The history of the Turks can be traced back to the first millennium BCE. Slowly but steadily, they migrated from Northern Asia into large parts of the Northern Hemisphere – sometimes voluntarility, but mostly out of wars and climatic catastrophes. For the longest time, those people that belonged to the Turkic culture group were scattered across all of the Eurasian Steppe belt. Finally, in 552 CE, the chief of the Ashina Tribe BUMIN overthrew the then-supreme Rouran overlord in Mongolia and created his own state, the empire of the GÖK TÜRKS. Many military campaigns of these "Celestial Turks" resulted in the expansion of the Göktürk borders to the Korean borderlands in the East, the Ukrainian Steppe and Crimea in the West, Afghanistan and the gates to Iran in the south. Alliances with the Byzantine Empire and the Sogdians enabled a stunning victory over Sassanid Persia, while in the east the newly established T'ang Dynasty was nearly annihilated by Turkic forces in the Chinese capital. But a prolonged Civil War had left traces of distrust in-between the Ashina Dynasty and the empire's core tribes. Within a few years, the empire suddenly collapsed. Many Ashina Turks were forcefully relocated from the Altai Mountains in Central Asia – mythical birth region of the Turkic peoples – to Northern China where they came under supervision of Chinese authorities. Severaö rebellions, including that of a certain KÜRSHAD, failed. Their new Chinese overlords decided upon Turkic matters. But in 681 CE, an Ashina prince named KUTLUK dared another revolt. Like his ancestor Bumin 130 years prior, Kutluk managed to break the chains of the Ashina once again. Together with 700 companions, he conducted forty successful military campaigns into Central Asia and China to establish the Second Göktürk Empire.

Unlike the first empire of Bumin, Kutluk's realm was rather limited. He became the first KHAGAN in nearly 50 years, and thus had to re-establish the Ashina's predominance over the many tribes of the Eurasian steppe. Under his successors, the new Göktürk Empire re-gained ground up to the Aral Sea in the West, Lake Baikal in the North and parts of the Tarim Basin in the south. Kutluk became known as ILTERISH: gatherer of the lands. His brother KAPGAN cemented the Turks' supremacy even against the mighty Chinese Empire of Empress Wu, playing her out against the Mongolic Khitan and Kumo Xi tribes. At last, when BILGE KHAGAN ascended to the throne in 734 CE, Göktürk rule should have been secured, the borders of the empire being far away from ÖTÜKEN, the mysterious forest-capital on the Orkhon River. But instead, Bilge was faced with revolting tribes. Both Turkic and non-Turkic peoples did not accept his rule. Therefore, he had to repeat his father's campaigns of conquest. While Bilge Khan successfully subjugated them, he was constantly busy with keeping the empire together. The vicious cycle of never-ending revolts as well es new tribal leaders aspiring to create their own steppe empires aggravate the downfall of the Göktürks in 745 CE.

This is the third film of a trilogy dedicated to the history of the Celestial Turks. Featuring stunning visuals from the Steppe, China, Korea, Persia, Türkiye and other places, as well as an Original Soundtrack, a 3D reconstruction of Bilge Khan in Unreal Engine/Metahuman and parts of interviews that were conducted with two scholars of history, it is the biggest project of KHAN's DEN to date. Being the first collaboration, too, this documentary hopefully will bring more attention to a people that have long been forgotten, but deserve recognition both in academia as well as the general public. This is true especially for the societies of the modern Turkic republics, from Türkiye to Kazakhstan, from Azerbaijan to Kyrgyzstan, and from Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to the many autonomous republics of the Yakuts, Gagauz and Tatars.

After all, only those who know their past can determine their future ...

Research, Script and Production: Emre-E. Yavuz
Narrator: Jay Lemrod
Title Theme Composer: Throne
Composer: The Big Love
Composer: Txai L. Xyooj
3D Generalist and Character Artist: Tarkan Sarim
3D Environmental Artist: Engin Albayrak
Historical Consultant: Prof. Michael R. Drompp (Rhodes College)
Historical Consultant: Prof. Peter B. Golden (Rutgers University)

Thank you to all of my Patreon & YouTube members for supporting me.

WEBSITE: https://bit.ly/KhansDen
GÖKTÜRK MOVIE 01: https://bit.ly/GokturkMovie1
GÖKTÜRK MOVIE 02: https://bit.ly/GokturkMovie2
BOOK 1: https://amzn.to/3fwqmKR
BOOK 2: [Coming Soon]
PATREON: http://bit.ly/3BR6M3T

00:00-02:55 Intro
02:56-09:50 Rise of the Göktürks 552–657 CE
09:51-18:56 Downfall & Rebellion 630–681 CE
18:57-27:47 Ilterish, Gatherer of the Turks 681–692 CE
27:48-41:39 Kapgan the Conqueror 692–716 CE
41:40-49:30 Bilge Khan the Wise 716–734
49:31-54:32 End of the Göktürks and Rise of New Turkish States