Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo
King
Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo (374-413, r. 391-413) was the 19th
monarch of
Goguryeo, the northernmost of the
Three Kingdoms of Korea. His
posthumous name means "great expander of territory." He selected
Yeongnak as his
era name, and is sometimes called Great King Yeongnak or Hotaewang (호태왕, 好太王).
During his reign, 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 39 years of age in 413, Goguryeo controlled all territory between the
Amur and
Han Rivers, two thirds of modern
Korea and most of
Manchuria and
Inner Mongolia.
In addition, in 399,
Silla submitted to Goguryeo for protection from Japanese pirate raids. Gwanggaeto captured the Baekje capital in present-day
Seoul and made Baekje its vassal, thereby bringing about a loose unification of the
Korean peninsula.
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.
It was during King Gwanggaeto's reign when Korea attacked a foreign country for the first time and it was during this time when Korea had conquered vast amounts of land, especially Manchuria.
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
Yuyeon, in order to defend itself from future invasions, and even the possible destruction of its state.
Gwanggaeto succeeded his father, King Gogukyang, upon his death in 391. Immediately upon being crowned king of Goguryeo, Gwanggaeto granted himself the title Emperor 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.
In 395, during a campaign against Baekje, the king himself attacked and conquered
Biryu, a small nation located in cenral
Manchuria. Its exact location is not known but it was not very far from the
Songhwa River.
In 400 the Kingdom of
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 Xienpei and driving most of them from Goguryeo. Then in 402, he decided to launch an attack on Xienpei 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 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
Sui 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 64 walled cities and more than 1,400 villages. Gwanggaeto also attacked several
Malgal and
Ainu tribes further north, bringing them under Goguryeo domination.
In 400,
Silla, another Korean kingdom in the southeast of the peninsula, requested Goguryeo assistance to defend against an alliance of Japanese pirates, the
Baekje kingdom to the west, and the
Gaya Confederacy to the southwest. In the same year, King Gwanggaeto responded with 50,000 troops, defeating both Japanese and Gaya cavalry units, which were called the strongest army on the East Asia at that time, 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.
King Gwanggaeto died of disease in 413, at the age of 39. Although Gwanggaeto ruled for only 22 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
Gokturks. 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 great popular anger among 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 mentionings of 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 the 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. 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. And they claim that the passage should be interpreted as:
*in 391 Goguryoe 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.
*
List of Korea-related topics*
History of Korea*
Three Kingdoms of Korea*
List of Korean monarchs
