The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from 220 to 280 AD following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Western Jin dynasty. Academically, the periodisation begins with the establishment of Cao Wei in 220 and ends with the conquest of Wu by Jin in 280. The period immediately preceding the Three Kingdoms from 184 to 220 was marked by chaotic infighting among warlords across China as Han authority collapsed. The period from 220 to 263 was marked by a comparatively stable arrangement between Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. This stability broke down with the conquest of Shu by Wei in 263, followed by the usurpation of Cao Wei by Jin in 266, and ultimately the conquest of Wu by Jin in 280.
The Battle of Guandu was fought between the warlords Cao Cao and Yuan Shao in 200 AD in the late Eastern Han dynasty. Cao Cao's decisive victory against Yuan Shao's numerically superior forces marked the turning point in their war. The victory was also the point at which Cao Cao became the dominant power in northern China, leading to the establishment of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period.
Xu Huang, courtesy name Gongming, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He later served in the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period under the first two rulers, Cao Pi and Cao Rui, before his death at the start of Cao Rui's reign. Xu Huang is best noted for breaking the siege at the Battle of Fancheng in 219 by routing the enemy commander Guan Yu on the field.
Yuan Shao, courtesy name Benchu (本初), was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred towards the end of the Han dynasty. He was also an elder half-brother of Yuan Shu, a warlord who controlled the Huai River region, though the two were not on good terms with each other.
Yan Liang was a military general serving under the warlord Yuan Shao during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was slain by Guan Yu at the Battle of Boma.
Yuan Shu, courtesy name Gonglu, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty. He rose to prominence following the collapse of the Han central government in 189. He declared himself Emperor of China in 197 under the short-lived Zhong dynasty, two years before his death in 199.
The military history of the Three Kingdoms period encompasses roughly a century's worth of prolonged warfare and disorder in Chinese history. After the assassination of General-in-chief He Jin in September 189, the administrative structures of the Han government became increasingly irrelevant. By the time of death of Cao Cao, the most successful warlord of North China, in 220, the Han empire was divided between the three rival states of Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu. Due to the ensuing turmoil, the competing powers of the Three Kingdoms era found no shortage of willing recruits for their armies, although press-ganging as well as forcible enlistment of prisoners from defeated armies still occurred. Following four centuries of rule under the Han dynasty, the Three Kingdoms brought about a new era of conflict in China that shifted institutions in favor of a more permanent and selective system of military recruitment. This ultimately included the creation of a hereditary military class as well as increasing reliance on non-Chinese cavalry forces and the end of universal conscription.
Yu Jin, courtesy name Wenze, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He joined Cao Cao in 192 around the start of the civil wars leading to the collapse of the dynasty, and fought in many of the campaigns which established the warlord's position as a central figure in that period. In 219, Yu Jin was tasked with leading forces to relief Cao Cao's general Cao Ren, who was being besieged in Fancheng by Liu Bei's general Guan Yu, but his armies were destroyed in a flood due to heavy rains. Yu Jin surrendered to Guan Yu and became a prisoner-of-war, but was transferred to the custody of another warlord, Sun Quan, after Sun Quan's forces captured Guan Yu's bases in late 219. Sun Quan treated Yu Jin like a guest and in 221 sent him back to the state of Cao Wei, which was founded in late 220 by Cao Cao's successor, Cao Pi, who ended the Eastern Han dynasty. Cao Pi pardoned Yu Jin and restored him to the position of a general. However, Yu Jin died later that year in regret after visiting Cao Cao's tomb, where he saw illustrations of the Battle of Fancheng depicting his surrender to Guan Yu.
Yue Jin, courtesy name Wenqian, was a military general serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was noted as much for his short stature as for his valour and ferocity on the battlefield. Yue Jin participated in most of Cao Cao's early military exploits, and gained multiple successes in the campaigns against Lü Bu, Liu Bei, remnants of the Yellow Turban rebels, and Yuan Shao and his associates. He was particularly praised as a capable vanguard, but his most famed accomplishment came with his supporting role in the defence of Hefei against Sun Quan's forces at the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford of 214–215.
Xun You, courtesy name Gongda, was a statesman who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China and served as an adviser to the warlord Cao Cao. Born in the influential Xun family of Yingchuan Commandery, Xun You was recruited into the civil service by the general He Jin. When the warlord Dong Zhuo hijacked and controlled the Han central government between 189 and 192, Xun You plotted with four others to assassinate him but was discovered and imprisoned. Following his release after Dong Zhuo's death, he wanted to serve as the Administrator of Shu Commandery but eventually settled as an official in Jing Province.
Tian Feng, courtesy name Yuanhao, was a Chinese politician serving under the warlord Yuan Shao during the late Eastern Han dynasty.
The end of the Han dynasty was the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE, roughly coinciding with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian. It was followed by the Three Kingdoms era. During the end of the Han dynasty, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow Turban Rebellion (184–205). Meanwhile, the Han Empire's institutions were destroyed by the warlord Dong Zhuo and fractured into regional regimes ruled by various warlords, some of whom were nobles and officials of the Han imperial court. The warlord Cao Cao took control of Emperor Xian and his court in 196 and began gradually reunifying the empire. Cao Cao ostensibly operated under Emperor Xian's rule, though in reality the emperor was a hostage.
Zhang Yan, born Chu Yan, also known as Zhang Feiyan, was the leader of the Heishan bandits during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He rose from a local rebel to master of a confederation that could hold off the Han, becoming a regional power, and was able to maintain authority in Changshan until he chose to surrender to Cao Cao, getting enfeoffment that remained with his family.
Zhu Ling , courtesy name Wenbo, was a Chinese military general of the state of Cao Wei during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He previously served under the warlords Yuan Shao and then Cao Cao during the late Eastern Han dynasty.
The Battle of Boma or Battle of Baima was the first of a series of battles that led to the decisive Battle of Guandu between the warlords Yuan Shao and Cao Cao in northern China in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Although Cao Cao won the battle and Yuan Shao lost his elite general Yan Liang, Cao eventually abandoned his position in Boma to entrench at the strategically important Guandu.
The Battle of Yan Ford took place along the southern banks of the Yellow River in the late Eastern Han dynasty. The battle was closely preceded by the Battle of Boma, and was part of a series of engagements leading to the decisive confrontation between the rival warlords Yuan Shao and Cao Cao at the Battle of Guandu in 200. Following the death of one of Yuan Shao's elite generals, Yan Liang, in the previous battle, the death of another famed general Wen Chou in this battle greatly demoralised Yuan's army, which was heading towards Guandu.
The Battle of Cangting was part of a mop-up operation undertaken by the warlord Cao Cao after his victory over his rival Yuan Shao at the Battle of Guandu in 200 in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. The battle was also mentioned in the 14th-century historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms as the final clash between the forces of Yuan Shao and Cao Cao before Yuan Shao died.
The Battle of White Wolf Mountain was fought in 207 in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China, preceding the Three Kingdoms period. The battle took place in northern China, beyond the frontiers of the ruling Eastern Han dynasty. It was fought between the warlord Cao Cao and the nomadic Wuhuan tribes, who were allied with Cao Cao's rivals Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi. The victory attained by Cao Cao dashed the hopes of a Wuhuan dominion, and the Wuhuan eventually became weakened, lost importance, and were gradually absorbed into the Han population or the Xianbei tribes.
The Battle of Liyang, fought between October 202 and June 203 in the late Eastern Han dynasty, was an invasion attempt by the warlord Cao Cao against the brothers Yuan Shang and Yuan Tan, the sons of Cao's rival Yuan Shao. The battle in October 202 was the first between the two factions since the death of Yuan Shao four months earlier. Although it ended in Cao Cao's withdrawal, events in this battle brought tensions between the Yuan brothers to the surface as Yuan Tan mutinied against his younger brother Yuan Shang after Cao Cao's temporary exit from the scene.
Ren Jun, courtesy name Boda, was a military officer serving under the warlord Cao Cao in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Leaving his home, he was early follower and trusted aide, he would often oversee the supply lines and was entrusted with implementing the key tuntian farming system.
