Xiongnu
The Xiongnu were a confederation of nomadic tribes that emerged on the northern borders of China around the fourth century BCE. Known for their horse-riding culture, they posed significant challenges to the Chinese states, prompting the construction of defensive walls, which eventually contributed to the Great Wall of China. Under the leadership of Maodun from 209 to 174 BCE, the Xiongnu expanded their power, defeating various nomadic groups and confronting the Han Dynasty. Over the years, several treaties were negotiated between the Xiongnu and the Han, often involving marriages into the Xiongnu elite and regular tributes from China. However, raids continued, leading to a shift in strategy when Emperor Wudi launched an offensive against the Xiongnu, resulting in their eventual defeat and displacement. By 54 BCE, the Xiongnu had split into southern and northern factions, with the latter moving into Europe and becoming known as the Huns, who later impacted the Roman Empire. The decline of the Xiongnu was influenced by internal political instability, societal corruption, and persistent opposition from neighboring powers. As they lacked a written language, much of what is known about them comes from external sources, particularly from their adversaries.
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Xiongnu
Also known as: Hsiung-nu (Wade-Giles).
Date: 300 b.c.e.-500 c.e.
Locale: Northeastern to Central Asia
Xiongnu
The horse-riding Xiongnu (SHYOHNG-new) first appeared on China’s borders in the fourth century b.c.e., causing northern Chinese states to build defensive walls and develop cavalry forces. In 214 b.c.e., a newly unified China under the Qin Dynasty defeated the Xiongnu and connected the fragmentary walls to form the first Great Wall of China that stretched from present-day Pyongyang (north Korea) to Gansu in western China. The fall of the Qin in 206 b.c.e. threw China’s northern defenses into chaos and allowed the Xiongnu to regroup.
Between 209 and 174 b.c.e., Maodun built the Xiongnu into a formidable power, defeating other nomadic tribes in northern Asia. In 200 b.c.e., his force of 300,000 cavalry defeated the equally large army, consisting mostly of infantrymen, of Liu Bang (posthumous name Gaozu), the founder of the Han Dynasty (206 b.c.e.-220 c.e.). Ten treaties were negotiated between the Han and Xiongnu between 198 and 135 b.c.e., in which several Chinese princesses were married to Xiongnu chiefs. The treaties also stipulated regular large gifts from China to the Xiongnu, despite which Xiongnu raids continued along China’s border.
In a policy reversal, Emperor Wudi (r. 140-87 b.c.e.) launched a massive offensive against the Xiongnu beginning in 127 b.c.e. that culminated in the latter’s defeat and expulsion to beyond the Gobi Desert to the shores of Lake Baikal in modern Russia. In 54 b.c.e. the Xiongnu split into two segments, the southern part submitting to the Han and the northern segment being expelled from China’s borderlands, eventually moving into central Europe. There they were known as Huns and caused huge disruptions to local peoples and eventually toppled the Roman Empire in the west.
At the height of the Xiongnu’s power, about a hundred tribes submitted to them. Along China’s borders, Xiongnu power was permanently broken during the mid-first century c.e. Remaining Xiongnu were absorbed into either the sedentary population or other newly powerful nomadic groups called the Xianbei and the Wuhuan. Reasons for the decline and fall of Xiongnu power were the primitive and unstable nature of their political structure, the corruption and softening of their warrior society by the tribute and gifts they exacted from their neighbors and victims, and the opposition of the Chinese and their other victims. Because they had no written language, sources of information about them come from their enemies and victims, mainly the Chinese, and from archaeological finds.
Bibliography
Jagchid, Sechin, and Van Jay Symons. Peace, War, and Trade Along the Great Wall. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1989.
Sinor, Denis. The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Yu, Ying-Shih. Trade and Expansion in Han China: A Study in the Structure of Sino-Barbarian Economic Relations. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.