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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s Escapades, and Other Lesser Known Historic Events

Khalid Elhassan January 21, 2020 33 min

William Carver - Butch Cassidy — Butch Cassidy, far right, The Sundance Kid, far left, and other members of the Wild Bunch gang. Wikimedia

29. Victory and Collapse

In 23 AD, the Red Eyebrows played a key role in the defeat and overthrow of Wang Mang and the eradication of his Xin Dynasty. That allowed an opening for Liu Xuan, a member of the Han royal family, to reestablish the Han Dynasty and declare himself emperor. Liu Xuan’s rule did not sit well with the Red Eyebrows, however. So they overthrew him, and placed a child Han descendant on the throne as a puppet emperor, while they ruled China in his name.

Unfortunately, while militarily brilliant, the Red Eyebrows proved incompetent when it came to governing, and their misrule soon led to widespread revolts. Their puppet emperor was overthrown and replaced by another Han descendant, Liu Xiu. He forced the Red Eyebrows to surrender and brought their movement to an end, then went on to found the Later Han Dynasty, which reigned for two centuries.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.