of the British colonial government. It was also a major marker of social difference from the incoming Anglo-Protestant settlers. French Canadian identity was almost entirely centred around Catholicism, and to a much lesser extent the French language. However, there was a small anti-clerical movement in French Canada in the early nineteenth drawing inspiration from American and French liberal revolutions. This group was one current (but by no means the dominant) one in the Parti canadien and its associated Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837. In the more democratic politics that followed the rebellions, the more radical and anti-clerical tendency eventually formed the Parti rouge in 1848.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: At the same time in English Canada, a related phenomenon occurred where the primarily Nonconformist (mostly Presbyterian and Methodist) Reform movement conflicted with an Anglican establishment. In Upper Canada, The Reform Movement began as protest against the "establishment" of the Anglican church.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The vastly different religious backgrounds of the Reformers and rouges was one of the factors which prevented them from working together well during the era of two-party coalition government in Canada (1840–1867). By 1861, however, the two groups fused to create a united Liberal block. After 1867, this party added like-minded reformers from the Maritime provinces, but struggled to win power, especially in still strongly-Catholic Quebec.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Once Wilfrid Laurier became party leader, however, the party dropped its anti-clerical stance and went on to dominate Canadian politics throughout most of the 20th century. Since that time, Liberal prime ministers have been overwhelmingly Catholic (St. Laurent, both Pierre and Justin Trudeau, Chrétien, Martin), but since the 1960s Liberals have again had a strained relationship with the Catholic church, and have increasingly parted with the Catholic church's teachings on sexual morality, as when Pierre Trudeau legalized homosexuality and streamlined divorce (as justice minister under Pearson), and Martin legalized same-sex marriage.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: In Quebec itself, the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s broke the hold of the church on provincial politics. The Quebec Liberal Party embraced formerly taboo social democratic ideas, and the state intervened in fields once dominated by the church, especially health and education, which were taken over by the provincial government. Quebec is now considered Canada's most secular province.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Although anti-clericalism is more often spoken of regarding the history or current politics of Latin countries where the Catholic Church was established and where the clergy had privileges, Philip Jenkins notes in his 2003 book "The New Anti-Catholicism" that the U.S., despite the lack of Catholic establishments, has always had anti-clericals.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Of the population of Latin America, about 71% acknowledge allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church. Consequently, about 43% of the world's Catholics inhabit the 'Latin' countries of South, Central and North America.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: The slowness to embrace religious freedom in Latin America is related to its colonial heritage and to its post-colonial history. The Aztec, Maya and Inca cultures made substantial use of religious leaders to ideologically support governing authority and power. This pre-existing role of religion as ideological adjunct to the state in pre-Columbian culture made it relatively easy for the Spanish conquistadors to replace native religious structures with those of a Catholicism that was closely linked to the Spanish throne.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Anti-clericalism was a common feature of 19th-century liberalism in Latin America. This anti-clericalism was often purportedly based on the idea that the clergy (especially the prelates who ran the administrative offices of the Church) were hindering social progress in areas such as public education and economic development.


title: Anti-clericalism

text: Beginning in the 1820s, a succession of liberal regimes came to power in Latin America. Some members of these liberal regimes sought to imitate the Spain of the 1830s (and revolutionary France of a half-century earlier) in expropriating the wealth of the Catholic Church, and in imitating the 18th-century benevolent despots in restricting or prohibiting the religious orders. As a result, a number of these liberal regimes expropriated Church property and tried to bring education, marriage and burial under secular authority. The confiscation of Church properties and changes in the scope of religious liberties (in general, increasing the rights of non-Catholics and non-observant Catholics, while licensing or prohibiting the orders) generally accompanied secularist and governmental reforms.