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Essay 1
Essay 1
History 35A
The An Lushan Rebellion took place during the Tang Dynasty from 755 to 763 BC. It
was a key event that eventually brought the Tang Dynasty to collapse. The leader of the
rebellion, General An Lushan rebelled against Emperor Xuanzong by establishing the Yan
dynasty and proclaiming himself the emperor of Northern China. The An Lushan rebellion was
large-scale and resulted in massive death and destruction. Eventually, the Tang dynasty was able
to shut down the rebellion but the high costs used to end the rebellion weakened the Tang court
To ensure political stability, rebel leaders that surrendered were assigned roles as military
governors over certain areas, which allowed them to become powerful warlords. However, the
warlords would eventually seize power from the Tang court and become a factor that leads to the
end of Tang. Another impact the An Lushan rebellion left was low military resources from
suppressing the rebellion and this would leave the western regions of China unprepared from the
The rebellion also had a high economic cost, including loss of lives, reduction of the
workforce, destruction of property, and high military spending costs from Tang. The government
had to take out loans from Uighur moneylenders and went into huge debt. In addition, An
Lushan had taken Chang’an from Tang control and his men looted treasures and valuables,
causing the Tang court’s personal fortunes to drop. These negative political and economic losses