When did the Xiongnu exist?

By the time of the Three Kingdoms period the Xiongnu had already ceased to be a major power. Their last stand as a steppe empire was in 89 when Dou Xian led an army of 45,000 and decisively defeated them at the Battle of the Altai Mountains. The Xiongnu Empire was replaced by a loose confederation of disorganized Xianbei tribes, who were nonetheless highly aggressive and proved problematic to their southern neighbors. A southern branch of the Xiongnu split off from their northern neighbors in 50 AD and continued to exist as a Han puppet state in Bing Province. However, in 188 the Xiuchuge clan rebelled against their Chanyu, Qiangqu, for sending troops to aid the Han against the rebels Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun. They replaced Qiangqu with his son Yufuluo, who's hold on power was tenuous, and he was ousted over a marquis of the Xubu clan. When the marquis of Xubu died the next year an elderly king became the nominal head of state without the title of Chanyu and the Southern Xiongnu ceased to exist as a coherent entity. In 216 the Xiongnu of the Ordos were settled but the region remained outside the jurisdiction of Cao Wei's administration.

Military history of the Three Kingdoms

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 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.

As the Han dynasty fell into disarray after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, its system of conscription and checks on military leadership broke down, giving local leaders the autonomy to recruit their own personal armies. At the heart of each army was a group of trusted Companions (親近 "qinjin") consisting of family members, close friends and clansmen hired by whatever means was available to their lord. Cao Cao's earliest commanders who formed the nucleus of his army were all clansmen (Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Cao Chun). There was no need for conscription as the conflicts of the late Han dynasty created willing recruits who sought protection under a strong army. This type of soldier, characterized by a lack of loyalty to state or nation, primarily concerned with survival, made up the majority of the army outside of the leader's close following. Due to the lack of loyalty among common troops, acts of heroism and courage were particularly emphasized among commanders who were expected to lead from the front. A typical example of this type of commander would be Dian Wei, a former local bully noted for his great strength, appetite, and his choice of weaponry, two halberds of immense weight, who served under Cao Cao. In 195, he personally led a group of volunteers clad in double armour (兩鎧 "liang kai") against Lü Bu's forces while his liege made his escape. He was promoted to colonel of the bodyguard unit known as the Tiger Warriors and later met his death against Zhang Xiu in 197. While echoes of Han organization continued through the formal titles of military structure, in effect the wars of the Three Kingdoms were fought between armies of bands led by individuals selected by dint of violence and charisma.

The military training programs for the general populace in the inner provinces were mostly discontinued after 30 AD to reduce the risk of rebellion. The professional standing armies of the Northern Army and army garrisons on the northern frontier, amounted to approximately 15,000 men. The total number of professional soldiers in standing armies in the Eastern Han, including all the smaller groups, amounted to approximately 20,000 soldiers. The men in the inner provinces of the empire could be called to serve during emergencies or serve in local militias to fight against bandits, but these men received no formal training or regular exercise. On the other hand, men of the frontier provinces were liable for conscription and military service as before. This had a negative impact on the performance of the Han army, as noted by Ying Shao, who remarked that "sending [such] men into battle without training is just throwing them away". The majority of soldiers recruited during the early stages of the Three Kingdoms period were thus "neither disciplined nor well trained in the use of arms". Formations and drill still existed, but these were the exceptions rather than the norm, and there is no evidence of troops engaging in a regular training system or large scale exercises. Most commanders favored simple rather than complex formations and maneuvers. An example of a formation that did exist is Zhuge Liang's Eight Formation Plan, which included different configurations named after Heaven, Earth, Wind, and Clouds. It's not clear what these designations mean, but the Eight Formation Plan was traditionally a square formation composed of nine divisions in three sections. The lack of training severely constrained the kind of orders a commander could give for his troops to follow. As a consequence of the limited tactical flexibility at their disposal, the majority of battles were carried out in one of two ways: a head on charge by elite shock troops followed by the loosely organized army of incoherent and disparately trained and equipped soldiers, or ambush and surprise the enemy before they could even respond and cause them to route.

The training that the privileged elite received was far greater in extent compared to that of the common soldier. For example, Cao Cao's son, Cao Pi, started his military education in early childhood. He began training in archery at the age of five, started learning how to ride a horse at the age of six, and could both ride and shoot a target at a hundred paces by the time he was eight. Horse archery was also practiced in Shu Han, which fielded a "Flying Army" of mounted archers.

In contrast to the military hierarchy of the Han dynasty, leadership of a unit in the Three Kingdoms was functionally hereditary as long as the successor was loyal to his liege and proved militarily competent. When the commander died, a male member of his family inherited control of his troops, and when a soldier died one of his male relatives inherited his position in the unit. By the end of the Three Kingdoms, the term "buqu" (部曲) had come to designate the institution of hereditary military leadership. Both "bu" and "qu", meaning battalions and companies, were originally units of military organization during the Han. Under Cao Cao, a more systematic form of hereditary soldiery was implemented through "military families" (士家 "shijia") which later became "hereditary troops" (世兵 "shibing"). As their name implies, able male members born into military families served for life, and when they could no longer serve because of illness or death, their sons or close family members replaced them. Their families lived at the capital and other major centers where they could be used by the government as hostages to ensure the loyalty of their soldiers. They were also forbidden from marrying into non-military families in order to prevent their offspring from exiting the system, thus creating a closed community of military households. Although commoners could still be called up in times of urgent need, the rise of government mandated military communities under Cao Wei and the demobilization of local levies under the Jin dynasty, had by and large, replaced the universal conscription of the Han.

Tuntian, often rendered as "[military] agricultural colonies," were self-sustaining farming communities created for the purpose of providing food for the military. Generally consisting of displaced peoples, refugees, and bandits, tenants of a tuntian were expected to protect themselves in times of emergencies and in return were exempt from corvée labour. Unlike the tuntian system of the Han dynasty, which was generally hands off, the tuntian policy of the Three Kingdoms era was to directly provide them with supplies and material assistance. The policy of tuntian was implemented primarily by Cao Cao, Tao Qian, and Gongsun Zan.

Armies of the Three Kingdoms era used largely the same equipment as the Han dynasty since it directly follows the end of the Han. There were however some minor differences and developments such as the increasing prevalence of armoured cavalry. In one battle, the warlord Cao Cao boasted that with only ten sets of horse armour he had faced an enemy with three hundred sets. The horse armour may however have just been partial frontal barding. Mounting stirrups were already in use, possibly as early as the Han dynasty, but full riding stirrups would not appear until the 4th century. References to "dark armour" ("xuan kai" or "xuan jia" 玄鎧/玄甲) also began to appear in the 3rd century. This is probably in reference to the association of high quality steel with black ferrous material.

Weapons were largely the same as well, although there was more focus on idiosyncratic weapons wielded by particularly noteworthy individuals. For example, one man named Chen An apparently wielded a great sword over two meters in length and Sun Quan's wife had over a hundred female attendants armed with daos. Trends in warfare that had already been underway during the Eastern Han continued to gain momentum. By the end of the Three Kingdoms, the single edged dao, with its thicker and more durable dull side, had overtaken the straight double-edged jian as the primary close combat weapon. The more expensive, lighter, and less durable jian entered the domain of court dancers, officials, and expert warriors. While halberds were still used during the period, long spears and lances rose in prominence over halberds for infantry and cavalry forces. This was believed to have been the result of the long spear and lances' simpler construction, the adoption of long spears and lances by heavy cavalry to strike infantrymen, and the adoption of tighter infantry formations with less room for swinging and hooking [of halberds] in response to the greater threat by cavalry. Soldiers in the northeast specialized in long spears. After the Han dynasty, the crossbow gradually faded in importance until it made a mild resurgence during the Tang dynasty, under which the ideal expeditionary army of 20,000 included 2,200 archers and 2,000 crossbowmen.

References to "great shields" occur in their usage on the front line to protect spearmen and crossbowmen. Shields were also commonly paired with the single edged dao and used among cavalrymen. Descriptions of the Battle of Guandu mention that Cao Cao's soldiers employed shield cover above their heads each time they moved out into the open due to oppressive arrow fire from Yuan Shao's wooden towers.

Although Zhuge Liang is often credited with the invention of the repeating crossbow, this is actually due to a mistranslation confusing it with the multiple bolt crossbow. The source actually says Zhuge invented a multiple bolt crossbow that could shoot ten iron bolts simultaneously, each 20 cm long.

Ma Jun, a military engineer serving under Cao Wei, devised a siege weapon which threw large stones using a wheel. This device consisted of a drum wheel attached with a curved knife. When rotated, the stones which hung on the wheel would be cut loose by the knife and launched. It's not clear how well this device worked in practice. Successful tests with roof tiles instead of stones are mentioned, but according to Liang Jieming, this contraption never made it past the testing phase and could not have been possible with the technology available at the time.

The historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms attributes a number of fictional weapons, often with special names, to certain individuals. Examples include Liu Bei's "Paired Jian", Guan Yu's "Green Dragon Cresent Blade", Zhang Fei's "Eighteen chi Serpent Lance", Zhao Yun's "Qinggang Jian", Cao Cao's "Sword of Heaven", Sun Jian's "Guding Dao", Cheng Pu's "Ironspine Serpent Lance", and Lü Bu's "Fangtianhua Ji", otherwise known as the "Sky Piercer" or "Sky Piercing Halberd". While these are completely fictional, the Records of the Three Kingdoms do mention weapons unique to individuals on at least two occasions: Dian Wei's double halberd which weighed 20 kg and Gongsun Zan's two-bladed spear.

The Records of the Three Kingdoms and Annotations to Records of the Three Kingdoms contain two instances of single combat between generals. In 192, after Dong Zhuo had been murdered, Li Jue and Guo Si formed an army to oust Wang Yun and Lü Bu from Chang'an. When Guo Si approached the city from the north, Lü Bu opened the gate and offered to settle the matter by single combat. Guo Si agreed and engaged with Lü Bu, who pierced Guo Si with his lance. Guo Si's men came forth, saving their general, and both sides withdrew. Another instance of individual combat occurred between Taishi Ci, then serving under Liu Yao, and Sun Ce. Taishi Ci was on a mission accompanied by only a single horseman when he met Sun Ce, who had 13 other men with him. Taishi Ci charged at Sun Ce and the two sides clashed in single combat. Sun Ce pierced Taishi's horse and managed to grab hold of his halberd while Taishi removed Sun's helmet. When their respective reinforcements showed up, they disengaged and the duel came to an end.

Combat between generals and officers during battle is also mentioned by the Records. In 197 Yan Xing, an officer of Han Sui, engaged with Ma Chao and nearly killed him when his spear broke and pierced Ma Chao's neck. In 200 Yan Liang, a general of Yuan Shao, was slain by Guan Yu, then serving under Cao Cao, during the Battle of Boma. In 214 Zhang Liao charged Sun Quan's army with only 800 men and reportedly killed ten soldiers and two officers. He then broke through the enemy ramparts and challenged Sun Quan to a duel, to which he declined.

Cao Wei was founded by Cao Pi in 220 and was usurped by Sima Yan's Jin dynasty in 266.
Cao Cao was the son of Cao Song, who was originally a Xiahou but took the name of Cao as the foster child of the eunuch Cao Teng. During his childhood Cao Cao studied the "Art of War" and was fond of hawking and hunting with dogs. He was also considered a troublemaker and local thug in his town. Xu Shao foretold that Cao Cao would be "a good servant in time of peace, a dangerous chieftain in time of trouble".

In the 170s Cao Cao became a chief of police in Luoyang and made a name for himself as a strict enforcer of the law. He was eventually implicated and dismissed from his post in 178.

Cao Cao took part in suppressing the Yellow Turban rebellion in 184 as a Commandant of Cavalry. He was then appointed Chancellor of Ji'nan Commandery, where he set about removing officials under the influence of the imperial family. Cao Cao became afraid of the enemies he had made at court so he left his post.

In 188 Cao Cao became a colonel of the Western Garden. When Dong Zhuo seized power in 189, Cao Cao fled to Chenliu Commandery, where he sold his family estates and raised troops to join Yuan Shao and the Campaign against Dong Zhuo. Irritated by Yuan Shao's lack of action, Cao Cao advanced into He'nan Commandery only to suffer defeat at the Battle of Xingyang.

Cao Cao raised more troops in Yang Province. In 191 he became Administrator of Dong Commandery for defeating the bandit chieftain Bo Rao. When Liu Dai, the Inspector of Yan Province, died in 192 while dealing with the Yellow Turbans from Qing Province, Cao Cao succeeded him. By the end of the year Cao Cao had negotiated the surrender of the rebels, who augmented his army with 30,000 additional soldiers, known collectively as the Qingzhou Troops (青州兵).

In 193 Cao Cao drove away Yuan Shu to the south. At this time however, his father Cao Song was killed by the troops of Tao Qian, the Governor of Xu Province. Cao Cao invaded Xu Province in retaliation, but in 194 his former friend Zhang Miao raised the flag of rebellion in Yan Province. With the aid of Lü Bu, the rebels dealt several defeats to Cao Cao, taking most of the province. Eventually the tide turned on them and Cao Cao regained his territories. Zhang Miao's family was destroyed while Lü Bu fled to Xu Province.

In 196 Cao Cao took control of the imperial court and moved it to Xu city. In 197 Cao Cao came into conflict with Zhang Xiu and Yuan Shu. However he retreated due to news of a potential raid by Yuan Shao. In 198 Liu Bei took refuge with Cao Cao and requested his aid against Lü Bu. Cao Cao laid siege to Lü Bu in Xiapi Commandery and killed him that winter, taking control of Xu Province. Liu Bei rebelled and was driven away. Yuan Shao crossed the Yellow River with a large army in the spring of 200 but was too slow to mobilize. In the winter Cao Cao led a raiding party behind enemy lines and destroyed their supply train at the Battle of Guandu, causing Yuan Shao's army to disintegrate. Meanwhile, Liu Bei had been making trouble in Ru'nan Commandery with the bandit Gong Du. With Yuan Shao no longer posing a threat, Cao Cao returned to deal with Liu Bei, driving him away to take refuge with Liu Biao.

In the summer of 202, Yuan Shao died, leaving his territory to his sons. They fought among themselves and fell prey to Cao Cao's advances. By 205 he had ousted Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang from their southern territories. Over the next two years he brought Ji Province and southern Bing Province under his control. In the summer of 207 Cao Cao made a roundabout trip north and defeated the Wuhuan at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain. They fled to Gongsun Kang in Liaodong Commandery, but he beheaded them and delivered their heads to Cao Cao.

As Cao Cao prepared to campaign south in 208, Liu Biao died. His son Liu Zong surrendered while Liu Bei fled further south. Cao Cao followed and defeated Liu Bei at the Battle of Changban. Seizing the naval base at Jiangling, Cao Cao moved his new river fleet downstream. His confrontation with Liu Bei and the Sun Quan's general Zhou Yu culminated in defeat and the destruction of his fleet at the Battle of Red Cliffs. Failing to cross the Changjiang, Cao Cao retreated north.

In 211 Cao Cao moved west against Zhang Lu and in doing so also drew the ire of Ma Chao and Han Sui. They were outmaneuvered and defeated at the Battle of Tong Pass. In 212 Cao Cao left Xiahou Yuan behind to continue the northwestern campaign while he returned east to attack Sun Quan across the Huai River. The invasion forced reached the banks of the Changjiang but failed to break the enemy defenses. Cao Cao returned to Ye City in 213.

In 215 Cao Cao eliminated Zhang Lu and occupied Hanzhong Commandery. Cao Cao attacked Sun Quan again in 214 and 217 but never made it past the Changjiang. In the spring of 219, his general Xiahou Yuan was killed at the Battle of Mount Dingjun and Cao Cao lost his position in Hanzhong Commandery. Liu Bei's general Guan Yu also defeated Yu Jin's fores in Nanyang Commandery and laid siege to Cao Ren in Fancheng. However he was unable to take the city and was himself killed when Sun Quan's general Lü Meng took advantage of the situation and attacked him from behind. Cao Cao died soon afterward on 15 March, 220. He was succeeded by his son Cao Pi.

Although primarily known as a military leader, Cao Cao also compiled a commentary on the "Art of War" and was a renowned poet and player of the game of weiqi. His two most famous poems, "Though the Tortoise Lives Long" and "Short Song Style" were written during and right before the battles of White Wolf Mountain and Red Cliff.

On 11 December, 220, Cao Pi deposed the last Han emperor and proclaimed himself Emperor of Cao Wei. During his reign Cao Pi alienated his brothers Cao Zhang and Cao Zhi. Cao Pi deeply distrusted his close kin and reduced their powers out of suspicion of their loyalty. Cao Pi died in 226 and was succeeded by his son Cao Rui. Although Cao Rui was twenty years old, he was nonetheless appointed a regency council by his father prior to his death. By 236, three members of the regency council had died, leaving Sima Yi as the primary leader of Cao Wei. Shu Han continued to press the Wei borders and in 233, Zhuge Liang occupied Wudu Commandery. He was checked there by Sima Yi and died the following year. In 238 Sima Yi annexed the Gongsun state in the northwest. This was followed by a campaign into Goguryeo in 244 and 245. Cao Rui died in 239 and was succeeded by his adopted son Cao Fang, who fell under the regency of Cao Shuang and Sima Yi.

In 249 Sima Yi killed Cao Shuang and seized power in Wei. He died two years later and was succeeded by his son Sima Shi. Cao Fang tried to retake power for himself in 254 but failed and was replaced by his cousin, Cao Mao. Sima Shi died in 255 and was succeeded by his brother Sima Zhao. In 260 Cao Mao, like his brother, attempted to seize control of the state, but failed and died in the process. In 264 Sima Zhao conquered Shu Han, eliminating one of the Three Kingdoms. He died the following year and was succeeded by his son Sima Yan. On 8 February 266, Sima Yan deposed the last emperor of Wei, Cao Huan, and proclaimed himself Emperor of the Jin dynasty.

Sima Yan went on to annex the southern state of Sun Wu in 280, putting an end to the period of the Three Kingdoms.

Shu Han was founded by Liu Bei in 221 and was conquered by Cao Wei in 263.

Liu Bei was a very distant descendant of Emperor Jing of Han. His father Liu Hong died when he was still very young and his mother made a living by selling straw sandals. In 175 Liu Bei was sent to study at the Taixue of Luoyang, where he became friends with Gongsun Zan. Liu Bei had very little interest in books but had a knack for fighting and inspired many young men to join him. With the support of two merchants, Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang, Liu Bei was able to create a sizable following including his long time friends Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184 Liu Bei led his troops against them under various commanders. He did well in both campaigns but was only rewarded with a very low position in the imperial service. He abandoned his post when an officer tried to reduce his position and joined Guanqiu Yi on an expedition against rebels in Danyang Commandery. For his service in that expedition he was rewarded with the post of assistant magistrate in a county in Pingyuan Commandery. When the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition formed, Liu Bei raised troops in their service, but soon afterwards left to join his friend Gongsun Zan in the north.

Liu Bei assisted Gongsun Zan against his rival Yuan Shao in 191 and was given the post of magistrate in Pingyuan Commandery. His post didn't last long as Yuan Shao dealt a devastating blow to Gongsun Zan in 192 and Liu Bei was forced to move east to Qi Commandery. When Tao Qian of Xu Province offered him 4,000 troops and a post in Pei Commandery, Liu Bei accepted. Tao Qian died in 194 and Liu Bei succeeded him as Governor of Xu Province. In 196 Yuan Shu invaded from the south while Liu Bei had lost Xiapi Commandery due to Zhang Fei killing its Chancellor. Lü Bu, who was at the time taking refuge in the province, attacked Liu Bei and forced him to surrender. Having defeated Liu Bei and taken Xu Province, Lü Bu drove away Yuan Shu's army. While defeated, Liu Bei still retained Pei Commandery. When Yuan Shu attacked Liu Bei again, Lü Bu prevented their advance out of fear that Yuan Shu would become too powerful. Liu Bei continued to recruit troops until 198 when he intercepted a trade convoy from Lü Bu. Lü Bu's officers Gao Shun and Zhang Liao retaliated, taking Pei Commandery and forcing Liu Bei to flee to Cao Cao. Cao Cao sent an army under Xiahou Dun to assist Liu Bei against Lü Bu. In the autumn their army was defeated by Gao Shun. When Cao Cao joined them in the winter, they successfully laid siege to Lü Bu in Xiapi Commandery and killed him the following year.

In 199 Liu Bei was sent to intercept Yuan Shu from making contact with Yuan Shao. When Liu Bei reached Xu Province, he rebelled, killing the Inspector Che Zhou. Cao Cao's initial attempt to suppress him ended in failure but the second one in 200 succeeded. Liu Bei abandoned his family and Guan Yu, who were captured, and fled to Yuan Shao in Qing Province. He was sent to Ru'nan Commandery to assist the bandit Gong Du but suffered defeat at the hands of Cao Cao's officer Cai Yang. Yuan Shao's army was defeated in 200 at the Battle of Guandu and Liu Bei was forced to take refuge with Liu Biao in Jing Province.

Stationed on the northern frontier of Jing Province, in 202 Liu Bei achieved victory against Xiahou Dun and Yu Jin at the Battle of Bowang. After that Cao Cao became preoccupied with the north while Liu Bei was recalled to court. During his stay with Liu Biao, Liu Bei recruited Zhuge Liang, who would later become the leading military figure of Shu Han. In the autumn of 208 Liu Biao died and Cao Cao moved to invade. Liu Biao's son Liu Zong chose to surrender. Liu Bei led his followers south to the Changjiang where they were heavily defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of Changban in Nan Commandery. While Cao Cao occupied the naval base at Jiangling, Liu Bei retreated west and Zhou Yu, general of Sun Quan to the east, came upriver with a sizable army. Having augmented his main army with Jing Province's fleet, Cao Cao continued his advance in the winter against Zhou Yu and Liu Bei's forces arrayed on the east bank of the Changjiang. Despite his superior numbers, Cao Cao was defeated at the Battle of Red Cliffs and his fleet was destroyed by a deployment of fire ships by Sun Quan's officer, Huang Gai. In the winter of 209 Zhou Yu captured Jiangling and ended any hope Cao Cao had of crossing the Changjiang.

After Liu Qi died in 208, Liu Bei became the Governor of Jing Province. Zhou Yu died in 210 and his successor Lu Su convinced Sun Quan to lend Liu Bei Nan Commandery. In 211 Liu Zhang invited Liu Bei to Yi Province as an ally. In 212 Liu Bei betrayed Liu Zhang and attacked him, waging a two-year war that ended in Liu Zhang's surrender and Liu Bei's conquest of Yi Province. In 215 Sun Quan demanded the return of Nan Commandery as well as the rest of Jing Province. When Liu Bei denied him, Sun Quan sent an invasion force commanded by Lü Meng and Lu Su. A settlement was reached, dividing Jing Province along the Xiang River. In 217 Liu Bei invaded Hanzhong Commandery, which was then under the control of Cao Cao, and solidified his gains in 219 by achieving a decisive victory over the Cao army and killing Xiahou Yuan.

In the autumn of 219, Liu Bei proclaimed himself King of Hanzhong at a coronation ceremony in Mianyang, and established a court in Chengdu. Liu Bei's general, Guan Yu, besieged Fan city, in modern Xiangfan, but Cao Cao's cousin Cao Ren held out. In the winter an offensive by Lü Meng into Nan Commandery ruined Guan Yu's position and he himself was killed. Sun Quan seized all of Jing Province.

On 15 May 221, Liu Bei proclaimed himself emperor. He then attacked Sun Quan through the Three Gorges and into the middle Changjiang. The following year Lu Xun destroyed Liu Bei's line of camps and forced him to retreat with heavy losses. Liu Bei died in the summer of 223 and was succeeded by his son Liu Shan, but the government was effectively under the control of Zhuge Liang.

Liu Shan was only 17 years old when his father died and lacked the ability to lead so Zhuge Liang became de facto head of state. In 224 and 225 Zhuge Liang embarked on a Southern Campaign which brought at least nominal submission from chieftains in the south of Yi Province. In the north Zhuge Liang made several attempts to break through the Qinling range, managing to occupy Wudu Commandery in 233. However he was checked there by Sima Yi and died the following year. Unlike the Sun and Cao regimes, Shu Han never managed to create anything more than an ad hoc warlord regime, probably because its leaders were not native to the region. In 264 Shu Han was conquered by Sima Zhao, the de facto ruler of Cao Wei, who's son Sima Yan would go on to depose the Cao sovereign on 8 February 266, and proclaim himself emperor of the Jin dynasty.

Sun Wu, also known as Eastern Wu, was founded by Sun Quan in 229 and was conquered by the Jin dynasty in 280.
Sun Jian was born in 155 AD to an undistinguished merchant family based in the county of Fuchun, Wu Commandery, Yang province. Although his family was of no great importance, they were purportedly descendants of the military strategist Sun Zi, who is traditionally credited with the authorship of "The Art of War". Whether the claimed ancestry is true or not, Sun Jian's family played little role in the affairs of the Han dynasty, and next to nothing is known about Sun Jian's obscure lineage.

As a youth, Sun Jian was described as unusual in appearance, kind, intelligent, but fond of odd behavior. At the young age of 16 he was appointed a junior civil officer in the county administration. Sun Jian first made a name for himself at the age of 17 when he went on a trip with his father to Qiantang. During the trip they heard of a band of pirates led by Hu Yu robbing nearby travelers. Sun Jian wanted to attack them while his father wanted nothing to do with the pirates. Even so, Sun Jian set out to confront the pirates. He climbed onto a hill overlooking their camp and waved his sword as if directing soldiers to attack. The pirates thought Sun Jian was part of a government force so they fled. Sun Jian chased after them and took one head as proof of his success. Thereafter, he was promoted to Commandant.

In 172, Sun Jian was appointed Major of troops in Wu Commandery to put down a rebellion by Xu Chang in Kuaiji Commandery. Sun Jian's success against the rebels drew the attention of Zang Min, who was in overall command of local forces. With Zang Min's recommendation, Sun Jian became Assistant in the county of Yandu, Guangling Commandery. For the next ten years he remained an official in Xu Province, where he gained a sizable following, and was well liked by those around him:

When the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out in 184, Sun Jian was called up by Zhu Jun in Kuaiji Commandery, and appointed Associate Major. None could stand against him. Sun Jian constantly led at the forefront of his troops, being the first to scale the walls of Wancheng, dealing the last great blow to the Yellow Turbans. After the Yellow Turbans' defeat, Sun Jian was transferred over to the west to deal with the Liang Province rebellion. During his time there, he came to butt heads with Dong Zhuo, who felt that Sun Jian was a good commander but lacked quality troops.

In 186, Sun Jian returned to the capital and in 187 was promoted to Grand Administrator of Changsha Commandery. As Grand Administrator, Sun Jian destroyed the local rebels Ou Xing, Zhou Chao, and Guo Shi, even aiding neighboring commanderies, much to the consternation of his clerical officers:

For his service in defeating the rebels, Sun Jian was enfeoffed as Marquis of Wucheng, the highest noble rank attainable for a man outside of the imperial family.

When Dong Zhuo seized power at Luoyang in 189, Sun Jian joined Yuan Shu and the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition. When Sun Jian passed by Jing Province, he killed its Inspector Wang Rui as well as the Administrator of Nanyang Commandery, Zhang Zhi, and took over their troops. Sun Jian took the lead in the allied offensive but was defeated by Xu Rong in 191. After recovering from his losses, Sun Jian defeated Hu Zhen and captured the capital of Luoyang. Defending the devastated city however was unfeasible, so he retreated with the Imperial Seal in tow, and passed it down to Yuan Shu. While Sun Jian was attacking Luoyang, the alliance had already broken up, and Yuan Shao's general Zhou Yu (Renming) attacked his base camp. When Sun Jian returned he drove back Zhou Yu's army. Yuan Shu then sent him against Liu Biao in Jing Province, where Sun Jian died at the age of 37 in a skirmish near Xiangyang.

Sun Ce, son of Sun Jian, was 16 years old when his father died. When Yuan Shu was driven to Jiujiang Commandery in 193, Sun Ce was given commission and sent south with some of his father's former troops. Sun Ce was defeated by Zu Lang and returned north the following year. He was granted another thousand troops and sent to take Lujiang Commandery from Lu Kang. Although successful in his endeavor, he was not promoted as was promised by Yuan Shao. In 195 he was sent against Liu Yao in Yang Province. Sun Ce quickly took over the region and pushed Liu Yao to Yuzhang Commandery. By 197 when Yuan Shao declared himself emperor, Sun Ce had become the dominant power in Yang Province, so he rejected his former allegiance and allied himself to Cao Cao. In 198 Sun Ce invaded Lujiang Commandery and defeated Liu Xun and Huang Zu. In 200 the Administrator of Yuzhang Commandery surrendered. At this point Yan Baihu and Xu Gong rebelled, so Sun Ce returned east, killing Xu Gong. Before he could deal with Yan Baihu however, Sun Ce was ambushed and killed by Xu Gong's retainers. He was 26 at the time of death.

Sun Quan succeeded his elder brother and spent the next two years studying. In 203 Sun Quan attacked and destroyed Huang Zu's fleet. In 204 he dealt with a rebellion in Danyang Commandery which killed his brother Sun Yi. In 205 his officer He Qi began expanding into modern Fujian and by 208 a full commandery had been created in the area. The attack on Huang Zu renewed in 207 and Sun Quan's forces successfully defeated and killed him in 208 at the Battle of Jiangxia.

Liu Biao died that year and his son Liu Zong surrendered to Cao Cao. As Liu Bei and Liu Qi fled south, Cao Cao requested Sun Quan's support, but Sun Quan decided to resist the northern encroachment instead and sent his generals Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu to support Liu Bei's cohort. Despite Cao Cao's overwhelming numerical superiority, his forces failed to cross the Changjiang and were defeated at the Battle of Red Cliff by an attack of fire ships from Sun Quan's officer Huang Gai. Cao Ren managed to hold onto Jiangling for another year before retreating north.

Liu Qi died soon afterwards and Jing Province was split between Liu Bei and Sun Quan. While Sun Quan's forces were preparing to launch an invasion of Yi Province ruled by Liu Zhang, his general Zhou Yu fell ill and died in 209. Zhou Yu's successor Lu Su convinced Sun Quan to let Liu Bei "borrow" Nan Commandery in order to stabilize the situation on the western frontier. Meanwhile, Sun Quan established his capital at Jianye, in modern Nanjing. Sun Quan's attempts to capture territory north of the Changjiang ended in failure both in 208 and in 215. However, when he demanded the return of Nan Commandery from Liu Bei in 215, and was denied, Sun Quan moved west and occupied the commanderies of Jiangxia, Changsha, and Guiyang.

In 217 Cao Cao made a major attack on the south. Despite failing to achieve any real gains, Cao Cao stationed a substantial army in the area, threatening Sun Quan's territory. in 219 Sun Quan's general Lü Meng attacked Guan Yu's position in Jing Province. Guan Yu was caught off guard and killed while the whole province fell under Sun Quan's control. Liu Bei retaliated in 221 but failed to make any headway and the invasion was defeated by Sun Quan's general Lu Xun. In 226 his officer moved south and annexed Jiaozhou. In 229, Sun Quan declared himself emperor of Sun Wu, creating the last of the Three Kingdoms.

For the next 20 years, Sun Quan conducted several military campaigns in the north as well as an expedition to Taiwan in 230, but nothing ever came of these ventures. Noted for his longevity, Sun Quan was nevertheless unsuccessful as a military commander in comparison to his peers Liu Bei and Cao Cao. He died in 252 and was succeeded by his son Sun Liang.

After the death of Sun Quan, the dynasty became paralyzed by infighting. Sun Liang assassinated his guardian Zhuge Ke under the influence of a distant relative Sun Jun. When Sun Jun died in 256, he was succeeded by his cousin Sun Lin. In 258 Sun Liang sought to rid himself of his overseers but failed and was dethroned. He was replaced by Sun Xiu, sixth son of Sun Quan, then 22 years old. Sun Xiu staged a coup against Sun Lin and seized power for himself. Sun Xiu died in 264 and was succeeded by Sun Hao. However, by this time he could do little to stop the might of the Jin dynasty, which had just recently conquered Shu Han. Sun Wu would itself be conquered in 280.

On 25 September, 189, Dong Zhuo took possession of the emperor Liu Bian and his brother Liu Xie, and established his regime in Luoyang. On 28 September he forced Liu Bian to abdicate in favor of his brother Liu Xie. Then he killed Liu Bian a few days later. In the spring of 190 the governors in the east formed a coalition and led a Campaign against Dong Zhuo. Pressured by the enemy alliance, Dong Zhuo moved the court west to Chang'an in the summer after plundering Luoyang. In the spring of 191 Luoyang was captured by Yuan Shu's general Sun Jian. On 22 May, 192, Dong Zhuo was killed by Wang Yun and Lü Bu, who were soon overthrown by Dong Zhuo's former officers, Li Jue, Guo Si and Fan Chou.

In 194 there was a brief war with Ma Teng and Han Sui who were defeated by Guo Si and Fan Chou. In 195 Li Jue killed Fan Chou and took over his troops. Guo Si turned on Li Jue and infighting between them went on for months until a ceasefire was called. In the confusion of the conflict, the emperor was able to escape Chang'an and fled east with the help of several supporters. The emperor reached Luoyang in 196 and then taken to Yingchuan Commandery by Cao Cao. In 197 Guo Si was killed by his officer Wu Xi. In 198 a local warlord Duan Wei killed Li Jue.

Gongsun Du was born in Xiangping (Liaoyang, Liaoning). In his early years, Du's father fled to Xuantu Commandery, where Du became an office runner. Du attracted the support of the governor Gongsun Yu, whose daughter he eventually married. He rose up the ranks of officialdom in Ji Province until he became regional inspector.

Gongsun Du was appointed Administrator of Liaodong Commandery by Dong Zhuo in 189 on the recommendation of Xu Rong. As a result of his lowly origins, Du harbored an intense hatred for the elite landowning class. Once he became administrator, Du carried out his vendetta against the wealthy by publicly flogging to death the Magistrate of Xiangping and extirpating the gentry. Du dominated the northeast and expanded into the territory of Goguryeo and the Wuhuan. When Cao Cao attempted to bestow titles upon Du, he rejected them and proclaimed himself king. Du died in 204 and was succeeded by his son, Gongsun Kang. In 204 Kang expanded into Goguryeo and created Daifang Commandery. When the Wuhuan were defeated by Cao Cao in 207, Yuan Shang, Yuan Xi, and the Wuhuan leaders Louban and Supuyan fled to Kang. Kang killed them and sent their heads to Cao Cao. Kang died in 220 when his children were too young to rule, so his brother Gongsun Gong succeeded him. Gong maintained his independence, albeit while accepting titles issued by Cao Pi. Gong became ill and was replaced by his nephew Gongsun Yuan in 228. Yuan ruled independently until Sima Yi invaded in 238 and annexed his territory.

Gongsun Zan was a general in charge of Ji county in Guangyang Commandery under Liu Yu, who was Grand Marshal. In 191 Gongsun Zan defeated a group of Yellow Turbans moving north from the Shandong Peninsula. His cousin Gongsun Yue died in the hands of Yuan Shao while on a mission to Yuan Shu, making the two enemies. He then seized a part of Ji Province but was badly defeated the next year. Recouping his losses, Gongsun Zan defeated an invasion by Cui Juye and sent Tian Kai to invade Qing Province, which was also defeated. In 193 a truce was arranged, but Yuan Shao's ally Liu Yu attacked Gongsun Zan anyways, and was defeated and killed. In 195 insurgents led by Xianyu Fu and Yan Rou removed Gongsun Zan from power with the assistance of Yuan Shao's troops. Gongsun Zan retreated to Yi city where he secluded himself with his harem. He managed to repulse one attack by Qu Yi before Yuan Shao brought his main army in 198 and laid siege to the city. Gongsun Zan killed himself and his family.

Han Fu was appointed Governor of Ji Province in 189. While he nominally participated in the Campaign against Dong Zhuo, he stayed at the city of Ye. After the coalition broke up, he became hostile to Yuan Shao in 191 and denied him supplies. Using his family connections, Yuan Shao intimidated Han Fu into handing over his position to him. After doing so, Han Fu's family was constantly harassed until they fled to Zhang Miao. He eventually killed himself.

Kong Rong became Chancellor of Beihai Commandery in 190. In 193 he was attacked by the bandit leader Guan Hai and sent his subordinate Taishi Ci to seek aid from Liu Bei. Liu Bei sent a relief force and scattered the bandit army. In 196 Yuan Shao's son Yuan Tan captured Beihai Commandery and Kong Rong was forced to flee to Cao Cao, who made him Court Architect. In 208 Kong Rong was killed for ridiculing Cao Cao in a self-righteous manner.

Liu Biao became Inspector of Jing Province in 190, but Yuan Shu was already in control of Nanyang Commandery, so he went further south and set up in Xiangyang. He was attacked by Sun Jian in 191, but Sun Jian died almost immediately after in a skirmish. In the late 190s a rebellion by Zhang Xiu disrupted Liu Biao's territory until Zhang Xiu died in 200. He gave refuge to Liu Bei, who urged him to attack Cao Cao in 207, but Liu Biao declined. In 208 Liu Biao was invaded by Cao Cao in the north and Sun Quan in the south. Liu Biao died that autumn and his son Liu Zong surrendered to Cao Cao.

Liu Yan was appointed to Yi Province in 188. He set his headquarters at Mianzhu in Guanghan Commandery. Soon after he raised troops in the name of Dong Zhuo and appointed the sect leaders Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu as officers. They were sent to attack Su Gu, the Administrator of Hanzhong Commandery, who defied Liu Yan. After Su Gu was defeated, Zhang Lu took Hanzhong Commandery for himself and eliminated Zhang Xiu. Liu Yan recruited troops from migrants and refugees from Central China, creating a unit known as the Dongzhou Troops (東州兵 "dongzhoubing"). The Administrator of Jianwei Commandery, Ren Qi and loyalist Jia Long attacked Liu Yan in 191, but they were defeated and killed. After moving his capital to Luo city, also in Guanghan, Liu Yan formed an alliance with Ma Teng in 194 and attacked Li Jue's regime in Chang'an. The campaign ended in failure and Liu Yan's sons Fan and Dan died in the attempt. Liu Yan died the same year after having moved his capital to Chengdu in Shu Commandery, where his son Liu Zhang succeeded him.

Liu Zhang put down an insurrection caused by an agent of the Chang'an regime, Hu Mao. In 200 Zhang Lu openly defied Liu Zhang, who in retaliation killed Zhang Lu's mother, who had been staying at his court as hostage. Zhang Lu invaded Liu Zhang's territory, occupying northern Ba Commandery. A follower of Liu Zhang also rebelled at this time due to grievances with the Dongzhou Troops, but he was defeated and killed. After Cao Cao's defeat at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208, Liu Zhang formed an alliance with Liu Bei. When Cao Cao's general Zhong Yao was sent against Zhang Lu in 211, Liu Zhang invited Liu Bei to Guanghan hoping that someone from the same imperial clan would help him. Liu Bei spent the next year complaining about the lack of supplies, then turned on Liu Zhang, killed his officers, and waged war on him. By 214 Liu Bei's forces had advanced to Chengdu, where a siege lasting several weeks occurred before Liu Zhang surrendered. Liu Zhang was exiled to Jing Province where he eventually entered the court of Sun Quan when his general Lü Meng defeated Guan Yu in 219.

In the 190s Liu Yao established himself in Danyang Commandery while his officer Zhu Hao held Yuzhang Commandery. In 195 Sun Ce defeated Liu Yao's forces and forced him to flee to Yuzhang Commandery, where Zhai Rong had previously seized power. He eliminated Zhai Rong but otherwise played no role in external affairs until 198 when he died. His family entered the court of Sun Ce and were treated well.

Liu Yu was sent to You Province in 188 and arrived in 189. As Governor, he persuaded the Wuhuan chieftain Qiuliju to surrender and murdered the rebel Zhang Chun. Yuan Shao suggested that he be made regent instead of Dong Zhou or even take the throne for himself, but Liu Yu declined. Under Liu Yu's governorship, You Province prospered as a result of policies encouraging silk production, market trading, and production of salt an diron. The province prosperity and low grain prices attracted many southern refugees. In 191 Liu Yu allied with Yuan Shao, and Gongsun Zan with Yuan Shu. In 193 Liu Yu attempted to oust Gongsun Zan, who had built a fortified camp within the walls of his capital in Guangyang Commandery, but failed. Gongsun Zan counterattacked, driving him from the city. Liu Yu was captured a few days later and executed.

Lü Bu killed his patron Ding Yuan at the bequest of Dong Zhuo and became his bodyguard. In 190 Lü Bu was sent to plunder the tombs of Luoyang. His behavior was unruly and disruptive to his unit, causing his commander Hu Zhen to suffer defeat at the hands of Sun Jian. Lü Bu was also defeated and driven from Luoyang. Conflict between Dong Zhuo and Lü Bu soon came to a head and in 192 Lü Bu conspired with Wang Yun to kill Dong Zhuo. After ambushing and killing Dong Zhuo, Wang Yun's government was toppled by Li Jue in less than a month and Lü Bu was forced to flee to Yuan Shu but was turned away because of the unruly behavior of his men. Next Lü Bu visited Zhang Yang and then left when Li Jue offered a price for his head. In 193 he participated in Yuan Shao's campaign against the Black Mountain bandits. Once again the brutality of his men caused upset and Yuan Shao sent Lü Bu back to Luoyang while ordering the escort to kill Lü Bu. Lü Bu managed to avoid assassination and fled. In 194 Lü Bu joined Zhang Chao and Zhang Miao's rebellion against Cao Cao in Yan Province. While initially successful, the rebel forces failed to take Puyang in Dong Commandery, and the tide turned against them. By the summer of 195 Lü Bu was forced to flee again, this time to Liu Bei in Xu Province. In 196 Yuan Shu attacked Liu Bei. Lü Bu switched sides, capturing Liu Bei's assets in Xiapi Commandery, and taking his surrender. After defeating Liu Bei, Lü Bu turned on Yuan Shu and drove back his army. The defeated Liu Bei later fled to Cao Cao, who in 198 sent Xiahou Dun to assist Liu Bei against Lü Bu. Lü Bu was unable to coordinate his commanders, who acted separately, and was driven back to Xiapi Commandery where his officers eventually betrayed him, opening the gates for the opposing army. When Lü Bu tried to persuade Cao Cao to accept him as a subordinate, Liu Bei argued against it. Lü Bu was strangled to death.

Lu Kang became Administrator of Lujiang Commandery in 188. He was attacked by Sun Ce in 193 and surrendered after a two-year siege, in 195.

Ma Ai was the Administrator of Dunhuang Commandery until he died in 220. Zhang Gong succeeded him and willingly assisted Cao Wei in re-establishing control over the northwest.

Shi Xie and his brothers Yi, Wei, and Wu took control of Jiaozhou in 190. He ruled from his capital Long Biên (Luy Lâu) in modern Hanoi and brought prosperity to the region, taking in many refugees from the north.

In 192, the southernmost district of Rinan Commandery, Xianglin, broke away and became the Kingdom of Lâm Ấp, otherwise known as Champa. Aside from this incident, Shi Xie's realm was relatively secluded from the state of endemic warfare and turmoil to the north. He provided support to the general Zhang Jin, situated in Cangwu and Yulin commanderies, in his conflicts with Liu Biao from 196 to 205, but stopped after the general's death. Shi Xie played no further role in the military affairs of the warlord states.

When Shi Wu died in 200, their family lost control of the Pearl River region, but Shi Xie contented himself with ruling the eastern portion of Jiaozhi Commandery. Shi Xie was well disposed towards the northern warlords and acquiesced to Sun Quan's chosen Inspector of Jiaozhi, Bu Zhi, who visited Nanhai Commandery in 211. Shi Xie then sent his son Xin to Sun Quan as hostage in 217. Reduced to only Jiaozhi Commandery, Shi Xie died in 226 at the age of 90. His sons tried to maintain independence, but their property was confiscated, and they were slaughtered by Sun Quan's officer Lü Dai a few years later. Shi Xie is primarily remembered today in Vietnam as Sĩ Nhiếp, the father of education and Buddhism, which he patronized greatly during his reign.

After Shi Xie's death, the southern frontier continued to be viewed as an area of barbarians in the Han imagination. When Xue Zong visited in the south in 231, he described the place in the following manner:

Tao Qian became Inspector of Xu Province in after 185. He dealt with the Yellow Turbans and restored order to the region, making the province prosperous and a refuge for displaced peoples. In 191 Tao Qian sent 3,000 men to support Zhu Jun against Dong Zhuo. In 193 he entered a loose alliance with Yuan Shu and Gongsun Zan, but that winter Tao Qian's soldiers killed Cao Song, Cao Cao's father. In retaliation Cao Cao brought the full force of his army down on him, ravaging Pengcheng and Xiapi commanderies. Tao Qian fled to Donghai Commandery in 194 and received the aid of Tian Kai and Liu Bei, but died from illness soon afterwards.

Yuan Shao urged He Jin to destroy the eunuchs in 189. When He Jin was killed, Yuan Shao led a massacre of the eunuchs. After Dong Zhuo came to power, Yuan Shao fled east and formed a coalition army to embark on a Campaign against Dong Zhuo. Based in Suanzao in Chenliu Commandery, the coalition army met with little success throughout 190, so in 191 Yuan Shao took over Ji Province from Han Fu. When the coalition dissolved, Yuan Shao sent men against Yuan Shu's officer Sun Jian in Yingchuan Commandery. Gongsun Zan attacked Yuan Shao but was defeated at Jie Bridge between Julu and Qinghe commanderies. Yuan Shao set his capital at the city of Ye (Hebei) in Wei Commandery. In 193 Yuan Shao attacked the Black Mountain bandits and forced them into hiding. With the support of the Wuhuan, he made the final attack on Gongsun Zan in 198 and eliminated him the beginning of next year. In 199 Yuan Shao became hostile to Cao Cao and moved against him. His army moved too slow however and in early winter of 200, Cao Cao destroyed two of his supply trains at the Battle of Guandu. His army scattered and fled. Yuan Shao became ill and died in 202. He was succeeded by his son Yuan Shang.

Cao Cao attacked in the autumn. By the summer of 203 Yuan Shang had been defeated and driven back to Ye, however Cao Cao decided to withdraw at this point. Yuan Shang came into open conflict with his brother Yuan Tan, who fled east. In 204 Yuan Shang besieged his brother at Pingyuan Commandery but Cao Cao moved against him at Ye and forced him to flee to Zhongshan Commandery where Yuan Tan attacked him. Yuan Shang fled again to his other brother Yuan Xi in You Province while Cao Cao attacked Yuan Tan at Nanpi in Bohai Commandery and killed him. In 205 Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi were ejected from their territory by mutineers and fled to the Wuhuan under Tadun, but Tadun was defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in 207. They fled for the last time, this time time Gongsun Kang, who killed them and sent their heads to Cao Cao.

Yuan Shu and his half brother Yuan Shao urged He Jin to kill the eunuchs at Luoyang. When Dong Zhuo took over, Yuan Shu fled to Nanyang Commandery. His army took part in the Campaign against Dong Zhuo under Sun Jian's command, but when Sun Jian returned from Luoyang, Yuan Shao became hostile and sent Zhou Ang against him. Yuan Shu allied with Gongsun Zan while his half brother allied with Liu Biao. Sun Jian soon died in a skirmish while on campaign against Liu Biao so Yuan Shu withdrew east to Chenliu Commandery where he was driven away as well by Cao Cao in 193. He then retreated to Shouchun in Jiujiang Commandery. The next year Yuan Shu sent Wu Jing against Governor of Yang Province, Liu Yao, with the extra help of Sun Ce in 195. In 196 Yuan Shu defeated Liu Bei in Xu Province with the aid of Lü Bu, who then changed sides and forced Yuan Shu's forces back to Shouchun. In 197 Yuan Shu declared himself emperor of the Zhong dynasty, which made everybody hate him. Sun Ce abandoned him while Cao Cao seized territory north of the Huai River. His fledgling dynasty was left in ruin and in 199 Yuan Shu attempted to escape to Qing Province, but was driven back to Shouchun, where he died outside the city. His family fled to Liu Xun, Administrator of Lujiang Commandery. Liu Xun later fled to Cao Cao when Sun Ce captured his capital. He was execute for extortion and corruption at a later date.

Zhang Chao was the Administrator of Guangling Commandery in 190. He joined the coalition in the Campaign against Dong Zhuo. In 194 Zhang Chao joined his brother Zhang Miao in alliance with Lü Bu against Cao Cao in Yan Province. They were defeated and Zhang Chao was besieged in Yongqiu, Chenliu Commandery in 195. He killed himself and his family.

Zhang Lu was the head of a Daoist movement known as the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice. in 190 Liu Yan, Governor of Yi Province, sent Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu (not related) against the rebellious Administrator of Hanzhong Commandery, Su Gu. Zhang Lu and Zhang Xiu killed Su Gu and took the territory for themselves. Zhang Lu killed Zhang Xiu and established a theocracy with religious Libationers as the primary civil authority. He preached confession of sins and the use of charms to cure illness. Minor wrongdoers were forced to become public servants who provided refreshments for travelers on the road. Alcohol was banned. In 200 Zhang Lu moved against Liu Zhang and seized northern Ba Commandery. His mother, who had been kept as a captive by Liu Zhang, was killed. In 214 Zhang Lu provided Ma Chao with some troops but when Ma Chao asked for more, he refused, after which Ma Chao turned to Liu Bei. In 215 Cao Cao attacked Zhang Lu. After his brother Zhang Wei was defeated, Zhang Lu fled to the Zong and Banshun natives for protection but they surrendered to Cao Cao and Zhang Lu was forced to submit as well. Cao Cao treated him well and his family was given honored positions at court. Zhang Lu died in Ye city in 216.

In 189 Zhang Yang attacked the Administrator of Shangdang Commandery to no avail, but he managed to gather several thousand followers while plundering the counties. When the coalition against Dong Zhuo formed, he attempted to join it, but his partner the wandering Xiongnu mercenary Yufuluo forced him to attack Yuan Shao instead. They were defeated at the city of Ye. After that Zhang Yang received commission from Dong Zhuo as Administrator of Henei Commandery, so he based himself at Yewang across the Yellow River from Luoyang. In 192 and 193 he gave refuge to Lü Bu. When Cao Cao attacked Lü Bu at Xiapi in 198, Zhang Yang attempted to strike Cao Cao from the rear, but was killed by his own officer Yang Chou, who was a Cao Cao supporter. Yang Chou was in turn killed by another officer Sui Gu who then attempted to seek help from Yuan Shao. He was defeated the following year by Cao Cao's officers Shi Huan and Cao Ren

Han Sui was the leader of a group of rebels that attacked Chang'an in 185 and 188/189. After failing to take Chang'an, he based himself in Jincheng Commandery. He initially supported Dong Zhuo and his successor Li Jue, but turned on them in 194 when he joined Ma Teng in attacking Chang'an. They were defeated at Changping Slope northwest of Chang'an and Han Sui was forced to withdraw to Youfufeng Commandery. Han Sui fell out with Ma Teng and they began to skirmish with Ma Teng taking the heavier losses, causing Ma Teng to join Cao Cao. In 210 Han Sui attacked Zhang Meng in Wuwei Commandery. In 211 Cao Cao sent troops against Zhang Lu. Han Sui and Ma Chao confronted Cao Cao at Huayin and were defeated. In 214 Xiahou Yuan drove Han Sui from Hanyang Commandery. Han Sui's officer Yan Xing rebelled against him and defected to Cao Cao. Han Sui died in 215.

Ma Teng was a major under Inspector Geng Bi until Geng Bi was killed by mutineers in 187. Ma Teng then joined the mutineers, styling himself a general under the command of Wang Guo, and participated in the Campaign against Dong Zhuo. Wang Guo was defeated however and in 189 Ma Teng set himself up in Longxi Commandery. When Dong Zhuo retreated to Chang'an, he persuaded Ma Teng and Han Sui to assist him against the other warlords. Ma Teng continued his allegiance to the Chang'an regime for a time even after Dong Zhuo's death and usurpation by Li Jue. In 194, he betrayed Li Jue and attacked Chang'an with the aid of Han Sui and supporters in Luoyang. Ma Teng and Han Sui were defeated at Changping Slope northwest of Chang'an and he retreated to Liang Province. Around 197 Ma Teng began to quarrel with Han Sui and their forces engaged in battle. Ma Teng lost the exchange, losing his wife and some children, and was forced to retreat to Youfufeng Commandery. He threw in his lot with Cao Cao in 202, sending his son Ma Chao to fight Yuan Shao's officer Guo Yuan in Hedong Commandery, and in 205 he himself campaigned against Sun Quan's officer Zhang Cheng. In 208 Ma Teng was enfeoffed but kept hostage in Ye while his son Ma Chao succeeded him in Liang Province. In 211 Ma Chao and Han Sui became hostile to Cao Cao. Ma Teng was killed the next year.

Ma Chao and Han Sui were defeated by Cao Cao at Huayin and retreated west. In 213 Ma Chao made an alliance with the Qiang and Di people as well as Zhang Lu. He then seized Hanyang Commandery. In the autumn an uprising by Yang Fu and Jiang Xu defeated Ma Chao and forced him to take refuge with Zhang Lu. Zhang Lu provided Ma Chao with troops to make an attempt to re-establish himself in Liang Province, but Ma Chao was defeated by Xiahou Yuan. Realizing that Zhang Lu would not provide him with any more troops, Ma Chao joined Liu Bei, who made him a general. Under Liu Bei, Ma Chao campaigned against Cao Cao in Wudu Commandery in 217 but failed to make any headway. Ma Chao died in 222.

Song Jian led an uprising in Liang Province in 184. After 185 he returned to his home county of Fuhan and declared himself King of the Sources of the River Who Will Pacify Han. In the winter of 214 Cao Cao's general Xiahou Yuan attacked Fuhan and killed Song Jian and his officers.

Zhang Yan, originally Chu Yan, was the leader of a bandit group in the Taihang Mountains in 184. At some point he joined another bandit, Oxhorn Zhang, but Zhang was fatally wounded and died soon afterwards. His last act was to transfer his men over to Chu Yan, who took the name of Zhang to honor his patron. Zhang Yan went on to create a bandit confederacy known as the Black Mountain bandits that ravaged the neighboring commanderies of Changshan, Zhao, Zhongshan, Shangdang, and Henei. In 190 Zhang Yan had a loose alliance with Gongsun Zan against Yuan Shao. In 193 Yuan Shao attacked the Black Mountain bandits, forcing them off the southern hills and into the mountains. When Yuan Shao made his final attack on Gongsun Zan in 199, Zhang Yan tried to save him but failed. Zhang Yan surrendered to Cao Cao when he took over Ji Province in 205. He was made a general as well as a marquis.

Huang Ang was the clan leader of Jiuquan Commandery until he was killed in 210 by the vigilante Yang Feng. His relative Huang Hua succeeded him and joined forces with Zhang Jin to oppose Cao Wei in 220. When Zhang Jin was killed Huang Hua surrendered.

The Banshun were a native people of Ba Commandery, Yi Province, who often sided with the Han against other peoples such as the Qiang and the natives of Wuling Commandery. They had previously rebelled in 179 but when amnesty was issued by Cao Qian in 182, the rebellion was ended. There was another brief uprising in 188 but it amounted to nothing. Related to the Banshun were the neighboring Zong people, who became interested in the mysticism of the Celestial Master Zhang Lu and moved north to the border of his territory. When Cao Cao attacked Zhang Lu in the summer of 215, he fled to Duhu of the Zong and Fuhu of the Banshun for refuge. However Duhu and Fuhu surrendered to Cao Cao in the autumn and received appointment, with Zhang Lu following in the winter. In 219 Liu Bei's officer Huang Quan attacked them and drove several non-Chinese groups north into Cao Cao's territory. The Zong therefore became known as the Di people from Ba.

The Korean kingdom of Goguryeo was invaded by Gongsun Kang in 204, resulting in the Daifang Commandery, and by Cao Wei from 244 to 245. The Wei general Guanqiu Jian took the capital of Gungnae. A Wei army was later defeated by Goguryeo in 259 at Yangmaenggok

The Wuhuan, a people similar to the Xianbei, were a loose confederation of nomads that had been subservient to larger and stronger neighboring powers for most of their existence. In 168 the Wuhuan established some degree of independence under their own leaders. The largest of these groups were led by Nanlou in Shanggu, Qiuiliju in Liaoxi, Supuyan in the Dependent State of Liaodong, and Wuyan in Youbeiping. In 187 Qiuliju joined the rebellion of Zhang Chun. Following the defeat of Zhang Chun in 188, Qiuliju attacked Gongsun Zan. In 190 he surrendered to Liu Yu and died in 193. Qiuliju's son Louban was too young to succeed him so his cousin Tadun became acting guardian. In 195 Tadun, Nanlou and Supuyan supported Yuan Shao against Gongsun Zan. In 207 Tadun was defeated by Cao Cao at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain and died in battle. After their defeat many of the Wuhuan surrendered to Cao Cao and served as part of Cao Cao's cavalry forces. Louban and Supuyan fled to Gongsun Kang, who killed them.

Cao Cao divided the Wuhuan into three groups situated in Dai Commandery. They continued to cause trouble until 218 when Cao Zhang destroyed the last remnants of their power for good.

The Wuqi "Five Gorges" barbarians were a mountain people who lived in Wuling Commandery (modern Changde, Hunan). In 221, Liu Bei bribed their leader Shamoke into supporting his war against Sun Quan, however the invasion failed and Shamoke was killed in a counterattack by Lu Xun the following year.

The Xianbei rose to power after the Northern Xiongnu were defeated by the Han at the Battle of the Altai Mountains in 89 AD. Their loose confederacy lacked the organization of the Xiongnu but was highly aggressive until the death of their khan Tanshihuai in 182. Tanshihuai's son Helian lacked his father's abilities and was killed in a raid on Beidi in 186. Helian's brother Kuitou succeeded him, but when Helian's son Qianman came of age, he challenged his uncle to succession, destroying the last vestiges of unity among the Xianbei. In 205, Kuitou's brothers Budugen and Fuluohan succeeded him. After Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan at the Battle of White Wolf Mountain in 207, Budugen and Fuluohan paid tribute to him. In 218, Fuluohan met with the Wuhuan chieftain Nengchendi to form an alliance, but Nengchendi double crossed him and called in another Xianbei khan, Kebineng, who killed Fuluohan. Budugen went to the court of Cao Wei in 224 to ask for assistance against Kebineng, but he eventually betrayed them and allied with Kebineng in 233. Kebineng killed Budugen soon afterwards.

Kebineng was from a minor Xianbei clan. He rose to power west of Dai Commandery by taking in a number of Chinese refugees, who helped him drill his soldiers and make weapons. After the defeat of the Wuhuan in 207, he also sent tribute to Cao Cao, and even provided assistance against the rebel Tian Yin. In 218 he allied himself to the Wuhuan rebel Nengchendi but they were heavily defeated and forced back across the frontier by Cao Zhang. In 220 he acknowledged Cao Pi as emperor of Cao Wei. Eventually he turned on the Wei for frustrating his advances on another Xianbei khan, Sui. Kebineng conducted raids on Cao Wei before he was killed in 235, after which his confederacy disintegrated.

In 258 Tuoba Liwei's people settled in Yanmen Commandery.

The Xianbei went on to found five of the short lived Sixteen Kingdoms: Former Yan (337–370), Later Yan (384–409), Western Qin (385–431), Southern Liang (397–414), and Southern Yan (398–410), as well as one of the Northern and Southern dynasties: Northern Wei (386–535).

By the time of the Three Kingdoms period the Xiongnu had already ceased to be a major power. Their last stand as a steppe empire was in 89 when Dou Xian led an army of 45,000 and decisively defeated them at the Battle of the Altai Mountains. The Xiongnu Empire was replaced by a loose confederation of disorganized Xianbei tribes, who were nonetheless highly aggressive and proved problematic to their southern neighbors. A southern branch of the Xiongnu split off from their northern neighbors in 50 AD and continued to exist as a Han puppet state in Bing Province. However, in 188 the Xiuchuge clan rebelled against their Chanyu, Qiangqu, for sending troops to aid the Han against the rebels Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun. They replaced Qiangqu with his son Yufuluo, who's hold on power was tenuous, and he was ousted over a marquis of the Xubu clan. When the marquis of Xubu died the next year an elderly king became the nominal head of state without the title of Chanyu and the Southern Xiongnu ceased to exist as a coherent entity. In 216 the Xiongnu of the Ordos were settled but the region remained outside the jurisdiction of Cao Wei's administration.

Yufuluo fled to the Han court but found no support after the death of Emperor Ling of Han in 189. He became a wandering mercenary and died in 194. Yufuluo's brother Huchuquan attempted to regain his position as Chanyu of the Southern Xiongnu but was driven back by the same rebels. He came to serve under Yuan Shang in 202 and was defeated by Cao Cao's officer Zhong Yao, after which he surrendered. Yufuluo's remaining Xiongnu followers were split into five divisions and settled in Taiyuan Commandery under the supervision of his son Liu Bao and niece Liu Qubei.

The Xiongnu went on to found three of the short lived Sixteen Kingdoms: Former Zhao (304–329), Northern Liang (397–439), and Xia (407–431). Later Zhao (319–351) was also founded by one of the 19 Southern Xiongnu tribes, but was of Yuezhi descent.

Many immigrants lived in the Xiongnu pasturelands, but at first they did not mix with the Xiongnu. To be a Xiongnu, one had to be a member of a clan, born of Xiongnu parents. The newcomers were well off, but were outsiders, and could marry only among themselves, not the Xiongnu. Only later did they intermix, increase in numbers, even created a state that existed from 318 to 350 AD.

Noin-Ula burial site

The Noin-Ula burial site (, Noyon uulyn bulsh) consist of more than 200 large burial mounds, approximately square in plan, some 2 m in height, covering timber burial chambers. They are located by the Selenga River in the hills of northern Mongolia north of Ulan Bator in Batsumber sum of Tov Province. They were excavated in 1924–1925 by Pyotr Kozlov, who found them to be the tombs of the aristocracy of the Xiongnu; one is an exceptionally rich burial of a historically known ruler of the Xiongnu, Uchjulü-Jodi-Chanuy, who died in 13 CE. Most of the objects from Noin-Ula are now in the Hermitage Museum, while some artifacts unearthed later by Mongolian archaeologists are on display in the National Museum of Mongolian History, Ulan Bator. Two kurgans contained lacquer cups, inscribed with Chinese characters believed to be the names of Chinese craftsmen, and dated September 5 year of Tsian-ping era, i.e. 2nd year BCE.

As with some finds of the Pazyryk culture, the Noin Ula graves had been flooded and subsequently frozen, thus preserving the organic material to a remarkable degree. The tombs were opened in antiquity and the bodies were removed. This corroborates the Han chronicles which state the leaders of one of the nomad tribes, oppressed by the Xiongnu at the height of their empire, took an unprecedented step 100 years after the decline of the Xiongnu. Wishing to unite their subjects, and driven by a desire for revenge, the new nomadic leaders desecrated the Chanuys' royal tombs. All the burials were unsealed, and the remains of the Chanuys were removed, together with some of their clothing, weaponry and symbols of authority. However, the robbers left Xiongnu weaponry, home utensils, and art objects, and Chinese artifacts of bronze, nephrite, lacquered wood and textiles. Many artifacts show origins along the Great Silk Road; some imported objects and fragments of fabrics are recognized as Greek. The fabric, color, weaving methods and embroidery of the cloth were similar to the fabric produced in the Greek colonies on the Black Sea coast for the Scythians.

Some tombs include horse burials and one tomb had especially lavish furnishings. The coffin was apparently made in China, and the interred person had many of his possessions buried with him. His horse trappings were elaborately decorated and his leather-covered saddle was threaded with black and red wool clipped to resemble velvet. Magnificent textiles included a woven wool rug lined with thin leather with purple, brown, and white felt appliqué work, and textiles of Greco-Bactrian, Parthian and Anatolian origin.

Kurgan No 6 was the tomb of Uchjulü-Jodi-Chanuy ("Uchilonoti", "Ulunoti", 烏珠留若提 "Wu-Zhou-Liu-Ju-Di", reigned 8 BCE–13 CE), who is mentioned in the Chinese annals. He is famous for freeing his people from the Chinese protectorate that lasted 56 years, from 47 BCE to 9 CE. Uchjulü-Jodi-Chanuy was buried in 13 CE, a date established from the inscription on a cup given to him by the Chinese Emperor during a reception in the Shanlin park near Chang'an in 1 BCE.

During the life of Uchjulü-Jodi-Chanuy, the Chinese dominated the steppe politically. For a generous reward by the Chinese, he changed his personal name Nanchjiyasy to Chji. On ascending to the throne, he confirmed the standing agreement between the Han Chinese and the Xiongnu: "Henceforth the Han and Hun will be one House, from generation to generation they will not deceive each other, nor attack each other. If a larceny happens, they will mutually inform and execute and compensate, in the event of raids by enemies they will help each other with troops. He of them who is first to breach the agreement, he will be penalized by the Sky, and his posterity from generation to generation would suffer under I this oath".

Despite this agreement, during Uchjulü-Jodi-Chanuy's reign relations with China went from cordial to antagonistic when a usurper Wang Mang came to power, which ended the Western Han Dynasty, and establishing the short-lived Xin Dynasty. Assembling a 300,000-strong army, Wang Mang began military actions, but his attempts ended in futility. Uchjulü-Jodi-Chanuy died in AD 13, before the end of the war. His successor was Uley-Jodi-Chanuy of the Süybu clan.

The most dramatic objects of Uchjulü-Jodi-Chanuy's funeral inventory are the textiles, of local, Chinese and Bactrian origin. The art objects show that Xiongnu craftsmen used the Scythian "animal" style.

A surviving portrait shows a low nose bridge, eyes with epicanthic fold, long wavy hair, divided in the middle, and a braid tied visibly and falling from the tip of the head over the right ear. Such braids were found in other kurgan tombs in the Noin Ula cemetery, they were braided from horsehair, and kept in special cases. The braid was a part of a formal hairstyle, and the braid resembles the death-masks of the Tashtyk. This appearance of the masks demonstrate that in the 1st century AD a far-eastern appearance was perceived by the Huns as more attractive than one of western type, resembling modern Telengits who consider large eyes and high nose to be ugly. From these observations, L.N. Gumilev concluded that among the Huns of the 1st century BC, a far-eastern ideal of beauty overcame the traditional western model, which continued in the art of the Scythian "animal" style.

The cultural affinity of the Xiongnu was with the peoples of southern Siberia and Central Asia; with the Chinese they exchanged arrows rather than culture: the Xiongnu shot with hand bows, while Chinese employed crossbows, although the Chinese had developed the crossbow from the traditional hand bows. Lev Gumilev elaborates the roots of the Chinese cultural influence found in the Noin-Ula cemetery. The Chinese culture was spread not only by material objects, but also by population admixture. There were populations of Xiongnu that have live under the Han rule as military allies. The Chinese migrated continuously to the steppes, the first big wave arriving in the 3rd century BC during the Tsin dynasty (Pin. "Qin"), when captured Chinese became subjects of the Chanuys, a process repeated during the following centuries. The numerous Han people who deserted and entered Chanuy service (for example, Vey Lüy, Li Lin) also taught the Xiongnu the subtlety of diplomacy and martial arts. Populations of the Xiongnu people also lived under Han rule, mostly serving as military allies under Han command. The capture of populations of Xiongnu by the Han forces in a series of Han versus Hun wars also contributed to additional ethnic integration of the north-central Asian neighbors.

The Xiongnu culture can be differentiated into local, Scytho-Sarmatian, and Chinese. Most everyday objects were produced locally, showing the stability of the nomadic culture; Chinese masters made small handmade objects and ornaments, while objects with ideological connotations originated from the Scythian, Sarmatian and Dinlin S. Siberian cultures.

Despite the aforementioned excavated Noin-Ula portrait indicating Mongoloid lineage of the Xiongnu, Euro-centric observers of Xiongnu culture and history try to place the Xiongnu people in a non-Mongoloid or non-Asian ancestry or descendancy. Among the most important artifacts from Noin-Ula are embroidered portrait images. These shed light on the ethnicity of the Xiongnu, albeit controversially. It has been claimed that the portraits depict Greco-Bactrians, or are Greek depictions of Scythian soldiers from the Black Sea. Such suggestions are far-fetched. There are several historical sources confirming the appearance of the Xiongnu. In 350 AD, for example, power in the South Xiongnu state of Chjao (Pin. "Zhao") was seized by a usurper, a Chinese named Shi Min, who ordered all the Xiongnu in the state exterminated; in the slaughter "many Chinese with prominent noses" died, suggesting the Xiongnu had "prominent noses" compared to those of the Chinese. In the famous Chinese bas-relief "Fight on the bridge" the mounted Xiongnu are shown with big noses. A skull analysis of Xiongnu burials made by G.F. Debets found a distinct Paleo-Siberian type of Asian facial appearance with "not a flat, but with not strongly protruding nose", somewhat similar to some North American Indians. This type is represented on the embroidery from Noin-Ula. What to the rest of the Chinese looked like a high nose, to the Europeans looked like a flat nose.

The portraits are not made in the Chinese manner, and are the handiwork of a Central Asian or Scythian artist, or perhaps of a Bactrian or Parthian master in the capital of the Chanüys (who had active diplomatic relations with these Central Asian states).

The hairstyle on one portrait shows long hair bound with a wide ribbon. This is identical with the coiffure of the Türkic Ashina clan, who were originally from the Hesi province. The Ashina belonged to the last Xiongnu princedom destroyed by Xianbei-Toba by AD 439. From Gansu, the Ashina retreated to the Altai, taking with them a number of distinctive ethnographic traits.

Chinese sources indicate that the Xiongnu did not have an ideographic form of writing like Chinese, but in the 2nd century BC, a renegade Chinese dignitary Yue "taught the Shanyu to write official letters to the Chinese court on a wooden tablet 31 cm long, and to use a seal and large-sized folder." The same sources tell that when the Xiongnu noted down something or transmitted a message, they made cuts on a piece of wood ('ke-mu'), and they also mention a "Hu script". At Noin-Ula and other Xiongnu burial sites in Mongolia and the region north of Lake Baikal, among the objects were discovered over 20 carved characters. Most of these characters are either identical or very similar to letters of the Old Turkic alphabet of the Early Middle Ages found on the Eurasian steppes. From this, some specialists conclude that the Xiongnu used a script similar to the ancient "Eurasian runiform", and that this alphabet was a basis for later Turkic writing.

The Noin-Ula burials were intensively studied, but because the cemetery was desecrated in antiquity and bodies removed, no craniological, odontological, or genetic studies could be conducted. One exception is the odontological study of preserved enamel caps of seven permanent teeth belonging to a young woman. The study describes highly diagnostic traits with a very rare combination found in certain ancient and modern populations of the Caspian–Aral region and in the northern Indus–Ganges interfluve. A Parthian woolen cloth in the grave indicates that the woman was of northwestern Indian origin associated with the Parthian culture. The finds suggest that at the beginning of the Common Era, peoples of Parthian origin were incorporated within Xiongnu society. Parthians belonged to the tribal union called in ancient Greek Dahae, also known as Tokhars and in Chinese as Yuezhi.original colors of a carpet from Noyon uul]. Moscow-Leningrad, 1937.
ekspeditsii P. K. Kozlova [Brief reports of the expedition to study Northern Mongolia
in conjunction with the Mongolia-Tibetan expedition of P. K. Kozlov]. Leningrad, 1925.
artefacts of Noyon uul (results of spectroscopic analysis)]. //Kratkie soobshcheniia Instituta
arkheologii 167 (1981):

In 119 BC, when the Xiongnu suffered a catastrophic defeat by the Han armies, the Chanyu moved his court (located in present-day Inner Mongolia) to another location north. This had the desired result that the Xiongnu were separated the Wuhuan people, which also prevented the Xiongnu from exacting many resources from the Wuhuan. The Han court placed the Wuhuan in tributary protection and resettled them in five northeastern commandaries, namely Shanggu, Yuyang, Youbeiping (present-day Hebei), Liaoxi, and Liaodong (present-day Liaoning). A new office, the Colonel-Protector of the Wuhuan, was established (near present-day Beijing) in order to prevent contact between the Wuhuan with the Xiongnu and to use them to monitor the Xiongnu activities. Nevertheless, the effective Han control over the Wuhuan was lacking through much of the Western Han period, since the Xiongnu had considerable military and political influence over the Wuhuan while relations between the Wuhuan and Han often remained strained at best. This can be exemplified by a situation in 78 BC, when the Xiongnu led a punitive campaign against the Wuhuan, resulting in General Fan Mingyou (范明友) leading a Han army to impede further incursions. When they learned that the Xiongnu had left by the time the army arrived, the Han court ordered Fan to attack the Wuhuan instead, killing 6000 Wuhuan men and three chieftains, since the Wuhuan had recently raided Han territory. Only in 49 AD, when 922 Wuhuan chieftains submitted during Emperor Guangwu's reign, did many of the Wuhuan tribes come under tributary system of the Han empire. The Han court provided for the Wuhuan and in return the Wuhuan tribes guarded the Han frontier against the Xiongnu and other nomadic peoples.

Han–Xiongnu War

The Han–Xiongnu War, also known as the Sino-Xiongnu War, was a series of military battles fought between the Chinese Han empire and the Xiongnu confederated state from 133 BC to 89 AD. Under Emperor Wu's reign (r. 141–87 BC), the Han empire changed from a relatively passive foreign policy to an offensive strategy to deal with the increasing Xiongnu incursions on the northern frontier and also according to general imperial policy to expand the domain. In 133 BC, the conflict escalated to a full-scale war when the Xiongnu realized that the Han were about to ambush them at Mayi. The Han court decided to deploy several military expeditions towards the regions situated in the Ordos Loop, Hexi Corridor, and Gobi Desert in a successful attempt to conquer it and expel the Xiongnu.

Hereafter, the war progressed further towards the many smaller states of the Western Regions. The nature of the battles varied through time, with many casualties during the changes of possession or loss of actual control over the western states near the frontier regions. Regional alliances also tended to shift, sometimes forcibly, when one party gained the upper hand in a certain territory over the other. The Han empire's political influence expanded deeply into Central Asia. As the situation deteriorated for the Xiongnu, civil war befell and weakened the confederation. Eventually, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to the Han empire, but the Northern Xiongnu continued to resist. Marked by significant events involving the conquests over various smaller states for control and many large-scale battles, the war resulted in the total victory of the Han empire over the Xiongnu state in 89 AD.

During the Warring States period, the Qin, Zhao, and Yan states conquered various nomadic territories inhabited by the Xiongnu and other Hu peoples. They strengthen their new frontiers with elongated wall fortifications. By 221 BC, the Qin ended the chaotic Eastern Zhou period by conquering all other states and unifying the entire nation. In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang ordered General Meng Tian to set out against the Xiongnu tribes, situated in the Ordos region, and establish a frontier region at the Ordos Loop. Believing that the Xiongnu were a possible threat, the emperor launched a pre-emptive strike against the Xiongnu with the intention to expand his empire. Later that year (215 BC), General Meng Tian succeeded in defeating the Xiongnu and driving them from the Ordos region, seizing their territory as result. After the catastrophic defeat at the hands of Meng, Touman Chanyu and his followers fled far into the Mongolian Plateau. Fusu (Prince of Qin) and General Meng Tian were stationed at a garrison in Suide and soon began with the construction of the walled defenses, connecting it with the old walls built by Qin, Yan and Zhao states. The fortified walls ran from Liaodong to Lintao, thus enclosing the conquered Ordos region, safeguarding the Qin empire against the Xiongnu and other northern nomadic people. Due to the northward expansion, the threat that the Qin empire posed to the Xiongnu ultimately led to the state formation of the many tribes towards a confederacy.

However, after the sudden death of Qin Shi Huang, the ensuing political corruption and chaos during the short reign of Qin Er Shi would lead to various anti-Qin rebellions, eventually bring about the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. A massive civil war then erupted between various reinstated states, with Liu Bang eventually victorious to establish the Han Dynasty. During the transitional years between Qin and Han, while the Chinese were mainly focused towards the interior of their nation, the Xiongnu took the opportunity to retake the territory north of the wall. The Xiongnu frequently led incursions to the Han frontier and had considerable political influence over the border regions. In response, Emperor Gaozu led a Han army against the Xiongnu in 200 BC, pursuing them as far as Pingcheng (present-day Datong, Shanxi) before being ambushed by Modu Chanyu's cavalry. His encampment was encircled by the Xiongnu, but Emperor Gaozu escaped after seven days. After realizing that a military solution was not feasible for the time being, Emperor Gaozu sent Liu Jing to negotiate peace with Modu Chanyu. In 198 BC, a marriage alliance was concluded between the Han and the Xiongnu, but this proved far from effective as the incursions in the frontier regions continued.

By the reign of Emperor Wu, the Han empire was prospering and the national treasury had accumulated large surpluses. However, burdened by the frequent Xiongnu raids at the frontier of the Han empire, the emperor abandoned the policies of his predecessors to maintain peace with the Xiongnu early in his reign. In 136 BC, after continued Xiongnu incursions near the northern frontier, Emperor Wu had a court conference assembled. The faction supporting war against the Xiongnu was able to sway the majority opinion by making a compromise for those worried about stretching financial resources on an indefinite campaign: in an engagement along the border near Mayi, Han forces would lure Junchen Chanyu over with wealth and promises of defections in order to eliminate him and cause political chaos for the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu launched his military campaigns against the Xiongnu in 133 BC.

In 133 BC, the Xiongnu forces led by the Chanyu were lured into a trap at Mayi, while a Han army of about 300,000 troops laid in ambush against the Xiongnu. Wang Hui (王恢) led this campaign and commanded a force of 30,000 men strong, advancing from Dai with the intention of attacking the Xiongnu supply route. Han Anguo (韓安國) and Gongsun He (公孫賀) commanded the remaining forces and advanced towards Mayi. Junchen Chanyu led his army of 100,000 men towards Mayi, but he became increasingly suspicious of the situation. When the ambush failed, because Junchen Chanyu realized he was about to fall into a trap and fled back north, the peace was broken and the Han court resolved to engage in full-scale war. In light of this battle, the Xiongnu became aware of the Han court's intentions to go to war. By that point the Han empire was long consolidated politically, militarily, and economically, and was led by an increasingly pro-war faction in the imperial court.

In the autumn of 129 BC, a Han force of 40,000 cavalrymen launched a surprise attack against the Xiongnu in the frontier markets, where masses of Xiongnu people visited to trade. In 128 BC, General Wei Qing led 30,000 men to battle at the regions north of Yanmen and came out victorious. The next year (127 BC), the Xiongnu invaded Liaoxi, killing its governor, and advanced towards Yanmen. Han Anguo mobilized 700 men, but was defeated and withdrew to Yuyang. Thereafter, Wei Qing moved out with a force and captured some Xiongnu troops, causing the main force of the Xiongnu to withdraw. Meanwhile, Li Xi had led a force across the frontier and also captured some of the Xiongnu troops.

Between 127 and 119 BC, Emperor Wu ordered the generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing to lead several large-scale military campaigns against the Xiongnu. Leading campaigns involving tens of thousands of troops, General Wei Qing captured the Ordos Desert region from the Xiongnu in 127 BC and General Huo Qubing expelled them from the Qilian Mountains in 121 BC, gaining the surrender of many Xiongnu aristocrats. The Han court also sent expeditions, ranging to over 100,000 troops, into Mongolia in 124 BC, 123 BC, and 119 BC, attacking the heart of Xiongnu territory. Following the successes of these 127–119 BC campaigns, Emperor Wu wrote edicts in which he heavily praised the two generals for their achievements.

In 127 BC, General Wei Qing invaded and retook full control of the Ordos region. Earlier that year, he had departed from Yunzhong towards Longxi to invade the Xiongnu in Ordos. After the conquest, about 100,000 people resettled in the Ordos. In the region, two commanderies were established, Wuyuan and Shuofang. With the old Qin walled fortifications in their control, the Han set out to repair and extend the walls. In 126 BC, the Xiongnu sent out three forces of 30,000 troops each to raid Dai, Dinxiang, and Shang. In that same year (126 BC), General Wei Qing advanced from Gaoque into Mongolia with 30,000 men and inflicted defeat to the Xiongnu forces of the Tuqi King and captured 15,000 men along with 10 tribal chiefs. In the autumn of 126 BC, the Xiongnu raided Dai once again; they took some prisoners and killed a Han military commander.

During the spring of 123 BC, General Wei Qing set off to Mongolia with an army to attack the Xiongnu; they marched back victorious to Dingxiang. Two months later, the Han army advanced towards the Xiongnu again, but this time the Xiongnu were prepared for the invasion by the Han forces. However, hereafter, due to the military expeditions that the Han empire undertook, the Xiongnu moved their capital and retreated to the far northern regions of the Gobi Desert.

In the Battle of Hexi (121 BC), the Han forces had inflicted a major defeat to the Xiongnu. Emperor Wu desired to place firm control over the Hexi Corridor and decided to launch a large military offensive to purge the Xiongnu from the area. The campaign was undertaken in 121 BC by General Huo Qubing. Departing from Longxi that year, General Huo Qubing led light cavalry through five Xiongnu kingdoms, conquering the Yanzhi and Qilian mountain ranges from the Xiongnu.

In the spring of 121 BC, Huo set out from Longxi and advanced into the territory of the Xiutu King (休屠王), beyond the Yanzhi Mountains. About 18,000 Xiongnu cavalry were captured or killed.

That summer (121 BC), Huo advanced into the Anshan Desert to invade the regions at the Qilian Mountains. At the Qilian Mountains, the Hunye King (渾邪王) saw the deaths of over 30,000 troops in battle against the Han, while 2800 of his troops were captured.

Distraught by the huge losses and fearing the wrath of the Xiongnu Chanyu, the Xiutu King and the Hunye King planned to surrender to the Han forces of General Huo Qubing. However, the Xiutu King suddenly changed his mind and fled with his followers. General Huo Qubing and the Hunye King gave chase and killed Xiutu and his 8000 troops. In the end, the Hunye King and 40,000 Xiongnu soldiers surrendered, which also led to the Xiongnu tribes of Hunye and Xiutu submitting to the rule of the Han empire. Due to the series of victories, the Han had conquered a territory stretching from the Hexi Corridor to Lop Nur, thus cutting the Xiongnu off from their Qiang allies. In 111 BC, a major Qiang–Xiongnu allied force was repelled from the Hexi Corridor. Hereafter, four commanderies were established in the Hexi Corridor—Jiuquan, Zhangye, Dunhuang, and Wuwei—which were populated with Han settlers.

The Battle of Mobei (119 BC) saw Han forces invade the northern regions of the Gobi Desert. In 119 BC, two separate expeditionary forces led by the Han generals Wei Qing and Huo Qubing mobilized towards the Xiongnu. The two generals led the campaign to the Khangai Mountains where they forced the Chanyu to flee north of the Gobi Desert. The two forces together comprised 100,000 cavalrymen, 140,000 horses, and few hundred thousand infantry. They advanced into the desert in pursuit of the main force of the Xiongnu. The military campaign was a major Han military victory against Xiongnu, where the Xiongnu were driven from the Gobi Desert. The Xiongnu casualties ranged from 80 to 90 thousand troops, while the Han casualties ranged from 20 to 30 thousand troops. In the aftermath, the Han forces had lost around 100,000 horses during the campaign.

During this campaign, Huo Qubing's elite troops had set off from Dai to link up with Lu Bode's forces in Yucheng, after which they advanced further and engaged the Tuqi King of the Left and his army. Huo Qubing's army encircled and overran their enemy, killing around 70,000 Xiongnu, including the Tuqi King of the Left. He then went on to conduct a series of rituals upon arrival at the Khentii Mountains to symbolize the historic Han victory, then continued his pursuit as far as Lake Baikal.

Wei Qing's army, setting off from Dingxiang, encountered Yizhixie Chanyu's army. Wei Qing ordered his troops to arrange heavy-armored chariots in a ring formation, creating mobile fortresses that provided archers, crossbowmen, and infantry protection from the Xiongnu's cavalry charges, and allowing the Han troops to utilize their ranged weapons' advantages. A 5000-strong cavalry was deployed to reinforce the array against any Xiongnu attack. The Xiongnu charged the Han forces with a 10,000-strong vanguard cavalry. The battle solidified into a stalemate until dusk, when a sandstorm obscured the battlefield. Subsequently, Wei Qing sent in his main forces and overwhelmed the Xiongnu. The Han cavalry used the low visibility as cover and encircled the Xiongnu army from both flanks, but Yizhixie Chanyu and a contingent of troops broke through and escaped.

With the Han conquest of the Hexi Corridor in 121 BC, the city-states at the Tarim Basin were caught in between the onslaught of the war, with much shifting of allegiance. There were several Han military expeditions undertaken to secure the submission of the local kings to the Han empire; the Han took control of the regions for strategic purposes while the Xiongnu needed the regions as a source of revenue. Due to the ensuing war with the Han empire, the Xiongnu were forced to extract more crafts and agricultural foodstuffs from the Tarim Basin urban centers. By 115 BC, the Han had set up commanderies at Jiuquan and Wuwei, while extending the old Qin fortifications from Lingju to the area west of Dunhuang. From 115 to 60 BC, the Han and Xiongnu competed for control and influence over these states, which saw the rise of power of the Han empire over eastern Central Asia with the decline of that of the Xiongnu's. The Han empire brought the states of Loulan, Jushi (Turfan), Luntai (Bügür), Dayuan (Ferghana), and Kangju (Soghdiana) into tributary submission between 108 and 101 BC. The long-walled defense line that now stretched all the way to Dunhuang protected the people, guided caravans and troops to and from Central Asia, and served to separate the Xiongnu from their allies, the Qiang people.

In 115 BC Zhang Qian was once again dispatched to the Western Regions to secure military alliances against the Xiongnu. He sought out the various states in Central Asia, such as the Wusun. He came back without achieving his goals, but he gained valuable knowledge about the Western Regions like in his previous travels. Emperor Wu received reports from Zhang about the large and powerful horses of Ferghana. These horses were known as "heavenly horses" or "blood-sweating horses". Zhang brought back some of these horses to the Han empire. The emperor thought that the horses were of high importance to fight the Xiongnu. The refusal of the Dayuan kingdom, a nation centered in Ferghana, to provide the Han empire with the horses and the execution of a Han envoy led to conflict; the Han forces brought Dayuan into submission in 101 BC. The Xiongnu, aware of this predicament, had tried to halt the Han advance, but they were outnumbered and suffered defeat.

General Zhao Ponu (趙破奴) was sent on an expedition in 108 BC to invade Jushi (Turfan), a critical economic and military stronghold of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions. After he conquered the region, the Han forces repelled all Xiongnu attacks to regain control over Jushi. When King Angui acceded the throne of Loulan, the kingdom—which was the eastern-most state of the Western Regions—became increasingly apprehensive towards the Han. Their policies became somewhat anti-Han in nature and supportive towards the Xiongnu, such as allowing the killing of passing Han envoys to happen and revealing Han military logistics. In 77 BC, King Angui received the Han emissary Fu Jiezi and held a banquet for the envoy, who came under the guise of bringing many coveted gifts. During the banquet, Fu Jiezi requested a private discussion with King Angui, which was a pretense for the assassination of the Loulan ruler by two of Fu Jiezi's officers. Amid the cries of horror, Fu Jiezi proclaimed an admonition to the Loulan aristocracy and beheaded the dead king. The Han court informed Weituqi—who was an ally of the Han—of his brother's death, had him escorted back from Chang'an to Loulan, and installed him as the new monarch of the kingdom, which was renamed Shanshan. Thereafter, the royal seat was relocated to the southern parts of Shanshan (present-day Kargilik or Ruoqiang), outside the sphere of Xiongnu influence.

The Xiongnu practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials who defected to their side. The older sister of the Chanyu (the Xiongnu ruler) was married to the Xiongnu General Zhao Xin, the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of the Chanyu was married to the Han Chinese General Li Ling after he surrendered and defected. The Yenisei Kirghiz Khagans claimed descent from Li Ling. Another Han Chinese General who defected to the Xiongnu was Li Guangli who also married a daughter of the Chanyu.

Due to the many losses inflicted on the Xiongnu, rebellion soon broke out and former enslaved people rose up in arms. Around 80 BC, the Xiongnu attacked the Wusun in a punitive campaign and soon the Wusun monarch requested military support from the Han empire. In 72 BC, the joint forces of the Wusun and Han invaded the territory of the Luli King of the Right. Around 40,000 Xiongnu people and many of their livestock were captured before their city was sacked after the battle. The very next year, various tribes invaded and raided the Xiongnu territory from all fronts; Wusun from the west, Dingling from the north, and Wuhuan from the east. The Han forces had set out in five columns and invaded from the south. According to "Hanshu", this event marks the beginning of Xiongnu decline and the dismantlement of the confederation.

As the Xiongnu economic and military situation deteriorated, the Xiongnu were willing to renew peace during the reigns of Huyandi Chanyu (r. 85-69 BC) and Xulüquanqu Chanyu (r. 68-60 BC), but the Han court gave only one option, tributary submission. After Xulüquanqu Chanyu's death in 60 BC, a Xiongnu civil war broke loose in 57 BC over the succession, which fully fragmented the Xiongnu confederation with many contenders. In the end, only Zhizhi Chanyu and Huhanye Chanyu survived the struggle to power. After Zhizhi Chanyu (r. 56–36 BC) had inflicted serious losses against his rival Huhanye Chanyu (r. 58–31 BC), Huhanye and his supporters debated whether to request military protection and become a Han vassal. In 53 BC, Huhanye decided to do so and surrendered to the reign of the Han empire.

General Chen Tang and Protector General Gan Yanshou, acting without explicit permission from the Han court, killed Zhizhi Chanyu at his capital city (present-day Taraz, Kazakhstan) in 36 BC. Taking the initiative, Chen Tang had forged an imperial decree, which led to the mobilization of 40,000 troops in two columns. The Han forces besieged and defeated the forces of Zhizhi Chanyu, and afterwards beheaded him. His head was sent to the Han capital Chang'an. On return to Chang'an, the two officers faced legal enquiries for forging a decree, but were pardoned. Chen and Gan received modest rewards, although the Han court was reluctant to do so due to the precedent that this event set.

In 9 AD, the Han official Wang Mang usurped the Han throne and proclaimed a new Chinese dynasty, known as Xin. He regarded the Xiongnu as lowly vassals and relations rapidly deteriorated. During the winter 10 to 11 AD, Wang amassed 300,000 troops along the northern frontier, which forced the Xiongnu to back down from launching large-scale attacks. Although Han rule was restored in August 25 AD by Emperor Guangwu, its grip over the Tarim Basin had weakened. The Xiongnu had namely taken advantage of the situation and gained control over the Western Regions.

The first half of the 1st century BC witnessed several succession crises for the Xiongnu leadership, allowing the Han empire to reaffirm its control over the Western Regions. Huduershi Chanyu was succeeded by his son Punu (蒲奴) in 46 AD, thus breaking the late Huhanye's orders that only a Xiongnu ruler's brother was a valid successor. Bi (比), the Rizhu King of the Right and Huduershi's nephew, was outraged and was declared a rival Chanyu by eight southern Xiongnu tribes in 48 AD. The Xiongnu confederation fell apart in the Northern Xiongnu and Southern Xiongnu, and Bi submitted to the reign of the Han empire in 50 AD. The Han took control of the Southern Xiongnu under Bi, which had 30–40 thousand troops and a population of roughly twice or thrice the size.

Between 73 and 102 AD, General Ban Chao led several expeditions in the Tarim Basin, re-establishing Han control over the region. At the capital of Shanshan by Lop Nur, Ban Chao and a small party of his men slaughtered a visiting Northern Xiongu embassy to Shanshan. Ban Chao presented their heads to King Guang of Shanshan, who was overwhelmed by the ordeal, whereupon he sent hostages to Han. When Ban Chao traveled further to Yutian (Khotan), King Guangde received him with little courtesy. The king's soothsayer told the king that he should demand Ban Chao's horse, so Ban Chao killed the soothsayer for the insult. Impressed by the ruthlessness that he witnessed, the king killed a Xiongnu agent and offered submission to Han. Going further westward, Ban Chao and his party arrived at Shule. Earlier, King Jian of Qiuci had deposed the former king and replaced him with his officer Douti. In 74 AD, Ban Chao's forces captured King Douti of Kashgar (Shule 疏勒), both a puppet of Kucha (Qiuci 龜玆) and an ally of the Xiongnu. Local opponents to the new regime had offered support to the Han. Tian Lü (Ban Chao's officer) took Douti captive and Ban Chao put Zhong (a prince of the native dynasty) on the throne. Ban Chao, insisting on leniency, send Douti back to Qiuci unharmed.

In 73 AD, General Dou Gu and his army departed from Jiuquan and advanced towards the Northern Xiongnu, defeating the Northern Xiongnu and pursuing them as far as Lake Barkol before establishing a garrison at Hami. In 74 AD, Dou Gu retook Turfan from the Xiongnu. The Han campaigns resulted in the retreat of the Northern Xiongnu to Dzungaria, while Ban Chao was threatening and bringing the city-states at the Tarim Basin to submission under the Han empire once again. In 74 AD, the King of Jushi submitted to the Han forces under General Dou Gu as the Xiongnu were unable to engage the Han forces.

Later in the year (74 AD), the kingdoms of Karasahr (Yanqi 焉耆) and Kucha were forced to surrender to the Han empire. Although Dou Gu was able to evict the Xiongnu from Turfan in 74 AD, the Northern Xiongnu soon invaded the Bogda Mountains while their allies from Karasahr and Kucha killed the Protector General Chen Mu and his men. As a result, the Han garrison at Hami was forced to withdraw in 77 AD, which was not reestablished until 91 AD.

In 89 AD, General Dou Xian led a Han expedition against the Northern Xiongnu. The army advanced from Jilu, Manyi, and Guyang in three great columns. In the summer of 89, the forces—comprising a total of 40,000 troops—assembled at Zhuoye Mountain. Near the end of the campaign, Dou's forces chased the Northern Chanyu into the Altai Mountains, killing 13,000 Xiongnu and accepting the surrender of 200,000 Xiongnu from 81 tribes. A light cavalry of 2000 was sent towards the Xiongnu at Hami, capturing the region from them. General Dou Xian marched with his troops in a triumphal progress to the heartland of the Northern Xiongnu's territory and engraved an inscription commemorating the victory on Mount Yanran, before returning to Han. The Han victory in the campaign of 89 AD resulted in the destruction of the Xiongnu state. In 2017, a joint Sino-Mongolian archaeological expedition rediscovered the Inscription of Yanran in the Khangai Mountains of central Mongolia.

In 90 AD, General Dou Xian had encamped at Wuwei. He sent Deputy Colonel Yan Pan with 2000 light cavalry to strike down the final Xiongnu defenses in the Western Regions, capturing Yiwu and receiving the surrender of Jushi. Major Liang Feng was dispatched to capture the Northern Chanyu, which he did, but he was forced to leave him behind as Dou Xian had already broken camp and returned to China. In the tenth month of 90 AD, Dou Xian sent Liang Feng and Ban Gu to help the Northern Chanyu make preparations for his planned travel as he wished to submit to the Han court in person the following month.

However, this never came to be as Dou Xian dispatched General Geng Kui and Shizi of the Southern Xiongnu with 8000 light cavalry to attack the Northern Chanyu, encamped at Heyun (河雲), in 90 AD. Once the Han forces arrived at Zhuoye Mountains, they left their heavy equipment behind to launch a swift pincer movement towards Heyun. Geng Kui attacked from the east via the Khangai Mountains and Ganwei River (甘微河), while Shizi attacked from the west via the Western Lake (西海). The Northern Chanyu—said to be greatly shocked by this—launched a counterattack, but he was forced to flee as he left his family and seal behind. The Han killed 8000 men and captured several thousands. In 91 AD, General Geng Kui and Major Ren Shang with a light cavalry of 800 advanced further via the Juyan Gol (Juyansai) into the Altai Mountains, where the Northern Chanyu had encamped. At the Battle of Altai Mountains, they massacred 5000 Xiongnu men and pursued the Northern Chanyu until he escaped to an unknown place. By 91 AD, the last remnants of the Northern Xiongnu had migrated west towards the Ili River valley.

The Southern Xiongnu—who had been situated in the Ordos region since about 50 AD—remained within the territory of the Han empire as semi-independent tributaries. They were dependent to the Han empire for their livelihood as indicated by a memorial from the Southern Chanyu to the Han court in 88 AD. Following the military successes against the Xiongnu, General Ban Chao was promoted to the position of Protector General and stationed in Kucha in 91 AD. At the remote frontier, Ban Chao reaffirmed absolute Han control over the Western Regions from 91 AD onwards.

Chao Cuo was one of the first known ministers to suggest to Emperor Wen that Han armies should have a cavalry-centric army to counter the nomadic Xiongnu to the north, since Han armies were still primarily infantry with cavalries and chariots playing a supporting role. He advocated the policy of "using barbarians to attack barbarians", that is, incorporating surrendered Xiongnu and other nomadic tribes into the Han military, a suggestion that was eventually adopted, especially with the establishment of dependent states of different nomads living on the Han empire's frontiers.

In a memorandum entitled "Guard the Frontiers and Protect the Borders" that he presented to the throne in 169 BC, Chao compared the relative strengths of Xiongnu and Han battle tactics. In regards to the Han armies, Chao deemed the Xiongnu horsemen better prepared for rough terrain due to their better horses, better with horseback archery, and better able to withstand the elements and harsh climates. However, on level plains, he regarded Xiongnu cavalry inferior especially when faced with Han shock cavalry and chariots as the Xiongnu are easily dispersed. He emphasized that the Xiongnu were incapable of countering the superior equipment and weaponry. He also noted that in contrast the Han armies were better capable to fight in disciplined formations. According to Chao, the Xiongnu were also defenseless against coordinated onslaughts of arrows—especially long-ranged and in unison—due to their inferior leather armor and wooden shields. When dismounted in close combat, he believed that the Xiongnu, lacking the ability as infantry, would be decimated by Han soldiers.

During Emperor Jing's reign, the Han court initiated breeding programs for military horses and established 36 large government pastures in the border regions, extending from Liaodong to Beidi. In preparation for the military use of the horses, the best breeds were selected to partake military training. The Xiongnu frequently raided the Han government pastures, because the military horses were of great strategic importance for the Han military against them. By the time of Emperor Wu's reign, the horses amounted to well over 450,000.

At the start of Emperor Wu's reign, the Han empire had a standing army comprising 400,000 troops, which included 80,000 to 100,000 cavalrymen, essential to the future campaigns against the Xiongnu. However, by 124 BC, that number had grown to a total of 600,000 to 700,000 troops, including 200,000 to 250,000 cavalrymen. In order to sustain the military expeditions against the Xiongnu and its resulting conquests, Emperor Wu and his economic advisors undertook many economic and financial reforms, which proved to be highly successful.

In 14 AD, Yan Yu presented the difficulties of conducting extended military campaigns against the Xiongnu. For a 300-day campaign, each Han soldier needed 360 liters of dried grain. These heavy supplies had to be carried by oxen, but experience showed that an ox could only survive for about 100 days in the desert. Once in the territory of the Xiongnu, the harsh weather would also prove to be very inhospitable for the Han soldiers, who could not carry enough fuel for the winter. For these reasons, according to Yan Yu, military expeditions seldom lasted longer than 100 days.

For their western campaigns against the Xiongnu, the Han armies exacted their food supplies from the Western Regions. This placed a heavy burden to the western states, thus the Han court decided to initiate agricultural garrisons in Bugur and Kurla. During Emperor Zhao's reign (r. 87–74 BC), the agricultural garrison in Bugur was expanded to accommodate the heavy Han military presence which was the natural result of the empire's westward expansion. During Emperor Xuan's reign (r. 74–49 BC), the farming soldiers in Kurla were increased to 1500 under Protector-General Zheng Ji's administration in order to support the military expeditions against the Xiongnu in Turfan. Immediately after the Han conquest of Turfan, Zheng established an agricultural garrison in Turfan. Even though, the Xiongnu unsuccessfully tried to prevent the Han from making Turfan into a major economic base by military force and threats.

In 162 BC, the Xiongnu troops of Laoshang Chanyu had invaded and driven the Yuezhi from their homeland; the Chanyu had the Yuezhi monarch executed and his skull fashioned into a drinking cup. Thus the Han court decided it was favorable to send an envoy to the Yuezhi to secure a military alliance. In 138 BC, the diplomat Zhang Qian left with an envoy and headed towards the Yuezhi encampments. However, the envoy was captured by the Xiongnu and held hostage. A decade went by, until Zhang Qian and some of his convoy escaped. They travelled to the territories of Ferghana (Dayuan 大宛), Soghdiana (Kangju 康居), and Bactria (Daxia 大夏), ultimately finding the Yuezhi forces north of the Amu River. Despite their efforts, the envoy could not secure a military alliance. As the Yuezhi had settled in those new lands for quite some time, they had almost no desire to wage a war against the Xiongnu. In 126 BC, Zhang Qian headed to the Hexi Corridor in order to return to his nation. While traveling through the area, he was captured by the Xiongnu, only to escape a year later and return to China in 125 BC.

The Xiongnu attempted to negotiate peace several times, but every time the Han court would accept nothing less than tributary submission of the Xiongnu. Tributary relations with the Han comprised out of several things. Firstly, the Chanyu or his representative was required to come pay homage to the Han court. Secondly the heir apparent or a prince needed to be delivered to the Han court as hostage. Thirdly, the Chanyu had to present tribute to the Han emperor and in return will receive imperial gifts. Accepting the tributary system meant that the Xiongnu were lowered to the status of outer vassal, while the marriage alliance meant that the two nations were regarded as equal states. In 119 BC, Yizhixie Chanyu (126-114) sent an envoy, hoping to achieve peaceful relations with the Han. However, the peace negotiations collapsed, since the Han court disregarded his terms and gave him the option to become an outer vassal instead, which infuriated Yizhixie Chanyu. In 107 BC, Wuwei Chanyu (114-105) also attempted to negotiate peaceful relations and even halted the border raids. In response, the Han disregarded his terms and demanded that the Chanyu sent his heir apparent as a hostage to Chang'an, which once again led to the breakdown of the peace negotiations.

In 53 BC, Huhanye Chanyu decided to submit to the Han court. He sent his son Zhulouqutang (朱鏤蕖堂), the Tuqi King of the Right, as hostage to the Han court in 53 BC. In 52 BC, he formally requested through the officials at the Wuyuan commandary to have an audience with the Han court to pay homage. Thus, the next year (51 BC), he arrived at court and personally paid homage to Emperor Xuan during the Chinese New Year. In 49 BC, he traveled to the Han court for a second time to pay homage to the emperor. In 53 BC, Zhizhi Chanyu also sent his son as hostage to the Han court. In 51 and 50 BC, he sent two envoys respectively to Han to present tribute, but failed to personally come to the Han court to pay homage. Therefore, he was rejected by the Han court, leading to the execution of a Han envoy in 45 BC. In 33 BC, Huhanye Chanyu came to the Han court to pay homage again. During his visit, he asked to become an imperial son-in-law. Instead of granting him this request, Emperor Yuan decided to give him a court lady-in-waiting. Thus, the Han court allowed Huhanye Chanyu to marry Lady Wang Zhaojun. Yituzhiyashi (伊屠智牙師), the son of Huhanye and Wang Zhaojun, became a vocal partisan for the Han empire within the Xiongnu realm. Although peaceful relations were momentarily achieved, it fully collapsed when the Han official Wang Mang came to power.

When Bi, the Southern Chanyu, decided submit to the Han in 50 AD, he sent a princely son as hostage to the Han court and prostrated to the Han envoy as he received the imperial edict from them. During the Eastern Han period, the tributary system had made some significant changes, which placed the Southern Xiongnu more tightly under regulation and supervision of the Han. The Chanyu was required to send tribute and a princely hostage annually, while an imperial messenger would be dispatched to escort the previous princely hostage back. The Southern Xiongnu were resettled inside the empire at the northern commanderies and were overseen by a Han prefect, who acted as an arbiter in their legal cases and monitored their movements. Attempts by Punu, the Northern Chanyu, to establish peaceful relations with the Han empire always failed, because the Northern Xiongnu were unwilling to come under Han's tributary system and the Han court had no interest to treat them along the same lines as the Southern Xiongnu instead of dividing them.

In 169 BC, the Han minister Chao Cuo presented to Emperor Wen a memorandum on frontier defense and the importance of agriculture. Chao characterized the Xiongnu as people whose livelihood did not depend on permanent settlement and were always migrating. As such, he wrote, the Xiongnu could observe the Han frontier and attack when there were too few troops stationed in a certain region. He noted that if troops are mobilized in support, then few troops will be insufficient to defeat the Xiongnu, while many troops will arrive too late as the Xiongnu will have retreated by then. He also noted that keeping the Xiongnu mobilized will be at a great expense, while they will just raid another time after dispersing them. To negate these difficulties, Chao Cuo elaborated a proposal, which in essence suggested that military-agricultural settlements with permanent residents should be established to secure the frontier and that surrendered tribes should serve along the frontier against the Xiongnu.

When Emperor Wu made the decision to conquer the Hexi Corridor, he had the intention to separate the Xiongnu from the Western Regions and from the Qiang people. In 88 BC, the Xianling tribe of the Qiang people sent an envoy to the Xiongnu, proposing a joint-attack against the Han in the region as they were discontented that they had lost the fertile lands at Jiuquan and Zhangye. It had often been the meeting place between the Xiongnu and the Qiang before the Han empire had conquered and annexed the Hexi Corridor. In 6 BC, Wang Shun (王舜) and Liu Xin noted that the frontier commandaries of Jiuquan, Zhangye, and Dunhuang were established by Emperor Wu to separate the then-powerful Chuoqiang tribe of the Qiang people from the Xiongnu. The Chuoqiang tribe and its king, however, eventually submitted to the Han empire and took part in the campaigns against the Xiongnu.

When the Hunye King surrendered to the Han in 121 BC, the Han court resettled all the 40,000 Xiongnu people from the Hexi Corridor into the northern frontier regions. The Hexi Corridor proved to be an invaluable region, since it gave direct access and became the base of military operations into the Western Regions Possession of the Western Regions was economically critical to the Xiongnu, since they exacted many of their necessary resources from the western states. The diplomat Zhang Qian suggested to the emperor to establish diplomatic relations with the western states. He proposed to try convince the Wusun in reoccupying their former territory in the Hexi Corridor and to form an alliance with them against the Xiongnu. In 115 BC, Zhang Qian and his men were sent towards the Western Regions, but they did not succeed in convincing the Wusun to relocate. They were, however, successful in establishing contact with the many states, such as Wusun, Dayuan (Ferghana), Kangju (Soghdiana), Daxia (Bactria), and Yutian (Khotan). Although the Han empire tried to diplomatically sway the western states over the years, it met with little success due to the Xiongnu's influence over the Western Regions at the time. Therefore, from 108 BC onwards, the Han resorted to conquest in order to bring the western states to submission.

Since Loulan (Cherchen) was the closest western state to Han, it was key for the Han empire's expansion into Central Asia. Turfan (Jushi), on the other hand, was the Xiongnu's entrance into the Western Regions. By conquering Loulan and Turfan, the Han empire would gain two critical locations in the Western Regions, achieving direct access to the Wusun in the Ili River valley and Dayuan (Ferghana) between Syr and Amu Darya. This happened in 108 BC, when General Zhao Ponu conquered these two states. The farthest-reaching invasion was Li Guangli's campaign against Ferghana. If the Han armies succeeded in conquering Ferghana, the Han empire would demonstrate certain military might to the western states and consolidate its control, while gaining many of the famed Ferghana horses. The Xiongnu were aware of the situation and attempted to stop the invasion, but they were defeated by Li Guangli's forces. After a campaign that lasted four years, Li Guangli conquered Ferghana in 101 BC.

The control over Turfan, however, often fluctuated due to its proximity to the Xiongnu. In 90 BC, General Cheng Wan (成娩) led the troops of six western states against Turfan to prevent it from allying the Xiongnu. The fact that the forces used comprised solely from the troops of the western states was, as remarked, a clear indication of the political influence that the Han empire had over the region. Cheng was a former Xiongnu king himself, but he had submitted to the Han and was ennobled as Marquis of Kailing (開陵侯). As a result of the expedition, the Han court received the formal submission of Turfan later in the year (90 BC). This victory was significant in the sense that Turfan's location was the closest to the Xiongnu of all the western states, thereby they lost their access into the Western Regions with this Han conquest.

In 67 BC, the Han empire gained absolute control over the Turfan Depression after inflicting a significant defeat to the Xiongnu. During the former Xiongnu rule of the Western Regions, the area was under the jurisdiction of the Rizhu King (日逐王) with the office "Commandant in
Charge of Slaves". However, in 60 BC, the Rizhu King surrendered to Protector General Zheng Ji. Afterwards (60 BC), the Han imperial court established the Protectorate of the Western Regions. The Han empire, now in absolute control of the Western Regions, placed it under the jurisdiction of its Protector General. As its dominance of the area was established, the Han were effectively controlling the trade and shaping the early history of what would be known as the Silk Road.

In 25 AD, Liu Xiu was established as Emperor Guangwu, restoring the Han throne after a usurpation by the Han official Wang Mang, thus initiating the Eastern Han period. During his reign, the Han empire began to abandon its offensive strategy against the Xiongnu, which allowed the latter to frequently raid the northern frontier. It resulted in large migrations southwards, which led to the depopulation of the frontier regions. During the Eastern Han period, various nomadic peoples were resettled in these frontier regions, serving the Han empire as cavalry against the Xiongnu. With his primary focus still towards the interior of the empire, Emperor Guangwu declined several requests from the western states to reestablish the office of Protector-General of the Western Regions. Early in Emperor Guangwu's reign, King Kang of Yarkand united neighboring kingdoms to resist the Xiongnu. At the same time, he protected the Han officials and people of the former Protector-General, who were still left behind after Wang Mang's reign. In 61 AD, Yarkand was conquered by Khotan and the western states fell in conflict with each other. Taking this opportunity, the Northern Xiongnu recovered their control over the Western Regions, which threatened the security of the Hexi Corridor. In 73 AD, General Dou Gu was sent on a punitive expedition to the Xiongnu and inflicted them a considerable defeat. Immediately, the fertile lands of Hami (Yiwu) was reoccupied and an agricultural garrison established. The next year (74 AD), he expelled the Xiongnu from Turfan and reoccupied the state. The recovery of Hami and Turfan facilitated the reestablishment of the Protector-General, since these important locations were key points to control the Western Regions.

In Chinese accounts, the Xiongnu first appear at Ordos in the "Yizhoushu" and "Shanhaijing" during the Warring States period before it was occupied by Qin and Zhao. It is generally thought to be their homeland, however when exactly they came to occupy the region is unclear, and it might have been much earlier than traditionally thought, as suggested by archaeological finds. As the Xiongnu expanded southward into Yuezhi territory around 160 BC under their leader Modun, the Yuezhi in turn defeated the Sakas (Scythians) and pushed them away at the Issyk Kul. It is thought the Xiongnu also occupied the Ordos area during the same period, when they came in direct contact with the Chinese. From there, the Xiongnu conducted numerous devastating raids into Chinese territory (167, 158, 142, 129 BC). The Han Dynasty started to fight the Xiongnu in the 2nd century BC under emperor Han Wudi, and colonized the area of the Ordos under Shuofang commandery in 127 BC. Prior to the campaign, there were already commanderies established earlier by Qin and Zhao until they were overrun by the Xiongnu in 209 BC.

Ordos Plateau

The Ordos Plateau or the Ordos is the land enclosed by the Ordos Loop, a large rectangular bend of the Yellow River in northern China. The Great Wall of China cuts across the center, roughly separating the sparsely populated north—considered the Ordos proper—from the agricultural south, known as the Loess Plateau. The Wei River valley, which cuts horizontally across the south of the loop, was one of the cradles of Chinese civilization and remains densely populated, including Xi'an, which long served as the capital of China. The Ordos Desert in the north is administered by Inner Mongolia.

The area is of high archaeological interest. Skeletal remains and artifacts show the Ordosian culture occupied the area in the Upper Paleolithic. The late Neolithic saw the development or introduction of the Zhukaigou culture, which was followed by the iron-wielding Ordos culture.

The Yellow River flows from its source in the Sanjiangyuan National Nature Reserve on the Tibetan Plateau in a roughly eastern course before turning northwest after its confluence with the Bai He ("White River") in Maqu County, Gansu. After reversing course back towards the east, it begins the massive Ordos Loop by turning northwards at Zhongning County in Ningxia. It runs northwards about, leaving the Loess Plateau—whose eroded silt produces the river's yellow color—for the Ordos proper before turning east in Inner Mongolia. It continues this course for about before Shaanxi's Lüliang Mountains force it sharply southwards. The eastern side of the loop runs about, reëntering the Loess Plateau before reaching its confluence with the Wei River at Tongguan in Shaanxi and again turning sharply eastward. It then flows through Henan's Hangu Pass to enter the North China Plain.

The Wei River largely forms a southern side of the imperfect rectangle formed by these curves of the Yellow River, flowing about through the Loess Plateau from a source not far from its southwestern corner to a confluence at the southeastern corner. The Qin Mountains—including the famous Mount Hua—separate its watershed from that of the Han River, which flows south to a confluence with the Yangtze at Wuhan.

Underlying the loess plateau is one of the largest coal beds in China.

Rainfall and therefore population decreases rapidly as one moves north. The Wei River valley on the south is densely populated and is one of the ancient centers of Chinese civilization. The north is grassland and desert (Ordos desert) and is part of Inner Mongolia. Because of its low and variable rainfall the region was once notorious for drought and famine.

At the southwest corner near where the Yellow River emerges from the Tibetan Plateau is Lanzhou, the westernmost large city in north China and the capital of Gansu. To the west of Lanzhou is Xining from whence caravans (and now the railway) started for Lhasa. North of Xining the Gansu or Hexi Corridor runs along the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. This corridor and the Wei River valley became the main silk road route from China proper to the Tarim basin and westward. Downriver (north) from Lanzhou is a gorge through Gaolan County and Baiyin. The river emerges from the mountains and enters Ningxia near Zhongwei. It runs east with the Tengger Desert in Inner Mongolia to the north and hills to the south. It turns north through dry country to past the Qingtongxia dam to the irrigated area around Wuzhong City. It continues north past Yinchuan, the capital of Ningxia. To the west are the Helan Mountains. The river leaves the northern tip of Ningxia south of Wuhai, flows through desert and enters a large irrigated area at Dengkou. At the northwest corner the Lang Shan mountains force the river to turn east near Linhe. Here there is an irrigated area between the mountains and river and desert to the southeast. Near the center of the northern stretch is the large town and irrigated area of Baotou. The main road south runs from Baotou to Xi'an. About 70 miles northeast of the northeast bend is Hohot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. The river turns south, enters the loess plateau and forms a gorge at least 200 feet below the surrounding hills. There are no large towns in this region. There is a dam apparently called Wanjia and another further south and then the Hukou Waterfall of the Yellow River, the second highest in China. The river leaves the gorge near Hancheng, receives the Fen River from the east and the Wei River from the west. At its juncture with the Wei the Yellow River turns east toward the North China Plain. One can go upstream on the Wei with the Qin Mountains with Mount Hua on the south past Weinan to Xi'an, a former capital of China and now a large city. West of Xi'an is Xianyang, the Qin dynasty capital. The river exits the mountains west of Baoji. There is a dam, the river narrows and becomes yellow and the railroad needs many bridges and tunnels all the way to Tianshui. Upstream various tributaries extend in the direction of Lanzhou.

Although this rectangular area is obvious on a map, the north and south are so different that the region cannot be said to have a common history.

The south and east of the loess plateau belong historically and culturally to China, for which see "Prehistory" and "History of China".

The north and west the grassland and desert belongs historically and culturally to Mongolia. The region had been occupied by humans since at least Upper Paleolithic, when the culture may be known as the Ordosian culture. The Ordosian culture, also sometimes called the Ordos culture, is documented from the Upper Palaeolithic. The points and sides of their tools indicate a "Moustero-Levalloisian" element. They seemed to have a masterful knowledge of Upper Palaeolithic technology, producing blades as much as fifteen centimeters long.

An ancient tradition says that the Chinese people entered China by travelling down the Wei River. By about 1000 BC Chinese civilization was centered on the west side of the North China Plain with an extension up the Wei valley and a northern extension up the Fen River. The lower Wei valley is still one of the most densely populated areas in China. Rulers based in the Wei valley had an advantage since the mountains to the east made a natural fortification and war horses were readily available from the northern grasslands. The Zhou dynasty and the Qin dynasty started in the Wei valley. Xi'an on the lower Wei was several times the capital of China. By the Tang dynasty the economic center of China had shifted to the Yangzi valley and the Wei region became partly dependent of food imported up the Grand Canal.

The Ordosian culture was followed by the Zhukaigou culture of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. While the Zhukaigou culture population appears to have been predominantly Mongoloid, as known from their skeletal remains and artifacts, the Ordos culture is thought to have been the most eastern extension of Eurasian nomads, and at least partly of Europoid peoples. Under the Qin and Han dynasties the area came under at least loose Chinese control. The Zhukaigou culture is one of the neolithic cultures at Ordos, dated between 2200 and 1500 BC. It is associated with about 327 burials, with recent maternal genetic evidence showing that they were related to the remains from Yinniugou, as well as modern populations like Daurs and Evenks. The archaeological finds at the site are similar to those of the lower Xiajiadian culture. These finds are important as they are associated with the development of snake pattern designs on the decoration of weapon and animal-depicting artifacts which later would become a characteristic style of the Ordos. The skeletal remains at Taohongbala (桃紅巴拉) tomb dated to between the 7th and 6th centuries BC are generally identified as belonging to the Xiongnu bronze culture and show strong Mongoloid features. A similar type of burial at Hulusitai around Bayannur, uncovered in 1979 and dated to between the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, is considered the only Xiongnu site along the northern slope of Yinshan. The site consisted of mainly bronze artifacts and pottery and 27 horse skeletal remains. Further excavation in 1983 at Guoxianyaozi uncovered a total of 31 burials dated to the 6th to 5th century BC revealing strong north Mongoloid features. These generally decreased towards the south, and skeletal remains of east and north Mongoloid type can be seen from finds in Maoqinggou and Yinniugou dated to around the 7th century BC, amounting to a total of 117 burials. Many bronze weapons of these cultures are similar to those of Chinese style. Depictions of the Ordos people tend to show straight hair. This is especially true of archaeological finds from Baotou (M63:22, M63:23, M84:5), Etuoke (M1, M6), Xihaokou (M3), lower Woertuhao (M3:1), and Mengjialiang.

Horse nomads occupied the area of the Ordos Plateau previously settled by the Zhukaigou culture from the 6th to the 2nd century BC, creating the Ordos culture, before being driven away by the Xiongnu. The Ordos Plateau containted the best pasture lands on the Asian steppe.

The Ordos are mainly known from their skeletal remains and artifacts. The Ordos culture of about 500 BC to AD 100 is known for its "Ordos bronzes", blade weapons, finials for tent-poles,horse gear, and small plaques and fittings for clothes and horse harness, using animal style decoration with relationships both with the Scythian art of regions much further west, and also Chinese art. Its relationship with the Xiongnu is controversial; for some scholars they are the same, and for others different. Many buried metal artefacts have emerged on the surface of the land as a result of the progressive desertification of the region. According to Iaroslav Lebedynsky, they are thought to be the easternmost people of Scythian affinity to have settled here, just to the east of the better-known Yuezhi. Because the people represented in archaeological finds tend to display Europoïd features, aslso earlier noted by Otto J. Maenchen-Helfen, Lededynsky suggests the Ordos to be of Scythian affinity. The weapons, found in tombs throughout the steppes of the Ordos, are very close to those of the Scythians, known on the Asian Steppe as Sakas.

The Ordos were in contact and often at war with the pre-Han and Han populations of the period. Their former territory is now located just north of the Great Wall of China, and on the south bank of the northernmost hook of the Yellow River. The western neighbours of Ordos may have been identical with the Yuezhi who, after being vanquished by the Xiongnu, migrated to southern Asia to form the Kushan empire. They were also culturally related to another nomadic tribe to the east, the Eastern Hu (Chinese:東胡, "Donghu"), who shared a similar "art of the steppes" but appear to have been Mongoloids ("Donghu" is synonymous with "Dongyi," which refers to the inhabitants of Korea, Japan, and what is now northeast China; the ancestors of the people living there today are likely to be these Eastern Hu or related to them in some way). They may also have been related to the Di people (Chinese:氐 "Western Barbarians") of Chinese annals.

The Xiongnu () were a confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Asian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Chinese sources report that Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire.

Xiongnu

After their previous overlords, the Yuezhi, migrated into Central Asia during the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu became a dominant power on the steppes of north-east Central Asia, centred on an area known later as Mongolia. The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang. Their relations with adjacent Chinese dynasties to the south east were complex, with repeated periods of conflict and intrigue, alternating with exchanges of tribute, trade, and marriage treaties.

Attempts to identify the Xiongnu with later groups of the western Eurasian Steppe remain controversial. Scythians and Sarmatians were concurrently to the west. The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only a few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name "Xiongnu" may be cognate with that of the Huns or the "Huna", although this is disputed. Other linguistic links – all of them also controversial – proposed by scholars include Iranian, Mongolic, Turkic, Uralic, Yeniseian, Tibeto-Burman or multi-ethnic.

An early reference to the Xiongnu was by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian who wrote about the Xiongnu in the "Records of the Grand Historian" ( BC), drawing a distinct line between the settled Huaxia people (Chinese) to the pastoral nomads (Xiongnu), characterizing it as two polar groups in the sense of a civilization versus an uncivilized society: the Hua–Yi distinction. Pre-Han sources often classify the Xiongnu as a "Hu" people, which was a blanket term for nomadic people in general; it only became an ethnonym for the Xiongnu during the Han.

Ancient China often came in contact with the Xianyun and the Xirong nomadic peoples. In later Chinese historiography, some groups of these peoples were believed to be the possible progenitors of the Xiongnu people. These nomadic people often had repeated military confrontations with the Shang and especially the Zhou, who often conquered and enslaved the nomads in an expansion drift. During the Warring States period, the armies from the Qin, Zhao, and Yan states were encroaching and conquering various nomadic territories that were inhabited by the Xiongnu and other Hu peoples.

Sinologist Edwin Pulleyblank argued that the Xiongnu were part of a Xirong group called Yiqu, who had lived in Shaanbei and had been influenced by China for centuries, before they were driven out by the Qin dynasty. Qin's campaign against the Xiongnu expanded Qin's territory at the expense of the Xiongnu. In 215 BC, Qin Shi Huang sent General Meng Tian to conquer the Xiongnu and drive them from the Ordos Loop, which he did later that year. After the catastrophic defeat at the hands of Meng Tian, the Xiongnu leader Touman was forced to flee far into the Mongolian Plateau. The Qin empire became a threat to the Xiongnu, which ultimately led to the reorganization of the many tribes into a confederacy.In 209 BC, three years before the founding of Han China, the Xiongnu were brought together in a powerful confederation under a new chanyu, Modu Chanyu. This new political unity transformed them into a more formidable state by enabling formation of larger armies and the ability to exercise better strategic coordination. The Xiongnu adopted many of the Chinese agriculture techniques such as slave labor for heavy labor, wore silk like the Chinese, and lived in Chinese-style homes. The reason for creating the confederation remains unclear. Suggestions include the need for a stronger state to deal with the Qin unification of China that resulted in a loss of the Ordos region at the hands of Meng Tian or the political crisis that overtook the Xiongnu in 215 BC when Qin armies evicted them from their pastures on the Yellow River.

After forging internal unity, Modu expanded the empire on all sides. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the Donghu people of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as the Yuezhi in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu, where his son, Jizhu, made a skull cup out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also reoccupied all the lands previously taken by the Qin general Meng Tian.

Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu threatened the Han dynasty, almost causing Emperor Gaozu, the first Han emperor, to lose his throne in 200 BC. By the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu had driven the Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor, killing the Yuezhi king in the process and asserting their presence in the Western Regions.

The Xiongnu were recognized as the most prominent of the nomads bordering the Chinese Han empire and during early relations between the Xiongnu and the Han, the former held the balance of power. According to the "Book of Han", later quoted in Duan Chengshi's ninth century "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang":

After Modu, later leaders formed a dualistic system of political organisation with the left and right branches of the Xiongnu divided on a regional basis. The "chanyu" or "shanyu", a ruler equivalent to the Emperor of China, exercised direct authority over the central territory. Longcheng (蘢城), near the Orkhon inscriptions in modern Mongolia, became the annual meeting place and served as the Xiongnu capital.

The ruler of the Xiongnu was called the Chanyu. Under him were the Tuqi Kings. The Tuqi King of the Left was normally the heir presumptive. Next lower in the hierarchy came more officials in pairs of left and right: the "guli", the army commanders, the great governors, the "dunghu" and the "gudu". Beneath them came the commanders of detachments of one thousand, of one hundred, and of ten men. This nation of nomads, a people on the march, was organized like an army.

Yap, apparently describing the early period, places the Chanyu's main camp north of Shanxi with the Tuqi King of the Left holding the area north of Beijing and the Tuqi King of the Right holding the Ordos Loop area as far as Gansu. Grousset, probably describing the situation after the Xiongnu had been driven north, places the Chanyu on the upper Orkhon River near where Genghis Khan would later establish his capital of Karakorum. The Tuqi King of the Left lived in the east, probably on the high Kherlen River. The Tuqi King of the Right lived in the west, perhaps near present-day Uliastai in the Khangai Mountains.

In the winter of 200 BC, following a siege of Taiyuan, Emperor Gaozu of Han personally led a military campaign against Modun. At the Battle of Baideng, he was ambushed reputedly by 300,000 elite Xiongnu cavalry. The emperor was cut off from supplies and reinforcements for seven days, only narrowly escaping capture.

The Han Chinese sent princesses to marry Xiongnu leaders in their efforts to stop the border raids. Along with arranged marriages, the Han sent gifts to bribe the Xiongnu to stop attacking. After the defeat at Pingcheng, the Han emperor abandoned a military solution to the Xiongnu threat. Instead, in 198BC, the courtier was dispatched for negotiations. The peace settlement eventually reached between the parties included a Han princess given in marriage to the "chanyu" (called "heqin" ); periodic gifts to the Xiongnu of silk, distilled beverages and rice; equal status between the states; and the Great Wall as mutual border.

This first treaty set the pattern for relations between the Han and the Xiongnu for sixty years. Up to 135 BC, the treaty was renewed nine times, each time with an increase in the "gifts". In 192 BC, Modun even asked for the hand of Emperor Gao's widow Empress Lü Zhi. His son and successor, the energetic Jiyu, known as the Laoshang Chanyu, continued his father's expansionist policies. Laoshang succeeded in negotiating with Emperor Wen terms for the maintenance of a large scale government sponsored market system.

While the Xiongnu benefited handsomely, from the Chinese perspective marriage treaties were costly, humiliating, and ineffective. Laoshang showed that he did not take the peace treaty seriously. On one occasion his scouts penetrated to a point near Chang'an. In 166 BC he personally led 140,000 cavalry to invade Anding, reaching as far as the imperial retreat at Yong. In 158 BC, his successor sent 30,000 cavalry to attack Shangdang and another 30,000 to Yunzhong.

The Xiongnu also practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials who defected to their side. The older sister of the Chanyu (the Xiongnu ruler) was married to the Xiongnu General Zhao Xin, the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of the Chanyu was married to the Han Chinese General Li Ling after he surrendered and defected. The Yenisei Kirghiz Khagans claimed descent from Li Ling. Another Han Chinese General who defected to the Xiongnu was Li Guangli who also married a daughter of the Chanyu.

When the Eastern Jin dynasty ended the Xianbei Northern Wei received the Han Chinese Jin prince Sima Chuzhi 司馬楚之 as a refugee. A Northern Wei Xianbei Princess married Sima Chuzhi, giving birth to Sima Jinlong 司馬金龍. Northern Liang Xiongnu King Juqu Mujian's daughter married Sima Jinlong.

The Han dynasty made preparations for war when the Han Emperor Wu dispatched the explorer Zhang Qian to explore the mysterious kingdoms to the west and to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people in order to combat the Xiongnu. During this time Zhang married a Xiongnu wife, who bore him a son, and gained the trust of the Xiongnu leader. While Zhang Qian did not succeed in this mission, his reports of the west provided even greater incentive to counter the Xiongnu hold on westward routes out of China, and the Chinese prepared to mount a large scale attack using the Northern Silk Road to move men and material.

While Han China was making preparations for a military confrontation from the reign of Emperor Wen, the break did not come until 133 BC, following an abortive trap to ambush the "chanyu" at Mayi. By that point the empire was consolidated politically, militarily and economically, and was led by an adventurous pro-war faction at court. In that year, Emperor Wu reversed the decision he had made the year before to renew the peace treaty.

Full-scale war broke out in autumn 129 BC, when 40,000 Chinese cavalry made a surprise attack on the Xiongnu at the border markets. In 127 BC, the Han general Wei Qing retook the Ordos. In 121 BC, the Xiongnu suffered another setback when Huo Qubing led a force of light cavalry westward out of Longxi and within six days fought his way through five Xiongnu kingdoms. The Xiongnu Hunye king was forced to surrender with 40,000 men. In 119 BC both Huo and Wei, each leading 50,000 cavalrymen and 100,000 footsoldiers (in order to keep up with the mobility of the Xiongnu, many of the non-cavalry Han soldiers were mobile infantrymen who traveled on horseback but fought on foot), and advancing along different routes, forced the "chanyu" and his court to flee north of the Gobi Desert. Major logistical difficulties limited the duration and long-term continuation of these campaigns. According to the analysis of Yan You (嚴尤), the difficulties were twofold. Firstly there was the problem of supplying food across long distances. Secondly, the weather in the northern Xiongnu lands was difficult for Han soldiers, who could never carry enough fuel. According to official reports, the Xiongnu lost 80,000 to 90,000 men, and out of the 140,000 horses the Han forces had brought into the desert, fewer than 30,000 returned to China.

As a result of these battles, the Chinese controlled the strategic region from the Ordos and Gansu corridor to Lop Nor. They succeeded in separating the Xiongnu from the Qiang peoples to the south, and also gained direct access to the Western Regions. Because of strong Chinese control over the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu became unstable and were no longer a threat to the Han Chinese.
Ban Chao, Protector General (都護; "Duhu") of the Han dynasty, embarked with an army of 70,000 men in a campaign against the Xiongnu insurgents who were harassing the trade route now known as the Silk Road. His successful military campaign saw the subjugation of one Xiongnu tribe after another. Ban Chao also sent an envoy named Gan Ying to Daqin (Rome). Ban Chao was created the Marquess of Dingyuan (定遠侯, i.e., "the Marquess who stabilized faraway places") for his services to the Han Empire and returned to the capital Luoyang at the age of 70 years and died there in the year 102. Following his death, the power of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions increased again, and the emperors of subsequent dynasties were never again able to reach so far to the west.

When a Chanyu died, power could pass to his younger brother if his son was not of age. This system, which can be compared to Gaelic tanistry, normally kept an adult male on the throne, but could cause trouble in later generations when there were several lineages that might claim the throne. When the 12th Chanyu died in 60 BC, power was taken by Woyanqudi, a grandson of the 12th Chanyu's cousin. Being something of a usurper, he tried to put his own men in power, which only increased the number of his enemies. The 12th Chanyu's son fled east and, in 58 BC, revolted. Few would support Woyanqudi and he was driven to suicide, leaving the rebel son, Huhanye, as the 14th Chanyu. The Woyanqudi faction then set up his brother, Tuqi, as Chanyu (58 BC). In 57 BC three more men declared themselves Chanyu. Two dropped their claims in favor of the third who was defeated by Tuqi in that year and surrendered to Huhanye the following year. In 56 BC Tuqi was defeated by Huhanye and committed suicide, but two more claimants appeared: Runzhen and Huhanye's elder brother Zhizhi Chanyu. Runzhen was killed by Zhizhi in 54 BC, leaving only Zhizhi and Huhanye. Zhizhi grew in power, and, in 53 BC, Huhanye moved south and submitted to the Chinese. Huhanye used Chinese support to weaken Zhizhi, who gradually moved west. In 49 BC, a brother to Tuqi set himself up as Chanyu and was killed by Zhizhi. In 36 BC, Zhizhi was killed by a Chinese army while trying to establish a new kingdom in the far west near Lake Balkhash.

In 53 BC Huhanye (呼韓邪) decided to enter into tributary relations with Han China. The original terms insisted on by the Han court were that, first, the "chanyu" or his representatives should come to the capital to pay homage; secondly, the "chanyu" should send a hostage prince; and thirdly, the "chanyu" should present tribute to the Han emperor. The political status of the Xiongnu in the Chinese world order was reduced from that of a "brotherly state" to that of an "outer vassal" (外臣). During this period, however, the Xiongnu maintained political sovereignty and full territorial integrity. The Great Wall of China continued to serve as the line of demarcation between Han and Xiongnu.

Huhanye sent his son, the "wise king of the right" Shuloujutang, to the Han court as hostage. In 51 BC he personally visited Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor on the Lunar New Year. In the same year, another envoy Qijushan (稽居狦) was received at the Sweet Spring Palace in the north west of modern Shanxi. On the financial side, Huhanye was amply rewarded in large quantities of gold, cash, clothes, silk, horses and grain for his participation. Huhanye made two further homage trips, in 49 BC and 33 BC; with each one the imperial gifts were increased. On the last trip, Huhanye took the opportunity to ask to be allowed to become an imperial son-in-law. As a sign of the decline in the political status of the Xiongnu, Emperor Yuan refused, giving him instead five ladies-in-waiting. One of them was Wang Zhaojun, famed in Chinese folklore as one of the Four Beauties.

When Zhizhi learned of his brother's submission, he also sent a son to the Han court as hostage in 53 BC. Then twice, in 51 BC and 50 BC, he sent envoys to the Han court with tribute. But having failed to pay homage personally, he was never admitted to the tributary system. In 36 BC, a junior officer named Chen Tang, with the help of Gan Yanshou, protector-general of the Western Regions, assembled an expeditionary force that defeated him at the Battle of Zhizhi and sent his head as a trophy to Chang'an.

Tributary relations were discontinued during the reign of Huduershi (18 AD–48), corresponding to the political upheavals of the Xin Dynasty in China. The Xiongnu took the opportunity to regain control of the western regions, as well as neighbouring peoples such as the Wuhuan. In 24 AD, Hudershi even talked about reversing the tributary system.

The Xiongnu's new power was met with a policy of appeasement by Emperor Guangwu. At the height of his power, Huduershi even compared himself to his illustrious ancestor, Modu. Due to growing regionalism among the Xiongnu, however, Huduershi was never able to establish unquestioned authority. In contravention of a principle of fraternal succession established by Huhanye, Huduershi designated his son Punu as heir-apparent. However, as the eldest son of the preceding "chanyu", Bi (Pi) – the Rizhu King of the Right – had a more legitimate claim. Consequently, Bi refused to attend the annual meeting at the "chanyu"'s court. Nevertheless, in 46 AD, Punu ascended the throne.

In 48 AD, a confederation of eight Xiongnu tribes in Bi's power base in the south, with a military force totalling 40,000 to 50,000 men, seceded from Punu's kingdom and acclaimed Bi as "chanyu". This kingdom became known as the Southern Xiongnu.

The rump kingdom under Punu, around the Orkhon (modern north central Mongolia) became known as the Northern Xiongnu. Punu, who became known as the Northern "Chanyu", began to put military pressure on the Southern Xiongnu.

In 49 AD, Tsi Yung, a Han governor of Liaodong, allied with the Wuhuan and Xianbei, attacked the Northern Xiongnu.
The Northern Xiongnu suffered two major defeats: one at the hands of the Xianbei in 85 AD, and by the Han during the Battle of Ikh Bayan, in 89 AD. The northern "chanyu" fled to the north-west with his subjects.

In about 155 AD, the Northern Xiongnu were decisively "crushed and subjugated" by the Xianbei.

Coincidentally, the Southern Xiongnu were plagued by natural disasters and misfortunes – in addition to the threat posed by Punu. Consequently, in 50 AD, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to tributary relations with Han China. The system of tribute was considerably tightened by the Han, to keep the Southern Xiongnu under control. The "chanyu" was ordered to establish his court in the Meiji district of Xihe commandery and the Southern Xiongnu were resettled in eight frontier commanderies. At the same time, large numbers of Chinese were also resettled in these commanderies, in mixed Han-Xiongnu settlements.
Economically, the Southern Xiongnu became reliant on trade with the Han.

Tensions were evident between Han settlers and practitioners of the nomadic way of life. Thus, in 94, Anguo Chanyu joined forces with newly subjugated Xiongnu from the north and started a large scale rebellion against the Han.

During the late 2nd century AD, the southern Xiongnu were drawn into the rebellions then plaguing the Han court. In 188, the "chanyu" was murdered by some of his own subjects for agreeing to send troops to help the Han suppress a rebellion in Hebei – many of the Xiongnu feared that it would set a precedent for unending military service to the Han court. The murdered "chanyu's" son Yufuluo, entitled Chizhisizhu (), succeeded him, but was then overthrown by the same rebellious faction in 189. He travelled to Luoyang (the Han capital) to seek aid from the Han court, but at this time the Han court was in disorder from the clash between Grand General He Jin and the eunuchs, and the intervention of the warlord Dong Zhuo. The "chanyu" had no choice but to settle down with his followers in Pingyang, a city in Shanxi. In 195, he died and was succeeded as "chanyu" by his brother Huchuquan Chanyu.

In 215–216 AD, the warlord-statesman Cao Cao detained Huchuquan Chanyu in the city of Ye, and divided his followers in Shanxi into five divisions: left, right, south, north, and centre. This was aimed at preventing the exiled Xiongnu in Shanxi from engaging in rebellion, and also allowed Cao Cao to use the Xiongnu as auxiliaries in his cavalry.

Later the Xiongnu aristocracy in Shanxi changed their surname from Luanti to Liu for prestige reasons, claiming that they were related to the Han imperial clan through the old intermarriage policy.
After Huchuquan, the Southern Xiongnu were partitioned into five local tribes. Each local chief was under the "surveillance of a chinese resident", while the shanyu was in "semicaptivity at the imperial court."

In 304, Liu Yuan became Chanyu of the Five Hordes. In 308, declared himself emperor and founded the Han Zhao Dynasty. In 311, his son and successor Liu Cong captured Luoyang, and with it the Emperor Huai of Jin China.

In 316, the Emperor Min of Jin China was captured in Chang'an. Both emperors were humiliated as cupbearers in Linfen before being executed in 313 and 318.

North China came under Xiongnu rule while the remnants of the Jin dynasty survived in the south at Jiankang.

In 318, after suppressing a coup by a powerful minister in the Xiongnu-Han court, in which the emperor and a large proportion of the aristocracy were massacred), the Xiongnu prince Liu Yao moved the Xiongnu-Han capital from Pingyang to Chang'an and renamed the dynasty as Zhao (Liu Yuan had declared the empire's name Han to create a linkage with Han Dynasty—to which he claimed he was a descendant, through a princess, but Liu Yao felt that it was time to end the linkage with Han and explicitly restore the linkage to the great Xiongnu chanyu Maodun, and therefore decided to change the name of the state. (However, this was not a break from Liu Yuan, as he continued to honor Liu Yuan and Liu Cong posthumously; it is hence known to historians collectively as Han Zhao).

However, the eastern part of north China came under the control of a rebel Xiongnu-Han general of Jie ancestry named Shi Le. Liu Yao and Shi Le fought a long war until 329, when Liu Yao was captured in battle and executed. Chang'an fell to Shi Le soon after, and the Xiongnu dynasty was wiped out. North China was ruled by Shi Le's Later Zhao dynasty for the next 20 years.

However, the "Liu" Xiongnu remained active in the north for at least another century.

The northern Tiefu branch of the Xiongnu gained control of the Inner Mongolian region in the 10 years between the conquest of the Tuoba Xianbei state of Dai by the Former Qin empire in 376, and its restoration in 386 as the Northern Wei. After 386, the Tiefu were gradually destroyed by or surrendered to the Tuoba, with the submitting Tiefu becoming known as the Dugu. Liu Bobo, a surviving prince of the Tiefu fled to the Ordos Loop, where he founded a state called the Xia (thus named because of the Xiongnu's supposed ancestry from the Xia dynasty) and changed his surname to Helian (赫連). The Helian-Xia state was conquered by the Northern Wei in 428–31, and the Xiongnu thenceforth effectively ceased to play a major role in Chinese history, assimilating into the Xianbei and Han ethnicities.

Tongwancheng (meaning "Unite All Nations") was the capital of the Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms), whose rulers claimed descent from Modu Chanyu.

The ruined city was discovered in 1996 and the State Council designated it as a cultural relic under top state protection. The repair of the Yong'an Platform, where Helian Bobo, emperor of the Da Xia regime, reviewed parading troops, has been finished and restoration on the 31-meter-tall turret follows.

The Juqu were a branch of the Xiongnu. Their leader Juqu Mengxun took over the Northern Liang by overthrowing the former puppet ruler Duan Ye. By 439, the Juqu power was destroyed by the Northern Wei. Their remnants were then settled in the city of Gaochang before being destroyed by the Rouran.

Barfield attempted to interpret Xiongnu history as well as narrate it. He made the following points: The Xiongnu confederation was unusually long-lived for a steppe empire. The purpose of raiding China was not simply for goods, but to force the Chinese to pay regular tribute. The power of the Xiongnu ruler was based on his control of Chinese tribute which he used to reward his supporters. The Han and Xiongnu empires rose at the same time because the Xiongnu state depended on Chinese tribute. A major Xiongnu weakness was the custom of lateral succession. If a dead ruler's son was not old enough to take command, power passed to the late ruler's brother. This worked in the first generation but could lead to civil war in the second generation. The first time this happened, in 60 BC, the weaker party adopted what Barfield calls the 'inner frontier strategy.' They moved south and submitted to China and then used Chinese resources to defeat the Northern Xiongnu and re-establish the empire. The second time this happened, about 47 AD, the strategy failed. The southern ruler was unable to defeat the northern ruler and the Xiongnu remained divided.

The sound of the first Chinese character (匈) has been reconstructed as in Old Chinese. The Chinese name for the Xiongnu was a pejorative term in itself, as the characters have the meaning of "fierce slave". The Chinese characters are pronounced as "Xiōngnú" in modern Mandarin Chinese.

The supposed Old Chinese sound of the first character (匈) has a possible similarity with the name "Hun" in European languages. The second character (奴) appears to have no parallel in Western terminology. Whether the similarity is evidence of kinship or mere coincidence is hard to tell. It could lend credence to the theory that the Huns were in fact descendants of the Northern Xiongnu who migrated westward, or that the Huns were using a name borrowed from the Northern Xiongnu, or that these Xiongnu made up part of the Hun confederation.

The Xiongnu-Hun hypothesis originated with the 18th-century French historian Joseph de Guignes, who noticed that ancient Chinese scholars had referred to members of tribes associated with the Xiongnu by names similar to "Hun", albeit with varying Chinese characters. Étienne de la Vaissière has shown that, in the Sogdian script used in the so-called "Sogdian Ancient Letters", both the Xiongnu and Huns were referred to as γwn ("xwn"), indicating that the two were synonymous. Although the theory that the Xiongnu were precursors of the Huns known later in Europe is now accepted by many scholars, it has yet to become a consensus view. The identification with the Huns may be either incorrect or an oversimplification (as would appear to be the case with a proto-Mongol people, the Rouran, who have sometimes been linked to the Avars of Central Europe).

Harold Walter Bailey proposed an Iranian origin of the Xiongnu, recognizing all the earliest Xiongnu names of the 2nd century BC as being of the Iranian type. This theory is supported by turkologist. Central Asian scholar Christopher I. Beckwith notes that the Xiongnu name could be a cognate of Scythian, Saka and Sogdia, corresponding to a name for Northern Iranians. According to Beckwith the Xiongnu could have contained a leading Iranian component when they started out, but more likely they had earlier been subjects of an Iranian people and learned from them the Iranian nomadic model.

In the UNESCO-published "History of Civilizations of Central Asia", its editor János Harmatta concludes that the royal tribes and kings of the Xiongnu bore Iranian names, that all Xiongnu words noted by the Chinese can be explained from a Scythian language, and that it is therefore clear that the majority of Hsiung-nu tribes spoke an Eastern Iranian language.

Mongolian and other scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu spoke a language related to the Mongolic languages. Mongolian archaeologists proposed that the Slab Grave Culture people were the ancestors of the Xiongnu, and some scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu may have been the ancestors of the Mongols. According to the "Book of Song", (section Joujan), Joujan's (Rouran Khaganate) alternative name was "Tatar" or "Tartar" and they were a Xiongnu tribe". Nikita Bichurin considered Xiongnu and Xianbei to be two subgroups (or dynasties) but the same ethnicity.

Genghis Khan refers to the time of Modu Chanyu as "the remote times of our Chanyu" in his letter to Daoist Qiu Chuji. Sun and moon symbol of Xiongnu that discovered by archaeologists is similar to Mongolian Soyombo symbol.

Proponents of a Turkic language theory include E.H. Parker, Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, Julius Klaproth, Kurakichi Shiratori, Gustaf John Ramstedt, Annemarie von Gabain, and Omeljan Pritsak. Some sources say the ruling class was proto-Turkic, while others suggest it was proto-Hun. Craig Benjamin sees the Xiongnu as either proto-Turks or proto-Mongols who possibly spoke a language related to the Dingling.

Both the 7th-century Chinese "History of the Northern Dynasties" and the "Book of Zhou", an inscription in the Sogdian language, report the Turks to be a subgroup of the Huns.

Lajos Ligeti was the first to suggest that the Xiongnu spoke a Yeniseian language. In the early 1960s Edwin Pulleyblank was the first to expand upon this idea with credible evidence. In 2000, Alexander Vovin reanalyzed Pulleyblank's argument and found further support for it by utilizing the most recent reconstruction of Old Chinese phonology by Starostin and Baxter and a single Chinese transcription of a sentence in the language of the Jie people, a member tribe of the Xiongnu Confederacy. Previous Turkic interpretations of the aforementioned sentence do not match the Chinese translation as precisely as using Yeniseian grammar. Pulleybank and D. N. Keightley asserted that the Xiongnu titles "were originally Siberian words but were later borrowed by the Turkic and Mongolic peoples". The Xiongnu language gave to the later Turkic and Mongolian empires a number of important culture words including Turkish tängri, Mongolian tenggeri, was originally the Xiongnu word for “heaven”, chengli (tháːŋ-wrə́j). Titles such as tarqan and tegin and kaghan were also inherited from the Xiongnu language.

Since the early 19th century, a number of Western scholars have proposed a connection between various language families or subfamilies and the language or languages of the Xiongnu. Albert Terrien de Lacouperie considered them to be multi-component groups. Many scholars believe the Xiongnu confederation was a mixture of different ethno-linguistic groups, and that their main language (as represented in the Chinese sources) and its relationships have not yet been satisfactorily determined. Kim rejects "old racial theories or even ethnic affiliations" in favour of the "historical reality of these extensive, multiethnic, polyglot steppe empires".

Chinese sources link the Tiele people and Ashina to the Xiongnu, not all Turkic peoples. According to the "Book of Zhou" and the "History of the Northern Dynasties", the Ashina clan was a component of the Xiongnu confederation, but this connection is disputed, and according to the "Book of Sui" and the "Tongdian", they were "mixed nomads" () from Pingliang. The Ashina and Tiele may have been separate ethnic groups who mixed with the Xiongnu. Indeed, Chinese sources link many nomadic peoples ("hu"; see "Wu Hu") on their northern borders to the Xiongnu, just as Greco-Roman historiographers called Avars and Huns "Scythians". The Greek cognate of "Tourkia" () was used by the Byzantine emperor and scholar Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus in his book "De Administrando Imperio", though in his use, "Turks" always referred to Magyars. Such archaizing was a common literary "topos", and implied similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation. Some Uyghurs claimed descent from the Xiongnu (according to Chinese history "Weishu", the founder of the Uyghur Khaganate was descended from a Xiongnu ruler), but many contemporary scholars do not consider the modern Uyghurs to be of direct linear descent from the old Uyghur Khaganate because modern Uyghur language and Old Uyghur languages are different. Rather, they consider them to be descendants of a number of people, one of them the ancient Uyghurs.

The Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer has denied any possibility of a relationship between the Xiongnu language and any other known language and rejected in the strongest terms any connection with Turkic or Mongolian.

The original geographic location of the Xiongnu is disputed among steppe archaeologists. Since the 1960s, the geographic origin of the Xiongnu has attempted to be traced through an analysis of Early Iron Age burial constructions. No region has been proven to have mortuary practices that clearly match that of the Xiongnu.

The political center of the Xiongnu state was in Mongolia and almost all of the Xiongnu kings were buried in Mongolia.

In the 1920s, Pyotr Kozlov's excavations of the royal tombs at the Noin-Ula burial site in northern Mongolia that date to around the first century CE provided a glimpse into the lost world of the Xiongnu. Other archaeological sites have been unearthed in Inner Mongolia and elsewhere; they represent the Neolithic and historical periods of the Xiongnu's history. Those included the Ordos culture, many of them had been identified as the Xiongnu cultures. The region was occupied predominantly by peoples showing Mongoloid features, known from their skeletal remains and artifacts. Portraits found in the Noin-Ula excavations demonstrate other cultural evidences and influences, showing that Chinese and Xiongnu art have influenced each other mutually. Some of these embroidered portraits in the Noin-Ula kurgans also depict the Xiongnu with long braided hair with wide ribbons, which is seen to be identical with the Ashina clan hair-style. Well-preserved bodies in Xiongnu and pre-Xiongnu tombs in the Mongolian Republic and southern Siberia show both Mongoloid and Caucasian features. Analysis of skeletal remains from sites attributed to the Xiongnu provides an identification of dolichocephalic Mongoloid, ethnically distinct from neighboring populations in present-day Mongolia. Russian and Chinese anthropological and craniofacial studies show that the Xiongnu were physically very heterogenous, with six different population clusters showing different degrees of Mongoloid and Caucasoid physical traits. These clusters point to significant cross-regional migrations (both east to west and west to east) that likely started in the Neolithic period and continued to the medieval Mongolian period.

Presently, there exist four fully excavated and well documented cemeteries: Ivolga, Dyrestui, Burkhan Tolgoi, and Daodunzi. Additionally thousands of tombs have been recorded in Transbaikalia and Mongolia. In addition to these, the Tamir 1 excavation site from a 2005 Silkroad Arkanghai Excavation Project is the only Xiongnu cemetery in Mongolia to be fully mapped in scale. Tamir 1 was located on Tamiryn Ulaan Khoshuu, a prominent granitic outcrop near other cemeteries of the Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Mongol periods. Important finds at the site included a lacquer bowl, glass beads, and three TLV mirrors. Archaeologists from this project believe that these artifacts paired with the general richness and size of the graves suggests that this cemetery was for more important or wealthy Xiongnu individuals. The TLV mirrors are of particular interest. Three mirrors were acquired from three different graves at the site. The mirror found at feature 160 is believed to be a low-quality, local imitation of a Han mirror, while the whole mirror found at feature 100 and fragments of a mirror found at feature 109 are believed to belong to the classical TLV mirrors and date back to the Xin Dynasty or the early to middle Eastern Han period. The archaeologists have chosen to, for the most part, refrain from positing anything about Han-Xiongnu relations based on these particular mirrors. However, they were willing to mention the following: "There is no clear indication of the ethnicity of this tomb occupant, but in a similar brick-chambered tomb of late Eastern Han period at the same cemetery, archaeologists discovered a bronze seal with the official title that the Han government bestowed upon the leader of the Xiongnu. The excavators suggested that these brick chamber tombs all belong to the Xiongnu (Qinghai 1993)."

Classifications of these burial sites make distinction between two prevailing type of burials: "(1). monumental ramped terrace tombs which are often flanked by smaller "satellite" burials and (2) 'circular' or 'ring' burials." Some scholars consider this a division between "elite" graves and "commoner" graves. Other scholars, find this division too simplistic and not evocative of a true distinction because it shows "ignorance of the nature of the mortuary investments and typically luxuriant burial assemblages [and does not account for] the discovery of other lesser interments that do not qualify as either of these types."

A majority (89%) of Xiongnu mitochondrial sequences from the Egyin Gol Valley can be classified as belonging to Asian haplogroups, and nearly 11% belong to European mitochondrial haplogroups.

Over the past decade, Chinese archaeologists have published several reviews regarding the results of excavations in Xinjiang. They imply the Xiongnu's supreme ruling class. Particularly interesting are the tombs in the cemetery at Heigouliang, Xinjiang (the Black Gouliang cemetery, also known as the summer palace of the Xiongnu king), east of the Barkol basin, near the city of Hami. By typing results of DNA samples during the excavation of one of the tombs, it was determined that of the 12 men: 6 Q1a* (not Q1a1-M120, not Q1a1b-M25, not Q1a2-M3), 4 Q1b-M378, 2 Q* (not Q1a, not Q1b: unable to determine subclades):

Within the Xiongnu culture more variety is visible from site to site than from "era" to "era," in terms of the Chinese chronology, yet all form a whole that is distinct from that of the Han and other peoples of the non-Chinese north. In some instances iconography can not be used as the main cultural identifier because art depicting animal predation is common among the steppe peoples. An example of animal predation associated with Xiongnu culture is a tiger carrying dead prey. We see a similar image in work from Maoqinggou, a site which is presumed to have been under Xiongnu political control but is still clearly non-Xiongnu. From Maoqinggou, we see the prey replaced by an extension of the tiger's foot. The work also depicts a lower level of execution; Maoqinggou work was executed in a rounder, less detailed style. In its broadest sense, Xiongnu iconography of animal predation include examples such as the gold headdress from Aluchaideng and gold earrings with a turquoise and jade inlay discovered in Xigouban, Inner Mongolia. The gold headdress can be viewed, along with some other examples of Xiongnu art, from the external links at the bottom of this article.

Xiongnu art is harder to distinguish from Saka or Scythian art. There was a similarity present in stylistic execution, but Xiongnu art and Saka art did often differ in terms of iconography. Saka art does not appear to have included predation scenes, especially with dead prey, or same-animal combat. Additionally, Saka art included elements not common to Xiongnu iconography, such as a winged, horned horse. The two cultures also used two different bird heads. Xiongnu depictions of birds have a tendency to have a moderate eye and beak and have ears, while Saka birds have a pronounced eye and beak and no ears. Some scholars claim these differences are indicative of cultural differences. Scholar Sophia-Karin Psarras claims that Xiongnu images of animal predation, specifically tiger plus prey, is spiritual, representative of death and rebirth, and same-animal combat is representative of the acquisition of or maintenance of power.

The rock art of the Yin and Helan Mountains is dated from the 9th millennium BC to the 19th century AD. It consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and only minimally of painted images.

Excavations conducted between 1924 and 1925 in the Noin-Ula kurgans produced objects with over twenty carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to that of to the runic letters of the Old Turkic alphabet discovered in the Orkhon Valley. From this a some scholars hold that the Xiongnu had a script similar to Eurasian runiform and this alphabet itself served as the basis for the ancient Turkic writing.

The "Records of the Grand Historian" (vol. ) state that when the Xiongnu noted down something or transmitted a message, they made cuts on a piece of wood; they also mention a "Hu script".
Xiongnu were a nomadic people. From their lifestyle of herding flocks and their horse-trade with China, we can conclude that their diet consist mainly of mutton, horse meat and wild geese that were shot down.

In various kinds of ancient inscriptions on monuments of Munmu of Silla, it is recorded that King Silla came from Xiongnu. Also, there are some Korean researchers point out grave goods of Silla and Xiongnu are alike and also some researchers propose that Silla King is descended from Xiongnu. The Korean traditional cloth Hanbok shows some Iranian influence. The royal Crowns of Silla are identical to Persian Crowns found in today Afghanistan. About this, the Korean public broadcaster KBS has reported a documentary.

Xiongnu

The Xiongnu () were a confederation of nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Asian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Chinese sources report that Modu Chanyu, the supreme leader after 209 BC, founded the Xiongnu Empire.

After their previous overlords, the Yuezhi, migrated into Central Asia during the 2nd century BC, the Xiongnu became a dominant power on the steppes of north-east Central Asia, centred on an area known later as Mongolia. The Xiongnu were also active in areas now part of Siberia, Inner Mongolia, Gansu and Xinjiang. Their relations with adjacent Chinese dynasties to the south east were complex, with repeated periods of conflict and intrigue, alternating with exchanges of tribute, trade, and marriage treaties.

Attempts to identify the Xiongnu with later groups of the western Eurasian Steppe remain controversial. Scythians and Sarmatians were concurrently to the west. The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses, because only a few words, mainly titles and personal names, were preserved in the Chinese sources. The name "Xiongnu" may be cognate with that of the Huns or the "Huna", although this is disputed. Other linguistic links – all of them also controversial – proposed by scholars include Iranian, Mongolic, Turkic, Uralic, Yeniseian, Tibeto-Burman or multi-ethnic.

An early reference to the Xiongnu was by the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian who wrote about the Xiongnu in the "Records of the Grand Historian" ( BC), drawing a distinct line between the settled Huaxia people (Chinese) to the pastoral nomads (Xiongnu), characterizing it as two polar groups in the sense of a civilization versus an uncivilized society: the Hua–Yi distinction. Pre-Han sources often classify the Xiongnu as a "Hu" people, which was a blanket term for nomadic people in general; it only became an ethnonym for the Xiongnu during the Han.

Ancient China often came in contact with the Xianyun and the Xirong nomadic peoples. In later Chinese historiography, some groups of these peoples were believed to be the possible progenitors of the Xiongnu people. These nomadic people often had repeated military confrontations with the Shang and especially the Zhou, who often conquered and enslaved the nomads in an expansion drift. During the Warring States period, the armies from the Qin, Zhao, and Yan states were encroaching and conquering various nomadic territories that were inhabited by the Xiongnu and other Hu peoples.

After forging internal unity, Modu expanded the empire on all sides. To the north he conquered a number of nomadic peoples, including the Dingling of southern Siberia. He crushed the power of the Donghu people of eastern Mongolia and Manchuria as well as the Yuezhi in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu, where his son, Jizhu, made a skull cup out of the Yuezhi king. Modu also reoccupied all the lands previously taken by the Qin general Meng Tian.

Under Modu's leadership, the Xiongnu threatened the Han dynasty, almost causing Emperor Gaozu, the first Han emperor, to lose his throne in 200 BC. By the time of Modu's death in 174 BC, the Xiongnu had driven the Yuezhi from the Hexi Corridor, killing the Yuezhi king in the process and asserting their presence in the Western Regions.

The Xiongnu were recognized as the most prominent of the nomads bordering the Chinese Han empire and during early relations between the Xiongnu and the Han, the former held the balance of power. According to the "Book of Han", later quoted in Duan Chengshi's ninth century "Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang":

After Modu, later leaders formed a dualistic system of political organisation with the left and right branches of the Xiongnu divided on a regional basis. The "chanyu" or "shanyu", a ruler equivalent to the Emperor of China, exercised direct authority over the central territory. Longcheng (蘢城), near the Orkhon inscriptions in modern Mongolia, became the annual meeting place and served as the Xiongnu capital.

The ruler of the Xiongnu was called the Chanyu. Under him were the Tuqi Kings. The Tuqi King of the Left was normally the heir presumptive. Next lower in the hierarchy came more officials in pairs of left and right: the "guli", the army commanders, the great governors, the "dunghu" and the "gudu". Beneath them came the commanders of detachments of one thousand, of one hundred, and of ten men. This nation of nomads, a people on the march, was organized like an army.

Yap, apparently describing the early period, places the Chanyu's main camp north of Shanxi with the Tuqi King of the Left holding the area north of Beijing and the Tuqi King of the Right holding the Ordos Loop area as far as Gansu. Grousset, probably describing the situation after the Xiongnu had been driven north, places the Chanyu on the upper Orkhon River near where Genghis Khan would later establish his capital of Karakorum. The Tuqi King of the Left lived in the east, probably on the high Kherlen River. The Tuqi King of the Right lived in the west, perhaps near present-day Uliastai in the Khangai Mountains.

In the winter of 200 BC, following a siege of Taiyuan, Emperor Gaozu of Han personally led a military campaign against Modun. At the Battle of Baideng, he was ambushed reputedly by 300,000 elite Xiongnu cavalry. The emperor was cut off from supplies and reinforcements for seven days, only narrowly escaping capture.

The Han Chinese sent princesses to marry Xiongnu leaders in their efforts to stop the border raids. Along with arranged marriages, the Han sent gifts to bribe the Xiongnu to stop attacking. After the defeat at Pingcheng, the Han emperor abandoned a military solution to the Xiongnu threat. Instead, in 198BC, the courtier was dispatched for negotiations. The peace settlement eventually reached between the parties included a Han princess given in marriage to the "chanyu" (called "heqin" ); periodic gifts to the Xiongnu of silk, distilled beverages and rice; equal status between the states; and the Great Wall as mutual border.

This first treaty set the pattern for relations between the Han and the Xiongnu for sixty years. Up to 135 BC, the treaty was renewed nine times, each time with an increase in the "gifts". In 192 BC, Modun even asked for the hand of Emperor Gao's widow Empress Lü Zhi. His son and successor, the energetic Jiyu, known as the Laoshang Chanyu, continued his father's expansionist policies. Laoshang succeeded in negotiating with Emperor Wen terms for the maintenance of a large scale government sponsored market system.

While the Xiongnu benefited handsomely, from the Chinese perspective marriage treaties were costly, humiliating, and ineffective. Laoshang showed that he did not take the peace treaty seriously. On one occasion his scouts penetrated to a point near Chang'an. In 166 BC he personally led 140,000 cavalry to invade Anding, reaching as far as the imperial retreat at Yong. In 158 BC, his successor sent 30,000 cavalry to attack Shangdang and another 30,000 to Yunzhong.

The Xiongnu also practiced marriage alliances with Han dynasty officers and officials who defected to their side. The older sister of the Chanyu (the Xiongnu ruler) was married to the Xiongnu General Zhao Xin, the Marquis of Xi who was serving the Han dynasty. The daughter of the Chanyu was married to the Han Chinese General Li Ling after he surrendered and defected. The Yenisei Kirghiz Khagans claimed descent from Li Ling. Another Han Chinese General who defected to the Xiongnu was Li Guangli who also married a daughter of the Chanyu.

When the Eastern Jin dynasty ended the Xianbei Northern Wei received the Han Chinese Jin prince Sima Chuzhi 司馬楚之 as a refugee. A Northern Wei Xianbei Princess married Sima Chuzhi, giving birth to Sima Jinlong 司馬金龍. Northern Liang Xiongnu King Juqu Mujian's daughter married Sima Jinlong.

The Han dynasty made preparations for war when the Han Emperor Wu dispatched the explorer Zhang Qian to explore the mysterious kingdoms to the west and to form an alliance with the Yuezhi people in order to combat the Xiongnu. During this time Zhang married a Xiongnu wife, who bore him a son, and gained the trust of the Xiongnu leader. While Zhang Qian did not succeed in this mission, his reports of the west provided even greater incentive to counter the Xiongnu hold on westward routes out of China, and the Chinese prepared to mount a large scale attack using the Northern Silk Road to move men and material.

While Han China was making preparations for a military confrontation from the reign of Emperor Wen, the break did not come until 133 BC, following an abortive trap to ambush the "chanyu" at Mayi. By that point the empire was consolidated politically, militarily and economically, and was led by an adventurous pro-war faction at court. In that year, Emperor Wu reversed the decision he had made the year before to renew the peace treaty.

As a result of these battles, the Chinese controlled the strategic region from the Ordos and Gansu corridor to Lop Nor. They succeeded in separating the Xiongnu from the Qiang peoples to the south, and also gained direct access to the Western Regions. Because of strong Chinese control over the Xiongnu, the Xiongnu became unstable and were no longer a threat to the Han Chinese.
Ban Chao, Protector General (都護; "Duhu") of the Han dynasty, embarked with an army of 70,000 men in a campaign against the Xiongnu insurgents who were harassing the trade route now known as the Silk Road. His successful military campaign saw the subjugation of one Xiongnu tribe after another. Ban Chao also sent an envoy named Gan Ying to Daqin (Rome). Ban Chao was created the Marquess of Dingyuan (定遠侯, i.e., "the Marquess who stabilized faraway places") for his services to the Han Empire and returned to the capital Luoyang at the age of 70 years and died there in the year 102. Following his death, the power of the Xiongnu in the Western Regions increased again, and the emperors of subsequent dynasties were never again able to reach so far to the west.

In 53 BC Huhanye (呼韓邪) decided to enter into tributary relations with Han China. The original terms insisted on by the Han court were that, first, the "chanyu" or his representatives should come to the capital to pay homage; secondly, the "chanyu" should send a hostage prince; and thirdly, the "chanyu" should present tribute to the Han emperor. The political status of the Xiongnu in the Chinese world order was reduced from that of a "brotherly state" to that of an "outer vassal" (外臣). During this period, however, the Xiongnu maintained political sovereignty and full territorial integrity. The Great Wall of China continued to serve as the line of demarcation between Han and Xiongnu.

Huhanye sent his son, the "wise king of the right" Shuloujutang, to the Han court as hostage. In 51 BC he personally visited Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor on the Lunar New Year. In the same year, another envoy Qijushan (稽居狦) was received at the Sweet Spring Palace in the north west of modern Shanxi. On the financial side, Huhanye was amply rewarded in large quantities of gold, cash, clothes, silk, horses and grain for his participation. Huhanye made two further homage trips, in 49 BC and 33 BC; with each one the imperial gifts were increased. On the last trip, Huhanye took the opportunity to ask to be allowed to become an imperial son-in-law. As a sign of the decline in the political status of the Xiongnu, Emperor Yuan refused, giving him instead five ladies-in-waiting. One of them was Wang Zhaojun, famed in Chinese folklore as one of the Four Beauties.

When Zhizhi learned of his brother's submission, he also sent a son to the Han court as hostage in 53 BC. Then twice, in 51 BC and 50 BC, he sent envoys to the Han court with tribute. But having failed to pay homage personally, he was never admitted to the tributary system. In 36 BC, a junior officer named Chen Tang, with the help of Gan Yanshou, protector-general of the Western Regions, assembled an expeditionary force that defeated him at the Battle of Zhizhi and sent his head as a trophy to Chang'an.

Tributary relations were discontinued during the reign of Huduershi (18 AD–48), corresponding to the political upheavals of the Xin Dynasty in China. The Xiongnu took the opportunity to regain control of the western regions, as well as neighbouring peoples such as the Wuhuan. In 24 AD, Hudershi even talked about reversing the tributary system.

The Xiongnu's new power was met with a policy of appeasement by Emperor Guangwu. At the height of his power, Huduershi even compared himself to his illustrious ancestor, Modu. Due to growing regionalism among the Xiongnu, however, Huduershi was never able to establish unquestioned authority. In contravention of a principle of fraternal succession established by Huhanye, Huduershi designated his son Punu as heir-apparent. However, as the eldest son of the preceding "chanyu", Bi (Pi) – the Rizhu King of the Right – had a more legitimate claim. Consequently, Bi refused to attend the annual meeting at the "chanyu"'s court. Nevertheless, in 46 AD, Punu ascended the throne.

In 48 AD, a confederation of eight Xiongnu tribes in Bi's power base in the south, with a military force totalling 40,000 to 50,000 men, seceded from Punu's kingdom and acclaimed Bi as "chanyu". This kingdom became known as the Southern Xiongnu.

The rump kingdom under Punu, around the Orkhon (modern north central Mongolia) became known as the Northern Xiongnu. Punu, who became known as the Northern "Chanyu", began to put military pressure on the Southern Xiongnu.

In 49 AD, Tsi Yung, a Han governor of Liaodong, allied with the Wuhuan and Xianbei, attacked the Northern Xiongnu.
The Northern Xiongnu suffered two major defeats: one at the hands of the Xianbei in 85 AD, and by the Han during the Battle of Ikh Bayan, in 89 AD. The northern "chanyu" fled to the north-west with his subjects.

In about 155 AD, the Northern Xiongnu were decisively "crushed and subjugated" by the Xianbei.

Coincidentally, the Southern Xiongnu were plagued by natural disasters and misfortunes – in addition to the threat posed by Punu. Consequently, in 50 AD, the Southern Xiongnu submitted to tributary relations with Han China. The system of tribute was considerably tightened by the Han, to keep the Southern Xiongnu under control. The "chanyu" was ordered to establish his court in the Meiji district of Xihe commandery and the Southern Xiongnu were resettled in eight frontier commanderies. At the same time, large numbers of Chinese were also resettled in these commanderies, in mixed Han-Xiongnu settlements.
Economically, the Southern Xiongnu became reliant on trade with the Han.

Tensions were evident between Han settlers and practitioners of the nomadic way of life. Thus, in 94, Anguo Chanyu joined forces with newly subjugated Xiongnu from the north and started a large scale rebellion against the Han.

During the late 2nd century AD, the southern Xiongnu were drawn into the rebellions then plaguing the Han court. In 188, the "chanyu" was murdered by some of his own subjects for agreeing to send troops to help the Han suppress a rebellion in Hebei – many of the Xiongnu feared that it would set a precedent for unending military service to the Han court. The murdered "chanyu's" son Yufuluo, entitled Chizhisizhu (), succeeded him, but was then overthrown by the same rebellious faction in 189. He travelled to Luoyang (the Han capital) to seek aid from the Han court, but at this time the Han court was in disorder from the clash between Grand General He Jin and the eunuchs, and the intervention of the warlord Dong Zhuo. The "chanyu" had no choice but to settle down with his followers in Pingyang, a city in Shanxi. In 195, he died and was succeeded as "chanyu" by his brother Huchuquan Chanyu.

In 215–216 AD, the warlord-statesman Cao Cao detained Huchuquan Chanyu in the city of Ye, and divided his followers in Shanxi into five divisions: left, right, south, north, and centre. This was aimed at preventing the exiled Xiongnu in Shanxi from engaging in rebellion, and also allowed Cao Cao to use the Xiongnu as auxiliaries in his cavalry.

Later the Xiongnu aristocracy in Shanxi changed their surname from Luanti to Liu for prestige reasons, claiming that they were related to the Han imperial clan through the old intermarriage policy.
After Huchuquan, the Southern Xiongnu were partitioned into five local tribes. Each local chief was under the "surveillance of a chinese resident", while the shanyu was in "semicaptivity at the imperial court."

In 304, Liu Yuan became Chanyu of the Five Hordes. In 308, declared himself emperor and founded the Han Zhao Dynasty. In 311, his son and successor Liu Cong captured Luoyang, and with it the Emperor Huai of Jin China.

In 316, the Emperor Min of Jin China was captured in Chang'an. Both emperors were humiliated as cupbearers in Linfen before being executed in 313 and 318.

North China came under Xiongnu rule while the remnants of the Jin dynasty survived in the south at Jiankang.

In 318, after suppressing a coup by a powerful minister in the Xiongnu-Han court, in which the emperor and a large proportion of the aristocracy were massacred), the Xiongnu prince Liu Yao moved the Xiongnu-Han capital from Pingyang to Chang'an and renamed the dynasty as Zhao (Liu Yuan had declared the empire's name Han to create a linkage with Han Dynasty—to which he claimed he was a descendant, through a princess, but Liu Yao felt that it was time to end the linkage with Han and explicitly restore the linkage to the great Xiongnu chanyu Maodun, and therefore decided to change the name of the state. (However, this was not a break from Liu Yuan, as he continued to honor Liu Yuan and Liu Cong posthumously; it is hence known to historians collectively as Han Zhao).

However, the eastern part of north China came under the control of a rebel Xiongnu-Han general of Jie ancestry named Shi Le. Liu Yao and Shi Le fought a long war until 329, when Liu Yao was captured in battle and executed. Chang'an fell to Shi Le soon after, and the Xiongnu dynasty was wiped out. North China was ruled by Shi Le's Later Zhao dynasty for the next 20 years.

However, the "Liu" Xiongnu remained active in the north for at least another century.

The northern Tiefu branch of the Xiongnu gained control of the Inner Mongolian region in the 10 years between the conquest of the Tuoba Xianbei state of Dai by the Former Qin empire in 376, and its restoration in 386 as the Northern Wei. After 386, the Tiefu were gradually destroyed by or surrendered to the Tuoba, with the submitting Tiefu becoming known as the Dugu. Liu Bobo, a surviving prince of the Tiefu fled to the Ordos Loop, where he founded a state called the Xia (thus named because of the Xiongnu's supposed ancestry from the Xia dynasty) and changed his surname to Helian (赫連). The Helian-Xia state was conquered by the Northern Wei in 428–31, and the Xiongnu thenceforth effectively ceased to play a major role in Chinese history, assimilating into the Xianbei and Han ethnicities.

Tongwancheng (meaning "Unite All Nations") was the capital of the Xia (Sixteen Kingdoms), whose rulers claimed descent from Modu Chanyu.

The ruined city was discovered in 1996 and the State Council designated it as a cultural relic under top state protection. The repair of the Yong'an Platform, where Helian Bobo, emperor of the Da Xia regime, reviewed parading troops, has been finished and restoration on the 31-meter-tall turret follows.

The Juqu were a branch of the Xiongnu. Their leader Juqu Mengxun took over the Northern Liang by overthrowing the former puppet ruler Duan Ye. By 439, the Juqu power was destroyed by the Northern Wei. Their remnants were then settled in the city of Gaochang before being destroyed by the Rouran.

The sound of the first Chinese character (匈) has been reconstructed as in Old Chinese. The Chinese name for the Xiongnu was a pejorative term in itself, as the characters have the meaning of "fierce slave". The Chinese characters are pronounced as "Xiōngnú" in modern Mandarin Chinese.

The supposed Old Chinese sound of the first character (匈) has a possible similarity with the name "Hun" in European languages. The second character (奴) appears to have no parallel in Western terminology. Whether the similarity is evidence of kinship or mere coincidence is hard to tell. It could lend credence to the theory that the Huns were in fact descendants of the Northern Xiongnu who migrated westward, or that the Huns were using a name borrowed from the Northern Xiongnu, or that these Xiongnu made up part of the Hun confederation.

The Xiongnu-Hun hypothesis originated with the 18th-century French historian Joseph de Guignes, who noticed that ancient Chinese scholars had referred to members of tribes associated with the Xiongnu by names similar to "Hun", albeit with varying Chinese characters. Étienne de la Vaissière has shown that, in the Sogdian script used in the so-called "Sogdian Ancient Letters", both the Xiongnu and Huns were referred to as γwn ("xwn"), indicating that the two were synonymous. Although the theory that the Xiongnu were precursors of the Huns known later in Europe is now accepted by many scholars, it has yet to become a consensus view. The identification with the Huns may be either incorrect or an oversimplification (as would appear to be the case with a proto-Mongol people, the Rouran, who have sometimes been linked to the Avars of Central Europe).

Harold Walter Bailey proposed an Iranian origin of the Xiongnu, recognizing all the earliest Xiongnu names of the 2nd century BC as being of the Iranian type. This theory is supported by turkologist. Central Asian scholar Christopher I. Beckwith notes that the Xiongnu name could be a cognate of Scythian, Saka and Sogdia, corresponding to a name for Northern Iranians. According to Beckwith the Xiongnu could have contained a leading Iranian component when they started out, but more likely they had earlier been subjects of an Iranian people and learned from them the Iranian nomadic model.

In the UNESCO-published "History of Civilizations of Central Asia", its editor János Harmatta concludes that the royal tribes and kings of the Xiongnu bore Iranian names, that all Xiongnu words noted by the Chinese can be explained from a Scythian language, and that it is therefore clear that the majority of Hsiung-nu tribes spoke an Eastern Iranian language.

Mongolian and other scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu spoke a language related to the Mongolic languages. Mongolian archaeologists proposed that the Slab Grave Culture people were the ancestors of the Xiongnu, and some scholars have suggested that the Xiongnu may have been the ancestors of the Mongols. According to the "Book of Song", (section Joujan), Joujan's (Rouran Khaganate) alternative name was "Tatar" or "Tartar" and they were a Xiongnu tribe". Nikita Bichurin considered Xiongnu and Xianbei to be two subgroups (or dynasties) but the same ethnicity.

Genghis Khan refers to the time of Modu Chanyu as "the remote times of our Chanyu" in his letter to Daoist Qiu Chuji. Sun and moon symbol of Xiongnu that discovered by archaeologists is similar to Mongolian Soyombo symbol.

Proponents of a Turkic language theory include E.H. Parker, Jean-Pierre Abel-Rémusat, Julius Klaproth, Kurakichi Shiratori, Gustaf John Ramstedt, Annemarie von Gabain, and Omeljan Pritsak. Some sources say the ruling class was proto-Turkic, while others suggest it was proto-Hun. Craig Benjamin sees the Xiongnu as either proto-Turks or proto-Mongols who possibly spoke a language related to the Dingling.

Both the 7th-century Chinese "History of the Northern Dynasties" and the "Book of Zhou", an inscription in the Sogdian language, report the Turks to be a subgroup of the Huns.

Lajos Ligeti was the first to suggest that the Xiongnu spoke a Yeniseian language. In the early 1960s Edwin Pulleyblank was the first to expand upon this idea with credible evidence. In 2000, Alexander Vovin reanalyzed Pulleyblank's argument and found further support for it by utilizing the most recent reconstruction of Old Chinese phonology by Starostin and Baxter and a single Chinese transcription of a sentence in the language of the Jie people, a member tribe of the Xiongnu Confederacy. Previous Turkic interpretations of the aforementioned sentence do not match the Chinese translation as precisely as using Yeniseian grammar. Pulleybank and D. N. Keightley asserted that the Xiongnu titles "were originally Siberian words but were later borrowed by the Turkic and Mongolic peoples". The Xiongnu language gave to the later Turkic and Mongolian empires a number of important culture words including Turkish tängri, Mongolian tenggeri, was originally the Xiongnu word for “heaven”, chengli (tháːŋ-wrə́j). Titles such as tarqan and tegin and kaghan were also inherited from the Xiongnu language.

Since the early 19th century, a number of Western scholars have proposed a connection between various language families or subfamilies and the language or languages of the Xiongnu. Albert Terrien de Lacouperie considered them to be multi-component groups. Many scholars believe the Xiongnu confederation was a mixture of different ethno-linguistic groups, and that their main language (as represented in the Chinese sources) and its relationships have not yet been satisfactorily determined. Kim rejects "old racial theories or even ethnic affiliations" in favour of the "historical reality of these extensive, multiethnic, polyglot steppe empires".

The Turkologist Gerhard Doerfer has denied any possibility of a relationship between the Xiongnu language and any other known language and rejected in the strongest terms any connection with Turkic or Mongolian.

The original geographic location of the Xiongnu is disputed among steppe archaeologists. Since the 1960s, the geographic origin of the Xiongnu has attempted to be traced through an analysis of Early Iron Age burial constructions. No region has been proven to have mortuary practices that clearly match that of the Xiongnu.

The political center of the Xiongnu state was in Mongolia and almost all of the Xiongnu kings were buried in Mongolia.

Classifications of these burial sites make distinction between two prevailing type of burials: "(1). monumental ramped terrace tombs which are often flanked by smaller "satellite" burials and (2) 'circular' or 'ring' burials." Some scholars consider this a division between "elite" graves and "commoner" graves. Other scholars, find this division too simplistic and not evocative of a true distinction because it shows "ignorance of the nature of the mortuary investments and typically luxuriant burial assemblages [and does not account for] the discovery of other lesser interments that do not qualify as either of these types."

A majority (89%) of Xiongnu mitochondrial sequences from the Egyin Gol Valley can be classified as belonging to Asian haplogroups, and nearly 11% belong to European mitochondrial haplogroups.

Over the past decade, Chinese archaeologists have published several reviews regarding the results of excavations in Xinjiang. They imply the Xiongnu's supreme ruling class. Particularly interesting are the tombs in the cemetery at Heigouliang, Xinjiang (the Black Gouliang cemetery, also known as the summer palace of the Xiongnu king), east of the Barkol basin, near the city of Hami. By typing results of DNA samples during the excavation of one of the tombs, it was determined that of the 12 men: 6 Q1a* (not Q1a1-M120, not Q1a1b-M25, not Q1a2-M3), 4 Q1b-M378, 2 Q* (not Q1a, not Q1b: unable to determine subclades):

Xiongnu art is harder to distinguish from Saka or Scythian art. There was a similarity present in stylistic execution, but Xiongnu art and Saka art did often differ in terms of iconography. Saka art does not appear to have included predation scenes, especially with dead prey, or same-animal combat. Additionally, Saka art included elements not common to Xiongnu iconography, such as a winged, horned horse. The two cultures also used two different bird heads. Xiongnu depictions of birds have a tendency to have a moderate eye and beak and have ears, while Saka birds have a pronounced eye and beak and no ears. Some scholars claim these differences are indicative of cultural differences. Scholar Sophia-Karin Psarras claims that Xiongnu images of animal predation, specifically tiger plus prey, is spiritual, representative of death and rebirth, and same-animal combat is representative of the acquisition of or maintenance of power.

The rock art of the Yin and Helan Mountains is dated from the 9th millennium BC to the 19th century AD. It consists mainly of engraved signs (petroglyphs) and only minimally of painted images.

Excavations conducted between 1924 and 1925 in the Noin-Ula kurgans produced objects with over twenty carved characters, which were either identical or very similar to that of to the runic letters of the Old Turkic alphabet discovered in the Orkhon Valley. From this a some scholars hold that the Xiongnu had a script similar to Eurasian runiform and this alphabet itself served as the basis for the ancient Turkic writing.

The "Records of the Grand Historian" (vol. ) state that when the Xiongnu noted down something or transmitted a message, they made cuts on a piece of wood; they also mention a "Hu script".
Xiongnu were a nomadic people. From their lifestyle of herding flocks and their horse-trade with China, we can conclude that their diet consist mainly of mutton, horse meat and wild geese that were shot down.

In various kinds of ancient inscriptions on monuments of Munmu of Silla, it is recorded that King Silla came from Xiongnu. Also, there are some Korean researchers point out grave goods of Silla and Xiongnu are alike and also some researchers propose that Silla King is descended from Xiongnu. The Korean traditional cloth Hanbok shows some Iranian influence. The royal Crowns of Silla are identical to Persian Crowns found in today Afghanistan. About this, the Korean public broadcaster KBS has reported a documentary.

The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic tribes from Central Asia with a ruling class of unknown origin and other subjugated tribes. They lived on the Mongolian Plateau between the 3rd century BC and the 460s AD, their territories including modern day Mongolia, southern Siberia, western Manchuria, and the modern Chinese provinces of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Xinjiang. The Xiongnu was the first unified empire of nomadic peoples. Relations between early Chinese dynasties and the Xiongnu were complicated and included military conflict, exchanges of tribute and trade, and marriage treaties. When Emperor Qin Shihuang drove them away from the south of the Yellow River, he built the famous Great Wall to prevent the Xiongnu from coming back.

Nomadic empire

Nomadic empires, sometimes also called steppe empires, Central or Inner Asian empires, are the empires erected by the bow-wielding, horse-riding, nomadic peoples in the Eurasian steppe, from classical antiquity (Scythia) to the early modern era (Dzungars). They are the most prominent example of non-sedentary polities.

Some nomadic empires operated by establishing a capital city inside a conquered sedentary state, and then by exploiting the existing bureaucrats and commercial resources of that non-nomadic society. As the pattern is repeated, the originally nomadic dynasty becomes culturally assimilated to the culture of the occupied nation before it is ultimately overthrown. Ibn Khaldun described a similar cycle on a smaller scale in his Asabiyyah theory. A term used for these polities in the early medieval period is khanate (after "khan", the title of their rulers), and after the Mongol conquests also as orda (horde) as in Golden Horde.

The Cimmerians were an ancient Indo-European people living north of the Caucasus and the Sea of Azov as early as 1300 BCE until they were driven southward by the Scythians into Anatolia during the 8th century BC. Linguistically they are usually regarded as Iranian, or possibly Thracian with an Iranian ruling class.Scythia (; Ancient Greek: Σκυθική) was a region of Central Eurasia in classical antiquity, occupied by the Eastern Iranian Scythians, encompassing parts of Eastern Europe east of the Vistula River and Central Asia, with the eastern edges of the region vaguely defined by the Greeks. The Ancient Greeks gave the name Scythia (or Great Scythia) to all the lands north-east of Europe and the northern coast of the Black Sea.
The Scythians – the Greeks' name for this initially nomadic people – inhabited Scythia from at least the 11th century BC to the 2nd century AD.

The Sarmatians (Latin: "Sarmatæ" or "Sauromatæ", Greek: ) were a large confederation of Iranian people during classical antiquity, flourishing from about the 6th century BC to the 4th century AD. They spoke Scythian, an Indo-European language from the Eastern Iranian family. According to authors Arrowsmith, Fellowes and Graves Hansard in their book "A Grammar of Ancient Geography" published in 1832, Sarmatia had two parts, Sarmatia Europea and Sarmatia Asiatica covering a combined area of 503,000 sq mi or 1,302,764 km.
Sarmatians were basically Scythian veterans (Saka, Iazyges, Skolotoi, Parthians...) returning to the Pontic-Caspian steppe after the siege of Nineveh. Many noble families of Polish Szlachta claim a direct descent from Sarmatians, whereby some of their earliest royals, including those of ancient pre-Roman Vindelicia, Boioaria, Hvalvedia, Pannonia and some of the later Piast dynasty derive dubious descent directly from the Aryan Suryavansha (Swarożyce) Ikshvaku dynasty (Jakszyce) and later also from elected Sarmatians.

The Kushan Empire (, "Kushano"; "Kuṣāṇ Rājavaṃśa"; BHS: ""; "Kušan-xšaθr") was a syncretic empire, formed by Yuezhi under the pressure of the Xiongnu), in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of Afghanistan, and then the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath near Varanasi (Benares), where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great.

The Xianbei state or Xianbei confederation was a nomadic empire which existed in modern-day Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, northern Xinjiang, Northeast China, Gansu, Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai, Irkutsk Oblast, Tuva, Altai Republic and eastern Kazakhstan from 156–234 AD. Like most ancient peoples known through Chinese historiography, the ethnic makeup of the Xianbei is unclear. The Xianbei were a northern branch of the earlier Donghu and it is likely at least some were proto-Mongols. After it collapsed, the tribe immigrated to China and founded the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The Hephthalites, Ephthalites, Ye-tai, White Huns, or, in Sanskrit, the Sveta Huna, were a confederation of nomadic and settled people in Central Asia who expanded their domain westward in the 5th century. At the height of its power in the first half of the 6th century, the Hephthalite Empire controlled territory in present-day Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India and China.

The Huns were a confederation of Eurasian tribes from the Steppes of Central Asia. Appearing from beyond the Volga River some years after the middle of the 4th century, they conquered all of eastern Europe, ending up at the border of the Roman Empire in the south, and advancing far into modern day Germany in the north. Their appearance in Europe brought with it great ethnic and political upheaval and may have stimulated the Great Migration. The empire reached its largest size under Attila between 447 and 453.

The Rouran (柔然), Juan Juan (蠕蠕), or Ruru (茹茹) were a confederation of Mongolic speaking nomadic tribes on the northern borders of China from the late 4th century until the late 6th century. They controlled the area of Mongolia from the Manchurian border to Turpan and, perhaps, the east coast of Lake Balkhash, and from the Orkhon River to China Proper.

The Göktürks or Kök-Türks were a Turkic people of ancient North and Central Asia and northwestern China. Under the leadership of Bumin Khan and his sons they established the first known Turkic state around 546, taking the place of the earlier Xiongnu as the main power in the region. They were the first Turkic tribe to use the name "Türk" as a political name. The empire was split into a western and an eastern part around 600, merged again 680, and finally declined after 734.

The Uyghur Empire was a Turkic empire that existed in present-day Mongolia and surrounding areas for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries. It was a tribal confederation under the Orkhon Uyghur nobility. It was established by Kutlug I Bilge Kagan in 744, taking advantage of the power vacuum in the region after the fall of the Gökturk Empire. It collapsed after a Kyrgyz invasion in 840.

The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous land empire in history at its peak, with an estimated population of over 100 million people. The Mongol Empire was founded by Genghis Khan in 1206, and at its height, it encompassed the majority of the territories from Southeast Asia to Eastern Europe.

After unifying the Turco-Mongol tribes, the Empire expanded through conquests throughout continental Eurasia. During its existence, the Pax Mongolica facilitated cultural exchange and trade on the Silk Route between the East, West, and the Middle East in the period of the 13th and 14th centuries. It had significantly eased communication and commerce across Asia during its height.

After the death of Möngke Khan in 1259, the empire split into four parts (Yuan dynasty, Ilkhanate, Chagatai Khanate and Golden Horde), each of which was ruled by its own Khan, though the Yuan rulers had nominal title of Khagan. After the disintegration of the western khanates and the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China in 1368, the empire finally broke up.

The Timurids, self-designated Gurkānī, were a Turko-Mongol dynasty, established by the warlord Timur in 1370 and lasting until 1506. At its zenith, the Timurid Empire included the whole of Central Asia, Iran and modern Afghanistan, as well as large parts of Mesopotamia and the Caucasus.

Later Mongol khanates such as the Northern Yuan dynasty based in Mongolia and the Dzungar Khanate based in Xinjiang were also nomadic empires. Right after the fall of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, the succeeding Ming dynasty established by Han Chinese rebuilt the Great Wall, which had been begun many hundreds of years earlier to keep the northern nomads out of China proper. During the subsequent centuries the Mongols, who were then based in Mongolia as the Northern Yuan dynasty, tended to continue their independent, nomadic way of life as much as possible. On the other hand, the Dzungars were a confederation of several Oirat tribes who formed and maintained the last horse archer empire from the early 17th century to the middle 18th century. They emerged in the early 17th century to fight the Altan Khan of the Khalkha, the Jasaghtu Khan and their Manchu patrons for dominion and control over the Mongolian people and territories. In 1756 this last nomadic power was dissolved due to the Oirat princes' succession struggle and costly war with the Qing dynasty.

The Qing dynasty is mistakenly confused as a nomadic empire by people who wrongly think that the Manchus were a nomadic people, when in fact they were not nomads, but instead were a sedentary agricultural people who lived in fixed villages, farmed crops, and practiced hunting and mounted archery.

The Sushen used flint headed wooden arrows, farmed, hunted, and fished, and lived in caves and trees. The cognates Sushen or Jichen (稷真) again appear in the "Shan Hai Jing" and "Book of Wei" during the dynastic era referring to Tungusic Mohe tribes of the far northeast. The Mohe enjoyed eating pork, practiced pig farming extensively, and were mainly sedentary, and also used both pig and dog skins for coats. They were predominantly farmers and grew soybean, wheat, millet, and rice, in addition to engaging in hunting.

The Jurchens were sedentary, settled farmers with advanced agriculture. They farmed grain and millet as their cereal crops, grew flax, and raised oxen, pigs, sheep, and horses. Their farming way of life was very different from the pastoral nomadism of the Mongols and the Khitan on the steppes. "At the most", the Jurchen could only be described as "semi-nomadic" while the majority of them were sedentary.

The Manchu way of life (economy) was described as agricultural, farming crops and raising animals on farms. Manchus practiced Slash-and-burn agriculture in the areas north of Shenyang. The Haixi Jurchens were "semi-agricultural, the Jianzhou Jurchens and Maolian (毛怜) Jurchens were sedentary, while hunting and fishing was the way of life of the "Wild Jurchens". Han Chinese society resembled that of the sedentary Jianzhou and Maolian, who were farmers. Hunting, archery on horseback, horsemanship, livestock raising, and sedentary agriculture were all practiced by the Jianzhou Jurchens as part of their culture. In spite of the fact that the Manchus practiced archery on horse back and equestrianism, the Manchu's immediate progenitors practiced sedentary agriculture. Although the Manchus also partook in hunting, they were sedentary. Their primary mode of production was farming while they lived in villages, forts, and towns surrounded by walls. Farming was practiced by their Jurchen Jin predecessors.

For political reasons, the Jurchen leader Nurhaci chose variously to emphasize either differences or similarities in lifestyles with other peoples like the Mongols. Nurhaci said to the Mongols that "The languages of the Chinese and Koreans are different, but their clothing and way of life is the same. It is the same with us Manchus (Jušen) and Mongols. Our languages are different, but our clothing and way of life is the same." Later Nurhaci indicated that the bond with the Mongols was not based in any real shared culture. It was for pragmatic reasons of "mutual opportunism", since Nurhaci said to the Mongols: "You Mongols raise livestock, eat meat and wear pelts. My people till the fields and live on grain. We two are not one country and we have different languages."

Similarly the Indoeuropean dominions, as the Cymmerian, Scythian, Sarmatian or Kushan ones, were not strictly nomadic nor strictly empires.They were organized in small Kšatrapies/Voivodeships sometimes uniting into a bigger Mandala to repel surrounding despotic empires trying to annex their homelands. Only the pastoral part of the population and military troops migrated frequently but most of the population lived in organized agricultural and industrial small scale townships, called in Europe grods, e.g. the oases of Sogdia and Sparia along the Silk Road (Śaka, Tokarians/Tokharians…) and around the Tarim Basin (Tarim mummies, Kingdom of Khotan) or the rural areas of Europe (Sarmatia, Pannonia, Vysperia, Spyrgowa/Spirgovia, Boioaria/Boghoaria…) and Indian subcontinent (Kaśperia, Pandžab…). Due to growing (since the 2nd century BC) number of Turkic nomads and invaders among them, who adopted their horseriding, metallurgy, technologies, clothing and customs, they were also often confused with the later, which mostly occurs in the case of the Scythians (Śaka, Sarmatians, Skolotoi, Iazyges…). In India the Śaka, although known earlier as Śakya as well as Kambojas, forming now the Kushan Empire were confused with the Xionites invading them and were called Mleccha. The Turkic invaders exploit the subdued sedentary Indoeuropeans in agriculture, industry and warfare (Mamluk, Janissaries). In some rare cases the enslaved Indoeuropeans may rise to power, e.g. Aleksandra (Iškandara) Lisowska alias Roxelana.

Although the Xiongnu finally had been split into two parts in AD 48, the Xianbei (or Hsien-pei in Wade–Giles) had moved (apparently from the east) into the region vacated by the Xiongnu. The Xianbei were the northern branch of the Donghu (or Tung Hu, the Eastern Hu), a proto-Mongol group mentioned in Chinese histories as existing as early as the 4th century BC. The language of the Donghu is believed to be proto-Mongolic to modern scholars. The Donghu were among the first peoples conquered by the Xiongnu. Once the Xiongnu state weakened, however, the Donghu rebelled. By the 1st century AD, two major subdivisions of the Donghu had developed: the proto-Mongolic Xianbei in the north and the Wuhuan in the south.

History of Mongolia

Various nomadic empires, including the Xiongnu (3rd century BCE to 1st century CE), the Xianbei state ( 93 to 234 CE), the Rouran Khaganate (330-555), the Turkic Khaganate (552-744) and others, ruled the area of present-day Mongolia. The Khitan people, who used a para-Mongolic language,
founded a state known as the Liao dynasty (907-1125) in Central Asia and ruled Mongolia and portions of the present-day Russian Far East, northern Korea, and North China.

In 1206 Genghis Khan was able to unite and conquer the Mongols, forging them into a fighting force which went on to establish the largest contiguous empire in world history, the Mongol Empire (1206-1368). Buddhism in Mongolia began with the Yuan emperors' conversion to Tibetan Buddhism.

After the collapse of the Mongol-led China-based Yuan dynasty in 1368, the Mongols returned to their earlier patterns of internal strife. The Mongols also returned to their old shamanist ways after the collapse of their empire and only in the 16th and 17th centuries did Buddhism reemerge.

At the end of the 17th century, present-day Mongolia became part of the area ruled by the Manchu-led Qing dynasty. During the collapse of the Qing in 1911, Mongolia declared independence but had to struggle until 1921 to firmly establish "de facto" independence and until 1945 to gain international recognition. As a consequence, Mongolia came under strong Soviet influence: in 1924 the Mongolian People's Republic was declared, and Mongolian politics began to follow the same patterns as Soviet politics of the time. After the revolutions of 1989, the Mongolian Revolution of 1990 led to a multi-party system, a new constitution in 1992, and a transition to a market economy.

The climate of Central Asia became dry after the large tectonic collision between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. This impact threw up the massive chain of mountains known as the Himalayas. The Himalayas, Greater Khingan and Lesser Khingan mountains act like a high wall, blocking the warm and wet climate from penetrating into Central Asia. Many of the mountains of Mongolia were formed during the Late Neogene and Early Quaternary periods. The Mongolian climate was more humid hundreds of thousands of years ago. Mongolia is known to be the source of priceless paleontological discoveries. The first scientifically confirmed dinosaur eggs were found in Mongolia during the 1923 expedition of the American Museum of Natural History, led by Roy Chapman Andrews.

During the middle to late Eocene Epoch, Mongolia was the home of many Paleogene mammals with Sarkastodon and Andrewsarchus being the most prominent of them.

Homo erectus possibly inhabited Mongolia as much as 800,000 years ago but fossils of Homo erectus have not yet been found in Mongolia. Stone tools have been found in the southern, Gobi, region, perhaps dating back as much as 800,000 years. Important prehistoric sites are the Paleolithic cave drawings of the "Khoid Tsenkheriin Agui" ("Northern Cave of Blue") in Khovd province, and the "Tsagaan Agui" (White Cave) in Bayankhongor Province. A neolithic farming settlement has been found in Dornod Province. Contemporary findings from western Mongolia include only temporary encampments of hunters and fishers. The population during the Copper Age has been described as paleomongolid in the east of what is now Mongolia, and as europid in the west.

The Slab Grave culture of the late Bronze and early Iron Age, related to the proto-Mongols, spread over northern, central and eastern Mongolia,
Inner Mongolia, Northwest China (Xinjiang, Qilian Mountains etc.), Manchuria, Lesser Khingan, Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast and Zabaykalsky Krai.

Deer stones (also known as reindeer stones) and the omnipresent kheregsüürs (small kurgans) probably are from this era; other theories date the deer stones as 7th or 8th centuries BC. Deer stones are ancient megaliths carved with symbols that can be found all over central and eastern Eurasia but are concentrated largely in Siberia and Mongolia. Most deer stones occur in association with ancient graves; it is believed that stones are the guardians of the dead. There are around 700 deer stones known in Mongolia of a total of 900 deer stones that have been found in Central Asia and South Siberia. Their true purpose and creators are still unknown. Some researchers claim that deer stones are rooted in shamanism and are thought to have been set up during the Bronze Age around 1000 BC, and may mark the graves of important people. Later inhabitants of the area likely reused them to mark their own burial mounds, and perhaps for other purposes. In Mongolia, the Lake Baikal area, and the Sayan and Altai Mountains, there are 550, 20, 20, and 60 known deer stones respectively. Moreover, there are another 20 deer stones in Kazakhstan and the Middle East (Samashyev 1992) and 10 further west, specifically in the Ukraine and parts of the Russian Federation, including the provinces of Orenburg and the Caucasus, and near the Elbe River (Mongolian History 2003). According to H.L. hlyenova, the artistic deer image originated from the Sak tribe and its branches (Chlyenova 1962). Volkov believes that some of the methods of crafting deer stone art are closely related to Scythians (Volkov 1967), whereas Mongolian archaeologist D. Tseveendorj regards deer stone art as having originated in Mongolia during the Bronze Age and spread thereafter to Tuva and the Baikal area (Tseveendorj 1979).

A vast Iron Age burial complex from the 5th-3rd century, later also used by the Xiongnu, has been unearthed near Ulaangom.

Before the 20th century, some scholars assumed that the Scythians descended from the Mongolic people. The Scythian community inhabited western Mongolia in the 5-6th century. In 2006 the mummy of a Scythian warrior, which is believed to be about 2,500 years old was a 30-to-40-year-old man with blond hair, and was found in the Altai Mountains, Mongolia.

In historical times Eurasian nomads were concentrated on the steppe lands of Central Asia. Furthermore, it is assumed that the Turkic peoples have always inhabited the western, the Mongols the central, and the Tungusic peoples the eastern portions of the region.

By the eighth century BCE, the inhabitants of the western part of Mongolia evidently were nomadic Indo-European migrants, either Scythians

With the appearance of iron weapons by the 3rd century BCE, the inhabitants of Mongolia had begun to form Clan alliances and lived a hunter and herder lifestyle. The origins of more modern inhabitants are found among the forest hunters and nomadic tribes of Inner Asia. They inhabited a great arc of land extending generally from the Korean Peninsula in the east, across the northern tier of China to present-day Kazakhstan and to the Pamir Mountains and Lake Balkash in the west. During most of recorded history, this has been an area of constant ferment from which emerged numerous migrations and invasions to the southeast (into China), to the southwest (into Transoxiana—modern Uzbekistan, Iran, and India), and to the west (across Scythia toward Europe).

The area of modern Mongolia has been inhabited by groups of nomads since ancient times. The ancient population had a nomadic and hunter lifestyle and lived a fairly closed life. While most of Central Asia had a fairly similar nomadic lifestyle where moving in and around national boundaries and mixing with different settlements was common, the situation in the Mongolian steppes was unique because migration was limited by natural barriers such as the Altai Mountains in the west, the Gobi Desert in the south and the freezing wastelands of Siberia in the north, all unsuitable for nomadic-based living. These greatly limited migration, although they also kept out invaders. The clans in Mongolia only allied with other Mongolian clans, with which they shared the same language, religion and way of life. This would later be a huge advantage in uniting the people in Mongolia against the threat of the expanding Chinese empires. There were repeated conflicts with the Chinese dynasties of Shang and especially Zhou, which had begun conquering and enslaving the Mongolic people in an expansive drift. By the time of the Warring States Period in China, the northern Dynasties of Zhao, Yan, and Qin had begun to encroach and conquer into Southern Mongolia. By the time the Qin dynasty had united all of China's kingdoms into one empire, the Sahun Kingdom (Xiongnu) had been formed in the Mongolian plains, transforming all of the independent clans into one single state and reassured the safety and independence from an expanding Qin.

The establishment of the Xiongnu empire in Mongolia in the 3rd century BC marks the beginning of statehood on the territory of Mongolia.

The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses and some scholars, including Paul Pelliot and Byambyn Rinchen, insisted on a Mongolic origin.

The first significant appearance of nomads came late in the 3rd century BC, when the Chinese repelled an invasion of the Xiongnu (Hsiung-nu in Wade–Giles romanisation) across the Yellow River from the Gobi. A Chinese army, which had adopted Xiongnu military technology—wearing trousers and using mounted archers with stirrups—pursued the Xiongnu across the Gobi in a ruthless punitive expedition. Fortification walls built by various Chinese warring states were connected to make a 2,300-kilometre Great Wall along the northern border, as a barrier to further nomadic inroads.

The founder of the Xiongnu empire was Toumen. He was succeeded violently by his son Modu Shanyu, who then conquered and unified various tribes. At the peak of its power, the Xiongnu confederacy stretched from Lake Baikal in the north to the Great Wall in the south and from the Tian Shan mountains in the west to the Greater Khingan ranges in the east. In the 2nd century BC the Xiongnu turned their attention westward to the region of the Altai Mountains and Lake Balkash, inhabited by Indo-European-speaking nomadic peoples, including Yuezhi (Yüeh-chih in Wade–Giles), who had relocated from China's present-day Gansu Province as a result of their earlier defeat by the Xiongnu. Endemic warfare between these two nomadic peoples reached a climax in the latter part of the 3rd century and the early decades of the 2nd century BC; the Xiongnu were triumphant. The Yuezhi then migrated to the southwest where, early in the 2nd century, they began to appear in the Oxus (the modern Amu Darya) Valley, to change the course of history in Bactria, Iran, and eventually India.

In 200 BC, the Han dynasty of China launched a military campaign into the territory, attempting to subjugate the Xiongnu. However the Xiongnu forces ambushed and encircled the Han Emperor Gao at Baideng for seven days. Emperor Gao was forced to submit to the Xiongnu, and a treaty was signed in 198 BC recognising all the territories to the north from the Great Wall should belong to the Xiongnu, while the territory to the south of the Great Wall should belong to the Han. In addition, China was obliged to marry princesses and pay annual tribute to the Xiongnu. This "marriage alliance" was far from peaceful, as Xiongnu raids into the fertile southern land never ceased. During the period of Emperor Wen, Xiongnu raids advanced into China Proper, ravaged and even besieged near its capital Chang'an. This continued for 70 years until the reign of Emperor Wu, whose massive counteroffensives devastated the Xiongnu and sent them towards the road of decline.

The Xiongnu again raided northern China about 200 BC, finding that the inadequately defended Great Wall was not a serious obstacle. By the middle of the 2nd century BC, they controlled all of northern and western China north of the Yellow River. This renewed threat led the Chinese to improve their defences in the north, while building up and improving the army, particularly the cavalry, and while preparing long-range plans for an invasion of Mongolia.

By 176 BC, domain of the Xiongnu was in size. Xiongnu capital ("Luut; Dragon") located on the beach Orkhon River, Central Mongolia.

Between 130 and 121 BC, Chinese armies drove the Xiongnu back across the Great Wall, weakened their hold on Gansu Province as well as on what is now Inner Mongolia, and finally pushed them north of the Gobi into central Mongolia. Following these victories, the Chinese expanded into the areas later known as Manchuria, Mongolia, the Korean Peninsula, and Inner Asia. The Xiongnu, once more turning their attention to the west and the southwest, raided deep into the Oxus Valley between 73 and 44 BC. The descendants of the Yuezhi and their Chinese rulers, however, formed a common front against the Xiongnu and repelled them.

During the next century, as Chinese strength waned, border warfare between the Chinese and the Xiongnu was almost incessant. Gradually the nomads forced their way back into Gansu and the northern part of what is now China's Xinjiang. In about the middle of the 1st century AD, a revitalized Eastern Han dynasty (AD 25-220) slowly recovered these territories, driving the Xiongnu back into the Altai Mountains and the steppes north of the Gobi. During the late 1st century AD, having reestablished the administrative control over southern China and northern Vietnam that had been lost briefly at beginning of this same century, the Eastern Han made a concerted effort to reassert dominance over Inner Asia.
The concept of Mongolia as an independent power north of China is seen in the letter sent by Emperor Wen of Han to Laoshang Chanyu in 162 BC (recorded in the Hanshu):
The identity of the ethnic core of Xiongnu has been a subject of varied hypotheses and some scholars, including A.Luvsandendev,, Henry Howorth, Rashpuntsag, Alexey Okladnikov, Peter Pallas, Isaak Schmidt, Nikita Bichurin and Byambyn Rinchen, insisted on a Mongolic origin.

There are many cultural similarities between the Xiongnu and Mongols such as yurt on cart, composite bow, board game, horn bow and long song. Mongolian long song is believed to date back at least 2,000 years. Mythical origin of the long song mentioned in "Book of Wei (Volume 113).

In 48 AD, the Xiongnu empire was weakened as it was divided into the southern and northern Xiongnu. The northern Xiongnu migrated to the west. They established Üeban state (160–490) in modern Kazakhstan and Hunnic Empire (370s–469) in Europe. The Xianbei that were under the Xiongnu rebelled in 93 AD, ending the Xiongnu domination in Mongolia.

Recent excavations of Xiongnu graves at the site Gol Mod in the Khairkhan of Arkhangai province, discovered bronze decorations with images of a creature resembling the unicorn and images of deities resembling the Greco-Roman deities. These discoveries lead to a hypothesis that the Xiongnu had relations with the Greco-Roman world 2000 years ago.

Although the Xiongnu finally had been split into two parts in AD 48, the Xianbei (or Hsien-pei in Wade–Giles) had moved (apparently from the east) into the region vacated by the Xiongnu. The Xianbei were the northern branch of the Donghu (or Tung Hu, the Eastern Hu), a proto-Mongol group mentioned in Chinese histories as existing as early as the 4th century BC. The language of the Donghu is believed to be proto-Mongolic to modern scholars. The Donghu were among the first peoples conquered by the Xiongnu. Once the Xiongnu state weakened, however, the Donghu rebelled. By the 1st century AD, two major subdivisions of the Donghu had developed: the proto-Mongolic Xianbei in the north and the Wuhuan in the south.

The Xianbei gained strength beginning from the 1st century AD and were consolidated into a state under Tanshihuai in 147. He expelled the Xiongnu from Jungaria, and pushed the Dingling to the north of the Sayans, thus securing domination of the Mongolic elements in what is now Khalkha and Chaharia. The Xianbei successfully repelled an invasion of the Han dynasty in 167 and conquered areas of northern China in 180.

There are various hypotheses about the language and ethnic links of the Xianbei and most widely accepted version suggests that the Xianbei were a Mongolic ethnic group and their branches are the ancestors of many Mongolic peoples such as the Rouran, Khitan and Menggu Xibei, who are suggested to be the proto-Mongols.
The ruler of the Xianbei state was elected by a congress of the nobility. The Xianbei used woodcut tallies called "Kemu" as a form of non-verbal communication. Besides extensive livestock husbandry, the Xianbei were also engaged on a limited scale in farming and handicraft. The Xianbei fractured in the 3rd century.

The Xianbei established an empire, which, although short-lived, gave rise to numerous tribal states along the Chinese frontier. Among these states was that of the Toba (T'o-pa in Wade–Giles), a subgroup of the Xianbei, in modern China's Shanxi Province.

The Wuhuan also were prominent in the 2nd century, but they disappeared thereafter; possibly they were absorbed in the Xianbei western expansion. The Xianbei and the Wuhuan used mounted archers in warfare, and they had only temporary war leaders instead of hereditary chiefs. Agriculture, rather than full-scale nomadism, was the basis of their economy. In the 6th century, the Wuhuan were driven out of Inner Asia into the Russian steppe.

Chinese control of parts of Inner Asia did not last beyond the opening years of the 2nd century AD, and, as the Eastern Han dynasty ended early in the 3rd century AD, suzerainty was limited primarily to the Gansu corridor. The Xianbei were able to make forays into a China beset with internal unrest and political disintegration. By 317 all of China north of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) had been overrun by nomadic peoples: the Xianbei from the north; some remnants of the Xiongnu from the northwest; and the Chiang people of Gansu and Tibet (present-day China's Xizang Autonomous Region) from the west and the southwest. Chaos prevailed as these groups warred with each other and repulsed the vain efforts of the fragmented Chinese kingdoms south of the Yangtze River to reconquer the region.

Tuoba, a faction of the Xianbei, established the Tuoba Wei empire beyond Mongolia proper in northern China in 386. By the end of the 4th century, the region between the Yangtze and the Gobi, including much of modern Xinjiang, was dominated by the Tuoba. Emerging as the partially sinicized state of Dai between AD 338 and 376 in the Shanxi area, the Tuoba established control over the region as the Northern Wei (AD 386-533). Northern Wei armies drove back the Rouran (also referred to as Ruru or Juan-Juan by Chinese chroniclers), a newly arising nomadic Mongol people in the steppes north of the Altai Mountains, and reconstructed the Great Wall. During the 4th century also, the Huns left the steppes north of the Aral Sea to invade Europe. By the middle of the 5th century, Northern Wei had penetrated into the Tarim Basin in Inner Asia, as had the Chinese in the 2nd century. As the empire grew, however, Tuoba tribal customs were supplanted by those of the Chinese, an evolution not accepted by all Tuoba. Tuoba Wei existed until 581.

A branch of the Xianbei, the Rouran (also known as Nirun) were consolidated under Mugulyu. In the late 5th century, the Rouran established a powerful nomadic empire spreading generally farther north of Northern Wei. It was probably the Rouran who first used the title khan. The Rouran ruled Mongolia, eastern Kazakhstan, part of Gansu, northern Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, parts of Northeastern China and southern Siberia. The Hephthalite Empire was a vassal state to the Rouran for 100 years. Shelun assumed the title of "Khagan" in 402 landmarking the establishment of the state of the Rouran Khaganate. The Tuoba waged long wars against the Rouran Khaganate. The Altai Turkics that were subjects of the Rouran revolted in 552 establishing the Turkic Khaganate. The Rouran Khaganate was finally defeated by the Turkics in 555. Part of the Rouran left the present territory of Mongolia. A number of historians maintain that they established the Avarian Kaganate between the river Danube and the Carpathian Mountains. The Rourans that stayed in Mongolia became the ancestors of the Tatar tribes. The Tatars and other Mongol tribes lived in the eastern part Mongolia during the Turkic period. Other Mongols that migrated east returned in the 8th century.

Northern Wei was disintegrating rapidly because of revolts of semi-tribal Tuoba military forces that were opposed to being sinicized, when disaster struck the flourishing Rouran Khaganate. The Altai Turkics (Orkhon Turkics, Göktürks), known as Tujue to Chinese chroniclers, were subjects to the Rouran and served as blacksmiths for them. In 552 AD the Göktürks revolted against their Rouran rulers. The uprising began in the Altai Mountains, where many of the Türk were serfs working the iron mines. Therefore, the revolt of the Turkics of 552 is often called the "Blacksmiths' rebellion". The uprising was headed by Buman, who became the founder of the Göktürk Khaganate. Thus, from the outset of their revolt, they had the advantage of controlling what had been one of the major bases of Rouran power. Between 546 and 553, the Türks overthrew the Rouran and established themselves as the most powerful force in Central Asia.

The Chinese dynasties Qi and Zhou surrendered in 570 and began paying tribute to the Göktürks. However, the newly established Sui dynasty in China (581) stopped and so constant war between Sui and the Turkic Khaganate began. Turk was partitioned in 583 into an Eastern and Western Turkic Khaganates by the plot made by Sui dynasty of China. Finally in 584 Eastern Turk recognised Sui Suzerainty. Turkic Khaganate began to revolt and hasten the border in 615 after Emperor of Sui's failure expedition in Koguryo. The internal struggle between the Turkic nobles lead to their defeat by the Tang dynasty of China in 630. From 629 to 648, a reunited China—under the Tang dynasty (618-906) --destroyed the power of the Eastern Türk north of the Gobi; established suzerainty over the Khitan, a semi-nomadic Para-Mongolic people who lived in areas that became the modern Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin; and established the Anbei Protectorate in the Mongolian Steppes. Uyghurs khagan was installed as Anbei protector, who inhabited the region between the Altai Mountains and Khitan's land. Between 641 and 648, the Tang conquered the Western Türk, reestablishing Chinese sovereignty over Xinjiang and exacting tribute from west of the Pamir Mountains. The Göktürks continuously struggled against the subjugation by the Tang dynasty started in 679. An uprising of 682 under the leadership of Kutuluk and Tonyukuk led to restoration of the Turkic Khaganate.

For a brief period at the beginning of the 7th century, a new consolidation of the Türk, under the Western Türk ruler Tardu, again threatened China. In 701 Tardu's army besieged Chang'an (modern Xi'an), then the capital of China. Tardu was turned back, however, and, upon his death two years later, the Türk state again fragmented. The Eastern Türk nonetheless continued their depredations, occasionally threatening Chang'an. In the early 8th century, an invading army of 450,000 soldiers headed by Tang dynasty's Empress Wu Zetian was defeated and chased back by Mojo khagan. The Türk empire finally ended in 744 by the joint Chinese, Uighur and other nomadic forces.

The Uyghurs, who were subjects to the Göktürks, revolted in 745 and founded the Uyghur Khaganate which replaced the Eastern Turkic Khaganate. The Uyghur kagan Bayanchur established Ordu-Baliq City on the Orkhon river in 751. The Tang Empire invited the Uyghurs to subdue the An Lushan rebellion in 755. Successful campaigns of the Uyghur Khaganate led to a peace with the Tang dynasty of China which paid compensation for the suppression of An in silk and grain for 12 years after 766.
Though a faction of the Uyghurs were Buddhists, the Manichaeism became the official religion of the Khaganate in the 8th century. Nevertheless, the majority of the Uyghurs remained shamanists. The culture and economy of the Uyghur Kaganate were more advanced than those of its predecessors. The Uyghurs used a 12-month calendar and calculated the dates of solar and lunar eclipses. The Uyghurs developed their own writing system based on the Sogdian script. The Tang dynasty surreptitiously encouraged the Yenisei Kirghiz and the Karluks to attack the Uyghurs and the Uyghur Khaganate fell under an invasion of the Yenisei Kirghiz in 840.

The destruction of Uyghur Khaganate by Yenisei Kirghizes resulted in the end of Turkic dominance in Mongolia. According to historians, Kirghiz were not interested in assimilating newly acquired lands. The Kirghiz state was centered on Khakassia.

The Khitans were an ethnic group whose language was related to the Mongolic languages. Its ruler Ambagyan founded the Khitan Liao dynasty in 907. The Liao dynasty covered a significant portion of what is now Mongolia including the basins of the three rivers Kherlen, Tuul and Orkhon. The Khitans occupied the areas vacated by the Turkic Uyghurs bringing them under their control.

The Liao dynasty soon grew strong and occupied parts of Northern China, including the modern-day Beijing. By 925 the Khitan ruled eastern Mongolia, most of Manchuria, and much of China north of the Yellow River. By the middle of the 10th century, Khitan chieftains had established themselves as emperors of northern China; their rule was known as the Liao dynasty. The Khitan built cities and exerted dominion over their agricultural subjects as a means of consolidating their empire.

The territory of the empire consisted of two parts: one populated by pastoral herders in the north and the other populated by croppers in the south. The two parts of the empire actively traded with each other. Lubugu, a grandson of Ambagyan, and a scholar named Tulyubu developed a Grand Alphabet based on the Chinese hieroglyphics in 920. Later, Tela, a son of Ambagyan, developed a Minor Alphabet based on the Uyghur script. A printing technology developed in the Liao territory. The Khitan language was widely studied abroad.

A Tungusic people, the Jurchen, ancestors of the Manchu, formed an alliance with the Song dynasty and reduced the Liao dynasty to vassal status in a seven-year war (1115–1122). The Jurchen leader proclaimed himself the founder of a new era, the Jin dynasty (1115–1234). Scarcely pausing in their conquests, the Jurchen subdued neighboring Goryeo (Korea) in 1226[citation needed] and invaded the territory of their former allies, the Song, to precipitate a series of wars with China that continued through the remainder of the century.
The Liao dynasty fell in 1125 and some Khitans fled west after their defeat by the Jurchens and founded the Qara Khitai (1125–1218) in present-day Xinjiang and eastern Kazakhstan with capital in Balasagun, near modern Tokmok, Kyrgyzstan. In addition, the Western Liao also controlled some highly autonomous vassalized states, such as Khwarezm, the Eastern and the Western Kara-Khanids, etc. In 1218, Genghis Khan destroyed the Qara Khitai, after which the Khitan passed into obscurity. The modern-day minority of Mongolic-speaking Daurs in China are their direct descendants based on DNA evidence and other Khitans assimilated into the Mongols (Southern Mongols), Turkic peoples and Han Chinese.

12th-century Mongolia was characterized by rivalry between many tribes and confederations (khanligs or khanate).
A confederation of tribes under the name Mongol was known from the 8th century.
Some Shiwei tribes, though little is known, have been considered the ancestors of the Mongols according to ancient Chinese records. Term "Shiwei" was an umbrella term of the Mongolic and Tungusic peoples in the 6th to 12th centuries. During the 5th century, they occupied the area east of the Greater Khingan Range, what is the Hulunbuir, Argun (Ergune), Nen (Noon), Middle Amur, and the Zeya Watersheds. They may have been divided into five to twenty tribes. They were said to be dressed in fish skins. They may have been nomadic, staying in the marshy lowlands in the winter and the mountains during the summer. The burial was by exposure in trees. Their language is described as being similar to Manchu-Tungusic languages and Khitan. The Turkic Khaganate installed tuduns, or governors over the Shiwei and collected tribute. Other Shiwei may have stayed and become the Evenks. The Kitans conquered the Shiwei during the late 9th century. One Shiwei tribe, living near the Amur and Ergune rivers, was called the "Menggu" (Mongol).

The confederations of core Mongol tribes were transforming into a statehood in the early 12th century and came to be known as the Khamag Mongol confederacy. The people of Mongolia at this time were predominantly spirit worshipers, with shamans providing spiritual and religious guidance to the people and tribal leaders.

The Khamag Mongols occupied one of the most fertile areas of the country—the basins of the rivers Onon, Kherlen and Tuul in the Khentii mountains. The first known khan of Khamag Mongol is Khabul Khan from Khiyad tribe. Khabul Khan successfully repelled the invasions of Jin dynasty. He was succeeded by Ambaghai Khan from Taichuud tribe. Ambagai was captured by the Tatars while he came to deliver his daughter as a bride to the Tatar confederacy and was given to the Jurchens of Jin dynasty who cruelly executed him, nailing to a "wooden donkey". Ambagai was succeeded by Hotula Khan, son of Khabul Khan. Hotula Khan engaged in 13 battles with the Tatars endeavouring to avenge Ambagai Khan. Khamag Mongol was unable to elect a khan after Hotula died. However, Khabul's grandson Yesukhei baghatur was a major chief of Khamag Mongol.

Yesukhei was poisoned by the Tatars in 1171 when his eldest son Temujin was 9 years old. Shortly after Yesukhei died, Targudai of Taichuud moved away with the subjects of Yesukhei, leaving young Temujin, his mother and his younger siblings without support. Hence, Khamag Mongol remained in political crisis until 1189.

In the 12th century the Khamag Mongol Khanate, Tatar confederation, Keraite Khanate, Merkit confederation, Naiman Khanate were five major Mongolic tribal confederations and khanates in the Mongolian plateau.

The Tatar confederacy first appeared in recorded history in 732. The Tatars became subjects of the Khitan in the 10th century. After the fall of the Khitan empire, the Tatars experienced pressure from the Jin dynasty and were urged to fight against the other Mongol tribes. The Tatars lived on the fertile pastures around the lakes Hulun and Buir and occupied a trade route to China.

The Keraites between the mountain ranges of Khangai and Khentii were centered on the site of today's city Ulaanbaatar in the willow groves of the Tuul river. Markus was khan of the Keraites in the 12th century. Markus was succeeded by Tooril khan. In his feud with his brothers for the throne of the Keraites, he was repeatedly aided by Yesukhei Bagatur of Khamag Mongol.

The Mergid confederacy was located in the basin of the river Selenge. The Hori Tümeds and Buryats lived around the lake Baikal.

The Naiman confederacy was situated between the mountain ranges of Altai and Khangai. The Ongut tribes lived at the north of Gobi. Other tribes were Olkhunut, Bayud, Khongirad, Oirats and so forth. While most of the Mongolian tribes were Shamanists, Nestorian Christianity was practiced in a number of confederations such as Keraites and Ongut.

Temujin (1162–1227) defeated and subjugated the "Three Mergids" in 1189 with the support of Tooril Khan of Kereit, the blood brother of his father. Another ally who helped Temujin in this venture was his own blood brother Jamukha of Jadaran clan. The Mergids had attacked the home of Temujin and captured his wife Börte of Hongirad tribe revenging for a much earlier event in which Temujin's father Yesukhei deprived a Mergid chief Chiledu his bride Hoelun of Olkhunut tribe, who became the mother of Temujin. The striving of Temujin to free his wife became a reason for the campaign against the Mergids. After the defeat of the Mergid, the reputation of Temujin rose rapidly and the leading members of the Khamag Mongol aristocracy enthroned him with title Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan), as the ruler of Khamag Mongol. It is speculated to be an ancient form of the word ""Tenggis""—ocean, sea.

A conflict of the Tatars with the Jin dynasty became a favorable opportunity for Temujin and Tooril Khan to defeat them in alliance with the Jurchens. At this point, Tooril Khan was granted the title Wang (王, Chinese for "king") by the Jin court and since then became known as Wang Khan. By the year 1201, the Taichuud and Jurkhin tribes were defeated and subjugated. Influential aristocrats of many other tribes and confederations were joining Temujin.

In 1201, a crisis ignited in the Keraite khanlig, in which the siblings of Tooril Wang Khan allied with Inancha Khan of Naiman and defeated Tooril. Wang Khan regained power in his kingdom with the support of Temujin. Temujin finally defeated and subjugated the Tatars in 1202. Nilha (childish) Sengum, son of Wang Khan, envied Temujin as his power was growing and persuaded his father to battle against Temujin. This venture led to a victory of Temujin and conquest of the Kereit Khanlyk. Wang Khan escaped alone into the southern deserts of the Naiman khanlig, where he was caught by the Naiman patrols, who killed him irritated as he claimed himself as Wang Khan.

Tayan khan of Naiman and his son Kuchlug initiated a campaign against Temujin in 1204. They allied with Jamukha, who competed with Temujin for the power over the Mongolic tribes. The Naiman troops outnumbered the Temujin's troops. At night at the eve of the battle, Temujin ordered each of his warrior to light ten bonfires, thus deceiving and demoralising Tayan khan, who was a weak warlord. Temujin won the battle. Tayan khan was captured but died of his wound, Kuchlug retreated to the river Irtysh where he was overtaken by Temujin and defeated. After this battle, Kuchlug escaped to Gur-Khan of Kara-Kitai.

As the Khanlyk of Naiman was conquered, Khasar, brother of Temujin, found a dignitary named Tata Tunga, who spread the Uigur alphabet among the Mongols. This alphabet became the basis of the Classical Mongol script.

By 1206, all the tribes and confederations of Mongolian steppe had come under the leadership of Temujin. The success of Temujin in consolidation of the Mongols was due to his flexibility, his cherishing of his friends and his elaborated tactics. A congress of the Mongol aristocrats on the river Onon in 1206 enthroned Temujin as "Chingis Khaan" ("Genghis Khan") as Emperor of all Mongolia.

The Mongol Empire and the states that emerged from it played a major role in the history of the 13th and 14th centuries. Genghis Khan and his immediate successors conquered nearly all of Asia and European Russia and sent armies as far as central Europe and Southeast Asia.

Genghis Khan abolished the organization of the former tribes and confederations and reformed the country into 95 mingats. In this system, a group of households large enough to mobilize ten warriors was organized into an arbatu, 10 arbatus were organized into a zagutu (100 warriors), 10 zagutus constituted a mingat (1,000 warriors) and 10 mingats constituted a tumetu or tumen (10,000 warriors). This decimal system was a long-tested system that had been inherited from the period of the Xiongnu. With an assumption that each household consisted of four persons and every adult male was a warrior, it can be estimated that the entire population of Mongolia was at least 750,000 people and the nation possessed 95,000 cavalrymen.

The newly unified Great Mongol State became an attractive force for many neighbouring peoples and kingdoms. Beginning from 1207, the Uighur state, Taiga people of the river Yenisey and the Karluk kingdom joined Mongolia. The urgent task of Genghis Khan was strengthening the independence of his young nation. For a century, the southeastern neighbour Jin dynasty had been provoking the Mongolic tribes against one another in order to eventually subjugate them. With a purpose of testing the military strength of his state and preparing for a struggle against the Jin dynasty, Genghis Khan conquered the Tangut empire Xi-Xia, which pledged vassalage.

In the year, Mongolia, with over 90,000 cavalrymen, started a war with the Jin dynasty which had a multi-million population. At this stage, the Mongols passed over the Great Wall, invaded Shanxi and Shandong provinces, and approached the river Yellow River. The "Altan (Golden) Khaan" (Jin Emperor) surrendered in 1214 and gave Genghis Khan his princess and tribute of gold and silver to his warlords. Genghis Khan gave out to his warriors the tribute of the Jin Emperor loaded on 3000 horses. However, the Jin dynasty continued hostility against Mongolia, hence Genghis Khan ordered his warlord Guo Wang Mukhulai of the Jalair clan to complete the conquest of the Jin dynasty and returned to Mongolia.

Later, the warlord Jebe of Besud clan defeated Kuchulug who had become the Gur-Khan of Qara Khitai. His power was weak as he, a Buddhist, persecuted the indigenous Muslim population.

Genghis Khan intended to develop friendly relations with the Khwarezm Empire, which was on a junction of the trade routes connecting the East and the West and dominated Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan. Genghis Khan considered himself a supreme ruler of the East and Khwarezm Shah a supreme ruler of the West. Khwarezm Shah had an opposite view that there should be only one ruler on earth as there is only one sun in the sky.

The execution of 450 envoys and tradesmen of Genghis Khan by Khwarezm Shah 1218 was an announcement of war. The Mongol troops invaded Khwarezm Empire in 1219. Although Khwarezm Shah possessed an army outnumbering the Mongol troops dozen of times, he lacked the courage and initiatives to unite his forces and fight back. The Mongol troops sacked cities Otrar, Buhara, Merv and Samarkand. Shah's warlord Temur-Melik led a daring resistance when the Mongol troops besieged city of Khujand. Shah's son Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu courageously battled with the Mongol army in 1221, but was defeated and escaped to the river Ind.

Pursuing Khwarezm Shah in 1220, the scout groups of warlords Jebe and Subedei bagathur of Uriankhai clan conquered northern Iran. They invaded Iraq, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia in 1221 and entered the territories of the Kipchak Khanate in Crimea and grasslands of the northern Black Sea. The Kipchaks allied with the troops of the principalities of Rus gave battle to the 30,000 cavalrymen of Jebe and Subedei on the river Kalka in May 1223, but were defeated and were chased up to the river Dnieper.

The Tangut kingdom denied its obligation as a vassal state to take part in the western campaign of Genghis Khan. Shortly after returning to Mongolia, the Mongol army invaded the Tangut state in 1226 and conquered the capital Zhongxing (中兴府), located in modern Yinchuan. The Tangut kingdom completely surrendered in March 1227.

Mongolic Khitans and Tuyuhuns or Monguor people (1227) came under rule of the Mongol Empire after conquest of the Tanghut's Western Xia and Tungusic Jin Empires. The Qara Khitai was conquered by the Mongols under Genghis Khan in 1218.

The 16-year conquests of Genghis Khan resulted in the formation of the Mongol Empire. He died on 16 August 1227 and was buried at site Ihe Ötög on the southern slopes of the Khentii mountain range.

The 1228 Congress of nobility known as Kurultai enthroned Ogedei, who had been nominated by Genghis Khan. Ogedei Khan made Karakorum on the river Orkhon the capital of the Mongol Empire. Karakorum had been a military garrison of Genghis Khan since 1220. The existence of 12 Buddhist temples, 2 Muslim mosques and 1 Christian church in city Karakorum indicates the tolerance of the Mongols to all religions. The construction of the city was supervised by Otchigin, the youngest brother of Genghis Khan. Ogedei Khan established an effective postal yam system with well-organized posts (‘’örtege’’). The system connected the various regions of the whole Empire. Ogedei Khan settled down the rebellions in the countries conquered during his father and led an army himself to put down a revolt in Korea.

Ogedei Khan completed the conquest of the Jin dynasty in 1231–1234. He sent princes headed by Batu, son of Zuchi, to the west, and they conquered the Bulgar kingdom on the Volga river and 14 principalities of Rus in 1236–1240, invaded the principalities of Poland, the kingdom of Kingdom of Hungary, Moravia (then part of the Holy Roman Empire), and the area of Moldavia in 1241–1242 and approached the Adriatic sea.

After his 16-year reign, Ogedei Khan died in 1241 under suspicious circumstances. A rivalry for the throne began between the faction of the houses of Zuchi and Tului on one side and the faction of the houses of Chagatai and Ogedei on the other side. The Kuriltai of 1246 elected Guyug, son of Ogedei, as Great Khan. Guyug Khan died in 1248.

The traveller from Italy Giovanni da Pian del Carpine arrived in 1246 and later he wrote the book "Historia Mongolorum quos nos Tartaros appellamus". The faction of Zuchi-Tului houses won the Kuriltai of 1251 electing Mönghe, son of Tului, as Great Khan. Mönghe Khan sent his second younger brother Hulagu to conquer Iran. Hulagu completed the conquest of Iran in 1256 and conquered Baghdad, Caucasus and Syria in 1257–1259. Willem van Ruysbroeck of Flanders arrived in 1254 and later wrote his account "Itinerarium fratris Willielmi de Rubruquis de ordine fratrum Minorum, Galli, Anno gratia 1253 ad partes Orientales".

Mönghe Khan died in 1259, without leaving behind a son. The Kuriltai of 1260 elected Ariq Böke, the youngest brother of Mönghe Khan, as Great Khan. The same year, Mönghe Khan's first younger brother Kublai, who was warring in China to conquer the Song Dynasty, elevated himself into Great Khan in city Shangdu (or known as Kaiping). The Toluid Civil War was fought between the two brothers from 1261 to 1264 until Ariq Böke surrendered.

The Mongol Empire had an establishing effect on the social, cultural and economic life of the inhabitants of the vast Eurasian territory in the 13th and 14th centuries. It enabled exchange of knowledge, inventions and culture between the West and East. This epoch is called Pax Mongolica.

In Mongolia, the legacy of Genghis Khan was a superior law code, a written language, and a historical pride.

The establishment of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) by Kublai Khan accelerated the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire fractured into four khanates including the Yuan dynasty in China and Mongolia, and the three western khanates, i.e. the Golden Horde, the Chagatai Khanate and the Ilkhanate, although later Yuan emperors were seen as the nominal suzerains of the western khanates.

The transition of the capital of the Mongol Empire from Karakorum to Khanbaliq (Dadu, modern-day Beijing) by Kublai Khan in 1264 was opposed by many Mongols. Thus, Ariq Böke's struggle was for keeping the center of the Empire in Mongolia homeland. After Ariq Böke's death, the struggle was continued by Kaidu, a grandson of Ogedei Khan and "de facto" ruler of the Chagatai Khanate until 1301 as well as lord Nayan in 1287, although the Mongolian steppe was controlled by Kublai Khan and his successors after the Toluid Civil War.

Kublai invited lama Drogön Chögyal Phagpa of Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism to spread Buddhism throughout his realm (the second introduction of Buddhism among the Mongols). Buddhism became the "de facto" state religion of the Mongol Yuan state. In 1269, Kublai Khan commissioned Phagpa lama to design a new writing system to unify the writing systems of the multilingual empire. The 'Phags-pa script, also known as the "Square script", was based on the Tibetan script and written vertically from top was designed to write in Mongolian, Tibetan, Chinese, Uighur and Sanskrit languages and served as the official script of the empire.

Kublai Khan announced the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in 1271. The Yuan dynasty included Mongolia homeland, the territories of the former Jin and Song dynasties and some adjacent territories such as a major part of southern Siberia. Kublai established a government with institutions resembling the ones in earlier Chinese dynasties such as the Zhongshu Sheng to lead the civil administration in the Yuan realm, yet at the same time introduced a hierarchy of reliability by dividing the subjects of the Yuan dynasty into 4 ranks. The highest rank included the Mongols, the second rank included the peoples to the west of Mongolia, the third rank included the subjects of the former Jin dynasty such as Northern Chinese, the Khitans and Jurchens, and the lowest rank comprised the subjects of the former Song dynasty such as the Han ethnic group in South China.

As for Mongolia itself, since the Mongolian Plateau is where the ruling Mongols of the Yuan dynasty came from, it enjoyed a somewhat special status during the Mongol Yuan dynasty, although the capital of the dynasty had been moved from Karakorum to Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) since the beginning of Kublai Khan's reign, and Mongolia had been turned into a province known as the Lingbei Branch Secretariat by the early 14th century. After the capture of the Yuan capital by the Ming dynasty founded by Han Chinese in 1368, the last Yuan emperor Toghon Temür fled north to Shangdu, then to Yingchang and died there in 1370. The Mongols under his son and successor Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara retreated to the Mongolian steppe and fought against the Ming. Mongolia homeland became the ruling center of the Northern Yuan dynasty which would last until the 17th century.

By 1368 the Mongols who established the Yuan dynasty a century ago had been expelled from China to Mongolia. The Dongxiangs, Bonans, Yugur and Monguor people came under rule of Chinese Ming dynasty. The Mongol regime after this time until the 17th century is often referred to as the Northern Yuan dynasty, or the Forty and the Four (Дөчин дөрвөн хоёр), meaning the forty Tumens of the Mongols and the four Tumens of the Oirats.

Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara was enthroned in 1370 after the death of the last Yuan emperor. The Ming dynasty founded by native Chinese began aggressions against Mongolia-based Northern Yuan from the year 1372. Mongol warlord Köke Temür defeated a 150,000 Ming force on the river Orkhon in 1373. Ming army invaded Mongolia again in 1380 and looted Karakorum and other cities, but the invasions of Mongolia by Ming armies in 1381 and 1392 were expelled. Nevertheless, Yuan royalists in Yunnan had surrendered to the Ming dynasty by the early 1380s.
Naghachu, a Mongol commander of Ayushiridara in Liaoyang province, invaded Liaodong with aims of restoring the Yuan dynasty. However, he, along with his troops (sized about 200,000) finally surrendered to the Ming dynasty in 1387–88 after a successful diplomacy of the latter. Ming China send Qui Fu's cavalry into Mongolia, but was chased out by Buyanshri Khan (1405–1412). In response, the Yongle Emperor of Ming China personally invaded Mongolia in 1409, 1414, 1422, 1423, and 1424. Mongols remained powerful even after the fall of the Yuan dynasty but number of the Mongols decreased due to the fall of the Mongol Empire, wars and assimilation (turkization). As the Ming dynasty understood its own disability of conquering Mongolia by military force, it started a policy of provoking the groups of Mongols to quarrel with one another, as well as economic blockade.

A long period of feudal separatism and rivalry for the Khan's throne started in Mongolia by the early 15th century. The military strength of the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty was that they were able to mobilize an army of 400,000 warriors (40 tumens). Assuming that an average household consisted of 4 people and every adult man was a warrior, it can be estimated that the Mongol population in the Yuan dynasty counted at least 1,600,000 people. However, the amount of 40 tumens remained only in the name of the Mongols after the fall of the Yuan dynasty as only 6 tumens were able to retreat to Mongolia and the remaining 34 tumens were lost to the Chinese Ming dynasty. These 6 tumens were grouped into the 3 tumens of the left wing ruled by the Mongol Khan and the 3 tumens of the right wing ruled by Jinong, vassal of the Khan. There were about 250,000 Mongols staying in South China and many of these Mongols who were unable to retreat to Mongolia were killed by the Chinese.

The Oirats constituted another 4 tumens. They stayed in Mongolia proper during the Yuan dynasty and sided Ariq Böke, Kaidu and Nayan in their anti-Kublai struggle. By the 15th century the Oirats occupied the Altay Mountains region. The Oirats were ruled by a Taishi who was a vassal of the Khan.

The first half of the 15th century saw a rivalry of Oirat Taishis for the throne of the Khan and the second half of the 15th century saw a separatist movement of the Taishis in the right wing tumens.

In the late 14th century Mongolia was divided into two parts: Western Mongolia (Oirats) and Eastern Mongolia (Khalkha, Southern Mongols, Barga, Buryats).

Western Mongolian Oirats and Eastern Mongolian Khalkhas vied for domination in Mongolia since the 14th century and this conflict weakened Mongolian strength.

In 1434, Eastern Mongolian Taisun Khan's (1433–1452) prime minister Western Mongolian Togoon Taish reunited the Mongols after killing Eastern Mongolian another king Adai (Khorchin). Togoon died in 1439 and his son Esen Taish became prime minister.
Togoon Taishi of Oirat eventually increased his power in the Mongol court and these achievements were tightened under his successor Esen Taishi. Mongolia was effectively unified under the power of the Oirat Taishi. Esen Taishi led active diplomatic exchanges with Ming China to achieve favorable trading conditions. When diplomacy failed to reach the goal, he led a military campaign in 1449, in which a 500,000 Ming army was defeated by a 20,000 Oirat army, the Ming Emperor was captured and Beijing was besieged. Shortly after this event Esen Taishi defeated the nominal Khan Togtobuh in their conflict and became a self-declared Khan. During his retreat, Togtobuh was caught and assassinated by his ex-father-in-law for an earlier humiliation of his daughter as she was divorced and returned to her parents. The reign of Esen Taishi was short, less than a year—his rivals rebelled and overthrew him in 1454.

The Khalkha emerged during the reign of Dayan Khan (1479–1543) as one of the six tumens of the Eastern Mongolic peoples. They quickly became the dominant Mongolic clan in Mongolia proper.

Mongolia was once again unified under queen Mandukhai the Wise and Batmönkh Dayan Khan, who subdued the Taishis. Queen Manduhai defeated the Oirats when Batmönkh was still a child. Later Batmönkh subdued the Taishis of the right wings as they refused to accept a suzereign over them—son of Dayan Khan sent there as a Jinong. After this event, Batmönkh moved his residence from Khalkha to Chaharia, to a proxime neighbourhood to the right wings for tighter control over them. Since then, the Mongol Khans resided in Chaharia up to 1634. The left-wing tumens under Dayan Khan were Khalkha, Chaharia and Urianhai, and the right-wing tumens were Ordos/Tümed, Yunshiyebu and Kharchin/Khorchin.

Dayan Khan was succeeded by Bodi Alagh Khan whose power was however assumed by his uncle Bars Bolud Jinong as a regent due to the Khan's young age. As he grew up, Bodi Alagh claimed back his throne and the Jinong yielded.
The Mongols voluntarily reunified during Eastern Mongolian Tümen Zasagt Khan rule (1558–1592) for last time after the Mongol Empire. During the reign of Darayisung Gödeng Khan and his successor Tümen Jasagtu Khan, the right wings rose in the 16th century under a local lord Altan (son of Bars Bolad Jinong) who assumed the title of khan. In order to maintain the unity of the country by peaceful means, Tümen Jasagtu Khan initiated a representative government with equal participation of the representatives of the left and right wings. The right wings rivaled with the Oirats for possession of Upper Mongolia (Qinghai) and Altan Khan, who appointed his son as a ruler of Upper Mongolia (Kukunor), defeated the Oirats in 1552. Altan Khan attacked Ming China, but he stopped the raids in 1571, and signed a peace treaty with the Ming court. To achieve favorable conditions in the peace treaty with the Ming dynasty, Altan Khan occasionally threatened that he may ally with Tümen Khan to attack China. Altan Khan established the city of Hohhot in 1557. Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji of Ordos defeated the Torghuts at the river Irtysh around the 1560s.

Abtai Sain Khan, the ruler of Khalkha, conquered the Oirats in the 1570s, but the latter rebelled in 1588. The Oirats, in turn, were busy in struggle with Moghulistan for trade routes.

Tümen Jasagtu Khan was succeeded by Buyan Sechen Khan who claimed having possessed the "seal of the ancient Taizong Khan". Buyan's grandson Ligden ascended the throne in 1603. He initiated translation of major Buddhist scriptures into the Mongolian language. By his time, the authority of the Mongolian Khan had declined to such a degree that Legdan Hutuhtu Khan came to be known as "Khan of Chaharia". The failure of his attempts of unification of Mongolia by peaceful means led him to shift to forceful methods. However, this in turn alienated the local lords of Inner Mongolia from him even farther.

The striving of the Mongols to improve their life led naturally to an increase in the number of their livestock. In the extensive livestock husbandry, on which the medieval Mongolian economy was based, an excess number of livestock required either expansion of the pastures, which may imply conquest of new territories, or exchange of the excess animals and livestock products for products of settled civilizations unavailable in the unsophisticated Mongolian economy. For example, they would be able to wear clothes made of hides and wool in cold seasons, but would certainly need clothes from silk or light fabric in summer. However, the ban on trade with the Mongols by the Ming administration was a reason for armed conflicts. Moreover, there were frequent attempts to offer low prices for the livestock products or to supply low quality reject goods to the Mongols. Thus in protest, there were cases that Mongol traders burned their reject Chinese purchases in front of the Ming officials during the rule of Esen. Also the Ming administration often issued extremely low import quotas for trade. They banned selling metal products to the Mongols in suspicion that metal would be remoulded into weapons; however, metal products such as kettles were vitally important in the every day life of the herders.

Cities in Mongolia were completely destroyed during Chinese raids in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. The Ming Empire attempted to invade Mongolia in the 14-16th centuries, however, the Ming Empire was defeated by the Oirat, Southern Mongol, Eastern Mongol and united Mongolian armies. Thus there was no division of labor between urban and rural economies that was characteristic in other cultures. Some attempts of diversification of the economy were undertaken in the 16th and 17th centuries in peripheral Mongol domains but not in Northern Khalkha. Thus Altan Khan made Chinese grow grain around the city of Hohhot. Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji attempted to develop cereal and horticulture production in Dzungaria using imported Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Chinese and Taranchis. However, these initiatives mainly or exclusively served the ruling classes and the mass of the Mongol commoners received little or no benefit from them.

By the end of the 16th century, several Khanlig dynasties developed in Khalkha. As Dayan Khan divided Mongolia among his eleven sons, Northern Khalkha (approximately the territory of modern Mongolia) was given to his youngest son Gersenz Hongtaiji and Southern Khalkha was given to Alchibolad. Northern Khalkha was further divided among Gersenz's seven sons and their sons. Abtai, the most powerful of Gersenz's grandchildren, received the title of Khan from the Dalai Lama, and his son Eriyehii Mergen Khan founded the dynasty of the Tushiyetu Khans, who ruled the central heartland of Northern Khalkha. Gersenz's great-grandson Sholoi solicited the title of Khan from Dalai Lama during his visit to Tibet and initiated the dynasty of Secen Khans in the east of Khalkha. Another great-grandson of Gersenz Laihur assumed the title of Khan, and his son Sumbadai founded the dynasty of the Zasagtu Khans, ruling the west of Northern Khalkha. Laihur's cousin Ubashi Hongtaiji separated from the Zasagtu Khan and initiated the dynasty of Altan Khans of Khotgoid. The title Altan Khan was given to him by the Russian authorities.

In the beginning of the 17th century, the Khoshut tribe of Oirat migrated to Kukunor, and Torghuts migrated to the basin of the river Volga, becoming the Kalmyk people. Khara Khula of the Choros clan unified the Oirats by the 1630s, and his son Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji established the Dzungar Khanate in 1634. The title of Hongtaiji was given to him by the Dalai Lama.

Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji of Ordos and his two brothers invaded Tibet in 1566. He sent an ultimatum to some of the ruling clergy of Tibet demanding their submission. The Tibetan supreme monks decided to surrender and Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji returned to Ordos with three high ranking monks. Tumen Jasaghtu Khan invited a monk of the Kagyu school in 1576.
Following the advice of his nephew Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji, Altan Khan of Tumet invited the head of the Gelug school Sonam Gyatso to his domain. Upon their meeting in 1577, Altan Khan recognized Sonam Gyatso lama as a reincarnation of Phagpa lama. Sonam Gyatso, in turn, recognized Altan as a reincarnation of Kublai Khan. Thus, Altan added legitimacy to the title "khan" that he had assumed, while Sonam Gyatso received support for the supremacy he sought over the Tibetan sangha. Since this meeting, the heads of the Gelugpa school became known as Dalai Lamas. Altan Khan also bestowed the title Ochirdara (Очирдар, from Sanskr. Vajradhara) to Sonam Gyatso.

At the same time the ruler of Khalkha Abtai rushed to Tumet to meet the new Dalai Lama. He requested the title Khan from him. Although the new Dalai Lama had already recognized Altan as a Khan in addition to the extant Mongolian Khan Tumen Jasaghtu, the Dalai Lama in Abtai's case rejected the request with the excuse that "there cannot be two Khans at the same time." After some hesitation however, he did give Abtai the title Khan. Abtai Khan established the Erdene Zuu monastery in 1585 at the site of the former city of Karakorum. Thus, eventually most Mongolian rulers became Buddhists.

The second half of the 15th and the 16th centuries saw the revival and flourishing of Mongolian culture. This period is characterized by development of architecture, fine arts including silk applique, thangka, martang and nagtang painting, and sculpture.
An adopted son of Oirat aristocrat Baibagas, Zaya Pandita Namhaijamtso (1599–1662), reformed the Mongolian script, adapting it to the Oirat dialect. This new script is called Todo bichig.

Zanabazar (1635–1723), head of Buddhism in Khalkha, was a great master of the Buddhist art. Along with the sculptures of the Twenty One Taras, he created the famous sculptures of Sita Tara and Siyama Tara, inspired by lively images of beautiful Mongolian women. The lotus flower over the left shoulder of Sita Tara is about to blossom and Sita Tara herself is in her mid-teens. The lotus flowers over the shoulders of Siyama Tara have already blossomed and Siyama Tara herself is a woman in the bloom of her beauty. She is aware and proud of her perfect beauty. She has awakened from her meditation, put down her right leg in the moment of standing up to descend from her lotus seat to breastfeed her child; and her children are the sentient beings. Many temples and monasteries were built under Zanabazar's projects. He designed the Soyombo script for the Mongolian, Tibetan, and Sanskrit languages in 1686.

Mathematician and astronomer Minggatu of Sharaid discovered nine trigonometric equations and wrote 42 volumes of "The Roots of Regularites" (Зvй тогтлын бvрэн эх сурвалж), 5 volumes in linguistics (дуун ухаан), and 53 volumes of work on mathematics.

In the area of historiography and literature, the "Shira Tuuji" was written in the 16th century, the "Altan Tobchi" of Lubsandanzan was written in the first half of the 17th century, and the "Erdeniin Tobchi" of Sagan Secen Hongtaiji (a descendant of Hutuhtai Secen Hongtaiji), was written in 1662. In the 1620s, Tsogtu Hongtaiji of Khalkha wrote his famous philosophic poems and Legdan Hutuhtu Khan had the 108 volumes of Kangyur and 225 volumes of Tengyur translated into the Mongolian language. A translation theory work, "The Source of Wisdom" (Мэргэд гарахын орон) was written under leadership of Rolbiidorji, Janjaa Hutuhtu II.

In the early 17th century the Northern Yuan dynasty was divided into three parts: the Khalkha, Inner Mongols and Buryats. By the end of the 17th century, the power of the all-Mongolian Khan had greatly weakened and the decentralized Mongols had to face the rising new Jurchen statehood on the east. The last Mongol khagan was Ligdan Khan in the early 17th century. He got into conflicts with the Manchus over the looting of Chinese cities, and managed to alienate most Mongol tribes. In 1618, Ligden signed a treaty with the Ming dynasty to protect their northern border from the Manchus attack in exchange for thousands of taels of silver. Nurhaci Bagatur (Тэнгэрийн сүлдэт) who reunified the Jurchen tribes sent a letter to Ligdan Khan seeking alliance in fighting against the Ming dynasty. Ligdan denied the proposal mentioning that Nurhaci rules only three tumens of the Jurchens while Ligdan himself is a Genghisid ruling the 40 tumens of the Mongols, and that Nurhaci had better refrain from disturbing the Chinese cities-tributaries of him-of Ligdan Khan. In response, Nurhaci held it necessary to remind him that the 40 tumens are long gone and there are perhaps some six tumens of which only Chaharia recognizes Ligdan's power as Khan. Later Nurhaci managed to ally with the vassals of Ligdan Khan, the "taiji"s or princes of Southern Khalkha, Horchin, Horlos, etc., who pledged to support Nurhaci in his wars against the Ming dynasty. However their first allied actions were against their own suzerain Ligdan Khan, who they defeated in 1622.
By the 1620s, only the Chahars remained under Ligdan's rule. The Chahar army was defeated in 1625 and 1628 by the Inner Mongol and Manchu armies due to Ligdan's faulty tactics.

Ligdan Khan occupied Tumet and Ordos in 1623 to forestall their absorption by the Manchu and advanced into the Manchurian lands in 1631. Nevertheless, Manchu ruler Hong Taiji, successor of Nurhaci, allied with the Inner Mongolian "taiji"s defeated him again in 1634 and sacked Hohhot. The Manchus secured control over Inner Mongolia in 1632 and Ligdan's army moved to fight Tibetan Gelugpa sect (Yellow Hat sect) forces. The Gelugpa forces supported the Manchus, while Ligdan supported the Kagyu sect (Red Hat sect) of Tibetan Buddhism. Ligdan Khan died in 1634 on his way to Tibet when his troops were swept by an epidemic.

Hong Taiji assumed the title of Khan of the Mongols in 1636, marking the conquest of Inner Mongolia. The Manchus, supported by the troops of the Inner Mongolian "taiji"s, conquered Ming China in 1644 and founded the Qing dynasty.

Erdeni Batur Hongtaiji of the Dzungar Khanate convened a congress of Western Mongolian Dzungars and Khalkas in 1640 to ally their forces in struggle against increasing foreign aggression. The congress issued a Khalkha-Oirat Law called the "Great Code of the Forty and the Four" or "Mongol-Oirat Code" ("Döchin Dörben Hoyar un Ike Tsagaza"). The Congress was attended by 28 rulers from Dzungaria, Khalkha, Kukunor, and Kalmykia. Tushiyetu Khan Gombodorji and Secen Khan Sholoi were engaged in a conflict with the Manchu Qing dynasty siding with Tenggis Taiji of Inner Mongolia who revolted against Qing rule in 1646.

Chahundorji succeeded to Tushiyetu Khan's (Tusheet Khan) throne in 1665. Zasagtu Khan Norbo (Norvo) died in 1661 and rivalry started between his successors. This feud eventually involved Altan Khan, Tushiyetu Khan, and the Dzungar Khanate. The crisis continued for decades and evolved into a war between Khalkha and Dzungaria in 1688, leading to the conquest of Khalkha by Galdan Boshugtu Khan, king of the Dzungar Khanate, in the course of several battles in the Hangai mountains.
In 1688, Galdan attacked Khalkha following the murder of his younger brother by Tusheet Khan Chakhundorj (the main or Central Khalkha leader) and the Khalkha-Oirat War began.

The head of the Khalkha Buddhism Boghda Zanabazar, the Khalkha khans and nobles with thousands of their subjects moved in panic to Inner Mongolia, which had been integrated into the Qing dynasty. A few Khalkhas fled north of Outer Mongolia where Russia threatened to exterminate them if they failed to submit, but many submitted to Galdan Boshugtu. The Khalkha leaders sought Manchu aid in their feud with Galdan Boshugtu Khan while the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty cunningly demanded that they become his vassals as a condition for his support. Galdan demanded that the Kangxi Emperor cede him Önder Gegeen Zanagazar and Tushiyetu Khan Chahundorji. The Kangxi Emperor refused and decisive battle took place near UlaanBudan where Galdan was defeated and fled back deeper into Khalkha territory.

The Dzungar throne was then seized by Galdan's brother, Tsewang Rabtan in 1689 while the latter was engaged in the war in Khalkha and this event made it impossible for Galdan to fight the Qing Empire. Galdan sent his army to "liberate" Inner Mongolia after defeating the Khalkha army and called Inner Mongolian nobles to fight for Mongolian independence. Some Inner Mongolian nobles, Tibetans, Kumul Khanate and some Moghulistan's nobles supported his war against the Qing Empire, however, Inner Mongolian nobles did not join the battle against the Manchus.

The Kangxi Emperor organized a congress of the rulers of Khalkha and Inner Mongolia in Dolnuur in 1691 at which the Khalkha feudatories (the Khalkha Khanate or Eastern Mongolia) by Zanabazar's decision formally declared allegiance to the emperor. However, Khalkha "de facto" remained under the rule of Galdan Boshugtu Khan. Chakhundorj fought against the Russian invasion of northern Mongolia until 1688. Zanabazar struggled to bring together the Oirats and Khalkhas before the war. Qing forces invaded Khalkha in 1696 and the Oirats were defeated by the outnumbering enemy in a battle at Zuun Mod at the river Terelj. Galdan Boshugtu Khan died in 1697 in the region of Kovd.

There were three khans in Khalkha of which Zasagt Khan Shar (Western Khalkha leader) was Galdan's ally. Tsetsen Khan (Eastern Khalkha leader) did not engage in this conflict. The Mongols who fled to Outer and Inner Mongolia returned after the war. Some Khalkhas mixed with the Buryats. Tsewang Rabtan continued the war against the Manchus to liberate Eastern, Upper and Inner Mongolia after Galdan Boshugtu, however, his action against Galdan made northern Mongols fight against Russia without the help of other Mongols. The Russian and Qing Empires supported his actions because this coup weakened Western Mongolian strength.

Mongolia encountered Russian expansion on her northern border in the 17th century. The Buryats had fought against Russian invasion since the 1620s. The well-armed Russian Cossaks cruelly subdued the resistance of the Buryats and conquered the Baikal region in 1640-1650s. The uprisings of the Buryats were brutally crushed in 1658 and 1696. The Russians attempted to build ostrogs in Khövsgöl area, but they were quickly destroyed by the local population. The Buryat region was formally annexed to Russia by treaties in 1689 and 1727, when the territories on both the sides of Lake Baikal were separated from Mongolia. In 1689 the Treaty of Nerchinsk established the northern border of Manchuria north of the present line. The Russians retained Trans-Baikalia between Lake Baikal and the Argun River north of Mongolia. The Treaty of Kyakhta (1727), along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk, regulated the relations between Imperial Russia and the Qing Empire until the mid nineteenth century. It established the northern border of Mongolia. Oka Buryats revolted in 1767 and Russia completely conquered the Buryat region in the late 18th century.

Teswang Rabtan stopped the eastern expansion of the Kazakh khans, and also sent his general Ihe Tserendondov to conquer Tibet in 1716. His force was driven out by Qing troops in 1720, who then occupied Tibet. However, several attempts by the Qing dynasty to subjugate the Dzungar Khanate failed in the early 18th century. In 1723, the Qing troops subdued the uprising of Luvsandanzan taiji in Kukunor. Tsewang Rabtan was succeeded by his son Galdan Tseren in 1727.

Galdant Seren took a series of actions to develop of crop production, gardening, and cannon manufacture in Dzungaria. He successfully repelled the aggression of the Qing dynasty in 1729–31. Moreover, his general Baga Tserendondov advanced into Khalkha and reached the River Kerulen in 1732, but had to retreat after battles with Khalkha and Qing troops. Galdan Tseren died in 1745 and a crisis arose among his heirs. After a series of bloody clashes among them, Dawachi, supported by Khoi-Oirat prince Amursana became the new Dzungar Khan in 1753. The feud was a sign to the Qing dynasty to prepare for the invasion of the Dzungar Khanate.

As soon as he became Khan, Dawachi deprived his friend Amursana of his wife and then defeated him in a battle in 1754. Amursana sought an alliance with the Qing dynasty, hoping to defeat Dawachi and elevate himself to the position of Khan of the Dzungar Khanate. The Qing administration mobilized horses and other livestock of the Khalkha population for the Dzungar invasion. A 200,000 strong army consisting of Khalkha, Inner Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese troops invaded Dzungaria in 1755. The vanguard of the Qing army was led by Amursana, king Chingünjav and King Renchindorji of the Khalkhas. The Dzungar Khanate was conquered by the Manchus in 1755–1758 due to conflicts between their leaders and military commanders.

While this horde entered the Ili River Basin, Amursana captured Davaachi and handed him to the Manchu. This event marked the fall of the Dzungar Khanate, which had impeded Qing expansion into Central Asia for over a century. The Qianlong Emperor demobilized the army and envisaged a congress of Dzungar and other Mongol aristocrats to celebrate the incorporation of Dzungaria into the Qing Empire.

Soon after the conquest of the Dzungar Khanate, Amursana, Chingünjav of Khotogoid and Inner Mongolian Khorchin Wang Sevdenbaljir rose up against Qing domination. Some Inner Mongol and Khalkha nobles supported this uprising but the second Jebtsundamba Khutughtu and Tushiyetu Khan Yampildorji mysteriously died shortly afterwards.
Chingünjav rose against Qing rule in 1756 abandoning his post and appealed to the other nobles of Khalkha to rise for independence. Around the same period, an uprising of Sevdenbaljir in Inner Mongolia was subdued. Sevdenbaljir was arrested before this uprising to prevent the Inner Mongols uniting their force. He planned to organize a congress of the Khalkha nobility to elect a future Khan of Mongolia. Chingunjav was supported by Boghda Gegeen II, the Khans of the four Khalkha aimags and other members of the nobility. However, the Qing court was able to capture Chingunjav before the uprising took its full swing. Chingunjav and his whole family were cruelly executed in 1757, and the Qing court decided that future Jebtsundamba Khutughtus would be only found in Tibet, not in Mongolia. Renchindorj Wang who allowed Amursanaa to abandon his post in the Qing army was cruelly executed in Beijing.

Amursanaa returned to Dzungaria with his 500 warriors as he was deceived in his hope to take the Dzungar throne with the support of the Qing Empire. A faction of the Oirat aristocrats elevated him as Khan of the Oirats in 1756. However, Amursana's followers lacked unity. The decisive battle took place at Sharbal in 1757 when 3,000 Oirat troops fought against a four times outnumbering enemy. After the 17-day battle, Amursana was defeated and fled to Tobolsk in Russia where he died but the Dzungars continued their war against Manchu invasion until 1758. Brutally revenging the Oirat people for their love for freedom, the Qing army carried out the Dzungar genocide, killing every Oirat they met on their way in the territory of the Dzungar Khanate. Of the 600,000 Dzungar population, only 30 thousand survived. Some scholars estimate that about 80% of the Dzungar population were destroyed by a combination of warfare and disease during the Qing conquest of the Dzungar Khanate in 1755–1758. Mark Levene, a historian whose recent research interests focus on genocide, has stated that the extermination of the Dzungars was "arguably the eighteenth century genocide par excellence." The territory of the Dzungar Khanate was then incorporated into the Qing Empire as Xinjiang, which later became a province.

After seizing control of Outer Mongolia, the Qing government grouped Khalkha khoshuns into 4 aimags (province): Tusiyetu Khan aimag, Zasaghtu Khan aimag, Secen Khan aimag and Sain Noyan Khan aimag. In addition, the territories populated by Oirats in the Kobdo region were grouped into Togs Huleg Dalai Khan aimag and Unen Zorigtu Khan aimag. Aimags were governed by aimag congress chigulgan comprising the lords of the khoshuns. The chigulgan daruga ( - official presiding the congress) was appointed from the khoshun lords by the Qing government.

As vassals of Qing Emperors, the Mongolian nobles—rulers of the khoshuns were expected to carry out military services commanding their troops in warfare, to personally attend the Emperor in his hunting processions, mobilize resources from the khoshun population and subdue local riots. Their services were generously awarded by the Emperor, and those who performed exceptionally outstanding feats before the Qing Emperor would occasionally be honoured to marry a princess. Disobedience or failure to provide adequate service was severely punished.

The most heavy burden of the foreign exploitation was laid on the spine of the ordinary Mongolian laborers. They were impoverished during mobilization of horses and livestock products during preparation of the military campaign against the Dzungar Khanate besides they had to serve as warriors themselves. Although the military feudal system of Mongolia of the pre-Qing epoch is considered to have been a class society in which an ordinary Mongol was expected to obey his feudal lord as a soldier obeys a commander, it was during the Qing rule when serfdom was effectively introduced to the Mongolian society for the first time. There were 3 forms of serfdom: albatu—state serfs, khamjilga—personal serfs of khoshun rulers and of taijis, and shabi—serfs of Khutuhtus, supreme clergy. To prevent assimilation of the Mongols, the Qing government tried to restrict travels of Han Chinese to Khalkha and to forbid cross-ethnic marriages between the Mongols and Han Chinese. In the later Qing period however, the Qing policy changed with the "New Policies" (Xin zheng) in the early 20th century, which called for the sinification of Mongolia through Han Chinese colonisation.

The official name of the state was "Ikh Mongol Uls", meaning the "Great Mongolian State". Yuan Shikai, the President of the newly formed Republic of China considered the new republic to be the successor of the Qing and hoped to integrate Outer Mongolia to the new republic. While the Qing referred to their state as "Zhongguo" (the term for "China" in modern Chinese) in official documents such as treaties, it implemented different ways of legitimization for different peoples in the Qing Empire, such as acting as Khan to the Mongols. As a result, the Mongols considered themselves as subjects of the Qing state outside China or "Khitad", and the position of Mongols was that their allegiance had been to the Manchu Qing monarch, not the Chinese state. When declaring its independence the Mongolian government around the Bogd Khan replied to Yuan Shikai that both Mongolia and China had been administered by the Manchus, but after the fall of the Manchu Qing dynasty in 1911 it was simply that the contract about their submission to the Manchus had become invalid.

Bogd Gegeen was enthroned as Bogd Khaan ("Holy King") of Mongolia on 29 December 1911 and the era was titled "Olan-a Örgugdegsen" ("Elevated by Many"). The Qing high official in Uliastai was deported on 12 January 1912 in the presence of 700 Mongolian warriors mobilized from Sain Noyan Khan aimag. Mongolian troops led by Danbijantsan (Ja Lama), Magsarjav, and the Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren arrived in the Khovd region in August 1912. After an intense attack supported by the local people, they captured the city of Kobdo during the night of 20 August 1912. At the same time, while many Mongol leaders outside Outer Mongolia sent statements to support Bogd Khan's call of Mongolian reunification, in reality however, most of them were too prudent or irresolute to attempt joining the Bogd Khan regime.

The Mongolian army took control of Khalkha and the Khovd region (modern Uvs Province, Khovd Province, and Bayan-Ölgii Province) but Northern Xinjiang (the Altai and Ili regions of the Qing Empire), Upper Mongolia, Barga, and Inner Mongolia came under control of the Republic of China. On 2 February 1913 the Bogd sent Mongolian cavalrymen to "liberate" Inner Mongolia from China. The Russian Empire refused to sell weapons to the Bogd Khanate, and Tsar Nicholas II called it "Mongolian imperialism". The United Kingdom urged Russia to abolish Mongolian independence because it was concerned that "if Mongolians gain independence then Central Asians will revolt".

The Barga Mongols fought against Chinese forces in August 1912, captured the city of Hailar, and announced their willingness to unify with the Bogd Khaanate.

In its historical significance, the establishment of the Bogd Khaanate of Mongolia is comparable with the foundation of the unified Mongol Empire in 1206. With national independence, Mongolia entered the path of modernization. A parliamentary structure consisting of two chambers, the Upper Hural and the Lower Hural, was formed in 1914. A legal code, "Jarlig yar togtughaghsan Mongol Ulus un hauli zuil-un bichig" (or "Zarligaar togtooson Mongol Ulsyn khuuli zuiliin bichig"), was adopted in 1915.
On 3 November 1912, the Russian Empire and Mongolia signed a bilateral treaty without the participation of China. This treaty meant recognition of the Bogd Khaan as the monarch of the sovereign "State of Mongolia" by Russia. Nevertheless, under strong pressure from the Russian and Chinese governments, the Treaty of Kyakhta (1915) between Russia, Mongolia, and the Republic of China "downgraded" the independence of Outer Mongolia to autonomy within China. The government of Mongolia maintained a position of preserving Mongolia's independence including Khalkha Mongolia, the Khovd region, Western Mongolia, Tuva, Inner Mongolia, Barga, and Upper Mongolia. The position of the Republic of China was that all of Mongolia was territories of China. The position of Russia was to reduce Mongolian independence to an autonomy limited to Outer Mongolia only. Negotiations continued for eight months as the Mongolian representatives firmly defended the independence of the country, but finally the government of Mongolia had to accept Russia's position. However, Outer Mongolia remained effectively outside the control of the Chinese, who on the other hand controlled Barga, Dzungaria, Tuva, Upper Mongolia, and Inner Mongolia in 1915.

On 2 February 1913, Mongolia and Tibet signed a treaty of friendship and alliance. Mongolian agents and Bogd Khaan (he was a Tibetan) disrupted Soviet secret operations in Tibet to change its regime in the 1920s.

Following the Russian Revolution of October 1917, China revived its claims to Outer Mongolia, aiming at its conversion into a common Chinese province. In late 1919, the Chinese general Xu Shuzheng occupied Urga after suspicious deaths of Mongolian patriotic nobles and forced the Bogd Khaan and the leading nobles to sign a document renouncing Mongolia's independence. Leaders of Mongolia's national independence movement, such as Magsarjav or Damdinsuren (died in the prison under brutal torture) were arrested and imprisoned. The Chinese had tightened their control of Mongolia by this time.

Russian White Guard troops led by Baron Ungern von Sternberg, who had been defeated in the Civil War in Transbaikalian Siberia, invaded Mongolia in October 1920. Baron Ungern sought allies to defeat the Soviet Union. In October–November 1920, Ungern's troops assaulted the capital, Niislel Khuree, known to Europeans under the name Urga (now Ulaanbaatar), several times but were repelled with heavy losses. Ungern entered contacts with Mongolian nobles and lamas and received Bogd Khaan's edict to regain independence. On 2–5 February 1921, after fighting a huge battle, Ungern's force (mainly Mongolian volunteer cavalrymen, Buryat and Tatar cossacks of Russia) drove the Chinese forces out of the Mongolian capital.

One part of the Chinese forces fled to the south to China, and another to the north of Mongolia to enter negotiations with the Far Eastern Republic (a puppet state created by Soviet Russia). The Bogd Khaan's monarchic power and his government were restored.

Bogd Khan failed in his efforts to get aid from Japan and the United States for regaining the independence of Mongolia from China. Later the Chinese forces were defeated by Baron Ungern, but at the same time the Mongolian People's Party (MPP) had been established. The Soviet government saw this party as instrumental for driving Ungern's troops from Mongolia.

The MPP was established in early 1921 as a merger of two underground revolutionary groups who had their own views on the future of Mongolia. One of these groups was headed by Soliin Danzan, and the other group was headed by Bodoo. They sought aid from the Soviet Union, which was unacceptable to Bogd Khan. However, for the sake of the country's independence, Bogd Khan endorsed the MPP's letter to the Soviet government. However, the Soviet Union chose not to respond to Bogd Khan's government, instead looking to the MPP to become the rulers of Mongolia.

The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 began on 18 March, when 400 volunteer troops led by Sukhbaatar attacked the 2,000-man Chinese garrison in Kyakhta at the northern frontier of Mongolia. The Mongolian volunteer troops and units of the Soviet Red Army advanced to the south, annihilating the remainder of the defeated Chinese troops and Ungern's White troops. The main battles undertaken by the Mongolian troops took place at Tujiin Nars against the Chinese and at Zelter and Bulnai against the White troops. Simultaneously, Khatanbaatar Magsarjav, who had been sent by Baron Ungern to the western provinces, revolted and allied himself with the MPP. He defeated the White troops led by Kazantsev, Vandanov, and Bakich. Mongolian and Soviet troops led by Khasbaatar and Baikalov withstood a long encirclement by the Whites at Lake Tolbo (in present-day Bayan-Ölgii aimag). Baron Ungern, after a conspiracy, was deserted by his troops and captured by a detachment of the Red Army. The MPP troops and Russian Red Army troops entered Urga in July 1921.

Thus the Revolution ended Chinese occupation of Mongolia and defeated White Russian forces in Mongolia. Also that year, Mongolian revolutionary leaders adopted the Statement of Reunification of Mongolia.

In 1924, during secret meetings with the Republic of China, the Soviet Union agreed to China's claim to Mongolia. The Soviet Union officially recognized Mongolian independence in 1945.

The revolutionary government kept Bogd Khan as nominal head of state, but the actual power was in the hands of the MPP and its Soviet (especially Buryat and Kalmyk) counselors. After the mysterious death of Bogd Khan in 1924, the MPP moved quickly to promulgate a Soviet-style constitution, abolishing monarchy and declaring the Mongolian People's Republic on 26 November 1924. Mongolia became completely isolated from the world by the MPP government, which followed the Soviet Union in implementing the Communist experiment. On the other hand, this also provided protection against the potential aggression of China.

In 1928, Mongolian politics took a sharp leftward turn. Herds were forcibly collectivized, private trade and transport were forbidden, and monasteries and the nobility came under attack. This led to an economic breakdown and to widespread unrest and armed uprisings in 1932. The MPP and Soviet troops defeated the rebels in October.

But as a result, the MPP withdrew its most aggressively socialist policies, as advised by the Comintern, instead adopting the Шинэ эргэлтийн бодлого ("Shine ergeltiin boglogo", the so-called "Policy of the New Turn"). The "New Turn" included the purging of the most leftist members of the leadership under the pretext of нугалаа ("nugalaa" "bending") and liberalized development of the economy, and was favored by new leaders such as Prime Minister P. Genden. However, they did not realize that this was a temporary tactical retreat by Stalin and the Comintern. Another wave of repressions began in 1937, presided over by Khorloogiin Choibalsan, and resulted in the almost complete elimination of the Buddhist clergy.

The Buryat Mongols started to migrate to Mongolia in the 1900s due to Russian oppression. Stalin stopped the migration in 1930 and initiated genocide in Mongolia against both immigrants and native Mongolians. During the Stalinist repressions in Mongolia many Buryat men and 22,000–33,000 Mongols were killed by Soviet orders. The victims were 3%–5% of the total population, and included monks, Pan-Mongolists, nationalists, patriots, military officers, nobles, intellectuals, and common citizens.

In 1939, Soviet and Mongolian troops fought against Japan in the Battle of Khalkhyn Gol, in Eastern Mongolia. In August 1945, at the end of World War II, Mongolian troops took part in the Soviet operations against Japan in Inner Mongolia.

Russian historian Viktor Suvorov wrote that in the Soviet war with Germany, Mongolian aid was as important as American aid, because warm clothes decided victory or defeat in the battles.
Also in August 1945, the Republic of China had finally agreed to recognize Mongolia's independence if a vote were held. The vote took place in the presence of Chinese observers on 20 October. The official result was 100% for independence.

After the 1949 Communist victory in China, Mongolia had good relations with both of its neighbors. When the Sino-Soviet split developed in the 1960s, it aligned itself firmly with the Soviet Union. In 1960, Mongolia gained a seat in the UN, after earlier attempts had failed due to U.S. and Republic of China vetos.

The post-war years also saw the acceleration of the drive towards creating a socialist society. In the 1950s, livestock was collectivized again. At the same time, state farms were established, and, with extensive aid from the USSR and China, infrastructure projects like the Trans-Mongolian Railway were completed. In the 1960s, Darkhan was built with aid from Soviet Union and other COMECON countries, and in the 1970s the Erdenet kombinat was created.

A modest meeting organized by the Mongolian Democratic Union on 10 December 1989 landmarks the commencement of the Democratic Movement in Mongolia. The subsequent meetings involved ever-increasing numbers of supporters. A meeting with participation of 100,000 people took place on 4 March 1990 on the square at cinema Yalalt, now known as the Square of Liberty. The meeting turned into a demonstration, marching to the House of the Government, which then hosted the People's Great Hural, Council of Ministers and the Headquarters of MPRP. The demonstrators demanded the resignations of the Political Bureau of the MPRP, a formation of a Provisional People's Hural during the month of March, and separation of MPRP from the government; they handed their petition to a representative of the government.

Denial of these demands by the Communist government led to a hunger strike of the 7–10 March 1990 by a number of activists of the Mongolian Democratic Union resulting in the resignation of the Political Bureau of the MPRP and negotiations for political reforms.

The first democratic election was held in July 1990.

On 3 October 2002 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that Taiwan recognizes Mongolia as an independent country, although no legislative actions were taken to address concerns over its constitutional claims to Mongolia. Offices established to support Taipei's claims over Outer Mongolia, such as the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, lie dormant.

The southern Xiongnu were a branch of the eastern Xiongnu that followed the rebellious pretender Huhanye and in 51-53 BC moved en masse within the Han borders under protection of Chinese. Since the times of Huhanye, the status of the southern Xiongnu was loyal allies of the Han Dynasty. The southern Xiongnu enjoyed material support of the old "heqin" treaty, and in return guarded the Chinese northern borders and participated in the Chinese external and internecine conflicts as long as the Chinese court respected their independence. However, when the Han imperial court attempted to appoint an ineligible for the crown Western Jükü-Prince Yufuluo from ineligible Right Wing as a Chanyu, instead of respecting the traditional election, the southern Xiongnu dissented and elected a lawful alternate Hyuibu Gudu-heu. Later they expelled Yufuluo, who had to seek safety in exile at the Han imperial court.

Chizhishizhuhou Chanyu

The Chizhishizhuhou Chanyu (持至尸逐侯单于; 150–196; reg. 188–195 AD), given name Yufuluo (於夫羅), was a puppet Chanyu of the southern Xiongnu during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history. In 188, he was appointed to the Chanyu position by the Chinese imperial court following the murder of his father Qiangqu, also a Han puppet from an ineligible succession line, and would later gain the Xiongnu title of Chizhisizhu.

Qiangqu, Yufuluo's father, was dispatching Xiongnu troops to serve in Chinese armies over objections of his subjects. As a result, Qiangqu was slain by a group of tribal leaders who set up a high-ranking Xiongnu nobleman from the traditional line of succession as their Chanyu, and rejected the right of Yufuluo to rule. Though Yufuluo attempted to ask for assistance from the Han Dynasty against his tribesmen, he was not successful in this endeavor. Instead, Yufuluo's army allied with a group of former Yellow Turban rebels and plundered Han territories. At that time the Han court collapsed after Emperor Ling of Han died in 189, and in the Han Dynasty arose a great turmoil. Yufuluo, with several thousand cavalry went to the warlords Yuan Shao and Zhang Yang when they camped at Henei. At that time, Yufuluo's followers of the Sui tribe, judging by the size of his troops, numbered 10-15,000; while Huchuquan ruled over the remaining 100,000 southern Xiongnu people. Neither Zhang Yang nor Yufuluo were satisfied with the authority of Yuan Shao, and decided to join forces and fight against Yuan Shao.

In 189 Hyuibu Gudu-heu died, and was replaced by Yufuluo's younger brother Huchuquan as southern Xiongnu Chanyu.

In 192, the exiled puppet Chanyu Yufuluo fought on the side of the offshoot of the Yellow Turban Rebellion known as Heishan bandits ("Black Mountain Bandits") led by a commander Sui Gu; another warlord commander Cao Cao campaigned against them and defeated their army. Following Cao Cao's victory, the Heishan bandits forces and the Yufuluo tribe were weakened. Shortly after their defeat, a detachment of Heishan bandits and Yufuluo's forces allied with Yuan Shu, one of Yuan Shao's and Cao Cao's enemies. When Yuan Shu tried to flee to Fengqiu, Yufuluo and a few of the Heishan bandits joined Yuan Shu's armies, and continued to suffer defeats from Cao Cao at Fengqiu and other places.

Weakened by multiple defeats, Yufuluo relocated to Pingyang, a county close to the Fen River. In about 196 he died and the remnants of his tribe rejoined his brother Huchuquan. The southern Xiongnu under Huchuquan would later support Yuan Shao's successors until the Battle of Pingyang. After that battle Huchuquan and his following surrendered to Cao Cao, Cao Cao divided them and settled in Bing Province. There they grew in population and later become a threat to the Jin Dynasty.

Yufuluo was a descendant of Chanyus of the Xiongnu's Luanti royal clan, and an ancestor of Liu Yuan, a founder of the (Former) Han Zhao state.