Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo

From New World Encyclopedia
Revision as of 00:47, 8 December 2007 by Anne Inoue (talk | contribs) (fixing link)
Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo
Hangul 광개토대왕
Hanja 廣開土大王
Revised Romanization Gwanggaeto-daewang
McCune-Reischauer Kwanggaet'o-taewang
Birth name
Hangul 고담덕 or
Hanja 高談德 or
Revised Romanization Go Damdeok or An
McCune-Reischauer Ko Tamdǒk or An


Posthumous name
Hangul 국강상광개토경평안호태왕
Hanja 國岡上廣開土境平安好太王
Revised Romanization Gukgangsang-gwangaetogyeong-pyeongan-hotaewang
McCune-Reischauer Kukkangsang-kwangaetogyŏng-p'yŏngan-hot'aewang
Goguryeo rulers
  1. Dongmyeongseong 37-19 B.C.E.
  2. Yurimyeong 19 B.C.E.-18 C.E.
  3. Daemusin 18-44
  4. Minjung 44-48
  5. Mobon 48-53
  6. Taejo 53-146
  7. Chadae 146-165
  8. Sindae 165-179
  9. Gogukcheon 179-197
  10. Sansang 197-227
  11. Dongcheon 227-248
  12. Jungcheon 248-270
  13. Seocheon 270-292
  14. Bongsang 292-300
  15. Micheon 300-331
  16. Gogugwon 331-371
  17. Sosurim 371-384
  18. Gogugyang 384-391
  19. Gwanggaeto the Great 391-413
  20. Jangsu 413-490
  21. Munjamyeong 491-519
  22. Anjang 519-531
  23. Anwon 531-545
  24. Yangwon 545-559
  25. Pyeongwon 559-590
  26. Yeongyang 590-618
  27. Yeongnyu 618-642
  28. Bojang 642-668

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, [bringer of] Peace and Security, [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 Northeast 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 Baekje. 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 first and 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

File:Rubbing of the Gwanggaeto Stele.jpg
A rubbing of the Gwanggaeto Stele describing his life and works.

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. Baekje forces under 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 C.E. and the concomitant invasions of foreign tribes, including but not limited to the Xiongnu and Xianbei (Wu Hu). Baekje and Geunchogo's leadership also seems to have established good relations with parts of Japan. Thus Goguryeo, surrounded by a powerful Baekje's forces to its south and west, found it most effect to avoide conflict with Baekje, while at the same time cultivating constructive relations with the Xienpei and Yuyeon in China, in order to defend itself from future invasions, and even the possible destruction of its state.

Rise to power and campaigns against Baekje

Gwanggaeto took the throne when his father, King Gogukyang, died in 391. Immediately upon being crowned king of Goguryeo, Gwanggaeto granted himself the title Emperor Yeongnak, proclaiming that he had equal status 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 Baekje's King Asin, who planned a counter-attack against Gwanggaeto; however he was forced to abandon his plan when Goguryeo defeated his invasion force in 393. King Asin again attacked Goguryeo in 394, and was again defeated. After several heavy defeats, Baekje began to crumble politically and Asin's abilities as a leader 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 was located in the southern part of modern day Seoul.

Map of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, showing the area controlled by Goguryo when its influence was the greatest, in the 5th century.

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 to Goguryeo as a prisonor as a 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 led forces that attacked and conquered Biryu, a small nation 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 on its home territory, 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 emperor 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 Buyeo (state). The Buyeo state 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 Gwanggaeto's son 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 Emperor's command. 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 seems highly possible since there is evidenc Japan has manipulated several historical documents during the Imperial era in the early 20th century. Korean scholars claim that the passage should be interpreted as:

  • in 391 Goguryeo crossed sea and defeated Baekje and Silla and made them subjects.

Due to the influence of national pride in interpreting history and historical texts, it is currently almost impossible to have a unified historical view on this topic among the Koreans and the Japanese. And this disagreement has affected progress on developing common history textbooks to be used in Korea, Japan and China.

Currently a new historical drama Taewang Sasingi is in production in Korea based on the life of Gwanggaeto the Great, with Bae Yong-Joon playing the title role.

A further legacy of Gwanggaeto is the ITF Taekwon-Do Tul (form) named for him that was created by General Choi Honghi and his colleague, Nam Taehi. To quote the significance of the form, as introduced by the ITF Taekwon-do:

his immortalization as the eponymous ITF Taekwon-Do Tul (pattern) created by General Choi Hong-Hi along with the creative influence of his right hand-man, Nam Tae-Hi. To quote the explanation of the patten from the ITF Taekwon-Do encyclopedia:

KWANG-GAE (Gwang-gaeto) is named after the famous Kwang-Gae-Toh-Wang, the 19th King of the Koguryo Dynasty, who regained all the lost territories including the greater part of Manchuria. The diagram represents the expansion and recovery of lost territory. The 39 movements refer to the first two figures of 391 C.E., the year he came to the throne.

The pattern is performed as part of the testing syllabus for the level of 1st Degree black belt by the three former branches of the original ITF in addition to independent Taekwon-Do / Taekwon Do / Tae Kwon Do schools that regard themselves as 'traditional' ITF Style.

See also

External links

Credits

New World Encyclopedia writers and editors rewrote and completed the Wikipedia article in accordance with New World Encyclopedia standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit is due under the terms of this license that can reference both the New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list of acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions by wikipedians is accessible to researchers here:

The history of this article since it was imported to New World Encyclopedia:

Note: Some restrictions may apply to use of individual images which are separately licensed.