Conflicts & Resolutions · Battle

Battle of Red Cliffs

208 · 3rd century · Also known as Battle of Chibi

The Battle of Red Cliffs was fought on the Yangtze in the winter of 208–209, at the end of the Han dynasty. The allied forces of Sun Quan and Liu Bei, led by Zhou Yu, defeated the much larger army of the northern warlord Cao Cao, partly through fire ships. It stopped Cao Cao's advance south and led to the division of China into the Three Kingdoms.

Battle of Red Cliffs
Image: User Jie on en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Shu HanEastern Wu

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Battle of Red Cliffs. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-red-cliffs
MLA
“Battle of Red Cliffs.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-red-cliffs. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Battle of Red Cliffs.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-red-cliffs.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Battle of Red Cliffs’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/battle-of-red-cliffs (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻