After the death of Emperor Wu in 87
B.C. a family by the name of Wang seized political power. The most educated
of the Wang family, Wang Mang, seized the throne in 9 A.D. He was the first
emperor of the new dynasty that he called the Xin Dynasty(New Dynasty). As
a result of his reign the Yellow River bgan to flood. Two massive floods
of the Yellow River resulted in the deaths of thousands and the starving
of millions of the now homeless. These homeless peasents decided to form
a bandit group known as the Red Eyebrow. In 18 A.D. the Red Eyebrow truned
into a rebellion to overthrow Wang Mang. In 23 A.D. the former Han Dynasty
decided to join in the fight. The Han armies and the Red Eyebrow marched
on Chang'ang. They seized the capital and executed Wang Mang.
In 184 A.D. a man named Zhang Jiao lead 360,000 of
his followers on an assault on the Han capital. He sought to rescue the
people of Han from the harsh taxes imposed by Emperor Ling. The Yellow
Turbans took control of the palace. Emperor Ling sent out messages asking
for help to save the Han Empire. Several people came to help defeat the
Yellow Turbans. Among these people were Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Sun Jian, and
Dong Zhou. When the Yellow Turban Rebellion had ceased the Allies had defeated
the Yellow Turbans. Seizing the opportunity, Dong Zhou seized power in the
Han Empire. Dong Zhou's power quickly grew through a web of deceit. Cao
Cao caught on to Dong Zhou and organized an attack on Dong Zhou. Dong Zhou
managed to escape the attack and bruned the capital, Luoyang, down. He set
himself a new capital, Meiwu. Here Lu Bu, once one of Dong Zhou's generals,
assassinated Dong Zhou. After this occured many wars broke out between different
land over the dispuite of who should have the throne. From these wars emerged
the Three Kingdoms. These kingdoms were known as the Wei kingdom,headed
by Cao Cao, the Wu kingdom, headed by Sun Jain, and the Shu kingdom, headed
by Liu Bei. The break up of the Han Dynasty was in 220 A.D.
(http://3kingdoms.tripod.com/intro.html)