The military history of the Three Kingdoms period, part of the greater military history of China incorporated almost a century of prolonged warfare and disorder. Following the generally peaceful conditions of the Han Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms brought about changes unto military institutions and technology favouring the emergence of a professional hereditary soldiery, including an increasing reliance on non-Chinese cavalry forces and the closure of the Han system of universal conscription.
After the assassination of General-in-chief He Jin in September 189, the administrative structures of the Han government became increasingly irrelevant. The armies that fought the civil wars of the 190s were raised largely from voluntary recruits, though there was also some use of press-ganging as well as forcible enlistment of prisoners from defeated armies. Over the course of a decade the confusing mosaic of local violence resolved into a simpler pattern of regional conflict. By the death of Cao Cao, the most successful warlord of North China, in 220, the Han empire was divided between the three rival states of Cao Wei, Shu Han and Eastern Wu.
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