page_title: Military history of the Three Kingdoms
section_title: Major warlords
hierarchical_section_title: Military history of the Three Kingdoms / Major warlords
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of China during the Three Kingdoms period without dynasty names or borders.
context_page_description: The military history of the Three Kingdoms period encompasses roughly a century's worth of prolonged warfare and disorder. After the assassination of General-in-chief He Jin in September 189, the administrative structures of the Han government became increasingly irrelevant. By the time of death of Cao Cao, the most successful warlord of North China, in 220, the Han empire was divided between the three rival states of Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu. Due to the ensuing turmoil, the competing powers of the Three Kingdoms era found no shortage of willing recruits for their armies, although press-ganging as well as forcible enlistment of prisoners from defeated armies still occurred. Following four centuries of rule under the Han dynasty, the Three Kingdoms brought about a new era of conflict in China that shifted institutions in favor of a more permanent and selective system of military recruitment. This ultimately included the creation of a hereditary military class as well as increasing reliance on non-Chinese cavalry forces and the end of universal conscription.
caption: Place names of the Three Kingdoms
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