The Göktürks, known in medieval Chinese sources as Tujue, had originated from the Ashina tribe, an Altaic people who lived in the northern corner of the area presently called Xinjiang.

Under the leadership of Bumin Khan and his sons, the Göktürks had in the late sixth century succeeded the Xiongnu as the main Turkic power in the region and taken hold of the lucrative Silk Road trade.

Rapidly expanding to rule huge territories in northwestern China, North Asia and Eastern Europe as far west as the Crimea, they are the first Turkic tribe known to use the name "Turk" as a political name.

A civil war at the beginning of the seventh century had left the empire divided into the eastern and western parts.

The eastern part, still ruled from Ötüken, had remained in the orbit of the Sui Empire and retained the name Göktürk.

The khans Shipi and Khieli of the East had attacked China at its weakest moment during the transition between the Sui and Tang dynasties, but in 657, the eastern part of the khaganate had been overrun by the Tang general Su Ding Fang, while the central part had emerged as the independent khaganate of Khazaria, led by a branch of the Ashina dynasty.

The Tang Emperor of China could by 659 claim to rule the entire Silk Road as far as Persia, as the Eastern Göktürks now carried Chinese titles and fought by their side in their wars.

The eastern steppes from 659 to 681 have been characterized by numerous independent rulers, weak, divided, and engaged in constant petty wars.

To the east, the Uyghurs had defeated their one-time allies the Syr-Tardush, a Tiele people and khanate in central and northern Asia, while to the west the Turgesh of the Ili Valley had emerged as successors to the Western Göktürks, or Onoq.

Despite these setbacks, Ilteris Sad, or Idat, and his brother Bakçor Qapagan Khan, or Mo-ch'o, after revolting against Chinese domination, succeed in 681 in reestablishing the Khanate.

The Eastern Göktürk Khagans over the following decades will steadily gain control of the steppes beyond the Great Wall.