- 400
- 500
- 600
- 700
- 800
- 900
- Rouran 400–554
- First Göktürk 552–630
- Tang rule 630–682
- Second Göktürk 682–744
- Uyghur 744–840
- Kirghiz 840–924
- Huns 370–469
- Western Göktürk 552–659
- Türgesh 699–766
- Karluk 766–800
- Khazar 650–969
The Second Khaganate was not brought down in these two years. The house that had built it was, however, and the confederation never again had the extent it had in 713.
Beiting, 714
Kapgan sent his son with a force of picked cavalry to besiege Beiting, the Tang garrison north of the Tianshan.[1] The Chinese general held the walls. Then he came out, seized Tong’e Tegin beneath them and beheaded him. The besiegers pulled back.[1]
The consequence was immediate and personal. Kapgan’s brother-in-law had been with the force and did not dare go home. He took his wife and came over to the Tang. There he was made a general and given a princely title, a house, slaves, horses and a thousand lengths of cloth.[1]
The defections of 715
In 715 the defections stopped being individual.[1] The Ten Arrows of both wings came over one after another, the five chur of the left and the five irkin of the right. They came with their sons-in-law, a Korean magnate and the commander of the Syr. In all, this was more than ten thousand tents.[1] The court settled them in their old lands south of the river.[1]
In the autumn Kapgan fought the Nine Surnames under their chief Abusi north of the desert. The Nine Surnames were routed with heavy loss of men and beasts. Abusi then brought his people over to the Tang as well.[1] Kapgan won the battle, but the defeated chief ended up in the enemy’s capital. This is the pattern of the whole period.
The death of Kapgan, 716
In 716 Kapgan went north against the Bayirku of the Nine Surnames and beat them at the Tola.[1] He took the victory lightly and went home without precautions. In a willow wood he met a Bayirku straggler named Xiezhilüe. The man struck him down and beheaded him, then took the head to Chang’an with a Tang envoy.[1]
The purge of 716
Kül Tegin gathered his father’s old following. He killed Kapgan’s son, the lesser khan, together with his brothers and almost all of his closest men. Then he set his own elder brother on the throne as Bilge Khan.[1]
The new khan gave the credit for the state to his brother and tried to give him the throne. Kül Tegin refused it and was made Worthy King of the Left with sole charge of the army.[1] At the same time the Türgesh set up a khan of their own, the Xi and the Khitan went over to the Tang, and many Göktürk tribes were of two minds. For this reason the old counsellor Tonyukuk, now over seventy, was called back.[1]
References
Sources
- Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
- Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215 (after Jiu Tangshu)
- Kül Tegin inscription
Literature
- Liu Mau-tsai, Çin Kaynaklarına Göre Doğu Türkleri (1958, Turkish edition)
- Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
- Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
What links here2
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “The revolt of the subject peoples, 714–716.” Turkic Atlas, revised 4 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/conflicts/revolt-of-the-subject-peoples/
Last revised: 4 November 2026
