HERITAGE In Search of the Battle of Talas BY FAWZIA MAI TUNG ‘Men die inthe field, slashing sword to swords “The horses of the conquered neigh piteously to Heaven. Crows and hawks peck for human guts, (Carry them in their beaks and hang them on the branches of withered trees. ‘Captains and soldiers are smeared on the bushes and grass; The General schemed in vai, Know therefore thatthe sword isa cursed thing ‘Which the wise man uses only ihe must. Islamic Horizons traveled to Talas, Kazakhstan, in search of thishistoric battles site five-day Battle of Talas, the sole Tang- Abbasid clash, has always fascinated me, According to historical descrip tions, itoccurred during July751 CE, somewhere between the river Taraz (Talas) and the Tian Shan Mountain range, As we drove from Shymkent to Talas, my driver/guide suddenly said, “You wanted toknow where the Battle of Talas happened? Its some ‘where over there!” wavinghisarm to the right, toward the distant peaks of the Talas Alatau range, “Where? Where?” I eagerly pulled out my phone, “There!” “Please, can we go there?” “How? There's no road.” He ‘was, however, kind enough to stop 0 I could take photos. Astonishingly, this approximately millennium-old momentous battle remains shrouded in obscurity, its memory preserved only in poems. Somehistorianscallitthe tenth arg. est and most important batlle in history and yet most people outside Central Asia hhave never heard of it. ‘Why did the Abbasids choose the Tang, as their first military target? Why was the mighty Tangarmy annihilated, and why was there no second engagement? Simply put, neither side had a feud or axe to grind and thus wanted to keep Transoxiana, a vital and strategic link on the mutually cial Silk Road, peaceful. Ancient China was eneh — Fighting South ofthe Ramparts Famed poet Li Bo (4.762) i believed tobe describing the Battle of Talas. * The Aisha Bibi Mausoleum powerful enoughto stretch her inflenceto neighboring ands notbymiltary conquest, but by exchanging protection for anal Daringthe carly Tangdynasythe Wester Regions (the AnXi and MengChi protec toate) extended tothe Aral Sea, Over the years the central government figured ct hit Smalley gursonscouldat dal withthe regions constant ste and thus established 2 serious miltary presence Is eaders were 58 © ISLAMIC HORIZONS MARCH/APRIL 2023 usualy generals of ethnic minorities, part ‘of the imperial policy to prevent potential political threats. Thus, in 751 General Guo XianZhi, commander of the Chinese forces in Ferghana, was of Korean origin “The previous year, the Abbasids had replaced the Umayyads. Abu Muslim, leader of the Abbasid army and governor of Khurasan, was a highly intelligent freed Persian slave who had risen through the ranks, Further east, the fugitive son of the CChabis of Shesh (Chach), today’ Tashkent, sought help from Governor Ziyad ibn Salih ‘of Samarkand and Bukhara The kingdoms of Shesh and Ferghana had been at war. The later asked its Chinese protector for help, 0 Gao sacked Shesh, took its king prisoner and beheaded him (after promising safe passage), aso killing thousands ofitsinhabitantsand con- fiscatinga largenumber of diamonds, gold and horses. The prince fled 10 Samarkand, setting the chessboard for a conflict between the eighth century’ two most powerful forces. ‘he area was then inhabited by nomadic Karluk Turks. Many of their divisionshad received Chinese rnamesas provinces, and theitleaders ‘Chinese titles. Some Karluk Turks allied with the Chinese army; a ‘smaller number joined the Muslim army andlor other local allies such as Tibetan and Turgesh troops. The accounts of the armies’ sizes vvary greatly, from 20,000 to 200,000 for each side, Famed Song Dynasty historian Si MaQian guesstimates around 30,000 on the Chinese side. However, new material uncovered in 2004 hints at as many as 100,000 imperial, local and mercenary troops, a number that _matchesthe Arab recordsof 100,000 Chinese versus 200,000 Abbasids. Modern historians lean toward 30,000 on each side, positing ‘thatthe forces musthavebeen nearly equally _matchedl, given the battles development ‘The battle itself has two scenarios. The most credibleone statesthat the twoarmies faced each other, with the archers lined up in front. The Tang archers started shooting* View of ver there"the Tels latau mountains by the banks ofthe Toles River and quickly overcame the Abbasid archers ‘due to superior technology: The next line, the spearmen orinfantry then advanced and fought. The Chinese had better armor and repulsed the Muslims. The Muslim cavalry ‘onthe flanks was then dispatched oallev the pressure on the infantry by attacking the Karluk cavalry. Gao sent in his reserve cavalry to attack as well. The day wore on, night came, everyone was exhausted and both sides withdrew to rest. “Thesame scenario epeateditselffor three days. On the fourth day,a still unexplained shocking twist occurred, one that some attributed to Ziyad ibn Salih: The Karluk ‘Turk cavalry suddenly turned against their CChineseallies attacked them from the flanks and launched an encirclement strategy. The Tang forces, exhausted and surprised, were nearly annihilated, although Gao and his loses officers managed to fee witha couple thousand troops. Both generals died afew years later due to political intrigue. Despite the Muslims! spectacular victory, the battle was considered draw. Although more Tang troops were sent to the Western Regions io reinforce the bor- ‘ders, they were soon withdrawn because of the seven-year large-scale An-Shi Rebellion civil war that killed possibly up to 36million people, Interestingly the next caliph sent 3,000 mercenaries to help Emperor Xuan ‘Zong quell the rebellion. Indeed, neither side was interested in further conflict. The effects of the Battle of Tala (Atrakh) were far reaching, The Tangs lostinterestin expanding westward, and the caliph sought to consolidate his power. The Karluk Turks {grew in size and power, becoming the ‘Tarim Basin’ main influence and estab- lished a khanate in 766. Historians report the presence of many craftsmen, especially silk weavers and paper makers, among the tens f thousands of Chinese prisoners. The weavers were sent to Kula and the paper- ‘makersto Samarkand, where they eventually established a large paper-making industry that spread throughout the empire and later became an important part of Europes Renaissance and Protestantismis spread, Other modern historians, however, scof? at this idea. ‘The effect ofthe Abbasids’ suecess was not immediately obvious. Over the next 250 years, Islam spread throughout Central Asia, overtaking the previous mixture of Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Tengrism, Buddhism, Manichaeism and Nestorian Christianity. In fact, some major Muslim figures hal from this area: Al-Khwarzimi (4.850), Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (4.1048), AL-Farabi (4.950), Ibn Sina (Avicenna; 4.1198) and al-Bukhari (¢,870). His mau- soleum can be visited today neat Samarkand, Given this battle’ far-reaching effect, why are there no monuments or signs? ‘The answer is quite simple: The actual site Isunknown. Historical records putitby the bank ofthe Tala River aout 10 miles from theorizes of Atak the ancient name of Tals) Thus, thas genera een assumed that occured near Tass, Kazakhstan, However, Kyrgyz historian A, Kamyshev challenge this view inhi September 2021 per "“he Consequences of One Mistake inthe Localization ofthe City of Atak presented atthe international Talas War tnd is Historia Siglicance symposium, He claimed that Russian historian 8. G Kiyastorni was mistaken, Instead of kn (10 mis] othe west should have been 15m othe south” ths placing the stein present-day Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgystan has consolidated thisopinion by building « monument on the Plain of Prokovka near Tals (same name, population of 40,000) inthe Tals Region (same nan), on ay27,202, The monoments two pars tnd cif cosedby tiplelines symbolizes the fd the central trocture tthe top ofa yur. This icles sald to represent the year?Slyasthasadiameteroferen meters anda height of ne meter On the other hand, Talas/Taraz, Kazaa has population 00 000and profuse archaeological evidence of ancient Graton. Given both cite’ —andcoun- tries — clam, the question ofthe bates exact Jocition should probably be solved the way paternity sues are solved — hard fats, rather than assumptions of histor cal meanings. As many thousands of dead solders and horses are bound to have let their marks, there shouldbe whole elds of spearheads, arrowheads ony helmets and/or armor pieces. Tours canst may ses among them the Aisha Bibi mausoleum — dedicated to thememory ofa beautifil grl whose father refsedtolether marry the ara ele] because she was of prophetic descent she died ofa snake bite on her way to meet het lover incetet— many archaeological excavations an underground eave where the Kazakhs hi daring Dzungar raids; the oldest surviving minaret of Prophet Khyzy Khidhrand even amysteriousand mystical Aajamand Bepitockthatproves youre ofpurchearifyou can squeeze through i ut forthe legendary Bate Tala there ts othing butavague“over there” Bl ‘ain baingcaiedrecral ncn lelerotgutyandincsn eat hese of se Boks ‘Wes ans cna hope SCBA 4 fide ute be an asian team costar inash ston MARCH/APRIL 2023 ISLAMIC HORIZONS © 59