Battle of Baideng

Battle of Baideng
	Part of Xiongnu campaigns in China
Date	200 BC
Location	Mount Baideng at Pincheng (present-day Datong, Shanxi)
Result	Xiongnu victory
Belligerents
Xiongnu	Han dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Modu Chanyu	Emperor Gaozu
Strength
400,000	320,000
Casualties and losses
Heavy	Less than Xiongnu

The Battle of Baideng (白登之戰) was a military conflict between Han China and the Xiongnu in 200 BC.

In an alternate account, Grousset^[3] says that the Xiongnu invaded Chinese Shanxi and besieged Taiyuan. Gaozu broke the siege and chased the Xiongnu north, but was blockaded by them on the Baideng plateau near Datong in far northern Shanxi.

Background

Attack of the Xiongnu

Tactics

Battle and siege

The presence of the armies is uncertain. The total strength of the Chinese army was over 300,000, but it is not known how much of the vanguard was trapped in the fort with the Emperor. Although Chinese historians write that the number of the Xiongnu army was 400,000.^[4]

Treaty

References

^ ^a ^b Chang, Chun-shu (2007). The Rise of the Chinese Empire, Volume 1: Nation, State, and Imperialism in Early China, ca. 1600 B.C. - A.D. 8. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-472-11533-4.
^ ^a ^b "The rise of the Chinese Empire / Chun-shu Chang v.1".
^ Rene Grousset, 'The Empire of the Steppes',1970/2008,page27,
^ Chang, Chun-shu (2007).The Rise of the Chinese Empire, Volume 1: Nation, State, and Imperialism in Early China, ca. 1600 B.C. - A.D. 8 Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 158.