Cao Cao, Wade-Giles romanization Ts’ao Ts’ao, courtesy name (zi) Mengde (born 155 ce, Qiaoxian [in modern Bozhou, Anhui province], China—died 220, Luoyang [in modern Henan province]), one of the greatest of the generals at the end of the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) of China.
Cao’s father was the adopted son of the chief eunuch of the imperial court. Cao was initially a minor garrison commander and rose to prominence as a general when he suppressed the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which threatened the last years of Han rule. The dynasty, however, was greatly weakened by the rebellion, and in the ensuing chaos the country was divided among the major generals into three kingdoms. Cao occupied the strategic northern section around the emperor’s capital at Luoyang. He took the emperor with him and moved the capital to Xuxian (present-day Xuchang, Henan province). By invoking the emperor’s name, he took command of the other generals and gradually assumed all imperial prerogatives. His domain was known as the kingdom of Wei.
Cao’s large armies—at one time he is said to have had a million men under arms—and his skillful maneuvering have long been notorious in Chinese history. He was described by Confucian historians and in popular legends as the archetypal shrewd, bold, unscrupulous villain. He was portrayed in this role in the great 14th-century historical novel Sanguo Yanyi (in full Sanguozhi Tongsu Yanyi; Romance of the Three Kingdoms), and since then he has been one of the most popular figures of Chinese legend and folklore, with various evil magic powers ascribed to him. Modern historians tend to view Cao as a skillful general and pragmatic politician. After Cao’s death the last Han ruler, Xiandi, ceded the throne to Cao’s son Cao Pi, who proclaimed the Wei dynasty (220–265/266).