It's pretty clear the Chinese weren't going to stop them, so why did the Abbasids stop pushing east after Talas? Did they just think the area wasn't worth conquering?
>>1328972
Abbasids were already over-extended.
Note how Turks did most of the fighting for them.
Too far away from home.
Supply lines were already stretched bare, and at that point they'd be stretching onto where the Chinese were stronger, while becoming increasingly weaker.
My history professor stressed the imporatance of the Cavalry tactics of the Muslims as the reasons for failing to stretch farther into India and for the loss against the Franks at Tours, but I don't know how credible that is.
>>1328972
The Abbasids won at Talas because the local Tarlaks switched sides and helped them out.
Then, for reasons I'm not entirely clear on, they went back to Tang Cinese ocerlordship, at least until the An Lushan rebellion.
>>1328995
Around Turks, Watch for Jerks.
>>1328995
Theoretically speaking couldn't the Abbasids continued to use Tibetan and Turkish allies to push further east. I know they where stretched thin, I'm just wondering why stop at an arbitrary point after a victory
>>1329020
i read somewhere that after talas abbasid-tang relations become better somehow, maybe they did a deal or something
>>1329020
>Tibetans.
>During this period.
Was in no position to be used by anyone. They were quite powerful at the time.
>>1329033
They fought alongside the Abbasids at talas. I'm not talking about making them a vassal state, I mean more as an ally
>>1329030
I've read that also. Probably because China made for a better trade partner than an enemy
>>1329020
Probably because they didn't want to further antagonize the strongest empire on the planet.
>>1329081
They had just beaten them in battle. Also China was preoccupied with a massive civil war shortly after Talas. The time seemed right to expand into Chinese western territories where their military presence would have been diminished
>>1329030
>>1329093
arabs were merchant people first, they probably realized that becoming a trading partner with them would benefit more.
also
>Abbasid caliph Abu al-'Abbas al-Saffah, whose forces were known to the Chinese as the Black Robed Ta-Shih, spent his wealth on warfare. He died in the year 752 AD. His brother who succeeded him as the second Abbasid Caliph Abu Jafar al-Mansur (r. 754–775 AD) (A-p’uch’a-fo) helped the Chinese Emperor Suzong of Tang after he appealed for help during the An-Shi Rebellion in regaining control of his capital Chang'an from the treacherous commander, An Lushan, or his successors in the abortive Yan Dynasty. Abu Jafar al-Mansur responded by sending 4,000 men who helped the Tang troops in recapturing the city and were well rewarded by the Chinese Emperor. After the rebellion was repressed they were allowed to settle down permanently in China which helped in founding of the earliest Muslim communities in China. Some of them married local Chinese people and their descendants became native-born Muslims who retained their religious tradition and unique way of life.
>>1329093
When faced with an Empire your own size, it's often better to open up mutually beneficial channels than to waste your forces trying to conquer them.
Conquering a people means instilling over them a rule, which has to be defended against bitter loyalists and former Imperials.
It's a logistical nightmare that a fledgling Empire in its own right has no business in.
>>1329096
>Arabs fought in the An Lushan rebellion
I never knew
>>1328972
The Abbasids were about establishing order inside their borders, with even expeditionary campaigns being launched mostly to consolidate control over its borders, leaving private adventurers and border provinces to their own devices.
That means any campaign against the steppe and China would be done by the governors of Central Asia, not the Caliphate as a whole. Thus at best they could only fight proxy wars like the Talas campaign, while the imperial capitals of both sides conducted diplomacy for their own honor and benefit.
The same thing applied to the Abbasids and their relationship with the Byzantines and Carolingians, as well as the Ethiopians, Armenians, and Khazars.
>>1329185
Did you know that An Lushan was a Sogdian general?
