The Han dynasty was founded by Liu Bang (best known by his temple name, Gaozu), who assumed the title of emperor in 202 bce.Eleven members of the Liu family followed in his place as effective emperors until 6 ce (a 12th briefly occupied the throne as a puppet). Yuan Shao had two advantages over Cao Cao - numerical superiority and greater amount of supplies, but Cao Cao's troops were better trained than his. Chinese painters began to portray narrative scenes in their work even before the more mature approach was brought to China by Buddhist monks from India along the Silk Road. Liu Bei was defeated and he fled north to join Yuan Shao. Liu Bei's general Guan Yu surrendered to Cao Cao and temporarily served under Cao. The province became Liu Bei's new base, and he used the mountainous surroundings as natural defenses against Cao Cao in the north. In early 200, Liu Bei used an opportunity to break away from Cao Cao and seize control of Xu Province, after killing Cao Cao's appointed governor of the province, Che Zhou (車冑). Liu Bei heeded Fa Zheng's suggestion and led his army into Yi Province, where he received a warm welcome from Liu Zhang. One of those officials, Liu Yan, suggested to Emperor Ling in 188 that the root of the agrarian revolts during that time, including the most serious Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184, was that Inspectors (刺史) lacked substantial administrative powers. Against the advice of his followers to move south and attack Liu Bei in Yi Province, Cao Cao withdrew his armies and left Xiahou Yuan in command of a small force to defend Hanzhong. It’s a fictional retelling of the real-life heroes and villains who battled for control in the ruins of the Han dynasty. Meanwhile, in You Province, Yuan Xi's subordinate Jiao Chu (焦觸) revolted and surrendered to Cao Cao, forcing Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang to flee further north to join the Wuhuan tribes under chief Tadun. After taking control over the imperial court in Chang'an, Li Jue, Guo Si and Fan Chou did as they pleased without showing any regard for the welfare of the state. In a fateful move, He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo, a warlord controlling the battle-tested Liang Province (涼州; covering present-day Gansu), to march on the capital Luoyang to threaten Empress Dowager He into eliminating the Ten Attendants. It was divided into three periods: the Western Han (206 BC – 9 AD), the Xin Dynasty (9–23 AD), and the Eastern Han (25–220AD). Some of those warlords were friendly with Li Jue's forces, while others remained hostile to them, even though all of them nominally acknowledged Emperor Xian as the sovereign ruler of China. After Dong Zhuo's death, it was believed that the chaos caused by Dong Zhuo's "reign of terror" would subside, and the central government would be restored to its original state. At the same time, Sun Quan became increasingly resentful of Guan Yu because the latter had previously shown hostility towards him in three incidents: Guan Yu drove away the officials Sun Quan sent to the three commanderies that Liu Bei had promised to give up to Sun; Guan Yu forcefully seized food supplies from one of Sun Quan's bases for use in his Fancheng campaign; Guan Yu ridiculed Sun Quan when the latter proposed a marriage between his son and Guan's daughter. Niu Fu's subordinates, Li Jue, Guo Si and Fan Chou, wanted to submit to the imperial court, but as they had previously resisted Wang Yun, Wang now rejected their request for amnesty. It was led by Liu Bang, son of a peasant family. In Jiangdong, Sun Quan felt threatened by Cao Cao's approaching army and sent Lu Su to discuss forming an alliance with Liu Bei and Liu Qi against Cao Cao. At the Battle of Boma, Yuan Shao's general Yan Liang was slain by Guan Yu while another of Yuan's generals, Wen Chou, was killed in action against Cao Cao's forces. After Yuan Shao's death, most of his subordinates initially wanted Yuan Tan to be their new lord, since he was the oldest son. However, after negotiations between Guan Yu and Lu Su, Liu Bei agreed to give up the three commanderies of Changsha, Jiangxia and Guiyang to Sun Quan, renewing their alliance and dividing Jing Province between them along the Xiang River. Later that year, Cao Cao joined forces with Liu Bei to attack Lü Bu, defeating him at the Battle of Xiapi. During this, the peasant class was effected by the ideas and ideals of Daoism. Cao Cao wrote Sun Quan a letter, intended to intimidate the latter into submitting. As Liu Bei had become relatively more powerful after his conquests of the four commanderies, Sun Quan became apprehensive of him and decided to strengthen their alliance by arranging for a marriage between his younger sister, Lady Sun, and Liu Bei. Cao Cao also attacked Yuan Shu and defeated him. This caused ripples throughout the dynasty, in the end, the dynasty … The Han dynasty. External invasion was the chief cause of the collapse of the Gupta Dynasty. In 202 BCE, Emperor Gaozu, whose given name was Liu Bang, became the first Han emperor after defeating the last rebellion against him. 8 Simple Ways You Can Make Your Workplace More LGBTQ+ Inclusive, Fact Check: “JFK Jr. Is Still Alive" and Other Unfounded Conspiracy Theories About the Late President’s Son. Dong Zhou continued to act atrociously towards his subjects after running away to Chang’an, and this eventually led to a coup. After Yuan Shao died of illness in 202, a struggle of succession developed between his oldest son Yuan Tan and third son Yuan Shang. That year, Yuan Shu declared himself "Son of Heaven" in Shouchun (壽春; present-day Shou County, Anhui), an act perceived as treason against the Han dynasty government, prompting other warlords to use that as an excuse to attack him (see Campaign against Yuan Shu). In this battle, Cao Cao's eldest son Cao Ang, nephew Cao Anmin, and bodyguard Dian Wei were killed, and Cao Cao himself narrowly escaped from death. He encountered Dong Cheng and Yang Feng (who were shielding Emperor Xian from Li Jue and Guo Si), convinced them of his loyalty, and was allowed to meet the emperor. It is considered one dynasty by the Chinese because the second dynasty was founded by a member of the former Han dynasty who declared he had restored the Han Dynasty.  The Han dynasty was being weekend by epidemic diseases and internal political problems. As the Han Dynasty government weakened over time and ultimately collapsed, the empire fractured into the war-torn Three Kingdoms period. and contribute 10 documents to the CourseNotes library. Dong Zhuo used the opportunity to seize control of state power and bring his army into the capital. CEO Compensation and America's Growing Economic Divide. In 191, the coalition tried to further de-legitimize Dong Zhuo's position by offering to enthrone Liu Yu, who was eligible to be Emperor since he was a member of the royal clan. Terms in this set (5) What are 3 important factors that led to the fall of the Han Dynasty? Cao Cao suffered a drastic defeat at the Battle of Red Cliffs and was forced to retreat north back to Jiangling (江陵, located in present-day Jingjiang 荆江, not to be confused with present-day Jiangling County, Hubei). Disease, Political problems, and the inability to maintain order of the public. The scholars had ruled themselves exempt from taxation, and peasants evaded tax collectors by running into the countryside. However, the plot was exposed and all the conspirators in the capital were massacred along with their families. This empire was founded by Liu Bang defeated the Qin army in the valley of Wei. 1. The policy yielded commendable results as the area around Xu developed into highly productive farmland and the problem of shortage of food was resolved. The surviving eunuchs kidnapped Emperor Shao and his younger brother, the eight-year-old Prince of Chenliu (raised by his grandmother Empress Dowager Dong), and fled north towards the Yellow River, but were finally forced to commit suicide by throwing themselves into the river. Cao Cao's army was estimated to be 220,000 men strong, although Cao himself claimed that he had 800,000 troops. Zhou Yu's subordinate Huang Gai pretended to defect to Cao Cao's side and was accepted by the latter. Yuan Shao remained hesitant and did not come to a conclusion on whether to receive the emperor or not. On his deathbed, Yuan Shao did not leave any explicit instruction as to who should succeed him. In 212, Liu Bei and Liu Zhang turned hostile towards each other and waged war. Lü Bu was captured and executed on Cao Cao's order, and Xu Province came under Cao's control. Yuan Tan fled to Pingyuan (in present-day Dezhou, Shandong) and was besieged by Yuan Shang there. The Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty compared to Rome . During the four centuries that the Han Dynasty remained unified, they brought forth several major cultural and scientific achievements to China. In 208, Sun Quan defeated and killed Liu Biao's vassal Huang Zu at the Battle of Jiangxia, seizing most of Huang's territory at Jiangxia (江夏; present-day Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei). It followed the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), which had unified the Warring States of China by conquest. Besides, the coalition members were also hesitant to directly confront Dong Zhuo and his strong Liang Province military. Liu Bang won the war and became emperor. After Dong Zhuo withdrew to Chang'an, he maintained an even tighter grip on the government and cruelly dealt with all dissent against him. Classical Asian Civilizations: Rise and Fall of the Han Dynasty The Han dynasty was often regarded as the greatest Chinese dynasty both in terms of power and prestige. The Han empire was conquered by a peasant. The Han dynasty formally ended in 220 when Cao Cao's son and heir, Cao Pi, pressured Emperor Xian into abdicating in his favour. Of Yuan Shao's followers, Pang Ji and Shen Pei supported Yuan Shang, while Xin Ping and Guo Tu favoured Yuan Tan. Yuan Shu attempted to flee north to join Yuan Shao but his way was blocked and he would die of illness on his return to Shouchun in 199. By late 208, with help from Zhou Yu and Lu Su (and Zhuge Liang, who represented Liu Bei in the diplomatic exchange), an alliance was formed between Sun Quan and Liu Bei against Cao Cao. Guan Yu refused to surrender and was eventually executed on Sun Quan's order. The period of Han dynasty was coined with the term the ‘golden age’ largely due to its historical advances in arts, politics and technology. Eventually, one of those warlords, Cao Cao, was able to gradually reunify the empire, ostensibly under Emperor Xian's rule, but the empire was actually controlled by Cao Cao himself. When Cao Cao sent Yuan Shao an edict in the emperor's name, only then did Yuan realize that he had lost an opportunity to make use of the emperor to control other warlords. Dong Zhuo's son-in-law, Niu Fu, took control of Dong's forces in Liang Province and resisted Wang Yun, but later died in a friendly fire incident. 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