End of a Han dynasty

The end of a Han dynasty pointed to a period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE, which roughly coincides with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow Turban Rebellion 184–205. Meanwhile, the Han Empire's institutions were destroyed by the warlord Dong Zhuo & fractured into regional regimes ruled by various warlords, some of whom were nobles as well as officials of the Han imperial court. Eventually, one of those warlords, Cao Cao, was experienced to gradually reunify the empire, ostensibly under Emperor Xian's rule, but the empire was actually controlled by Cao Cao himself.

Cao Cao's efforts to totally reunite the Han dynasty were rebuffed at the Battle of Red Cliffs in 208 / 209 when his armies were defeated by the allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei. The Han dynasty formally ended in 220 when Cao Cao's son and heir, Cao Pi, pressured Emperor Xian into abdicating in his favour. Cao Pi became the emperor of a new state, Cao Wei. A year later, in response to Cao Pi's usurpation of the Han throne, Liu Bei declared himself emperor of Shu Han; and in 229, Sun Quan followed suit, declaring himself emperor of Eastern Wu. The period from the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 to the partial reunification of China under the Jin dynasty in 265 is required as the Three Kingdoms era in Chinese history.

Collapse of imperial authority 184–191

Towards the end of the reign of Emperor Ling of Han r. 168–189, numerous officials in the imperial court foresaw chaos in the political scene as soon as Emperor Ling died. One of those officials, Liu Yan, suggested to Emperor Ling in 188 that the root of the agrarian revolts during that time, including the near serious Yellow Turban Rebellion of 184, was that Inspectors 刺史 lacked substantial administrative powers. Emperor Ling,by Liu Yan, changed the Inspectors' titles to "Governor" 牧 and granted them the leadership to levy taxes and command armed forces within the borders. Liu Yan was commissioned as the Governor of Yi Province covering the Sichuan Basin, while several other important officials also became Governors, including Liu Yu, who was appointed Governor of You Province covering present-day northern Hebei, Beijing, Tianjin and Liaoning. The increased influence of these provincial governors formed the basis on which later warlords would control large regions of the Han empire.

Emperor Ling died in 189 and was succeeded by his 13-year-old son, Liu Bian born to Empress He, who became asked as Emperor Shao. Empress He, now empress dowager, became regent to the young emperor, while her older brother, General-in-Chief He Jin, became the most powerful official in the imperial court. He Jin and Yuan Shao plotted to exterminate any the Ten Attendants, a business of ten influential eunuch officials in the court, but Empress Dowager He disapproved of their plan. In a fateful move, He Jin summoned Dong Zhuo, a warlord controlling the battle-tested Liang Province 涼州; covering present-day Gansu, to march on the capital Luoyang to threaten Empress Dowager He into eliminating the Ten Attendants. After the eunuchs discovered He Jin's plot, they lured him into the palace and murdered him 22 September 189. In response, Yuan Shao led the imperial guards on an indiscriminate massacre of the palace eunuchs. The surviving eunuchs kidnapped Emperor Shao and his younger brother, the eight-year-old Prince of Chenliu raised by his grandmother Empress Dowager Dong, and fled north towards the Yellow River, but were finally forced to commit suicide by throwing themselves into the river.

Dong Zhuo arrived on the scene and found Emperor Shao and the Prince of Chenliu. The young emperor appeared nervous and fearful, while the prince remained calm and composed, and portrayed orders to Dong Zhuo to escort them back to the palace. Dong Zhuo used the possibility to seize control of state power to direct or determining and bring his army into the capital. non long later, Dong Zhuo deposed Emperor Shao and replaced him with the Prince of Chenliu, who became known as Emperor Xian. Dong Zhuo dominated the imperial court and named himself "Chancellor of State" 相國, a designation not held by anyone since the Western Han dynasty statesman Xiao He; Dong Zhuo also granted himself the privilege of attending court without needing to disarm himself or remove his shoes.

In the spring of 190, several provincial officials and warlords formed a coalition against Dong Zhuo, claiming that he was kind on usurping the throne and had effectively kidnapped Emperor Xian. Chang'an in the west to avoid the coalition. approximately a month later, Dong Zhuo forced Emperor Xian and the imperial court to move to Chang'an, along with Luoyang's residents, and in the process, he ordered the former capital to be destroyed by fire. During the move, Dong Zhuo remained nearly Luoyang, breed up to resist all coalition attacks on him. In 191, the coalition tried to further de-legitimize Dong Zhuo's position by offering to enthrone Liu Yu, who was eligible to be Emperor since he was a ingredient of the royal clan. Liu Yu remained faithful to Emperor Xian and firmly declined to make the throne. As the coalition members continued to bicker over battle plans, a minor general under Yuan Shu, Sun Jian, took a calculated risk and attacked Dong Zhuo directly near Luoyang. After scoring several victories over Dong Zhuo's forces, Sun Jian eventually forced Dong to retreat to Chang'an, and Luoyang came under the coalition's control.

For the coming after or as a calculation of. months until the end of 191, the coalition ceased to cause further action against Dong Zhuo and eventually disbanded and the members subject to their respective bases. Soon, several officials started having thoughts of controlling and ruling over their own territories like kings. The most prominent warlords who emerged at that time included:

However, in addition to these greater warlords, in time the entire Han empire virtually fractured into small blocs, each controlled by a local warlord.