The Battle of Red Cliffs, which took place in 208 AD during the late Eastern Han Dynasty period of China, was fought between two powerful warlords—the warlord Cao Cao and the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan.
Cao Cao had been appointed by the weak and corrupt Han emperor as Prime Minister of China and was effectively in control of the entire country, save for the south. However, Cao Cao soon began to expand his power and influence south, in an effort to unite all of China under his rule.
In response to this threat, two other powerful warlords—Liu Bei and Sun Quan—entered into an alliance in order to protect the independence of their territories. As a result, Cao Cao eventually decided to launch an attack against them, and the ensuing battle was fought in present-day Hubei Province at the Red Cliffs—one of the most memorable battles in Chinese history.
On the side of Cao Cao, there were approximately 250,000 troops and 800 ships led by his personal advisor Xu Zhu, while Liu Bei and Sun Quan commanded around 100,000 men with just 50 vessels.
Cao Cao’s main strategy was to employ naval forces to break through the allies’ defenses along the Yangtze River. To counter this, the allies devised the famous “fire attack” strategy, which involved setting fire to Cao Cao’s own boats in order to create chaos and confusion within his ranks. The fire attack proved to be extremely effective and the majority of Cao Cao’s forces were destroyed in the battle.
It is said that after the battle, the two allied warlords split the south of China between them and formed the foundations for two separate kingdoms that would later become known as the Kingdom of Wu and the Shu Han Dynasty.
Although the actual facts of the battle are still heavily debated, some historians believe that the forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan consisted of at least 20,000 infantry, 5,000 cavalry, 10,000 marines, and 25,000 warships. The forces of Cao Cao were estimated to have included 50,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, 20,000 marine warriors and 300,000 warships.
So, all in all, it is believed that both Cao Cao and the allied forces of Liu Bei and Sun Quan had around 200,000 to 300,000 soldiers fighting in the Battle of Red Cliffs.