Have you ever visited some exotic location and, when you learn about what happened there at some point in history, found yourself just amazed that so much could transpire in one place? I find myself in that position whenever I come back to Korea. So much history—events that had a profound effect on the world’s historical record whether we realize it or not—made in such a tiny place … it’s a little hard to wrap your head around.
Those of you unfamiliar with the history of Korea are probably wondering “What’s he going on about this time?” Bear with me … I’m going to make some connections you probably weren’t aware of. For those of you who are familiar … uh … still bear with me, as you might not have ever thought about it quite like this before.
Ancient Korea’s multitude of tribes coalesced into a distinct, discernible civilization in the First Century B.C. Those tribes first formed coalitions or confederacies of city states and then became more formally connected, generally under various forms of hereditary monarchy. By the seminal year 1 A.D., in fact, the Korean Peninsula and a fair portion of Manchuria to the north were divided into three kingdoms and one confederacy.
Bear in mind, if you will, that these four, fully-developed polities co-existed in an area roughly the size of California! Ahhh … now you start to get a sense of impending drama. Korea saw the development of Goguryeo in the north, Baekje in the southwest, Silla (pronounced Shilla) in the southeast, and the Gaya Confederacy wedged along the southern coast. All four generally developed along the same civilizational arc, pulling cultural, technological, and religious influence from the early Chinese states to the west.
However, each of these kingdoms seemed to have developed its own national character, though all spoke the same Korean language and generally followed the same customs befitting a single, shared culture. Like a pie crust demarcated across the top into four, clearly discernible slices. Inside, the fruit filling all runs together. Korea was sort of like that 2,000 years ago.
Gaya is the hardest to wrap one’s head around—as well as being the most controversial to historians over the years—so I’ll start there. The cities along the south-central coast of Korea seem to have halted their civilizational development at the confederation stage, content, it seems, not to answer to a single, hereditary aristocrat. Not to say Gaya didn’t have those … each city state just had their own. Were it not for the degree to which those micro-states cooperated in matters of security, it would be tempting to look at them more as completely independent little kingdoms. More importantly, however, Gaya had strong ties to their early Japanese trade partners to the south, and so their armies were often supplemented by Japanese troops.
Goguryeo was the brawny, angry, militant state. And they’d have to be, right? Holding down vast stretches of territory that encompassed some of the world’s most inhospitable terrain, the jagged and unforgiving mountains of North Korea and Manchuria, Goguryeo’s ambitions remain awe-inspiring today. And they fought well, beating back more invasions from China and the numberless tribes beyond their long borders than can easily be calculated. All while keeping a watchful eye on the growing power of their cousins to the south.
Baekje was more cosmopolitan, looking down on its rough and tumble neighbors to the north. To Baekje—with its initial capital within the confines of modern Seoul—those tough, horse-riding men were little better than the barbarians beyond the northern borders. Baekje traded with both China and Japan in the early days, building a strong economy that relied, in no small part, on iron imported from Gaya. Ultimately, however, the quiet cousin, the Kingdom of Silla to the east, would be the ruin of Baekje … and everyone else, for that matter.
Silla begins this epic story as the weakest of the three kingdoms. It seems to have struggled for most of the First and Second Centuries A.D. just to keep its head above water. Smallest in area—though tucked nicely behind the Taebaek Mountain range—Silla seemed to have sought ways to balance out its natural deficiencies, leading to a more thoughtful approach to security than seen elsewhere. Silla’s development, as the weaker cousin, was hindered by unaffiliated tribes to the north—both before and after Goguryeo conquered them all—and Japanese raiders along the coast.
For those of you keeping score, you can see some clear lines being drawn. Successive Chinese dynasties fought with Goguryeo again, and again … and … again! Yet up until the Tang Dynasty, Baekje traded freely with Chinese merchants.
Japan, in the very early years of its first centralized government, with limited control over distant local rulers, had a strong relationship with Gaya, but an adversarial one with Silla. This was largely due to the persistence of raiding activities along Silla’s coast which the central Yamato Japanese court was virtually powerless to halt … even if they wanted to do so.
Goguryeo basically fought everyone from 200 to 600 A.D. Lashing out in all directions, most notably seizing Seoul and the Han River basin from Baekje. Year after year, decade after decade, these two powers traded military jabs while Baekje withdrew its capital south to first Ungjin and then Sabi. Goguryeo was slowly but surely winning the fight.
Silla, generally staying out of the constant state of conflict on the far side of the mountains, really worked on itself, you know. They quietly sought ways to improve the productivity of their lands, defend their cities, and, well, gobble up most of Gaya. Yet they didn’t defeat Gaya on their own. Baekje—struggling for a trump card to play in its continuing wars with Goguryeo—took a few of the city states as well. Regardless, just like that, Silla and Baekje no longer had to pay for iron … and the Japanese suddenly needed a new source!
Since they were already trading with Baekje, alliance with that kingdom seemed the least risky and the two courts began trading official gifts in 397. Baekje even sent princes to the Yamato court who were honored with Japanese concubines, military escorts, and bodyguards. This would come to be very, very important!
So, with the last bit of slack pulled out of the Korean political-military environment, all was set for the biggest barfight in a phone booth I’ve ever encountered in history. Goguryeo launches an attack into Baekje in 548, and Baekje counter-attacks two years later. Silla, finally sensing the others tiring, judges its time has finally come and invades the Han River basin … recently liberated by its ally Baekje.
This leads to mass confusion as all three kingdoms for the next 92 years attack one another with what appears to be no real strategy at all. Flailing away, all three kingdoms sort of went full-on “trunk monkey”, and even 1400 years later it’s hard to keep track of the advances, withdrawals, and sieges.
And then, in 642, something happened that once again changed everything. Goguryeo and Baekje concluded that fighting each other was one thing … but Silla had gone too far. Those two 400-year enemies joined forces and in a series of successive campaigns, bit huge holes in Silla’s defenses. The unthinkable had happened, and quiet little Silla was now the target of everyone’s angst. Well … nearly everyone.
Tang China hated Goguryeo for foiling its invasion of the north in 645. They didn’t really care for Baekje for reasons that seem unclear though might have had something to do with the constant stream of negative reporting out of the other two kingdoms. Tang was still looking for conquest on the Peninsula and Silla needed a friend. A match made in heaven—or hell, depending on where you lived at the time—the alliance with Silla caused more dominoes to fall and, ultimately, contributed directly to the state of affairs we see in Northeast Asia still today.
Tang and Silla invaded Baekje in 660, catching the latter in a pincers movement aimed directly at the capital Sabi. Boom! Just like that, Baekje’s out of the fight. But wait … there’s still a couple princes living in Japan with—that’s right—Japanese troops. Prince Puyo P’ung convinces the court to assist militarily with the restoration of his father’s kingdom, and 27,000 Japanese soldiers follow him back to Korea. This attempt to restore Baekje fails catastrophically at the Battle of Baekgang in 663, leading to the withdrawal of Japanese troops to Japan and a minor exodus of Baekje officials and civilian refugees to that archipelago.
It also allows Silla and the Tang to turn their full attention upon Goguryeo. Facing invasion from north and south, Goguryeo buckled and then broke. By 668, then, Goguryeo too was out of the fight leaving the two victors—with very different ideas of post-conflict conditions—to carry on. Historically this led to a sharp parting of ways between the two as Silla turned on its Chinese ally and ejected the Tang from the peninsula. By 677, then, Korea was for the first time unified under a single rule, what came to be known as Unified Silla.
Pausing here for the scorekeepers to catch up. This now leaves a unified Korea, with enemies in China AND Japan. If you want to look at a period of time, freeze it, analyze it, and draw clear causative lines to the future—our past—this is one of those moments. Much of what follows for the next 1400 years develops out of this period of Korean conflict and the fears, concerns, and animosities it generated.
Japan found military disaster in alliance with an Asian power. It wouldn’t make that mistake again. It also saw a unified Korea as a threat, the proverbial “Dagger aimed at the heart of Japan” and this would color Japanese attitudes and actions toward Korea ever after. Hideyoshi’s invasions in 1592 and 1597—whatever his true intentions—were direct outcomes of this distrust. More to the point, the Sino-Japanese War, Russo-Japanese War, and the hostile takeover of Joseon in 1897 were all driven and inspired by Japan’s first real military misadventure in Korea.
In fact, so much of what took place across Asia and the Pacific in the early years of what would become World War II were rooted in Japan’s largely-imagined “Korea problem”. Accordingly, once acquired, the peninsula’s people and material resources were used to feed Imperial Japan’s colonial ambitions elsewhere. Ambitions that led directly to Pearl Harbor, numerous bloody island battlefields, and, ultimately, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and surrender to an outside power … an historical first for Japan.
Japan’s historical, deep-seated fear of the Asian continent has had a much wider impact on the history of the world than we might otherwise realize. But when it’s all boiled down, that fear began with the failure of a single army at the mouth of the Baek River … as Japanese soldiers fought Chinese sailors … in defense of a Korean king.
I know it sounds crazy … but there it is.
I hope you have a great Labor Day Weekend!
M. G. Haynes