DBWI: No Great Uighur Empire

So, why do you think were the Uighurs so successful in their conquests? Was it due to their great leaders, sheer luck in facing empires weakened by internal strife, or a combination of both?

Definitely a problem with their enemies when it came to their defeat of Persia, and their conquest of the Holy Land. Persia was still recovering from civil war at the time, and the fact that the Emir of the Afghan lands virtually invited the Uighurs as foreign mercenaries to try and help him take the throne (which sort of backfired) was a big factor in their initial successes. The conquest of Transoxania was definitely a result of great leadership, though; there's a reason that the Battle of Andijan is still studied today.
 
If Rhomania and Egypt hadn't been having one of their interminable wars the Uighurs would have never reached Edessa, let alone Hierosolyma. The Rhomans were really caught with their pants down, and we all know what happened when they recovered and invaded Syria twenty years later...
 
Definitely a problem with their enemies when it came to their defeat of Persia, and their conquest of the Holy Land. Persia was still recovering from civil war at the time, and the fact that the Emir of the Afghan lands virtually invited the Uighurs as foreign mercenaries to try and help him take the throne (which sort of backfired) was a big factor in their initial successes. The conquest of Transoxania was definitely a result of great leadership, though; there's a reason that the Battle of Andijan is still studied today.
Don't forget their conquest of Zhongguo and Silla, which were facilitated by the An Lushan rebellion as well.
 
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