After She He, a Han envoy, murders a minor king of the vassal state of Gojoseon and is rewarded by Emperor Wu with a military command, Ugeo, the king of Gojoseon, attacks and kills She He.
Autumn – Emperor Wu orders the invasion. The Han general Yang Pu crosses the Yellow Sea and marches on the capital Wangxian (Pyongyang) but is defeated outside its gates. Another general, Xun Zhi, invades overland but fails to make headway.
Peace negotiations are initiated by Emperor Wu but fail due to mutual suspicion.[2]
The Han general Zhao Ponu and 700 cavalrymen are victorious in the Battle of Loulan in the Tarim Basin, capturing the king of Loulan in the first Han intervention west of the Hexi Corridor.[3][4]
The Han generals Yang Pu and Xun Zhi besiege Wangxian (Pyongyang), the capital of Gojoseon. Infighting between the generals leads Xun Zhi to arrest Yang Pu.
Summer – After being deserted by some of his officials, king Ugeo of Gojoseon is assassinated. Cheng Yi takes over the defense of Wangxian but is killed by Han sympathizers.
Han subjugates Gojoseon and divides it into four prefectures. Xun Zhi is executed for infighting.[5]
Emperor Wu of Han founds Jiuquan in the Hexi Corridor as a military outpost on the Silk Road to Central Asia. It serves to protect diplomats and merchants, and it cuts off the kings of the region from the Xiongnu. He also founds Xianlei in present-day Inner Mongolia, extending Han control further north than before.[6]
The Han dynasty forms an alliance with the Wusun by marrying a Han princess to their king.[10]
Wuwei Chanyu of the Xiongnu dies and is succeeded by his youthful son Er Chanyu. That winter heavy snowstorms lead to the deaths of many livestock, and there is discontent with the new ruler, who is regarded as belligerent.[11]
War of the Heavenly Horses: Emperor Wu of Han sends an army of 6000 cavalrymen and 10,000 convicts under Li Guangli to attack Dayuan in modern Kyrgyzstan after Wugua, the king of Dayuan, refuses to send the Han any of the prized horses of Dayuan and, following a contentious meeting with the Han diplomats, has a vassal king kill the diplomats and seize their goods. The Han expeditionary force proceeds with difficulty, marching through arid regions and facing hostile cities.[12]
After having fought their way west across arid regions, the Han expeditionary force under Li Guangli fails to capture the Dayuan city of Yucheng and returns east to the area of Dunhuang, having lost 90% of their men.
Emperor Wu of Han reinforces Li Guangli's army with 60,000 men, numerous horses and beasts of burden, and more than fifty high-ranking officers. Li Guangli's army then returns west.[14]
Spring – After the Xiongnu Left Commander offers to kill Er Chanyu and surrender to the Han, Emperor Wu sends the Han general Zhao Ponu with an army of 20,000 to invade Xiongnu territory. When Zhao reaches the Altay Mountains, the commander's conspiracy is discovered, and after killing the commander, Er marches against Zhao but suffers an initial defeat.
Summer – The Han army retreats south, but the Xiongnu surround them. After capturing Zhao Ponu during the night, the Xiongnu defeat and force the surrender of the Han soldiers.
The Xiongnu invade parts of China and unsuccessfully attack Shouxiang.[15]
War of the Heavenly Horses: the Han expeditionary force under Li Guangli conquers the state of Luntai. Li Guangli then besieges Alexandria Eschate, the capital of Dayuan in the HellenisticFerghana Valley, despite having lost half his army to hunger, thirst and battle by the time he reached the city. The Dayuan are defeated in battle, and after losing their outer wall and their best general Jianmi in battle, the nobles kill King Wugua and offer terms of peace to Li Guangli, who accepts. The Han receive some of the prized horses of Dayuan and Li Guangli appoints Mocai as the new king.[16]
Er Chanyu marches against Shouxiang but dies en route from illness and is succeeded by his uncle Xulihu.
Emperor Wu orders fortified outposts to be built to the north as far as the Yin Mountains and Juyan Lake. The generals Han Yue and Wei Kang garrison the outposts north of Wuyuan, including the Yin Mountains, and Lu Bode garrisons Juyan Lake.
Autumn – The Xiongnu invade the prefectures of Yunzhong, Dingxiang, Wuyuan and Shuofang and destroy the new Han outposts. The Tuqi King of the Right invades the area around Jiuquan and Zhangye. The Han general Ren Wen defeats a Xiongnu army.[17]
War of the Heavenly Horses: Han general Li Guangli detaches forces to attack Yucheng. After a failed attack by Wang Shengshen and Hu Chongguo, in which Wang is killed, a new Han detachment under Shangguan Jie defeats and captures the king of Yucheng. The king is then killed by the soldiers escorting him to Li Guangli.[18]
Late summer–autumn: Saturninus stands for tribune again for the following year, and is elected. His associate, the praetor Gaius Servilius Glaucia, attempts to stand for the consulship (illegally, as praetors cannot immediately become consul). A rival candidate, Gaius Memmius, is found murdered by agents of Saturninus and Glaucia, who are declared public enemies by the Senate. The Senate issues the senatus consultum ultimum, and Marius, as consul, defeats his former ally in battle in the Forum. Saturninus and his followers surrender on condition that their lives are spared, but they are stoned to death with roof tiles in the Curia Hostilia by renegade senators.
The building of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, Palestrina, Italy, is begun. The model of it is now kept at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Italy (approximate date).
War of the Heavenly Horses: the Han expedition under Li Guangli returns victorious to China. He is followed by dynastic representatives sent by various Central Asian kings, so that they may pay tribute to Emperor Wu of Han. Emperor Wu keeps these representatives as hostages and sends soldiers to build pavilions and reclaim wasteland along the route to the west to provide food and shelter for Han envoys.[20]
Han-Xiongnu War: the Han general Zhao Ponu escapes Xiongnu custody and returns to China.[21]
^LeGlay, Marcel; Voisin, Jean-Louis; Le Bohec, Yann (2001). A History of Rome (Second ed.). Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell. p. 128. ISBN0-631-21858-0.
^There is some dispute over the year of Caesar's birth. Some scholars have made a case for 101 or 102 BC as the year of his birth, based on the dates that he held certain magistracies, but scholarly consensus favors 100 BC. Similarly, some scholars prefer 12 July for the day of his birth, but others give 13 July. Goldsworthy, p. 30, Ward, Heichelheim, & Yeo p. 194. For a source arguing for 12 July, see Badian in Griffin (ed.) p.16
^Lynda Telford, Sulla A Dictator Reconsidered, p.43
^"Jugurtha". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
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