Far East Kingdoms

Eastern (Great) Göktürk Khagans (Göktürks) (Turkics)
AD 552 - 745

Turkic Tribes All Modern States Caucasus Tribes Finno-Ugric & Samoyed Tribes Indo-Iranian/Aryan Tribes

A general invasion of nomadic tribes began to overwhelm southern Central Asia and northern South Asia from the fourth century AD onwards. This wave of barbarian invasions is attributed to tribal confederations which originated on the Central Asian steppe to overwhelm longstanding Indo-Iranian populations (see feature link).

The majority of these nomads were of the still-young Turkic groups, possibly in part be related to the Xiongnu (see map link, right, for more details about early Turks). The first fully-formed Turkic ethnic group was that of the Göktürks). Semi-nomads who dwelt largely in Mongolia, they emerged into history in the early sixth century AD from obscure tribal origins.

They were able to lead a confederation of Turkic groups which defeated in battle their Rouran overlords in AD 552. With the regional power destroyed by this attack, the two brothers who were responsible for leading it, Bumin and İstemi, were free to replace the Rouran and, initially, govern territory in Mongolia, on the edges of an early medieval China which was divided and at war with itself.

Bumin declared himself 'İl Kağan', the great khagan of the new Eastern Göktürk empire, but he died within a year of his great success to be succeeded by his son. His brother was placed in command of the western division of the empire as its viceroy, literally 'yabgu' of the Western Göktürks).

Their joint expansionist conquests created a vast steppe empire, but it may also have been responsible for pushing many groups of proto-Bulgars westwards into the Caucasus. It also encompassed many other tribal groups such as the Wusun, while bordering obscure Tungusic groups to its north.

The Göktürk empire soon divided permanently into eastern and western branches. It was the eastern faction which pressed China, although not especially successfully. Its efforts, though, did bring about a nominal alliance with the Korean kingdom of Koguryo which also saw China as its main threat.

Principal author(s): Page created: Page last updated:

(Information by Peter Kessler and Hayreddin Barbarossa (drawn from Turkish editions of the Encyclopaedia Britannica and Grand Larousse), with additional information by Edward Dawson, from The Origin of the Turks and the Turkish Khanate, Gao Yang (Tenth Türk Tarih Kongresi, Ankara 1986), from Türkiye halkının kültür kökenleri: Giriş, beslenme teknikleri, Burhan Oğuz (1976), from The Turks in World History, Carter Vaughn Findley (Oxford University Press 2005), from The Origins of Northern China's Ethnicities, Zhu Xueyuan (Beijing 2004), from Ethnogenesis in the tribal zone: The Shaping of the Turks, Peter Benjamin Golden (2005), from The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, Susan Wise Bauer (2010), from Nomadism in Iran: From Antiquity to the Modern Era, Daniel T Potts (Oxford University Press, 2014), and from External Links: Encyclopaedia Iranica, and Rouran (ChinaKnowledge.de).)

552 - 553

Founder of empire. Brother of İstemi, (Western) viceroy.

552 - c.560

Having destroyed the Rouran khaganate, the Göktürks expand their territory quite rapidly, although this sudden expansion may be responsible for pushing the proto-Bulgars westwards over the next half a century to settle in the Caucasus and the Avars after them.

A prelude to later Central Asian states which would be created by horse-borne warriors on the sweeping steppelands, the Rouran khaganate swiftly incorporated a great area of northern East Asia and Central Asia (click or tap on map to view full sized)

The Göktürks soon follow those groups to establish their domination over the nomadic tribes of the Pontic-Caspian steppe - especially the Ogurs, Onogurs, Sabirs, Utigurs, and the main body of Bulgars (although some groups may already have moved to Pannonia under the sudden onset of Avar domination).

553 - 554

Son.

554 - 572

Brother.

555

The Rouran nobles enthrone Dengshuzi as the new khan of their disintegrating empire. However, after being defeated by the Göktürks in this year, Dengshuzi Khan leads more than a thousand households when he submits to the Western Wei. The Rouran khanate dissolves, and its territory becomes part of the Eastern Göktürk empire.

565

The Hephthalites are defeated in former Kushanshah territory (which now lies in Afghanistan) by an alliance of the Western Göktürks (under the leadership of İstemi) and the Sassanids.

As was often the case with Central Asian states which had been created by horse-borne warriors on the sweeping steppelands, the Göktürk khaganate swiftly incorporated a vast stretch of territory in its westwards expansion, whilst being hemmed in by the powerful Chinese dynasties to the south-east and Siberia's uninviting tundra to the north (click or tap on map to view full sized)

A level of Indo-Sassanid authority is re-established in the region for the next century. The Western Göktürks set up rival states in Bamiyan, Kabul, and Kapisa under the authority of the viceroy in Tokharistan, strengthening their hold on the Silk Road.

Great Khagan Mukhan himself has been responsible for securing the khaganate's borders against the last of the Rouran, and also for defeating the Khitan (founders of the later Qara-Khitaï empire) and the Kyrgyz people.

In the far west the empire now counts amongst its vassals the Khazars and the Magyars. The great khagan's conquests may also displace elements of the early Avars and Bulgars, forcing them farther westwards.

572 - 581

Brother. Converted to Buddhism.

576

The desire of İstemi of the Western Göktürks to expand the empire ever farther westwards now leads him across the Kerch Strait and into the Crimea. With his death in the same year, his ambitious son, Bilge Tardu, succeeds him and very soon declares his independence from the great khagan of the Göktürks.

In 2012 archaeologists were able to examine the previously-untouched tomb of a Göktürk khagan, which contained amongst many other delights these mounted figurines

581

The death of Tapo effectively ends the first dynasty of Göktürk khagans. His chosen successor is Apo, son of Mukhan, but this choice is subsequently overturned by the high council.

Amrak is initially selected but he opposes Apo's claim with support from Shètú. The khaganate is engulfed in political conflict as factions form around both leaders and various challengers vie for power, including Bilge Tardu, the current 'Yabgu' in the west.

Amrak is the weakest of the claimants, so he renounces his title in Shètú's favour. The latter is enthroned with the reignal name of Bagha İşbara. Amrak is granted a minor khaganate in the Tuul river valley.

581

Son of Mukhan. Tapo's designated successor.

581

Son of Tapo. Reignal name not known for certain.

581 - 587/8

Son of Kara K'ola. Selected by Amrak and high council. Killed.

581

Brother of Tapo. Continued to oppose İşbara.

581

Fragmentation into eastern and western divisions has already resulted from the internal succession conflict, with the Western Göktürks following their own westwards expansionist policy.

This map covers Turkic origins, with the region around the Altai Mountains seemingly having served as a general incubator (click or tap on map to view full sized)

As part of that very policy, the western Göktürks lay siege to the former Greek colony city of Chersonesus on the south-western tip of the Crimea. Their cavalry continues to roam the steppes of the Crimea until 590.

Southwards, the western khagans are able to cross the Amu Darya, where they come into conflict with their former allies, the Sassanids. Much of Tokharistan (former Bactria, including Balkh) remains a Göktürk dependency until the end of the century.

583 - c.590

Bilge Tardu of the Western Göktürks denounces the sovereignty of Bagha İşbara, despite his being elected by the high council. Tardu leads an army into the east to claim the seat of imperial power at Otukan.

İşbara is forced to contact Emperor Yang of Sui for protection (seemingly before the Sui have established their kingdom in 590) which diverts Tardu.

587/8

Nestorian (Christian) bishops from Harev (Aria) travel to the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon to attend the synod of Ishoyahb I (during the reign of Sassanid King Hormizd IV). In the same year, Harev is invaded by Bagha İşbara (who is known as Šāwa, Sāva (Sava), or Sāba (Saba) in medieval Iranian sources).

His forces are exaggerated to three hundred thousand men but he is defeated and killed by Hormizd IV's military commander, Bahram Chobin.

Shown here are both sides of a silver drachm which was issued by the Göktürks' Hephthalite vassals and which imitated issuances of the powerful but unlucky Sassanid Shah Peroz

587 - 589

Brother of İşbara. Vassal of the Sui emperors. Killed in battle.

588 - 589

Çur Bagha leads his Hephthalite vassals into the First Perso-Turkic War by invading Sassanid territory. The invasion has been threatening for several years as these former allies vied for regional power in the hinterland between their two empires.

A senior Sassanid army commander by the name of Bahram Chobin (later to be enthroned as Bahram VI) leads an army of hand-picked Savaran elite troops to ambush a large army of Turkics and Hephthalites in April 588, at the Battle of Hyrcanian Rock.

Another attack in 589 captures Balkh. Then he crosses Oxus and repulses the Turkic invasion, capturing Hephthalite territory which had been occupied by the Turkic groups. Çur Bagha is killed during this fight.

By the late 400s the eastern sections of the Sassanid empire had been overrun and to an extent occupied by the Hephthalites (Xionites) after they had killed Shah Peroz (click or tap on map to view full sized)

589 - 600

Son of İşbara. Vassal of the Sui emperors.

599 - 603

Shortly after being proclaimed great khagan (in 599), Bilge Tardu of the Western Göktürks attacks the Sui capital at Chang'an, around the year 600, and demands that Emperor Yang end his interference in the civil war. In retaliation, Chinese diplomacy successfully incites a revolt of Tardu's Tiele vassals, which leads to the end of Tardu's reign in 603.

600 - 609

Son. Vassal of the Sui emperors.

603 - 609

Türe becomes great khagan but the empire is officially and permanently divided between east and west thanks to the efforts of Bilge Tardu of the Western Göktürks. The eastern khagans will never again be able to claim command of the entire empire and they soon face eclipse at the hands of the Chinese.

609 - 619

Son of Kimin Türe. Vassal of the Sui emperors.

611

Culo of the Western Göktürks is overthrown by Şipi and is executed in 619. It seems that the high council elects a replacement western khagan, but whether the two halves of the empire share the same high council is unknown.

Göktürk treasures in the tomb discovered in 2012 also included large murals, leopard pictures, full-scale images of individuals, panoramic statues, grave guardian statues, mythological statues, gold coins, rings, and much more

615 - 617

Şipi is the first of the great khagans to contemplate rebellion against his overlords, the Sui Chinese, since Bagha İşbara had first submitted to them in order to outwit his rival, Bilge Tardu of the Western Göktürks.

He employs Sogdian viziers to help him plot and plan so that, when the Sui ministers arrive at the Chinese town of Mai for peace negotiations in 615, they are all killed. During the last, turmoil-filled years of Emperor Yang Kuan's reign, Şipi fuels his troubles by supporting various warlords in north-western China who have claimed the throne.

One of these warlords is Li Yuan of the Tang who eventually secures the throne and replaces the Sui with his own dynasty. Şipi supplies him with two thousand horses and cavalry of five hundred so that the Tang are able to make good progress, especially at the vital Battle of Huo-i, which virtually finishes the Sui as a military force.

619 - 621

Brother. Ruled for 18 months. Died of poisoning or illness.

621 - 630

Brother. Father of Western Göktürk Yukuk Shad.

627 - 640

During the early years of his reign, Khieli makes the mistake of attacking the now-powerful Tang empire (his elder brother's former allies) and is defeated by a revolt of the Tiele tribes which is led by the Uyghurs and the Xueyantuo.

Sogdian banqueters in Penjikent, recovered from Site XVI:10, and dated to the first half of the eighth century AD, now held by the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg

627 - 640

During the early years of his reign, Khieli makes the mistake of attacking the now-powerful Tang empire (his elder brother's former allies) and is defeated by a revolt of the Tiele tribes which is led by the Uyghurs and the Xueyantuo.

In 627 he attempts to levy horses from the vassal Tiele tribes after all his livestock are killed during a summer snowstorm. The Tiele revolt as part of a Xueyantuo coalition, and Emperor Taizong of the Tang wastes no time in allying himself with the Tiele and the Khitan in a joint attack.

Khieli is already facing internal dissent from the Göktürk generals who are jealous of the influence of his Sogdian viziers. Now he is defeated and captured by the Tang (in 630).

Emperor Taizong spares his life but he is not allowed to return home. The eastern Göktürks now enter a period of Chinese domination without a khagan of their own. The Western Göktürks continue to remain independent.

By the beginning of the seventh century AD, Göktürk power in southern Central Asia was waning while the Sassanids had established a degree of control over the southernmost parts of this region, and various city states had emerged in Sogdiana (click or tap on map to view full sized)

639 - 640

A noble, Kür Şad, revolts and attacks the Chinese imperial palace with no success in 639. He and his followers flee to the north but are cornered and killed by their pursuers.

Following his subjugation of the Göktürks, Emperor Taizong had briefly resettled them within Tang borders, but after a failed Göktürk assassination attempt against him in 639 he changes his mind and decides to move them between the Great Wall and the Gobi Desert, to serve as a buffer between the Tang and the Xueyantuo (former vassals of the Göktürks themselves).

To keep the Göktürks in order he raises Qilibi Khan to the position of khagan of the Göktürks in a weakened recreation of their khaganate.

640 - c.646

Son of Tughruq Shad. Tang vassal during Gobi Desert period.

644 - 679

Faced with constant pressure from the Xueyantuo, Qilibi Khan's people abandon him and flee southwards, back into Tang territory. Qilibi himself also returns to the Tang and serves as a general until his death, which is probably within a year or so.

Songtsen Gampo, king of all of Tibet, led a force of mighty horsemen which generally outmatched his Tang Chinese opponents in the seventh century AD

Almost immediately, one Ashina Hubo claims the title of khagan and the reignal name of Yizhuchebi (Chebi for short), and attempts to re-establish the khaganate in the face of Tang opposition. He experiences a level of success before being captured and allowed to live on within Tang borders. His territory is subsequently divided into three segments, each of which is governed by a Tang commandant.

c.646 - 650

Led an independent khaganate. Defeated.

679 - 682

About thirty years later, a descendant of the crown dynasty manages to organise a successful revolt against Chinese rule in 679. He reunites the tribes with a mixture of diplomacy and war and re-establishes the state (which is known as the 'Second Empire' period). He is given the names İl Teriş (one who 'gathered' the country) and Kutlug (something along the lines of 'sacred, blessed').

Kutlug is aided by Tonyukuk (vizier in 682-721). The Chinese are defeated in 681 and the khaganate is restored. Taking the reignal name of Ilterish Qaghan, Kutlugh captures the capital town of Ötüken in 682.

The vast Mongolian steppe provided the main heartland of the khaganate's territory and allowed it to make its initial sweeping gains of new territory towards the west

Two names which precede Kutlugh in reignal lists are Nizük Beg and Funian. Virtually nothing seems to be available about them (in English, at least), so it has to be presumed that they are part of the drive towards re-establishing the khaganate's independence, possibly as rivals to Kutlugh.

679 - 680

Relationship unknown.

680 - 681

Related to Illig Qaghan (621-630).

682 - 692

Related to Illig Qaghan (621-630).

682

Kutlugh removes his followers from the settled and Sinicised Göktürks and returns to what is now Mongolia. Once there he raises an army and sets about rebuilding the eastern khaganate, restoring most of its former territory. The Western Khagans also fall under the domination of the restored eastern khaganate.

692 - 716

Equally successful brother of Kutlugh. Ambushed & killed.

716

Son. A weak khagan. Overthrown.

716

Bilge and his brother, Kül Tigin, army commander-in-chief, overthrow the weak Inel Qaghan. The two are later credited with starting the process of civilisation amongst the Turks in a khaganate which now stretches once again to the Caspian Sea. Unfortunately, no major settlement of their survives intact to the modern day.

The Altai Mountains link together the borders of Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Russia, and Xinjiang, providing the source for the rivers Irtysh and Ob and also, it would seem, the source region for the early Turkic tribes

716 - 734

Son of Kutlugh. Poisoned.

716

Bilge orders for his brother, himself, and their wise chamberlain, Tonyukuk, monumental tombstones carved in Turkish and Chinese, albeit with the former misunderstood as a runic script due to its resemblance - it is actually a phonetic Turkic alphabet. These tell not only of Turkic history and warfare but also of the social structure, and maybe an early state philosophy. Bilge's brother, Kül Tigin, dies in 731.

734

Son.

734 - 738

Brother.

738 - 740

Brother.

740 - 742

Sources differ when it comes to the successor of Tengri Khan I. His nephew, Tengri Khan II, is sometimes shown but others show one Kutluk Yabgu Khagan, a viceroy, army commander, and not a member of the royal house.

It seems that the poisoning of Bilge Khagan in 734 has caused some confusion, with some writers not realising that the slow-acting poison had allowed the khagan time to execute his own killer. Tengri would be the rightful khagan, but perhaps Kutluk opposes him and rules much of the khaganate.

This modern artist's impression shows three early Turkic warriors, from left to right, a Göktürk armoured cavalryman, an eastern Turkic tribesman, and a Türgish 'tarkan' champion

740 - 742

Son of Türk Bilge. Overthrown?

741 - 742

Army commander (and opposing khagan?). Killed.

742

Tang Emperor Hsuan Tsung backs a revolt by three Turkic tribes within the khaganate which are not related to the royal house of Ashina. The Basmıl, Karluk, and Uyghur khans rise up and kill Kutluk Yabgu Khagan, allowing Ozmış to be selected as the new khagan. However, after he refuses to accept the suzerainty of the Tang emperor, the uprising is sponsored again so that it kills Ozmış.

742 - 744

Son of Governor (shad) Pan Kul Tigin. Killed in renewed revolt.

744 - 745

Brother. Captured and executed by the Tang.

744 - 745

Basmıl Khan (known also by the reignal name of Kulun Beg and by the Chinese name of Pomei or Pai Mei) is elected khagan but the khaganate has already lost the Central Asian steppe.

At the peak of its prosperity the nomadic Turkic Khazar state controlled the northern Caucasus, the lower and Middle Volga regions, part of Kazakhstan, and part of what is now Ukraine, including Crimea

The Tang emperor decides that it is time that the Göktürks were entirely removed, and he sends an army to defeat Basmil Khan. This it does, and Basmil is captured by the Uyghurs and is handed over for execution.

Yabgu Tufa, (viceroy) khan of the Uyghurs, is elected as 'Kutlugh Bilge Kül' - a very Göktürk name. This effectively ends Göktürk power in the region and signals the start of Uyghur sovereignty.

However, branches of the Ashina clan subsequently migrate westwards into Europe, where they become the khagans of the Khazars, and possibly other nomadic peoples which have Turkic roots.