An Lushan Rebellion
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Some scholars have interpreted the difference in the census figures as implying the deaths of 36 million people, about two-thirds of the population of the empire. This figure was used in Steven Pinker's book The Better Angels of Our Nature, where it is presented as proportionally the largest atrocity in history with the loss of a sixth of the world's population at that time, though Pinker noted that the figure was controversial. Johan Norberg, who in his book Progress: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future is generally supportive of Pinker's arguments, gives the number of 13 million people (citing Matthew White's The Great Big Book of Horrible Things), which he notes is still highly significant, representing about 5% of the 8th century world’s population." |
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The An Lushan Rebellion was a devastating rebellion against the Tang dynasty of China. The rebellion overtly began on 16 December 755, when general An Lushan declared himself emperor in Northern China, thus establishing a rival Yan Dynasty, and ended when Yan fell on 17 February 763 (although the effects lasted past this).
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