Conquest of Shu by Wei

The Conquest of Shu by Wei was a military campaign launched by the state of Cao Wei against its rival Shu Han in 263 during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. The campaign culminated in the fall of Shu and the tripartite equilibrium maintained in China for over 40 years since the end of the Han Dynasty in 220. The conquest signified the beginning of a reunified China under the Jin Dynasty.

Background

At that time, three contending states were established after the collapse of the 400-year-old Han Dynasty in 220. Among the three, Cao Wei in the north was the dominant military power in terms of economic resources, manpower, and geographic size, suppressing Shu Han in the southwest and Eastern Wu in the southeast. Noting this, Shu chancellor Zhuge Liang initiated an alliance between Shu and Wu to counter Wei's supremacy, and began a series of ill-fated attempts to capture the Wei capital from 228 until Zhuge's death in 234. Zhuge Liang's protege Jiang Wei had his own Northern Expeditions from 247 to 262. Jiang Wei's attempts were even more hurtful to Shu than those of Zhuge Liang, and were criticized by both contemporaries and later historians as wastes of men and resources. These campaigns strained the already disadvantaged Shu, while its incapable emperor Liu Shan indulged in pleasures and neglected state affairs.