后汉 / Later Han

Later Han / 后汉 is one of the five central-plain dynasties listed in EP252 《太平年》之外的五代十国，什么样？’s account of 五代十国. Its brevity helps illustrate the source’s larger point: northern regimes could be made and unmade quickly when military command, succession, and personal loyalty were unstable.

The episode uses the whole Five Dynasties sequence to show why 后周 and then 北宋 mattered. They inherited a world where short-lived dynasties made institutional stabilization an urgent political problem.

Connections

• 后晋 and 后周 - neighboring regimes in the Five Dynasties sequence.
• 五代继承危机 / Five Dynasties Succession Crisis and Military Personalization / 军队私人化 - source mechanisms that make short dynasties understandable.
• 唐宋转型 - broader transformation frame.