Goryeo-Khitan Wars
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The Goryeo-Khitan Wars refers to a series of 10th and 11th-century invasions of Korea's Goryeo Dynasty by the Khitan Liao Dynasty near the present-day border between China and North Korea.
 History of Korea
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Jeulmun Period
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Background
During the Three Kingdoms of Korea period, Goguryeo occupied the northern Korean Peninsula and parts of Manchuria. With Goguryeo's fall in 668 C.E., Silla unified the Three Kingdoms, while Silla's ally Tang Dynasty China briefly occupied the northern parts of Goguryeo territory. A former Goguryeo general revived Goguryeo's Manchurian territory as the new kingdom of Balhae. Immediately following the fall of Goguryeo, the Tang Dynasty divided and eventually drove out from most of Central Asia Turkic peoples (called Göktürks). Another Turkic tribe, the Uyghurs, replaced the Göktürks but they exerted weak influence in the region.
As Balhae, the Uyghur and the Tang Dynasty weakened, the Tungusic Khitan people emerged in the region now called Inner Mongolia, and began the expansion of their territory. Following Tang's fall in 907 C.E., China experienced a long civil war. In 911 C.E., threatened by Khitan expansion, Balhae sought assistance from the declining Unified Silla. Records state that Balhae also requested help from Silla's successor dynasty Goryeo during the Later Three Kingdoms. In 916, Khitan chief Yelü Abaoji, founded the Liao Dynasty, replacing the Uyghurs as the dominant power of present-day Mongolia.
Goryeo-Khitan relations
The Goryeo dynasty succeeded the Unified Silla dynasty in 918. The Khitan destroyed Balhae in 926, many of Balhae's ruling class fleeing south, joining the newly founded Goryeo Dynasty. Historically, Korea had maintained close relations with the traditional dynasties of China, but considered the northern peoples barbarians, especially after Balhae's fall. The Khitan took control of sixteen Chinese provinces south of the Great Wall establishing the foundation of the short-lived Later Jin Dynasty (936-947), which ruled only a small part of China.
In 922, the Khitan leader Yelü Abaoji sent horses and camels to Goryeo as a gift, seeking friendly relations. When Balhae fell, Emperor Taejo embraced Balhae refugees, pursuing a policy of northern expansion. In 942, the Khitan sent fifty camels to Goryeo, but Taejo refused the gift, exiling the envoy to an island and starving the camels to death. Succeeding Goryeo rulers continued the anti-Khitan policy. Jeongjong raised an army of 300,000 to defend against the Khitan. Gwangjong built fortresses along the northwest, and aggressively developed present-day Pyongyang and Hamgyong.
Liao's expansion
In 946 C.E., the Khitan Liao Dynasty sought to seize all of China. As the Song Dynasty moved to unify China in 960, internal conflict among Liao royal family members briefly stopped the Khitan goal of Chinese conquest. In 962, Gwangjong allied with Song China, pursuing a northern expansion policy. Additionally, some Balhae refugees had formed a small state called Jeongan-guk in mid-Yalu River region and allied with Song and Goryeo against the Khitan. The Khitan eventually regained internal stability under the strong leadership of Emperor Shengzong, who sought to counter regional isolation. After conquering Jeongan-guk in 986 and attacking Jurchen tribes in lower Yalu in 991 C.E., the Khitans initiated attacks against Goryeo.
First Invasion
The First Goryeo-Khitan War was a 10th-century conflict between the kingdom of Goryeo and Khitan forces near what is now the border between China and North Korea. The Goryeo-Khitan Wars continued with the second and third campaigns until 1018.
Background
In late August 993, Goryeo intelligence sources along the frontier learned of an impending Khitan invasion. King Seongjong of Goryeo quickly mobilized the military and divided his forces into three army groups to take up defensive positions in the northwest. Advanced units of the Goryeo army marched northwestward from their headquarters near modern Anju on the south bank of the Ch'ongch'on River. The seriousness of the situation compelled King Seongjong to travel from the capital to Pyongyang to personally direct operations.
The Invasion
That October, a massive Khitan army said to number nearly 800,000 men under the command of General Xiao Sunning swarmed out of Liao from the Naewon-song Fortress and surged across the Yalu River into Goryeo. Waves of Khitan warriors swept across the river and fanned out over the countryside.
In bloody seesaw warfare, the fierce resistance of Goryeo soldiers at first slowed, then considerably hampered the Khitan advance at the city of Pongsan-gun. As they had done with the Chinese, Goryeo's army never surrendered. It stood firm against frontal attacks, broke to retreat and lay ambushes, and launched flanking attacks against the Khitan. Goryeo warriors finally halted Xiao Sunning's army at the Ch'ongch'on River. In the face of such quick and determined resistance, the Khitan decided that further attempts to conquer the entire peninsula would be far too costly, and sought instead to negotiate a settlement with Goryeo.
Beginning of Negotiations
What the Khitan could not take on the battlefield with arms, they tried to steal with words. Without a hint of contrition or humility, General Xiao Sunning demanded the surrender of the former territory of Balhae to Emperor Shengzong. He asked that Goryeo sever its relations with Song China and, in the boldest demand of all, that King Songjong accept vassal status under the Liao emperor and pay a set annual tribute to the Liao state. Instead of responding with a unified voice and rejecting General Xiao's demands outright, the Khitan ultimatum quickly became the topic of heated debate in the royal court at Kaesong. Government officials on one side believed that acceding to General Xiao would prevent further Khitan incursions and they urged the court to appease the Liao emperor. Many of the senior military commanders who had recently faced the Khitan army on the battlefield stood in opposition, including General Seo Hui, commander of an army group north of Anju.
While the bureaucrats argued in Kaesong, General Xiao launched a sudden attack across the Ch'ongch'on River directly at the Goryeo army headquarters in Anju. The Khitan assault was quickly repulsed, but it had the effect of agitating the royal court to a state of near panic.
Truce Negotiations
In an effort to calm the court nobility, minister Seo Hui volunteered to negotiate directly with General Xiao. The one key factor influencing the negotiations, and both parties knew it, was the heavy pressure being exerted on the Liao state by Song China. In face to face talks with his Khitan counterpart, minister Seo bluntly told General Xiao the Khitan had no basis for claims to former Balhae territory. In fact, since the Goryeo dynasty was without question successor to the former Goguryeo kingdom, that land rightfully belonged under Goryeo's domain. In a cleverly veiled threat, Seo Hui reminded General Xiao that the Liaodong Peninsula was also territory once under the dominion of Goguryeo. The Manchurian territories, including the Khitan capital at Liaoyang, should properly belong to Goryeo.
Aftermath
In a final remarkable act, minister Seo obtained Khitan consent to allow the region up to the Yalu River to be incorporated into Goryeo territory. General Xiao and the Khitan army not only returned to Liao without having achieved their goals, but the invasion literally ended with the Khitan giving up territory along the southern Yalu River to King Songjong. Seo Hui's brilliant diplomatic maneuver underscored his correct understanding of both the contemporary international situation and Goryeo's position in the region.
Following an exchange of prisoners, the Khitan army withdrew back across the Yalu River. The following year, Goryeo and the state of Liao established formal diplomatic relations. In an effort to help the process along, Goryeo temporarily suspended its diplomatic relations with Song China.
See also
Second Invasion
- Main article: Second Goryeo-Khitan War (1010–1011)
The Khitan attacked again during an internal Goryeo power struggle. The Goryeo king was forced to flee the capital temporarily, but unable to establish a foothold and fearing a counterattack, the Khitan forces withdrew.
Third Invasion
- Main article: Third Goryeo-Khitan War (1018–1018)
When Goryeo continued to refuse to submit or return the northern territories, the Khitan attacked once more. Goryeo generals, including Gang Gam-chan, were able to inflict heavy losses on the Khitan army (Battle of Kwiju). The Khitan withdrew without achieving their demands, and the two nations signed a peace treaty.
Notes
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Grousset, René. 1970. The empire of the steppes; a history of central Asia. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813506272
- Kang, Eung-cheon, and Joel Levin. 2005. Koryeo dynasty: a journey into the noble tradition of Korea. Virtual museum of Korean history, 7. Korea: Sakyejul Publ. ISBN 9788958280972
- Kim, Kumja Paik. 2003. Goryeo dynasty: Korea's age of enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum—Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture in cooperation with the National Museum of Korea and the Nara National Munseum. ISBN 9780939117253
External links
- Koryo and the Khitan (1). Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- Koryo and the Khitan (2). Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- Korea Britannica. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- Doosan Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
- Dongsuh Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 4, 2007.
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