page_title: Turks in the Tang military
section_title: Historical significance
hierarchical_section_title: Turks in the Tang military / Historical significance
caption_attribution_description: Tang Dynasty circa 700 AD. Derived from Territories_of_Dynasties_in_China.gif and East-Hem 700ad.jpg.
context_page_description: The military of the Tang Dynasty was staffed with a large population of Turkic soldiers, referred to as Tujue in Chinese sources. Tang elites in northern China were familiar with Turkic culture, a factor that contributed to the Tang acceptance of Turkic recruits. The Tang emperor Taizong adopted the title of "Heavenly Kaghan" and promoted a cosmopolitan empire. Taizong regularly recruited and promoted military officers of Turkic ancestry, whose steppe experience contributed to the western and northern expansion of the Tang empire. The Turkic general Ashina She'er participated in the Tang capture of the Karakhoja, Karasahr, and Kucha kingdoms in Xinjiang. The half-Turkic general An Lushan started a revolt that led to the decline of Tang Dynasty.
  The Orkhon inscriptions by the Gokturks were critical of the Turks that had served the Tang Dynasty, and condemned them for helping the Chinese emperor expand his burgeoning empire. The Turkic soldiers stationed by the Chinese in the Tang garrisons of Central Asia settled in the region, spreading Turkic languages in an area that had been predominantly Indo-European.
context_section_description: The Turkic soldiers and generals that worked in the Chinese garrisons of Central Asia spurred Turkic migration into the area. The Turkic language and culture of the Tang soldiers there gradually displaced the indigenous Indo-European languages. The native languages of Sogdian and Tokharian disappeared as the Turkic languages spread in the Tarim Basin.
  The Tang Dynasty declined after the An Shi Rebellion, and the dynasty eventually fell in 907. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, an era of upheaval following the dynasty's collapse, many of the kingdoms in China were ruled by families of Turkic ancestry. The Shatuo Turks founded the Later Tang in 923, the Later Jin in 936, and the Later Han in 947. Eventually, the Song Dynasty after uniting all the states once again.
caption: Tang Dynasty circa 700 AD.
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