If
the West looks upon Alexander the Great as the greatest conqueror that they
have seen, In Korea, they turned to Gwanggaeto the Great as their equivalent. Who
is this Gwanggaeto the Great? And why the Koreans revered him as one of their
greatest leaders in history?
Name: Gwanggaeto the Great
Country: Goguryeo (Modern day Korea
and Manchuria)
Position: King
Tenure: 391 - 413
Contributions:
- Defended his people from invasion
- Expanded Goguryeo's territory
- Enlarged his kingdom's sphere of influence
- Unified virtually the Korea Peninsula
Who was Gwanggaeto the Great?
Gwanggaeto
the Great, a name meaning The Great Expander of Territory was born as Prince Damdok
of the Kingdom of Goguryeo (Koguryo) in 374. A son of King Gogugyang, he grew
up imbued with Buddhist and Confucianist values, which his father and
grandfather promulgated. Also, he also had to learn to be a great warrior,
following a long time tradition of military leaders since the time of their
kingdom’s founder King Jumong in 37 BCE. In 391, his father passed away,
leaving him to ascend the throne. From that point, he embarked in the creating
his kingdom the most powerful and largest in the Northeast region of Asia.
Not
much is known as about the life of Gwanggaeto due to lack of sources. The
Samguk Sagi or the History of the Three Kingdoms offered details of his life.
Another, the Gwanggaeto Stele, showed the glory that the Koguryo King delivered
to his people. But the stele had been damaged and several scripts became
unreadable. Thus, the life of Gwanggaeto is filled with many void. Nonetheless,
they offered enough information on the extent on the exploits of the King.
Gwanggaeto’s Goguryeo
By
the time of his ascension, Gwanggaeto ruled upon a weak Goguryeo Kingdom in
contrast to its neighbors. The kingdom lacked the luster it had once during the
time of its early King who stroke fear to the Chinese and other tribes and
kingdom. Starting in 342, Goguryeo’s misfortune began with the invasion of the
Kingdom of Early Yan.
In
371, Goguryeo suffered another blow when its neighboring kingdom in the south,
Baekche attacked. Goguryeo King Gogugwon failed his country when the major
fortress of Pyongyang and he himself fell to the might of the Baekche King
Geunchogo. From that point, Baekche surpassed Goguryeo as a regional power,
establishing relations with the Chinese Eastern Jin Kingdom, sending envoys and
tributes. They also sent a seven-branched sword to the Japanese Kingdom of Wa
as a symbol of friendship, which lasted for decades.
Goguryeo
then tried to strengthen itself by initiating reforms. In 372, King Sosurim
established the National Confucian Academy called Taehak to train talented
individuals for the benefit of the Kingdom. The establishment followed with the
promulgation of an administrative code in the following year. Sadly, the
contents of the code disappeared in history. These internal reforms laid a
strong foundation for Gwanggaeto to pursue an aggressive foreign policy.
Gwanggaeto’s
Campaigns
4
years into his reign, in 395, Gwanggaeto started his military campaigns by
attacking the Khitans in the north and advanced his kingdoms border up to the
Liao River.
In
the following year, Baekche’s King Asin took these Gwanggaeto’s expedition as
an opportunity to attack Goguryeo in the south. Gwanggaeto then used his navy
to attack Baekche and captured 22 walled cities and castles. Nevertheless,
Baekche continued to fight on. Gwanggaeto then led his troops south and
captured lands between the Imjin and Han Rivers, including the capital
Wiryeseong. The King of Baekche finally surrendered and offered 1,000
individuals as captives and 1,000 pil or 20 km length of fabrics, as well as
his oath of fealty or “faith of submission” to King Gwanggaeto, bringing
Baekche to Goguryeo’s fold.
During
the conquest, Gwanggaeto captured 58 castles and 700 villages. The peace
agreement also resulted to Goguryeo taking the King’s younger brother and 10 nobles
as hostages back to their capital, Gungnae.
After
the war with Baekche, Gwanggaeto turned his attention north once again. In 398,
he and his army marched subjugated the Tungusic people called Sushen. The
conquest resulted to an additional tributary state for Goguryeo. But not long
after his conquest in the North, he received alarming reports from the south.
Baekche
rebelled against Goguryeo, allied with the Japanese Kingdom of Wa, and attacked
the weak kingdom of Silla. Silla King Naemul Maripgan sent a messenger to
Gwanggaeto, seeking assistance against the strong combined might of Baekche and
Wa. The Goguryeo King then sent 50,000 strong army to Silla to push the Baekche
and Wa troops out. But then, the small Kaya confederation sided with Baekche
and Wa to fight Silla and Goguryeo. Against all odds, Gwanggaeto manage to
defeat this huge coalition force, securing the gratitude of Silla and its
fealty. Baekje and Kaya, defeated, also submitted once again to the will of
Gwanggaeto, offering their submission and sending tributes to Gungnae. At that
point, Gwanggaeto virtually unified the Korean Peninsula under his tutelage.
In
404, the Wa returned to the Korean Peninsula and attacked Goguryeo once again.
It ended in vain. After this, Gwanggaeto turned his attention from the Korean
Peninsula to the Liaodong Peninsula.
The
Liaodong Peninsula was held by the Later Yan Empire of the Murong people, part
of the Xianbei Tribe of Mongolia. Gwanggaeto started his conquest in 407. The
war between the Later Yan and Gwanggaeto ended with the latter taking the
Peninsula along with 6 castles and 10,000 armors from the former.
After
his conquest of the Liaodong Peninsula, in 410, King Gwanggaeto faced another
challenge, this time from Eastern Buyeo, in the northeast frontier of the
Kingdom. Buyeo refused to pay Gwanggaeto the tribute he demands. Gwanggaeto
then marched his army to the capital of Buyeo. His mere display of his army at
the gates frightened the Buyeo leaders enough to get their surrender and
resumption of their status as a tributary state.
After
the conquest of East Buyeo, Gwanggaeto ruled upon the largest kingdom in
Northeast Asia. His campaigns resulted to his capture of 64 walled cities and
1,400 villages.
In
glory of his own achievements, he took the reign name Great King Yongnak or
Eternal Rejoicing. The mere act of tacking a reign name, a privilege
exclusively reserve for the Chinese Emperor, pointed Gwanggaeto’s standing as
an equal of the ruler of the middle kingdom instead of a subservient vassal
state. Gwanggaeto’s rule continued for another 3 years until in 413, he passed
away at the age of 39.
In
recognition of the King, he was posthumously named Gukgangsang Gwanggaeto
Gyeongpyeongan Hotae Wang or The Great King on the Capital Hill, Great Expander
of Territory in Tranquil Borders, simply called as Gwanggaeto. Upon his demise,
Gwanggaeto left Goguryeo in a new golden age. His son, King Jangsu showed
gratitude to his father by ordering the erection of a stele, narrating the
conquest of his father. This stele immortalized Gwanggaeto’s reign and became a
source of pride for Koreans for the great achievement of one of its leaders.
Summing Up
King
Gwanggaeto is revered by many Koreans for his great leadership that led to the
creation of the largest kingdom in Korean history. And for this he earned the
title “the Great” along with another brilliant leader with profound impact in
Korean identity King Sejong. Gwanggaeto built from a kingdom once humiliated by
its neighbor to an empire that controlled large part of Manchuria and a
political sphere of influence that loosely unified the Korean Peninsula, an
achievement that many looked up to this very day.
Bibliography:
Books
Kim Djun-Kil. The History of Korea. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.
Lee Ki-Baek. A New History of Korea. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1984.
Seth, Michael. A History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2011.
Shin, Michael (ed.). Korean History in Maps: From Prehistory to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Websites
Inscription on the Gwanggaeto Stele Translation of the Full Text. The Teiko Denmo Show. Accessed on January 6, 2017. URL: http://teikoku-denmo.jp/en/history/kohtaioh-hi_hibun.html
King Gwanggaeto the Great. Accessed on January 6, 2017. URL: http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/program/program_dynasty_detail.htm?lang=e¤t_page=3&No=10039827
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