Leader: Bilge Khan (Imperialistic, Financial)
UU: Turkish Warrior (Knight) (Receives Sentry and March promotions free)
UB: Orkhon Inscription (Monument) (+1 food on city tile)
Starting Techs: Hunting, The Wheel
Credits: danrell (unit), HROCHland (building), fk2006 (button)
Description: The Gokturks were the first known Turkish state. The Gokturks were originally part of the Rouruan confederacy that ruled the steppes of Central Asia for several centuries after the collapse of the Xiongnu; they were supposed to be famed metalsmiths. However, in the 500s CE the Gokturks eventually rebelled against their overlords and established their own confederacy of various nomadic groups – although it is possible that the “rebellion” might have been peaceful in nature, as a kind of social revolution.
Through numerous campaigns of expansion, within a century, the Gokturks dominated much of Eurasia, controlling the lucrative Silk Road and giving the established Empires of the time – namely the Byzantines, the Sassanids, and the Chinese – a difficult time. However, the Gokturk Empire fell into civil war, and the Tang dynasty of China took advantage of this. By the mid-600s CE, the Emperor of China de jure was the leader of the Gokturks, and the Gokturks’ Empire was under that of China’s. Furthermore, the Gokturk Empire was divided into two main subdivisions, one in the east and one in the west.
Several decades passed, until two brothers – Ilteris Sad and Bakcor Qapagan Khan – succeeded in driving out the Chinese and re-establishing the Gokturks as an independent power. Under their rule, as well as the rule of their relatives and successors Bilge Khan and Kul Tigin, the Gokturk Empire reached its zenith, controlling Manchuria, Mongolia, the Taklimakan, Transoxania, Ferghana, Sogdhiana, Kazakhstan, and Crimea. The Empire posed a serious threat to the powerhouses at the time, the Tang dynasty and the Abbasid Caliphate.
After the death of Bilge Khan in 734 CE, the Gokturks began to decline in power. Internal conflicts as well as Chinese offensives weakened the Empire. Just within a few years of Bilge Khan’s death, the Empire collapsed. Many groups, such as the Uighurs and the Khazars, took control in their own respective regions, and founded their own great empires. In the centuries to come, the descendents and relatives of the Gokturks, including the Seljuks, Ottomans, and Mughals, would found their own great Empires.
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