Mongol invasions in Korea

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The Mongol invasions of Korea comprised a series of campaigns by the Mongol Empire against the Korean Empire of Goryeo between 1231 and 1270 . There have been six major campaigns with numerous civilian casualties across the entire Korean Peninsula . Ultimately, Goryeo had to submit and was forced into an alliance with the Mongolian Yuan dynasty for 80 years .

Initial campaigns

Gojong was the twenty-third king of the Goryeo dynasty. In 1225 the Mongol Empire demanded tribute goods from Goryeo, but the Mongolian envoy Chu-ku-yu was killed in the process. The Mongols used this as an excuse to invade Goryeo.

In 1231, Ögedei Khan ordered the invasion of the Korean Peninsula. The command of the experienced Mongolian army was transferred to General Sartai (not to be confused with Sartaq , a later Khan ). The army crossed the Yalu and quickly forced the border town of Uiju to surrender. Goryeo military leader Choe U mobilized as many soldiers as possible in his army, which was mostly infantry . At Anju and Kusong there were first major clashes between the warring armies: the Mongols took Anju, but had to withdraw again after the siege of Kusong. In order to avoid a protracted siege war, Sartai evaded the troops of Goryeo and attacked the capital Kaesong directly with his army, which was superior in mobility . Some Mongol units even reached Chungju in the middle of the Korean Peninsula, but their advance was halted by an army of slaves under the command of Ji Gwang-su . Knowing that it could no longer withstand the invaders after the fall of the capital, Goryeo pleaded for peace. The Mongols demanded ten thousand otter skins , twenty thousand horses, ten thousand bales of silk, clothing for a million soldiers and a large number of children and craftsmen as slaves and servants for the Mongol Empire. General Sartai began withdrawing his main units northwards in the spring of 1232. However, he left 72 administrative officials in northwestern Goryeo to ensure peace terms were being met.

In 1232, against the objections of King Gojong and his civil officials, Choe U ordered the relocation of the royal court and much of the population from Kaesong to Ganghwado Island in Gyeonggi Bay and the construction of defenses. Here Choe U exploited the weakness of the Mongols at sea. The government requisitioned every available ship and barge for the transport of supplies and troops to Ganghwado. The evacuation was so spontaneous that King Gojong himself had to spend the night in a local inn. The government also instructed the common people to move from the countryside to the fortified cities and mountain citadels or to islands close to the shore. Ganghwado Island itself was developed into a fortress. Smaller fortresses were also built on the mainland side of the island and a double wall was erected over the ridges of Munsusan .

The Mongols protested against this action and immediately launched another attack. The Mongol army was led by a traitor from Pyongyang named Hong Bok-won and was able to occupy most of the northern peninsula. Despite forays into the southern part of Korea, the Mongols were unable to conquer Ganghwado Island, even though it was only a few kilometers off the coast. They were also repulsed at Gwangju and General Sartai was killed by the monk Kim Yun-hu during the Battle of Cheoin near Yongin , so that the Mongols had to withdraw again. It was the first of two cases in which a Mongolian commander was killed in action (the second time this happened during the battle of ʿAin Jalūt in 1260, when Kitbukha was killed).

Third campaign and contract

In 1235, the Mongols began a campaign that devastated parts of Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces . The resistance of the population was strong and the royal court on Ganghwado made attempts to strengthen its fortress. While Goryeo won some victories, his military and irregular units were ultimately unable to repel the invasion. King Gojong ordered the restoration of the Tripitaka Koreana in 1236 , which had been destroyed during the fighting of 1232. It took 15 years and approx. 81,000 blocks of wood to produce this collection of Buddhist scriptures . The collection has been preserved to this day. After trying unsuccessfully to take Ganghwado and some mountain forts on the mainland, the Mongols began devastating agricultural land in an attempt to starve the population. When some fortresses finally surrendered, the Mongols killed all who opposed them.

In 1238 Goryeo relented and asked for peace. The Mongols subsequently withdrew on the condition that members of the royal family were held hostage . However, since the court of Goryeo sent an unrelated member of the royal family, the Mongols angrily demanded the withdrawal of the Korean navy and the transfer of the royal court back to the mainland. They also demanded the extradition of all anti-Mongol bureaucrats and members of the royal family as hostages. The Koreans then sent a distantly related princess and ten sons and daughters of nobles.

Fourth and fifth campaign

In 1247 the Mongols began their fourth campaign against Goryeo, again demanding the return of the capital to Songdo and hostages from the royal family. Güyük Khan sent Amuqan to Korea, where the Mongolian armed forces set up camp near Yeomju that same year . After King Gojong of Goryeo refused to move his capital from Ganghwado Island to Songdo, Amuqan's troops sacked the Korean Peninsula . With Güyük's death the following year, however, the Mongols withdrew for the time being. Nonetheless, Mongol invasions continued to occur until 1250.

When Möngke Khan came to power in 1251, the Mongols renewed their demands on Korea. Möngke Khan sent emissaries to Goryeo to announce his coronation in October 1251. He also demanded that Gojong pay homage to him personally and move the royal court from Ganghwado to the mainland. However, due to Gojong's advanced age, the court of Goryeo did not comply with this request. Another embassy of Möngke criticized the Goryeo officials because their king did not obey the orders of his liege lord . Möngke therefore ordered that Prince Yeku would be given command of a new invading army against Korea. However, a Korean at Möngke's court convinced the Khan to postpone the campaign until July 1253.

When the Mongolian demand for surrender was rejected by the Korean court, an army under Jalairtai Qorchi once again devastated the Korean peninsula in collaboration with Korean deserters . The Korean side gathered the common people in mountain fortresses and islands. When Yeku's embassy arrived, Gojong received them personally in his new palace, Shin Chuanbuk. The Korean king eventually agreed to move the capital back to the mainland and hand his stepson Angyeong hostage. The Mongols then agreed to an armistice for 1254.

Sixth campaign and peace agreement

However, when the Mongols learned six months later that high-ranking Korean officials had remained on Ganghwado and those who negotiated with the Mongols had been punished, they launched an eventual four successful campaign between 1253 and 1258 under their general Jalairtai more devastating incursions into Korea.

Möngke realized that the hostage was not a prince of royal blood. So Mögnke accused the court of Goryeo of cheating and murdering the family of Yi Hyeong , a Promongol general. Jalairtai devastated Korea and in 1254 alone allegedly took 206,800 hostages. Famine and desperation eventually forced the rural population to surrender to the Mongols. With the help of local officials, they set up a chiliarchy in Yonghung. The Mongols began to build ships from 1255 with the help of defectors to attack the islands off the coast. The Mongols also settled Korean defectors and their families on the Liaodong Peninsula . In 1258, the Korean king and Kim Unjin, a former follower of the Choe clan, initiated a coup, killed Choe Eui , the last dictator of the Choe family, and pleaded for peace. When the court of Goryeo finally sent the future king Weonjong hostage to the Mongolian court and made the promise to return to Kaesong, the Mongols withdrew from central Korea.

There were two factions within Goryeo: the literati , who opposed war with the Mongols, and the military junta , who wanted to continue the war under the leadership of the Choe clan . After the last Choe dictator was murdered by the literati faction, a peace treaty was signed the following year. The treaty allowed the maintenance of sovereignty and the preservation of Goryeo's traditional culture. This meant that the Mongols had given up their goal of directly incorporating Korea into their empire and granted Goryeo extensive autonomy as a vassal state . The Korean kings from then on married Mongolian princesses, and the heirs to the throne resulting from these connections spent their youth at the court of the Yuan dynasty in Beijing .

The phase of Mongolian dominance

Disputes within the Korean court over the peace treaty with the Mongols lasted until 1270.

Since Choe Chung-heon , Goryeo has been a military dictatorship ruled by the powerful private army of the Choe family. After the followers of the military deposed King Weonjong after the peace agreement with the Mongols, he was immediately reinstated with the help of the Mongols. When it became known in 1270 that the farm would be relocated to Kaesong, the Sambyeolcho elite troops rebelled in a final riot in the anti-Mongol resistance . However, the rebellion could not withstand the military pressure of government troops backed by the Mongols. When the last bastion of the insurgents, Jeju Island , was conquered in 1273 , the surviving leaders committed suicide.

For the next 80 years or so, Korea was a vassal and compulsory ally of the Mongolian Yuan dynasty . The Mongolian and Korean elites were also linked through mutual marriage. During the reign of Kublai Khan, King Chungnyeol of Goryeo married one of Kublai's daughters. So it came about that later the Korean princess Gi Jao (Öljei Khutugh) was able to become Empress Qi by marrying Toghan Timur (Ukhaantu Khan). As Biligtü Khan, her son was Khan of the Mongols from 1370 to 1378.

The kings of Goryeo had an important status, similar to that of other influential families of the Mardin , Uighurs and Mongols ( Oirat , Hongirat , and Ikeres). One of the Goryeo monarchs is said to have been the favorite grandson of Kublai Khan and grew up at the court of the Yuan. The Mongolian Darughachi (governors) at the court of Goryeo received commissions and interfered at times in the internal affairs of the court.

Parts of Jeju Island have been converted into pastures for the Mongolian cavalry stationed there . To this day, some Mongolian terms have been preserved in the dialect of Jeju Island. Furthermore, the Mongolian rule of Eurasia promoted cultural exchange. This included the spread of Korean inventions to other parts of the Mongol-ruled empire.

The Goryeo Dynasty survived under the influence of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty until it began to push back the Mongol garrisons around 1350. At that time, Mongolian rule had already faltered due to massive uprisings in China. The King of Goryeo Gongmin used this to bring the areas in the north back under his control.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wontack Hong : A tripolar Approach to East Asian History . Seoul University , May 3, 2006, pp.  33 (English, online [PDF; 5.3 MB ; accessed on May 2, 2019]).
  2. ^ Ch 6 - Koryo Under the Mongols . Korean History Project , archived from the original on March 17, 2015 ; accessed on May 2, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  3. ↑ J. Bor Mongol hiigeed Eurasiin diplomat shashtir, boyi II , p. 254.
  4. ^ John Man Kublai Khan , p. 208.
  5. ^ CP Atwood Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire , p. 319.
  6. ↑ Eggert, Plassen: Small History of Korea . 2005, p. 54 .
  7. ↑ 국방부 군사 편찬 연구소, 고려 시대 군사 전략 (2006) (The Ministry of National Defense, Military Strategies in Goryeo).
  8. ↑ Eggert, Plassen: Small History of Korea . 2005, p. 55 .
  9. ↑ Eggert, Plassen: Small History of Korea . 2005, p. 56 .
  10. ↑ Ed. Morris Rossabi China among equals: the Middle Kingdom and its neighbors, 10th-14th centuries , p. 244.
  11. ↑ Baasanjavyin Lkhagvaa Solongos, Mongol-Solongosyin harilstaanii ulamjlalaas , p. 172.
  12. ↑ Henthorn, A History of Korea, S. 127th
  13. ↑ William E. Hanthon Korea: Mongol invasions , 158 pages.
  14. ↑ Examples of this linguistic heritage can be found primarily in the color names for horses, Agibato - a heroic boy and Songgol - falcon, see Baasanjavyin Lkhagvaa-Solongos, Mongol-Solongosyin harilstaanii ulamjlalaas, p. 173.
  15. ↑ Thomas T. Allsen Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia , p. 53.
  16. ↑ Namjil Solongos-Mongolyin haritsaa: Ert, edugee , p. 64.