Rise and Fall of the Rouran Mongol Empire

After the Fall of the Xiongnu Empire in the first century, the Steppe World of Eastern Eurasia descended into chaos. As several Xiongnu successor states were established further south, and the so called Huna people appeared in the West, the central Mongolian Plains became a battlefield of Turko-Mongol infighting, dominated by the Xianbei tribes. After nearly two hundred years, a new stable state emerged that managed to unite most of the tribes under its banner: the Rouran Khaganat. Its ruling dynasty descended from the Mongolic Donghu tribe – the same one that had been driven out of Mongolia by the Xiongnu. Now, the once defeated made their turn. The Rouran established the first “true” steppe empire with a sophisticated hierarchy and bureaucracy, and expanded their territory into Manchuria in the east and Kazakhstan in the west. Over time they aimed control over the Silk Roads and got into conflict with the Wei Empire in China and the Hephthalite Empire in Central Asia.

After 200 years of supreme rule, the Rouran were defeated by the ascending Ashina tribe of Bumin and Istemi, the Celestial Türks. But their dynasty did not “vanish”. Instead, large parts found refuge in China and tried to regain control over the Eastern Steppes, which resulted in a prolonged war against the Turks. Another part migrated even further away, to the west. Suspiciously, just as these Rouran nobles appeared on the vicinity of Eastern Europe, the so-called Avars appear in ancient sources, too. For a long time, connections between the Rouran and Avars had been suggested in such sources but negated in modern academia. Now, new studies confirm that the rulers of the Avars were indeed the Rouran refugees from Asia. Ultimately, they created the Avar Khaganat in Pannonia and waged wars against the Eastern Roman and the Frankish Empire. In this documentary, we are going to explore the earliest history of the Rouran, explain their lifestyle and ideology, the political and economic dynamics of their Khaganat – and try to understand how Rouran refugees managed to create the mighty Avar Empire, in the middle of Europe.

Featuring Professor Peter B. Golden (Rutgers University) who has actively researched Central Asian and Steppe History for more than 50 years!

BOOK 2: [Coming Soon]

[emred]

Awesome work. I would like to see a vid about conflicts between Tang dynasty, Khitans, Koreans and Eastern Göktürks too!

[klausrainherz]

Rouran khanate is the country ruled by the first Khan of the world. During the Rouran khanate, China was not ruled by Han Chinese. China was ruled by the Xianbei, and the emperor was from Toba province. This is the beginning of the history of nomads ruling China, we can see Toba wei, Khitan, Mongol empire, Yuan, Manj qing dynasty.

[buryadmongol]

I’m from Khongirat tribe from Buryad-Mongols, we are descendants of Borte Chino, Chingizkhan

[KhansDen]

This video took longer to make then usual due to less time I had to invest in Khan‘s Den in November. However, I hope it was worth making in as I actually wanted to leave out the Rouran and continue with the Celestial Türks.

However, seeing how often we have mentioned the Rouran within the past four years while never really explaining their state and origin, I feel that this video was long overdue.

So as always, enjoy. And if you really like what you are watching, consider becoming a member.

[nonozebra]

Thanks for an amazing video, a treasure of knowledge, the paintings are exquisite ❤❤❤

[Bjorn_Algiz]

Fascinating history! Lovely video indeed. 😮

[williamdarocha]

A pessoal, sou um estudioso dos povos antigos das estepes, qual a diferença na cultura rouran pra gokturk? Obrigado

[Userjunior]

Hi Emre As always excellent work with a lot of knowledge Thank you

[countmakealot]

That’s interesting Bumin married a Tuoba woman. The most famous fictional Tuoba woman was Mulan. In the Ballad of Mulan, Mulan fought in the Wei army against the Rouran. Disney’s Mulan was Chinese but Mulan was definitely not Chinese in the original ballad.

[OtKerk]

The Avars are not that interesting, where came they from etc. The best point here is that Ruaran tribe (now proved to have been speaking the Mongolian language) is recognized as a Ruaran Mongol Tribe. That's what matters. As to the other smaller tribes mentioned here, well, they are not yet properly studied in academia.

[khanimran]

You av done a great job an balanced it out beautifully i love your video's bro keep up the good an thank you for enlightening us

[İyiŞanslarHerkese]

Nice video. I’ve been reading some books on Avars recently and notice an interesting information: a Utighur prince was called "Anagaius", a name similar to Anagui. Another thing is that, maybe because it was narrated by AI, the Chinese pronunciations are not good.

[mohammedsaysrashid]

Super wonderful historical coverage video about Rouran Empire uprisings in Central Asia... thank you(🙏 Khan Den) channel for sharing this remarkable historical coverage video

[blu]

I am Romanian and I love this Era of the Huns, Gepids (germanic vlachs who mingled with huns) and Avars (who sent the slavs to the Dinaric Mountains). This is such a mysterious era of history for the proto-romanians. 🇷🇴❤🇲🇳

[odilbekb-sarkaev]

Modern Afgan region and city of Qunduz called in the past Warvaliz, Walwaliz and the ancient Warahsha in the modern times near Buhara, Uzbekistan.

[Khagun.]

Awesome channel as always love it, but there is always a blank when it comes to tibetan platue in relation with the surrounding area, would love to know more ❤
Proto Tibetans were called Monpa from and Tibet was called monyul it seems, tufan empire ?

[MM-fvpi]

There are still some people in QafQaz calling themselves as AVARs claiming to be related into khazars. Evidences suggest that Avars in Europe were not related to none other than these.

[eixes]

To be honest, I have never seen the historical value of the rourans and other peoples of great extent on the territory of present-day Mongolia for study, perceiving them as only nomads, that is, a barbarian, as they are seen by the Chinese civilized empires to the south, but now I understand that this is largely erroneous and extremely biased representation. For example, the same Manchus or Jurchens were not nomads and practiced sedentary farming, being subject to the process of Sinification, and it is clear that "wild" peoples would not be able to conquer China or fight with Chinese empires on equal terms if they were exclusively wild and inept. The same Northern Wei (whose rulers initially bore the surname Tuoba) were originally a tribe that deeply absorbed the surrounding Chinese (Han*) culture entered the service of the dying Jin Empire and then firmly settled in the north of modern China laying the foundation for its own Xianbei empire. And they even competed on equal terms with the southern ethnically Han empires, although eventually the differences between them blurred by the Sui era.
In general, an interesting video!

[Lstsldr]

Tarih öğrenmek için muhteşem bir yapıt. Teşekkürler.

[lkhbhydroponic]

Mongols never come from anywhere or gone anywhere this is stupid turk claim they were from Mongolia which is absolutely false. Hunnu dunhu were same people dunhu means east hunnu . They spoke same as modern Mongols its bean priven by rock writing. Turks have no claim anywhere in central asian empires