The Battle of Changping (長平之戰) was a military campaign during the Warring States period of China that was fought between the two strongest military powers of the central plains, the State of Qin, State of Zhao northwest of present-day Gaoping). After a bitter two-year stalemate stretching 262 to 260 BC, the battle ended in a decisive victory for Qin forces. A vast majority of Zhao captives were ruthlessly executed, an unrecoverable loss of manpower and strategic reserve that permanently crippled the State of Zhao.
It is known as the greatest and longest battle of human antiquity. Infamous for being one of the deadliest battles in human history, several hundred thousand soldiers were buried alive in the aftermath. The main historical records for the events of this period is sourced from the Records of the Grand Historian, written more than a century later, which estimated roughly 450,000 dead on the Zhao side and 250,000 dead on the Qin side. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang (685–762) later built a temple over a collection of some of the human remains, and scattered bones and mass graves continue to be discovered on the site today.
