Battle of Fei River
Due to fierce competition among the states and internal political instability, the kingdoms of this era were mostly short-lived. For seven years from 376 to 383, the Former Qin briefly unified northern China, but its collapse following the Battle of Fei River in 383 led to even greater political fragmentation with as many as seven states vying for supremacy and survival in northern China at the same time. The collapse of the Western Jin dynasty and the rise of barbarian regimes in China during the Sixteen Kingdoms resembles the decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire amidst invasions by the Huns and Germanic tribes in Europe, which also occurred in the 4th to 5th centuries.