Battle of Talas 751
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 751 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Kyrgyzstan | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Asia | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Muslim conquest of Transoxiana | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Abbasid Caliphate, Tang dynasty, Tibetan Empire | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 42.5250, 72.2333 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Talas (Chinese: 怛羅斯戰役; pinyin: Dáluósī Zhànyì; Arabic: معركة نهر طلاس, romanized: Maʿrakat nahr Ṭalās) was an armed confrontation between the Abbasid Caliphate along with the Tibetan Empire against the Tang dynasty and its allies in 751. In July of that year, the Tang and Abbasid armies clashed at the Talas River over control of the regions surrounding the Syr Darya. The Tang army under Gao Xianzhi was defeated by the Abbasid army under Ziyad ibn Salih and Karluk mercenaries. Sources differ on whether the Karluks defected to the Abbasids or if they were Abbasid allies from the start. The defeat marked the end of Tang influence in Transoxiana and halted Tang westward expansion.
After the battle, the caliph dispatched an envoy to the emperor, who arrived in December 752 to negotiate the restoration of diplomatic relations. Chinese prisoners captured at Talas in 751 are said to have introduced papermaking to the peoples of West Asia, although this account is disputed by several findings.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Talas (revision 1378004590), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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Other battles of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana
All 3 battles of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana →
Browse more: battles in Kyrgyzstan · Asia · Medieval battles