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Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo
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Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo (374-413, r. 391-413) was the nineteenth monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. His full posthumous name roughly means "Very Greatest King, Broad Expander of Territory, buried in Gukgangsang.", sometimes abbreviated to Hotaewang or Taewang. He selected Yeongnak as his era name, and was called King Yeongnak the Great during his reign.
Under Gwanggaeto, Goguryeo once again became a major power of East Asia, having enjoyed such a status in the 2nd century CE.
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Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo (374-413, r. 391-413) was the nineteenth monarch of Goguryeo, the northernmost of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. His full posthumous name roughly means "Very Greatest King, Broad Expander of Territory, buried in Gukgangsang.", sometimes abbreviated to Hotaewang or Taewang. He selected Yeongnak as his era name, and was called King Yeongnak the Great during his reign.
Under Gwanggaeto, Goguryeo once again became a major power of East Asia, having enjoyed such a status in the 2nd century CE. Upon King Gwanggaeto's death at thirty-nine years of age in 413, Goguryeo controlled all territory between the Amur and Han Rivers (two thirds of modern Korea, Manchuria, and parts of the Russian Maritime province and Inner Mongolia).
In addition, in 399, Silla submitted to Goguryeo for protection from raids from Baekjae. Gwanggaeto captured the Baekje capital in present-day Seoul and made Baekje its vassal. Many consider this loose unification under Goguryeo to have been the only true unification of the Three Kingdoms.
Gwanggaeto's accomplishments are recorded on the Gwanggaeto Stele, erected in 414 at the site of his tomb in Ji'an along the present-day Chinese-North Korean border. It is the largest engraved stele in the world.
Birth and background
At the time of Gwanggaeto's birth, Goguryeo was not as powerful as it once had been. Just prior to his birth, Baekje's King Geunchogo had soundly defeated Goguryeo, capturing its second-largest fortress of Pyongyang and slaying Goguryeo's King Gogukwon. Goguryeo's King Sosurim, who succeeded Gogukwon upon the latter's death in 371, kept his foreign policy as isolationist as possible so as to rebuild a state gravely weakened by the Baekje invasion of 371. Gogukyang, who succeeded Sosurim, maintained a similar policy, opting to focus on the rehabilitation and remobilization of Goguryeo forces.
After defeating Goguryeo in 371, Baekje had become a dominant power in East Asia, whose influence was not limited to the Korean peninsula. That state's King Geunchogo seized several coastal cities of China, notably in Liaoxi and Shandong, to retain its superiority over Goguryeo and a variety of southern Chinese dynasties, which had arisen within the context of extended civil wars caused by the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE and the concomitant invasions of foreign tribes, including but not limited to the Xiongnu and Xianbei (Wu Hu). Baekje under Geunchogo's leadership also seems to have had a close relationship with parts of Japan and established good relations with that archipelago's natives. Thus Goguryeo, surrounded by a powerful Baekje's forces to its south and west, was inclined to avoid conflict with its peninsular neighbor while cultivating constructive relations with the Xienpei and Rouran, in order to defend itself from future invasions, and even the possible destruction of its state.
Rise to power and campaigns against Baekje
Gwanggaeto succeeded his father, King Gogukyang, upon his death in 391. Immediately upon being crowned king of Goguryeo, Gwanggaeto granted himself the title Supreme king Yeongnak, affirming himself as equal to the rulers of China and the king of Baekje. He then began to rebuild and retrain Goguryeo's cavalry units and naval fleet, and they were put into action the following year, 392, against Baekje.
In 392, with Gwanggaeto in personal command, Goguryeo attacked Baekje with 50,000 cavalry, taking 10 walled cities along the two countries' mutual border. This offensive infuriated Asin of Baekje and that king subsequently planned a counter-offensive against Gwanggaeto, a plan he was forced to abandon when his invasion force was defeated by Goguryeo 393. King Asin again attacked Goguryeo in 394, and was again defeated. After several heavy defeats, Baekje began to politically crumble and the leadership of Asin came under doubt. Asin lost to Goguryeo again in 395, and he was eventually pushed back to a front along the Han River, where Wiryeseong, then Baekje's capital city located in the southern part of modern day Seoul.
In the following year, Gwanggaeto led his huge fleet in an assault on Wiryesong, approaching by sea and river. Asin was expecting a ground invasion and was caught with his defenses down. Gwanggaeto's forces burnt about 58 walled fortresses under Baekje control, and defeated the forces of King Asin. Asin surrendered to Gwanggaeto, even handing over his brother as a Goguryeo captive as condition for maintaining his own rule over Baekje. Gwanggaeto had finally gained superiority over its longtime rival Baekje on the Korean peninsula.
Conquest of the North
In 395, during a campaign against Baekje, the king himself attacked and conquered Biryeo, a small part of the Khitan tribe located in central Manchuria. Its exact location is not known but it was not very far from the Songhua River.
In 400, Later Yan, founded by the Murong clan of the Xianbei in present-day Liaoning province, attacked Goguryeo. Gwanggaeto responded swiftly, recovering most of the territory seized by the Xianbei and driving most of them from Goguryeo. Then in 402, he decided to launch an attack on Later Yan itself, determined to protect his Empire from further threat. In the same year Gwanggaeto defeated the Xienpei, seizing some of their border fortresses. In 404, he invaded Liaodong and took the entire Liaodong Peninsula.
The Xianbei did not watch idly as Goguryeo forces took over their lands. In 405, forces of the Later Yan crossed the Liao River, and attacked Goguryeo but were defeated by Gwanggaeto. The Murong Xianbei invaded once again the following year, but yet again the Goguryeo king was able to repel them. Gwanggaeto led several more campaigns against Xianbei as well as against Khitan tribes in Inner Mongolia, which he brought under his control. In 408, the king sent a peace delegate to Gao Yun, then ruler of Later Yan/Northern Yan, to broker a settlement between the two dynasties, because Gao Yun descended from the Goguryeo royal house as well. Goguryeo control over the Liaoning region remained strong until the Tang Dynasty seized the area as a part of its war against Goguryeo in the late 6th century.
In 410 Gwanggaeto began his conquest of the Dongbuyeo. The Dongbuyeo was no match for the great cavalry units of Goguryeo, and it suffered a series of defeat, finally surrendering to Goguryeo after King Gwanggaeto conquered sixty-four walled cities and more than 1,400 villages. Gwanggaeto also attacked several Malgal and Ainu tribes further north, bringing them under Goguryeo domination.
Southeastern campaigns
In 400, Silla, another Korean kingdom in the southeast of the peninsula, requested Goguryeo assistance to defend against an alliance of Japanese army, the Baekje kingdom to the west, and the Gaya Confederacy to the southwest. In the same year, King Gwanggaeto responded with 50,000 troops, defeated both Japanese and Gaya cavalry units, and made both Silla and Gaya submit to his authority. In 401, he returned King Silseong to Silla, to establish peaceful relationship with the kingdom while he continued the conquest of the north, but Goguryeo forces remained and continued to influence Silla.
Death and legacy
King Gwanggaeto died of disease in 413, at the age of thirty-nine. Although Gwanggaeto ruled for only twenty-two years and died fairly young, his conquests are said to mark the high tide of Korean history. Except for the period of 200 years beginning with his son and successor, King Jangsu, and the later kingdom of Balhae, Korea never before or since ruled such a vast territory. There is evidence that Goguryeo's maximum extent lay even further west, in present-day Mongolia, bordered by the Rouran and Göktürks. Gwanggaeto is also given credit for establishing the reign titles that were recorded for the first time in Korean history, a symbolic gesture elevating Goguryeo monarchs as equals to their Chinese counterparts.
Today, King Gwanggaeto the Great is one of two rulers of Korea who were given the title 'Great' after their name (the other one being King Sejong the Great of Joseon, who created the Korean alphabet). He is regarded by Koreans as one of the greatest heroes of their history, and is often taken as a potent symbol of Korean nationalism. Recently, the People's Republic of China launched its program of attempting to incorporate the history of Goguryeo within the context Chinese history, which has resulted in popular opposition from Koreans.
The Gwanggaeto Stele, a six-meter monument erected by King Jangsu in 414, was rediscovered in Manchuria in 1875 by a Chinese scholar. Although the stele gives us a great amount of information of his reign, it also caused a controversy about historical view. This is because it contains several references to Japan. Those stories of Japan are:
- in 391 Japan crossed sea and defeated Baekje and Silla and made them subjects.
- in 399 allied armies of Baekje and Japan invaded into Silla. Silla asked Goguryeo for help.
- in 400 Goguryeo expelled Japan from Silla to southern Korea.
- in 404 Japan lost the battle against Goguryeo in the southern Lelang (pyongyang).
Among them, the story of the year 391 became very controversial as the text of the stele is not clear and it mentions Japan's presence in the Korean Peninsula in the 4th century, which Korean scholars reject. Also, Japan's presence in Korean peninsula with power in 391 is not possible for every Silla and Baekje based historical literature indicates that this did not occur. In fact, it is said Japan obeyed Baekje king's command. Most people find it odd that an artifact dedicated to the great achievements of Goguryeo would mention a Japanese achievement not related to Goguryeo or King Gwanggaeto. Also, historians indicate the technological difference between Japan and Korea at that time. It would have been almost impossible for Japan to have subjugated a country which had superior technology. That would have been like saying a country in Africa came across the Ocean and subjugated the USA or Canada. Korean scholars claim that the stele was intentionally damaged by Japanese army to provide a sort of historical precedent to later Japanese occupation over Korea. This is highly possbile since Japan has manipulated several historical documents during Empire era in early 20th century. The Korean scholars claim that the passage should be interpreted as:
- in 391 Goguryeo crossed sea and defeated Baekje and Silla and made them subjects.
As national pride works in the interpretation, it is currently almost impossible to have a same historical view in this topic among the Korean and the Japanese. And this disagreement affected the project of writing a common history textbook among Korea, Japan, and China.
Recently a new historical drama Taewang Sasingi finished broadcasting in Korea based on the life of Gwanggaeto the Great, with Bae Yong-Joon playing the title role. This drama became a huge success in Korea due to its high-profile lead actor, Bae Yong-Joon, and its amazing CGI effects that incorporated Korean legend with the history. The drama spanned the time period from the birth of Gwanggaeto the Great, to the beginning of his reign. The drama, which was aired on TV stations all over Asia, was specifically banned in the People's Republic of China based on its view of Chinese and Korean history which deviates from the "one China" idea promoted by the PRC.
The further legacy of Gwanggaeto is his immortalisation as the eponymous ITF Taekwondo Tul (pattern) created by General Choi Hong-Hi along with the creative influence of his right hand-man, Nam Tae-Hi.
See also
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