Noah Lee

History 35A

Essay 1: An Lushan Rebellion and its Impact on the Decline of Tang

The An Lushan Rebellion took place during the Tang Dynasty from 755 to 763 BC. It

was a key event that eventually brought the Tang Dynasty to collapse. The leader of the

rebellion, General An Lushan rebelled against Emperor Xuanzong by establishing the Yan

dynasty and proclaiming himself the emperor of Northern China. The An Lushan rebellion was

large-scale and resulted in massive death and destruction. Eventually, the Tang dynasty was able

to shut down the rebellion but the high costs used to end the rebellion weakened the Tang court

politically and economically.

To ensure political stability, rebel leaders that surrendered were assigned roles as military

governors over certain areas, which allowed them to become powerful warlords. However, the

warlords would eventually seize power from the Tang court and become a factor that leads to the

end of Tang. Another impact the An Lushan rebellion left was low military resources from

suppressing the rebellion and this would leave the western regions of China unprepared from the

Uighur and Tibetan attacks.

The rebellion also had a high economic cost, including loss of lives, reduction of the

workforce, destruction of property, and high military spending costs from Tang. The government

had to take out loans from Uighur moneylenders and went into huge debt. In addition, An

Lushan had taken Chang’an from Tang control and his men looted treasures and valuables,

causing the Tang court’s personal fortunes to drop. These negative political and economic losses

all impacted Tang’s inevitable downfall.