Emperor Wuzong, in an attempt to return revenues from the tax-free temple holdings to the state, had begun a persecution of Buddhists from 841 that will last until 845.

In 843 the emperor's armies win a decisive battle against the Uyghur tribes at the cost of almost bankrupting the country.

Wuzong's solution to the financial crisis is to go after the wealth that had been accumulated in the Buddhist monasteries.

Buddhism has flourished greatly during the Tang period, and its monasteries enjoy tax-exempt status.

Confucian intellectuals such as Han Yu rail against Buddhism for undermining the social structure of China, on the premise that it erodes the loyalty of son to father, and subject to ruler, by encouraging people to leave their families and to become monks and nuns, who, once they have been ordained, stop engaging in useful economic activity such as agriculture and weaving, and become a burden that has to be supported by the work of others.

The persecution seeks to return monks and nuns to the ranks of taxpaying commoners engaged in useful economic activity While Wuzong sees Buddhism as a foreign religion that is harmful to Chinese society, he becomes a zealous follower of Taoism, a faith which he regards as native to China.

Buddhism preaches the attainment of non-birth or nirvana, which its critics equate with death, while Taoism promises immortality, a notion that will increasingly capture the attention of the emperor as he grows older and less rational.

Wujie Khan's forces and Tang's border defense forces had subsequently come into open combat, even though both sides have continued negotiations.

In 843, the Tang general Liu Mian launchesa surprise attack against Wujie Khan, led by his officer Shi Xiong, who crushes Wujie Khan's forces and rescues Princess Taihe.

Wujie Khan flees, and subsequently, the Uyghur remnants will create only minor nuisances for Tang and no longer pose a major threat.

The Tang Chinese inflict a devastating defeat upon the Uyghur Qaghan's forces on February 13, 843 at "Kill the Foreigners" Mountain, but the Yenisei Kyrgyz, rather than replace the Uyghurs as the lords of Mongolia, continue to live in their traditional homeland and exist as they had for centuries.

The defeat and collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate triggers a massive migration of Uyghurs from Mongolia into Turfan, Kumul, and Gansu where they found the Kingdom of Qocho and, in around 894, the Ganzhou Uyghur Kingdom.

The most long-term result of the fall of Amorium is in the religious rather than in the military sphere.

Iconoclasm was supposed to bring divine favor and assure military victory, but neither the army's weaknesses nor the reported treachery of Boiditzes could detract from the fact of the disastrous defeat.

A little over a year after Theophilos's death, on March 11, 843, a synod restores the veneration of icons, and iconoclasm is declared heretical, but a conciliatory ecclesiastical policy is directed towards the Iconoclasts.

Also beginning in 843, campaigns undertaken against the Slavs in Greece and against the Arabs in Asia Minor, the Aegean, and the Nile Delta meet with some success.

New measures to confront the Cretan threat in 842 after the death of Theophilos are undertaken by the new imperial regime:a new maritime theme, that of the Aegean Sea, is established in 843 to better deal with the Saracen raids, and another expedition to recover Crete is launched under the personal leadership of the powerful logothetes and regent Theoktistos.

It succeeds in occupying much of the island, but Theoktistos has to abandon the army due to political intrigues in Constantinople, and the troops left behind are slaughtered by the Arabs.

The Archbishopric of Hamburg, created in 843, is charged with the mission of Christianizing Scandinavia.

The Saxon nobilies themselves disarm the Stellinga movement with a brutal action in 843.

Kenneth MacAlpin unites the Scots and Picts to form a kingdom in central Scotland, ruling as Kenneth I. Kenneth's origins are uncertain, as are his ties, if any, to previous kings of the Picts or Dál Riata.

Compared with the many questions on his origins, Kenneth's ascent to power and subsequent reign can be dealt with simply.

Kenneth's rise can be placed in the context of the recent end of the previous dynasty, which had dominated Fortriu for two or four generations.

This followed the death in 839 of king Uen son of Óengus of Fortriu, his brother Bran, Áed mac Boanta "and others almost innumerable" in battle against the Vikings.

The resulting succession crisis seems, if the Pictish Chronicle king-lists have any validity, to have resulted in at least four would-be kings warring for supreme power.

Kenneth's reign is dated from 843, but it is probably not until 848 that he defeated the last of his rivals for power.

The Treaty of Verdun (843) and the Formation of West Francia

The Treaty of Verdun, signed in 843, formally divides the Carolingian Empire among the three surviving sons of Louis the Pious, marking the beginning of medieval Europe’s territorial and linguistic divisions.

Charles the Bald and the West Frankish Kingdom

Under the treaty, Charles the Bald, the half-brother of Lothair I and Louis the German, receives West Francia, encompassing the lands of the French-speaking peoples. His kingdom includes:

• Western Francia → The heartland of what will become France.
• Aquitaine → A semi-independent region with strong noble traditions.
• Gascony → A southwestern region known for its Basque influence and military resistance.
• Brittany → A land of Celtic autonomy, only nominally under Frankish rule.
• The Spanish Marches → The buffer zone against Muslim Al-Andalus, including Catalonia.

Significance of the Treaty

• The division reflects the cultural and linguistic split between the French-speaking West and the Germanic East.
• Charles inherits a fragmented kingdom, with regional lords in Aquitaine and Brittany asserting semi-independence.
• The treaty sets the stage for the eventual emergence of France, though West Francia remains politically unstable for centuries.

By awarding Charles the Bald control over the western portion of the empire, the Treaty of Verdun lays the foundation for the medieval French state, while simultaneously weakening Carolingian unity and accelerating the empire’s decline.