War of the Eight Princes

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This article is part of the War of the Eight Princes series.
Eight Princes
Sima Liang
Sima Wei
Sima Lun
Sima Jiong
Sima Ai
Sima Ying
Sima Yong
Sima Yue
Other key figures
Emperor Hui
Emperor Huai
Empress Yang Zhi
Empress Jia Nanfeng
Empress Yang Xianrong
Sima Yu
Yang Jun
Wei Guan
Zhang Hua

The War of the Eight Princes or Rebellion of the Eight Kings or Rebellion of the Eight Princes (Traditional Chinese: 八王之亂; Simplified Chinese: 八王之乱; Hanyu Pinyin: bā wáng zhī luàn; Wade-Giles: pa wang chih luan) was a civil war for power among princes or kings (wang ch. 王) of the Chinese Jin Dynasty from AD 291 to AD 306. It was fought mostly in northern China and devastated the country, later triggering the Wu Hu ravaging. The term stems from biographies of eight princes collected in chapter 59 of the "History of Jin Dynasty" (Jinshu).

Following the death of Emperor Wu in 290, a complex power struggle began amongst the Sima clan. The new emperor, Emperor Hui, was developmentally disabled, and factions fought to control the imperial court. Initially, the emperor's stepmother, Empress Dowager Yang, exerted the most power at the courts, and empowered her family, the Yang consort clan, with her father Yang Jun given the most power.

The emperor's wife, Empress Jia Nanfeng enlisted the help of Sima Wei and Sima Yun, whose troops then killed Yang Jun and his faction in the palace in 291; the empress dowager was removed from power and died in prison.

Power then passed to Sima Liang, the emperor's granduncle. However, Empress Jia plotted with Sima Wei and convinced the prince to kill Sima Liang. She then announced that Sima Wei was acting without imperial orders and executed him. The empress and the Jia clan remained in power until 300, when she deposed and assassinated the heir to the throne, Sima Yu, her husband's son by the concubine Consort Xie Jiu.

Sima Lun, who commanded the imperial guards, took this opportunity to kill the Empress Jia and her faction. Sima Lun placed himself in power and tried to centralize control over the powerful princes; this resulted in Sima Yun's rebellion, who marched his troops to capital against Sima Lun; Sima Yun was killed by Sima Lun's troops in the ensuing battle in Luoyang. Sima Lun then imprisoned Emperor Hui and styled himself as the new emperor.

In response, Sima Jiong led a coalition of forces, including Sima Ying and Sima Yong, against Sima Lun. They defeated Sima Lun's troops, killed him, and then re-established Emperor Hui as the emperor, with Sima Jiong exerting the most influence at the imperial court. When Sima Jiong tried to centralize power in his hands, the princes rebelled against him, and he was defeated by Sima Ai, the Prince of Changsha and killed.

Likewise, Sima Ai held power briefly, then was later defeated by Sima Yue and killed. Sima Yue's troops by this time had strongly incorporated Wuhuan and Xianbei troops as cavalry.

Power then passed to Sima Ying, who was then defeated and fled Luoyang with the emperor. He was finally captured by Sima Yong, who was in turn defeated by Sima Yue's troops. Emperor Hui was poisoned in 306, and his brother, Emperor Huai, ascended the throne. Sima Ying and Sima Yong were eventually captured and killed; Sima Yong died on February 7, 307, which marked the official end of the struggle.

The resultant winner was last surviving major prince, Sima Yue. The struggle depopulated northern China and greatly weakened the strength of the Jin Dynasty.

The eight princes included:

Sima Liang (sim. ch. 司马亮), son of Sima Yi (sim. ch. 司马懿), titled the Prince of Runan (ch. 汝南王)
Sima Wei (sim. ch. 司马玮), son of Emperor Wu, titled the Prince of Chu (ch. 楚王)
Sima Lun (sim. ch. 司马伦), son of Sima Yi, titled the Prince of Zhao (ch. 赵王)
Sima Jiong (sim. ch. 司马冏), nephew of Emperor Wu, titled the Prince of Qi (sim. ch. 齐王)
Sima Ying (sim. ch. 司马颖), son of Emperor Wu, titled the Prince of Chengdu (ch. 成都王)
Sima Ai (sim. ch. 司马乂), son of Emperor Wu, titled the Prince of Changsha (sim. ch. 长沙王)
Sima Yong (sim. ch. 司马颙), distant cousin of Emperor Wu, titled the Prince of Hejian. (sim. ch. 河间王)
Sima Yue (sim. ch. 司马越), distant cousin of Emperor Wu, titled the Prince of Donghai (sim. ch. 东海王)