The Battle of Guan Du – 200

This video will explore The Battle of Guan Du, fought between Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. The victory was also the point at which Cao Cao became the dominant power in northern China, leading to the establishment of the state of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms period. The historian Carl Leban attributes Cao Cao's victory to one single strategic decision — the defender's choice of location. Leban asserts that Cao Cao chose Guandu as the place to make his stand because of his superior understanding of the relation between topography, logistics, and tactics over Yuan Shao. It was the issue about logistics that prompted Cao Cao to abandon the defence at the Yellow River. By luring Yuan Shao far south into Guandu, Cao Cao had forcibly extended Yuan Shao's supply lines and was thus able to pounce on his logistical disadvantage to gain a decisive victory.

Sources
Chen Shou. Records of Three Kingdoms

de Crespigny, Rafe (1996). "To Establish Peace: being the Chronicle of the Later Han dynasty for the years 189 to 220 AD.

de Crespigny, Rafe (2010). Imperial warlord : a biography of Cao Cao.

Leban, Carl (1971). Ts'ao Ts'ao and the Rise of Wei: The Early Years. Columbia University.

Sima Guang. Zizhi Tongjian, Volume 63.

SGZ: Biography of Yuan Shao
HHS: Biography of Yuan Shao
SGZ: Biography of Cao Cao
SGZ: Biography of Xun Yu
HHS: Biography of Xun Yu
SGZ: Biography of Zang Ba
SGZ: Biography of Yu Jin
SGZ: Biography of Liu Biao
SGZ: Biography of Zhang Xiu
SGZ: Biography of Jia Xu
SGZ: Fu Xuan's annotations quoted in the Biography of Guo Jia
SGZ: Biography of Liu Bei
SGZ: Biography of Cheng Yu
SGZ: Biography of Guan Yu
SGZ: Biography of Cui Yan
SGZ: Biography of Emperor Xian quoted in the SGZ Biography of Yuan Shao
SGZ: Biography of Xun You
Biography of Xu You quoted in the Wei lüe in the Biography of Cui Yan
HHS: Biography of Emperor Xian quoted in the HHS Biography of Yuan Shao
SGZ: Biography of Xu Huang
 SGZ: Biography of Cao Man as quoted in the Biography of Cao Cao
SGZ: Biography of Zhang He
SGZ: Chronicles of the Wei Clan quoted in the Biography of Cao Cao