The 'Göktürks' or 'Kök-Türks' were a
Turkic people of ancient
Central Asia. Known in medieval
Chinese sources as ''Tujue'' (突厥 Tūjué), the Göktürks under the leadership of
Bumin Khan (d. 552) and his sons succeeded the
Xiongnu as the main Turkic power in the region and took hold of the lucrative
Silk Road trade.
The Göktürk rulers originated from the
Ashina tribe, an
Altaic people who lived in the northern corner of the area presently called
Xinjiang. Under their leadership, the Göktürks rapidly expanded to rule huge territories in north-western
China,
North Asia and
Eastern Europe (as far west as the
Crimea). They were the first Turkic tribe known to use the name "Turk" as a political name.
The state's most famous personalities other than its founder Bumin were princes
Kül Tigin and
Bilge and the General
Tonyukuk, whose life stories were recorded in the famous
Orkhon inscriptions.
Etymology
The name ''Tujue'' (like that of
Ashina) appeared in Chinese sources relatively late, the first record being dated
542 meaning "strong" or "powerful".
[1] Kök-Türks is said to mean "Celestial Turks", but this is contested. Alternate meanings are "Blue Turks", and "Numerous Turks"; as ''kök'' meant both "sky" and "blue" in the Köktürk language, and a similar sounding word stands for "root". This is also consistent with "the cult of heavenly ordained rule" which was a pivotal element of the Altaic political culture before being imported to China.
[2] Similarly, the name of the ruling Ashina dynasty probably derives from the
Khotanese Saka term for "deep blue", ''āšše(i)na''.
[3] The name might also derive from a
Tungusic tribe related to ''
Aisin''.
[4]
According to the ancient
East Asian
cosmology outlined in the theory of the
Five Elements (五行 Wǔ-xíng), to which the Turks have also ascribed since ancient times, the color blue is a symbol representing the eastern direction, and it is associated with good omens. The Guardian Deity of the Eastern Direction is the
Azure Dragon. Thus, it would not be surprising if the Göktürks had chosen to call themselves "Blue Turks" in the primary sense of "East Turks", with all the associated connotations of "first," "rising," "dawning," "auspicious," and so forth. Göktürk is pronounced .
Origins
Four hundred years after the collapse of northern
Xiongnu power in
Inner Asia, leadership of the
Turks was taken over by the Göktürks. Formerly an element of the Xiongnu nomadic confederation, the Göktürks inherited their traditions and administrative experience. From
552 to
745, Göktürk leadership bound together the
nomadic Turkic tribes into an empire, which eventually collapsed due to a series of dynastic conflicts. The great difference between the Göktürk Khanate and its Xiongnu predecessor was that the Göktürks' temporary ''
khans'' from the
Ashina clan were ''subordinate'' to a
sovereign authority that was left in the hands of a council of tribal chiefs. The
Khanate received missionaries from the
Buddhists,
Manicheans, and
Nestorian Christians, but retained their original
shamanistic religion,
Tengriism. The Göktürks were the first Turkic people to write
their language in a
runic script.
First unified empire
Gokturk
khaganates at their height, c. 600 CE :
The Turks' rise to power began in
546 when
Bumin Khan made a pre-emptive strike against the
Uyghur and
Tiele tribes who were planning a revolt against their overlords, the
Rouran. For this service he expected to be rewarded with a Rouran princess, ''i.e.'' marry into the royal family. Disappointed in his hopes, Bumin allied with the
Wei state against Rouran, their common enemy. In
552, Bumin defeated the last
Rouran Khan,
Yujiulü Anagui. He also subdued the
Yenisei Kyrgyz and the
Khitans of Western
Manchuria, was formally recognized by China, and married the Wei princess Changle.
Having excelled both in battle and diplomacy Bumin declared himself Il-
Qaghan ("great
king of kings") of the new Göktürk empire at
Otukan, the old
Xiongnu capital, but died a year later. It was his son
Mukhan who consolidated his conquests into an empire of global reach. Bumin's brother
Istämi (d.
576) was titled ''yabghu of the west'' and collaborated with the
Persian
Sassanids to defeat and destroy the
White Huns, who were allies of the Rouran. This war tightened the Ashina's grip of the
Silk Road and drove the
Avars into
Europe.
Istämi's policy of western expansion brought the Turks into
Eastern Europe. In 576 the Göktürks crossed the
Cimmerian Bosporus into the
Crimea. Five years later they laid siege to
Tauric Chersonesus; their cavalry kept roaming the steppes of Crimea until 590
[5]. As for the southern borders, they were drawn south of the
Oxus River, bringing the Ashina into conflict with their former allies, the Sassanids of Persia. Much of
Bactria (including
Balkh) remained a dependency of the Ashina until the end of the century
[6]. In 588 they were under the walls of
Herat but
Bahram Chobin ably countered the invasion during the
First Perso-Turkic War.
In the eastern part of their extensive dominions, the Göktürk Empire maintained close political ties with the
Goguryeo Empire of
Korea which controlled
Manchuria and the northern part of the
Korean Peninsula. Giving gifts, providing military support, and free trade were some of the benefits of this close mutual alliance. Both rival states in north China paid large tributes to the Göktürks from
581.
Civil war
This first Göktürk Empire split in two after the death of the fourth Qaghan,
Taspar Khan (ca.
584). He had willed the title
Qaghan to Mukhan's son Talopien, but the high council appointed Ishbara in his stead. Factions formed around both leaders. Before long four rival khans claimed the title of Qaghan. They were successfully played off against each other by the
Sui and
Tang dynasties of China.
The most serious contender was the Western Khan, Istämi's son
Tardu, a violent and ambitious man who had already declared himself independent from the Qaghan after his father's death. He now titled himself as Qaghan, and led an army to the east to claim the seat of imperial power,
Otukan.
In order to buttress his position, Ishbara of the Eastern Khanate applied to the Chinese Emperor Yangdi for protection. Tardu attacked
Changan, the
Sui capital, around
600, demanding from Emperor Yangdi to end his interference in the civil war. In retaliation, Chinese diplomacy successfully incited a revolt of Tardu's
Tiele vassal tribes, which led to the end of Tardu's reign in
603. Among the dissident tribes were the Uyghur and Syr-Tardush.
Dual empires
The civil war left the empire divided into the eastern and western parts. The eastern part, still ruled from Ötüken, remained in the orbit of the Sui Empire and retained the name Göktürk. The khans
Shipi (609-19) and
Khieli (620-30) of the East attacked China at its weakest moment during the transition between the Sui and Tang dynasties. All in all, 67 incursions on Chinese territories were recorded.
[7] Khieli was brought down by a revolt of his
Tiele vassal tribes (
626-
630), allied with
Emperor Taizong of Tang. This tribal alliance figures in Chinese records as the Huihe (
Uyghur). After the Khan was taken prisoner, the Tang dynasty had his empire divided into protectorates.
The
Western khans Shekuei and
Tung Yabğu constructed an alliance with the
Byzantine Empire against the Persian
Sassanids and succeeded in restoring the southern borders along the
Tarim and
Oxus rivers. Their capital was
Suyab in the
Chui River valley, about 60 km east of modern
Tokmok. In 627 Tung Yabğu, assisted by the
Khazars and
Emperor Heraclius, launched a massive invasion of
Transcaucasia which culminated in the taking of
Derbent and
Tbilisi (see the
Third Perso-Turkic War for details). In April 630 Tung's deputy
Buri-sad sent the Göktürk cavalry to invade
Armenia, where his general
Chorpan Tarkhan succeeded in routing a large Persian force. Tung Yabğu's murder in 630 forced the Göktürks to evacuate Transcaucasia.
The
Western Turkic Khaganate was modernized through an administrative reform of
Ishbara-Qağan (reigned 634-639) and came to be known as the
Onoq.
[8] The name refers to "ten arrows" that were granted by the khagan to five leaders (''shads'') of its two constituent tribal confederations,
Tulu and
Nushipi, whose lands were divided by the
Chui River.
[7] The division
fostered the growth of separatist tendencies, and soon the
Bulgarian tribes
under the
Dulo chieftain
Kubrat seceded from the khaganate. In
657, the eastern
part of the khaganate was overrun by the Tang general
Su Ding Fang, while the central part had emerged as the independent khaganate of
Khazaria, led by a branch of the Ashina dynasty.
In
659 the Tang Emperor of China could claim to rule the entire
Silk Road as far as ''Po-sse'' (
Persia). The Turks now carried Chinese titles and fought by their side in their wars. The era spanning from 659-681 was characterized by numerous independent rulers - weak, divided, and engaged in constant petty wars. In the east, the Uyghurs defeated their one-time allies the
Syr-Tardush, while in the west the
Turgesh emerged as successors to the Onoq.
Second empire
Despite all the setbacks,
Ilteriş Şad (Idat) and his brother
Bäkçor Qapağan Khan (Mo-ch'o) succeeded in reestablishing the Khanate. In 681 they revolted against Chinese domination and, over the following decades, steadily gained control of the
steppes beyond the
Great Wall of China. By
705, they had expanded as far south as
Samarkand and threatened the
Arab control of
Transoxiana. The Göktürks clashed with the
Umayyad Califate in a series of battles (712-713) but, again, the Arabs emerged as victors.
Following the Ashina tradition, the power of the Second Empire was centered on
Ötükän (the upper reaches of the
Orkhon River). This polity was described by historians as "the joint enterprise of the Ashina clan and the
Soghdians, with large numbers of Chinese bureaucrats being involved as well".
[10] The son of Ilteriş,
Bilge, was also a strong leader, the one whose deeds were recorded in the Orkhon inscriptions. After his death in
734 the empire declined. The Göktürks ultimately fell victim to a series of internal crises and renewed Chinese campaigns.
When
Kutluk Khan of the
Uyghurs allied himself with the
Karluks and
Basmils, the power of the Göktürks was very much on the wane. In 744 Kutluk seized Ötükän and beheaded the last Göktürk khagan Özmish Khan, whose head was sent to the Chinese court.
[11] In a space of few years, the Uyghurs gained mastery of Inner Asia and established the
Uyghur Khaganate.
Rulers
Main articles: Göktürk Khagans
First Göktürk Empire
★
Ashina Tuwu
★
★
Yili Qaghan / Ashina Tumen 552 -
553 elder son of Tuwu
★
★
★
Yixiji Qaghan / Ashina Keluo 553 -
554 son of Tumen
★
★
★
★
Shabolue Qaghan / Ashina Shetu 581 -
587 son of Kelou
★
★
★
★
★
Xiegashiduona Dulan / Ashina Chuluohou 588 -
599 son of Shetu
★
★
★
★
★
★
Tuli Qaghan or Qimin Qaghan / Ashina Rangan 599 -
609 son of Chuluohou
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
Shibi Qaghan / Ashina Duoji 609 -
619 son of Rangan
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
Chuluo Qaghan / Ashina Qilifu 619 -
621 younger brother of Duoji
★
★
★
★
★
★
★
Jiali Qaghan / Ashina Duobi 621 -
630 third son of Rangan
★
★
★
★
Yehu Qaghan or Mohe Qaghan / Ashina Yongyulu 587 -
588 brother of Shetu
★
★
★
Mugan Qaghan / Ashina Qijin 554 -
572 younger brother of Kelou
★
★
★
Tuobo Qaghan / Unknown name 572 -
581 younger brother of Qijin
★
★
★
★
Unknown title / Ashina Anluo 581 son of Tuobo Qaghan
Rival Qağans of Ishbara
★ Rudan
Buli Khan 580s
★ Talopien
Apa Khan 580s
★ Tardu
Datou Khan 599 -
603
Western Qaghans
★
Ashina Tuwu
★
★
Istämi Yabghu 553 -
573 (''defacto'' qağan in west) second son of Tuwu
★
★ Tardu
Datou Khan 599 -
603
★
★ Nili Khan
603 and
Chulo Khan 603 -
611
★
★ Shekuei
611 -
618
★
★ Tung Yabğu
618 -
630
★
★ Yiwu Khan
630
★
★ Simo Khan
641 -
644
★
★ Chebi Khan
644 -
649
★
★ Baz Khan (chief of the
Oghuz, self-proclaimed Göktürk) -
682
★
★ Muchuo Khan
681 (or
682) -
712
Second Göktürk Empire
★
Ilteris Sad (Idat)
680 -
691 (or
692)
★
Qapagan Khan (Mo-ch'o)
691 -
716 (murdered)
★ Inäl Khan
716
★
Bilgä Khan
716 -
734 (murdered)
★
Kul Tigin Khan
716 -
731 (co-ruler with Bilge)
★ Yollug Khan
735 -
★ Icen Khan -
744
★ Etimis Khan
744-
747 (in exile)
See also
★
Turkic peoples
★
Orkhon script
★
Ethnic groups in Chinese history
★
Khazars
★
Kangju
Notes
1. Xue 39-85
2. Wink 64.
3. Findley 39.
4. Zhu 68-91.
5. Grousset 81.
6. Grousset 81
7. Ibidem.
8. Gumilev 238.
9. Ibidem.
10. Wink 66.
11. Grousset 114.
References
★ Findley, Carter Vaughin. ''The Turks in World History''. Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN 0195177266.
★
Great Soviet Encyclopaedia, 3rd ed. Article "Turkic Khaganate" (
online).
★
Grousset, René. ''The Empire of the Steppes''. Rutgers University Press, 1970. ISBN 0813513049.
★
Gumilev, Lev. ''The Gokturks'' (Древние тюрки). Moscow: AST, 2007. ISBN 5170247931.
★ Wink, André. ''Al-Hind: The Making of the Indo-Islamic World''. Brill Academic Publishers, 2002. ISBN 0391041738.
★ Zhu, Xueyuan. ''The Origins of Northern China's Ethnicities''. Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju, 2004. ISBN 7-101-03336-9.
★ Xue, Zongzheng. ''A History of Turks''. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press, 1992. ISBN 7-5004-0432-8.
External links
★
The Gok-Turks Khans
★
A German-language site
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