Timeline
The road from Han to Jin
The years that made and unmade the era, from the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 to the Jin conquest of Wu in 280.
- 184
- 190
- 196
- 198
- 200
Battle of Guandu
Cao Cao burns Yuan Shao’s supply depot at Wuchao and breaks his larger army. The north is his within a few years.
- 207
Liu Bei recruits Zhuge Liang
Liu Bei visits the recluse Zhuge Liang three times and wins his service. The Longzhong plan sketches a three-way division of the realm.
- 208
Battle of Red Cliffs
The allied fleet of Sun Quan and Liu Bei burns Cao Cao’s armada on the Yangtze. The three-way division of the realm takes shape.
- 214
- 219
Fancheng campaign and the fall of Guan Yu
Guan Yu floods Yu Jin’s armies and shakes the realm, then loses everything when Lü Meng seizes his base by stealth. He is captured and executed.
- 220
- 221
Liu Bei proclaims the Han restoration
Claiming to continue the Han line, Liu Bei takes the imperial title at Chengdu. His realm will be remembered as Shu-Han.
- 222
Battle of Yiling
Lu Xun holds for months, then burns Liu Bei’s string of camps in a single night. Liu Bei flees to Baidicheng.
- 223
Liu Bei dies at Baidicheng
Dying, Liu Bei entrusts his young heir and the realm to Zhuge Liang — and tells him to take the throne himself if the heir proves unfit.
- 229
- 234
Zhuge Liang dies at Wuzhang Plains
On his fifth northern campaign against Sima Yi, Zhuge Liang dies in camp. Shu-Han’s offensives die with him.
- 249
Sima Yi seizes power at Gaoping Tombs
Sima Yi launches a coup while the regent Cao Shuang escorts the young emperor to the tombs. The Sima family now holds Wei.
- 263
Wei conquers Shu-Han
Wei armies march through the mountains and take Chengdu. Liu Bei’s realm ends after forty-two years.
- 280
Jin conquers Wu
The Jin dynasty, founded by Sima Yi’s grandson, sails down the Yangtze and takes Wu. The era of the three kingdoms closes.