The Darkest Hours

The An Lushan Rebellion inflicted human suffering on a colossal scale. The war's sieges produced episodes of cannibalism; its liberating allies sacked the very cities they freed; and the general breakdown of order unleashed massacres, including the slaughter of thousands of foreign merchants. Beyond the battlefield, war, famine, and the collapse of the state's ability to feed and govern its people caused a demographic catastrophe that ranks among the greatest in recorded history.

45,000+documented civilian and prisoner deaths in this section

Locations

Documented Events

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The Cannibalism at Suiyang

757·Engineered Famine

30,000+

deaths

Victims: The inhabitants of Suiyang(Sources claim the starving garrison consumed tens of thousands of the city's people during the ten-month siege; the figures are horrifying and much debated.)

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The Uyghur Sack of Luoyang

762·Civilian Targeting

10,000+

deaths

Victims: The civilian population of Luoyang(Thousands of civilians were reportedly killed and the city plundered by the Tang's own Uyghur allies; exact figures are unknown.)

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The Yangzhou Massacre

760·Massacre

5,000+

deaths

Victims: Arab, Persian, and other foreign merchants of Yangzhou(Sources record several thousand foreign merchants killed; figures range widely, with some claiming many thousands.)

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These events are documented here because history demands honesty. Understanding what humans are capable of — and the conditions that enable atrocity — is essential to preventing its recurrence. The figures cited represent scholarly estimates; the true scale in most cases is larger than records show.