The Battle of Talas (751)

By the mid-8th century two great powers, the Abbasid Caliphate and the Tang dynasty, faced each other in Central Asia. In the summer of 751 the armies of the Tang general Gao Xianzhi and the Abbasid commander Ziyad ibn Salih met near the Talas river, around today's city of Taraz.

The battle lasted five days. The Karluk Turks, who had come with the Tang army, went over to the Arab side in the middle of the fighting, and the Tang army suffered a heavy defeat. Gao Xianzhi escaped with only a few men.

After Talas, and especially after the An Lushan rebellion broke out in China in 755, the Tang withdrew from Central Asia. Islam spread faster in the region and the Karluks became masters of Zhetysu. According to tradition, captured Chinese craftsmen taught paper-making in Samarkand.