Editing Göktürks (section)

== History ==

=== Origins ===
{{See also|Timeline of the Göktürks}}
[[File:Turkic hunting scene, Gokturk period Altai.png|thumb|Hunting scene from the Göktürk period, from Chaganka, [[Altai Mountains|Altai]] region, 5th-6th century AD<ref>{{cite web |last1=Konstantinov |first1=Nikita |last2=Soenov |first2=Vasilii |last3=Черемисин |first3=Дмитрий |title=BATTLE AND HUNTING SCENES IN TURKIC ROCK ART OF THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES IN ALTAI |url=https://www.academia.edu/29773396}}</ref>]]
[[File:Turkic horseman (Tomb of An Jia, 579 CE).jpg|thumb|upright|Turkic horseman ([[Tomb of An Jia]], 579 CE).<ref name="REF1">{{cite book |last1=Baumer |first1=Christoph |title=History of Central Asia, The: 4-volume set |date=18 April 2018 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-83860-868-2 |page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DhiWDwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA228 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="SYET">{{cite journal |last1=Yatsenko |first1=Sergey A. |title=Early Turks: Male Costume in the Chinese Art |journal=Transoxiana |date=August 2009 |volume=14 |url=http://www.transoxiana.com.ar/14/yatsenko_turk_costume_chinese_art.html}}</ref>]]
The Göktürk rulers originated from the [[Ashina tribe|Ashina clan]], who were first attested to in 439. The ''[[Book of Sui]]'' reports that in that year, on 18 October, the [[Tuoba]] ruler [[Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei]] overthrew [[Juqu Mujian]] of the [[Northern Liang]] in eastern [[Gansu]],<ref>[[Wei Shou]], ''[[Book of Wei]]'', [[:zh:s:魏書/卷4上|Vol. 4-I.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref><ref>[[Sima Guang]], ''[[Zizhi Tongjian]]'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷123|Vol. 123.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref><ref>[[:zh:承和 (北凉)|永和]]七年 ([[:zh:太延|太延]]五年) 九月丙戌 [http://sinocal.sinica.edu.tw/ Academia Sinica] {{in lang|zh}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016003621/http://sinocal.sinica.edu.tw/ |date=16 October 2013 }}</ref> whence 500 Ashina families fled northwest to the [[Rouran Khaganate]] in the vicinity of [[Gaochang]].<ref name="Sui84" />{{sfn|Christian|1998|p=249}}

According to the ''[[Book of Zhou]]'' and ''[[History of the Northern Dynasties]]'', the Ashina clan was a component of the [[Xiongnu]] confederation,<ref name="Zhou50" /><ref name="Northern99" /> specifically, the Northern Xiongnu tribes<ref>''[[New Book of Tang]]'', vol. 215 upper. "突厥阿史那氏, 蓋古匈奴北部也." "The Ashina family of the Turk probably were the northern tribes of the ancient Xiongnu." translated by Xu (2005)</ref><ref>Xu Elina-Qian, [https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/19205 ''Historical Development of the Pre-Dynastic Khitan''], [[University of Helsinki]], 2005</ref> or southern Xiongnu "who settled along the northern Chinese frontier", according to [[Edwin G. Pulleyblank]].{{sfn|Golden|2018|p=306}} However, this view is contested.{{sfn|Christian|1998|p=249}} Göktürks were also posited as having originated from an obscure Suo state (索國) ([[Middle Chinese|MC]]: *''sâk'') which was situated north of the [[Xiongnu]] and had been founded by the [[Sakas]]<ref>[[János Harmatta|Harmatta, János]], (1999), "A türkök eredetmondája", ''Magyar Nyelv'', vol. 95(4): p. 391 of 385–396. cited in Golden (2018), "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks", p. 300</ref> or [[Xianbei]].<ref>Vásáry, István (2007) ''Eski İç Asya Tarihi'' p. 99-100, cited Golden (2018), "The Ethnogonic Tales of the Türks", p. 300</ref><ref name="Zhou50" /><ref name="Northern99" />{{sfn|Golden|2018|p=300}} According to the ''Book of Sui'' and the ''[[Tongdian]]'', they were "mixed Hu (barbarians)" ({{linktext|雜胡}}) from [[Pingliang]] (平涼), now in [[Gansu]], [[Northwest China]].<ref name="Sui84" /><ref name="Tong197">杜佑, 《通典》, 北京: 中華書局出版, ([[Du You]], ''[[Tongdian]]'', Vol.197), 辺防13 北狄4 突厥上, 1988, {{ISBN|7-101-00258-7}}, p. 5401. {{in lang|zh}}</ref> Pointing to the Ashina's association with the Northern tribes of the [[Xiongnu]], some researchers (e.g. Duan, Lung, etc.) proposed that Göktürks belonged in particular to the [[Tiele people|Tiele confederation]], likewise Xiongnu-associated,<ref name="Sui84" /> by ancestral lineage.<ref>{{cite book |first=Rachel |last=Lung |title=Interpreters in Early Imperial China |publisher=John Benjamins |year=2011 |page=48 |isbn=978-90-272-2444-6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Duan |title=Dingling, Gaoju and Tiele |year=1988 |pages=39–41 |publisher=[[Shanghai People's Press]] |isbn=7-208-00110-3 }}</ref> However, Lee and Kuang (2017) state that Chinese sources do not describe the Ashina-led Göktürks s descending from the Dingling or belonging to the Tiele confederation.<ref>Lee, Joo-Yup; Kuang, Shuntu (18 October 2017). "A Comparative Analysis of Chinese Historical Sources and Y-DNA Studies with Regard to the Early and Medieval Turkic Peoples". Inner Asia. Brill. 19 (2): p. 201 of 197–239.</ref>

Chinese sources linked the [[Donghu people|Hu]] on their northern borders to the Xiongnu just as Graeco-Roman historiographers called the [[Pannonian Avars]], [[Huns]] and [[Hungarians]] "[[Scythians]]". Such archaizing was a common literary topos, implying similar geographic origins and nomadic lifestyle but not direct filiation.{{sfn|Sinor|1990}}{{page needed|date=August 2015}}

As part of the heterogeneous [[Rouran Khaganate]], the Turks lived for generations north of the [[Altai Mountains]], where they 'engaged in metal working for the Rouran'.<ref name="Sui84" /><ref name="Zizhi159">Sima Guang, ''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:t:資治通鑑/卷159|Vol. 159.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref> According to [[Denis Sinor]], the rise to power of the Ashina clan represented an 'internal revolution' in the Rouran Khaganate rather than an external conquest.{{sfn|Sinor|1990|p=295}}

According to Charles Holcombe, the early Turk population was rather heterogeneous and many of the names of Turk rulers, including the two founding members, are not even Turkic.{{sfn|Holcombe|2001|p=114}} This is supported by evidence from the [[Orkhon inscriptions]], which include several non-Turkic lexemes, possibly representing [[Uralic languages|Uralic]] or [[Yeniseian languages|Yeniseian]] words.{{sfn|Sinor|1990|p=291}}<ref>Vovin, Alexander. "Did the Xiongnu speak a Yeniseian language?". Central Asiatic Journal 44/1 (2000), pp. 87–104.</ref> [[Peter Benjamin Golden]] points out that the khaghans of the Turkic Khaganate, the Ashina, who were of an undetermined ethnic origin, adopted [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] and Tokharian (or non-[[Altaic languages|Altaic]]) titles.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=126}} German Turkologist W.-E. Scharlipp points out that many common terms in Turkic are [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] in origin.<ref>{{cite book |quote=(...) Über die Ethnogenese dieses Stammes ist viel gerätselt worden. Auffallend ist, dass viele zentrale Begriffe iranischen Ursprungs sind. Dies betrifft fast alle Titel (...). Einige Gelehrte wollen auch die Eigenbezeichnung türk auf einen iranischen Ursprung zurückführen und ihn mit dem Wort "Turan", der persischen Bezeichnung für das Land jeneseits des Oxus, in Verbindung bringen. |first=Wolfgang-Ekkehard |last=Scharlipp |title=Die frühen Türken in Zentralasien |location=Darmstadt |publisher=Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft |year=1992 |isbn=3-534-11689-5 |page=18 }}</ref> Whatever language the Ashina may have spoken originally, they and those they ruled would all speak Turkic, in a variety of dialects, and create, in a broadly defined sense, a common culture.{{sfn|Golden|1992|p=126}}<ref>[[Lev Gumilyov]], (1967), ''Drevnie Turki'' (Ancient Turks), p. 22-25</ref>

===Expansion===
{{Main|First Turkic Khaganate}}
{{Asia 576 CE|right|The First Turkic Khaganate and contemporary polities, circa 576||Map of the First Turkic Khaganate.png}}
The Göktürks reached their peak in the late 6th century and began to invade the [[Sui dynasty|Sui dynasty of China]]. However, the war ended due to the division of Turkic nobles and their civil war for the throne of Khagan. With the support of [[Emperor Wen of Sui]], [[Yami Qaghan]] won the competition. However, the Göktürk empire was divided to Eastern and Western empires. Weakened by the civil war, Yami Qaghan declared allegiance to the Sui dynasty.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Book of Sui 隋書 Vol. 2 Vol. 51 & Vol.84|last=Wei 魏|first=Zheng 徵|year=656}}</ref> When Sui began to decline, [[Shibi Khan|Shibi Khagan]] began to assault its territory and even surrounded [[Emperor Yang of Sui]] in Siege of Yanmen (615 AD) with 100,000 cavalry troops. After the collapse of the Sui dynasty, the Göktürks intervened in the ensuing Chinese civil wars, providing support to the northeastern rebel [[Liu Heita]] against the rising [[Tang dynasty|Tang]] in 622 and 623. Liu enjoyed a long string of success but was finally routed by [[Li Shimin]] and other Tang generals and executed. The [[Tang dynasty]] was then established.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

=== Conquest by the Tang ===
{{Main|Tang dynasty in Inner Asia}}

Although the Göktürk Khaganate once provided support to the Tang dynasty in the early period of the civil war during the collapse of the [[Sui dynasty]], the conflicts between the Göktürks and Tang finally broke out when Tang was gradually reunifying [[China proper]]. The Göktürks began to attack and raid the northern border of the Tang Empire and once marched their main force of 100,000 soldiers to [[Chang'an]], the capital of Tang. The emperor Taizong of the Tang, in spite of the limited resources at his disposal, managed to turn them back. Later, Taizong sent his troops to Mongolia and defeated the main force of Göktürk army in [[Battle of Yinshan]] four years later and captured [[Illig Qaghan]] in 630 AD.<ref name="Liu 劉">{{Cite book|title=Old book of Tang 舊唐書 Vol.2 & Vol. 67|last=Liu 劉|first=Xu 昫|year=945}}</ref> With the submission of the Turkic tribes, the Tang conquered the [[Mongolian Plateau]]. From then on, the Eastern Turks were subjugated to China.<ref name="Liu 劉"/>

After a vigorous court debate, [[Emperor Taizong of Tang|Emperor Taizong]] decided to pardon the Göktürk nobles and offered them positions as imperial guards.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Old Book of Tang 舊唐書 Vol.2 & Vol.194|last=Liu 劉|first=Xu 昫|year=945}}</ref> However, the proposition was ended by a plan for the assassination of the emperor. On 19 May 639<ref>[[:zh:貞觀 (唐朝)|貞觀]]十三年 四月戊寅 [http://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/sinocal/ Academia Sinica] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522200011/http://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/sinocal/ |date=22 May 2010 }} {{in lang|zh}}</ref> [[Ashina Jiesheshuai]] and his tribesmen directly assaulted Emperor Taizong of Tang at Jiucheng Palace ({{linktext|九|成|宮}}, in present-day [[Linyou County]], [[Baoji]], [[Shaanxi]]). However, they did not succeed and fled to the north, but were caught by pursuers near the [[Wei River]] and were killed. Ashina Hexiangu was exiled to [[Lingbao City|Lingbiao]].<ref name="Zizhi195">Sima Guang, ''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷195|Vol. 195.]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref> After the unsuccessful raid of [[Ashina Jiesheshuai]], on 13 August 639<ref>[[:zh:t:貞觀 (唐朝)|貞觀]]十三年 七月庚戌 [http://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/sinocal/ Academia Sinica] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522200011/http://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/sinocal/ |date=22 May 2010 }} {{in lang|zh}}</ref> Taizong installed [[Qilibi Khan]] and ordered the settled Turkic people to follow him north of the [[Yellow River]] to settle between the [[Great Wall of China]] and the [[Gobi Desert]].<ref>Ouyang Xiu et al., ''New Book of Tang'', [[:zh:s:新唐書/卷215上|Vol. 215-I.]]</ref> However, many Göktürk generals still remained loyal in service to the Tang Empire.

[[File:Turkic Head of Koltegin Statue (35324303410).jpg|thumb|Bust of [[Kul Tigin]] (684–731) found in [[Khashaat]], [[Arkhangai Province]], [[Orkhon River]] valley. Located in the [[National Museum of Mongolia]].]]

===Revival===
{{main|Second Turkic Khaganate}}
In 679, [[Ashide]] Wenfu and Ashide Fengzhi, who were Turkic leaders of the Chanyu Protectorate ([[:zh:单于大都护府|單于大都護府]]), declared [[Ashina Nishufu]] as qaghan and revolted against the Tang dynasty.<ref name="Zizhi202">Sima Guang, ''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷202|Vol. 202]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref> In 680, [[Pei Xingjian]] defeated Ashina Nishufu and his army. Ashina Nishufu was killed by his men.<ref name="Zizhi202" /> Ashide Wenfu made [[Ashina Funian]] a qaghan and again revolted against the Tang dynasty.<ref name="Zizhi202" /> Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian surrendered to Pei Xingjian. On 5 December 681,<ref>[[:zh:开耀|開耀]]元年 十月乙酉 [http://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/sinocal/ Academia Sinica] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522200011/http://db1x.sinica.edu.tw/sinocal/ |date=22 May 2010 }} {{in lang|zh}}</ref> 54 Göktürks, including Ashide Wenfu and Ashina Funian, were publicly executed in the Eastern Market of [[Chang'an]].<ref name="Zizhi202" /> In 682, [[Ilterish Qaghan]] and [[Tonyukuk]] revolted and occupied Heisha Castle (northwest of present-day [[Hohhot]], [[Inner Mongolia]]) with the remnants of Ashina Funian's men.<ref>Sima Guang, ''Zizhi Tongjian'', [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷203|Vol. 203]] {{in lang|zh}}</ref> The restored Göktürk Khaganate intervened in the war between Tang and Khitan tribes.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Old Book of Tang 舊唐書 Vol. 6 & Vol.194|last=Liu 劉|first=Xu 昫|year=945}}</ref> However, after the death of Bilge Qaghan, the Göktürks could no longer subjugate other Turk tribes in the grasslands. In 744, allied with the Tang dynasty, the [[Uyghur Khaganate]] defeated the last Göktürk Khaganate and controlled the Mongolian Plateau.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Old Book of Tang 舊唐書 Vol.103，Vol.194 & Vol.195|last=Liu 劉|first=Xu 昫|year=945}}</ref>