Index: > A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Home > Korea

2.2 The Three Kingdom Period

After the Go-Joseon period comes the 3 Kingdom period (57 BC - 688 AD). The Three Kingdoms of Silla, Goguryeo, and Baekje had similar ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. But the three Kingdoms were competing with each other to strengthen state power, in order to expand their territories. As minor legions fell or merged with these regional powers highly sophisticated state organizations started to form under Confucian and Buddhist hierarchical structures. Goguryeo was fast becoming the most dominant power but was at constant war with the Chinese Sui and Tang. Emperor Yang-ti of Sui with 1 million troops invaded Goguryeo, but in 612 AD, General Ulchi Mundok after several months pushed the Chinese into a retreat. In one of the battles between Goguryeo and the Sui the Koreans ambush the Chinese at the Sul-sa river leaving only 2700 Chinese alive out of 300,000 troops. The Sui fall from power partly due to Goguryeo. The Chinese Tang rises in power and Tai-tsung of the Tang Empire contemplated revenge against Goguryeo with 3 failed invasions on 644, 648, and 655 AD. The Tang then turn to Silla for assistance. Goguryeo’s dominance in this region will force other weaker powers to form alliances also. Silla was the least technologically advanced of the Three Kingdoms, but had established a fierce military. With the rise of a warrior class who had adopted many aspects of Tang military arts, Silla would become a formidable adversary. (The warriors were possibly called the Hwarang.) Silla was organizing a military that trained in all aspects of the art of war, such as the martial arts, healing arts, sword arts, archery, in addition to literary arts and various other aspects of community life. Silla had a strict ethics code for their warriors:

1. Loyalty to the Emperor/King

2. Filial piety to parents/family

3. Respect among friends

4. No retreat in war

5. No unjust killing

The ethics codes were first postulated by a famous monk Won-gwang who consolidated Buddhist-Confucian virtues. The warriors would train younger students and some warriors would have more than 300 students allied to them in training. These warriors believed that the sword was the most important tool for man to utilize. In addition, highly sophisticated channels of espionage were developed. A secret order of the most highly trained warriors called the Sul-sa would engage in missions for espionage and assassinations. Similar warriors appear in the other Kingdoms as well with each side adopting the positive aspects of the warriors from the other Kingdom. Allied with the Chinese Tang Dynasty Silla would gain the upper hand leading to the overthrow of the other Kingdoms. Silla first annexes Gaya, then they conquer Baekje driving them south to a neighboring island. Eventually, Goguryeo falls at which point Silla decides to drives out their former Tang allies. Silla (from this point refered to as Unified Silla by historians) thus came to control most of the Korean peninsula. The northern bits as well as parts of Manchuria and today's Maritime Province of Russia went to the new state of Balhae (also see pohai), which emerged in Goguryeo's former territories and styled itself as Goguryeo's successor state.

2.3 Balhae and Shilla Dynasty

Silla (57 BC - 935 AD) had created a generally long peaceful era and the desire for learning grew. Idu, a transcription system of Korean words by the use of Chinese characters, were being utilized by Silla scholars of the upper-royal nobility, or Chin-gol (true bone). The growing need for scholarly work necessitated the recruitment of mid-upper scholars, so a quasi-civil service examination system was instituted in 788 to meet this end. Buddhism began to establish a new Seon sect (generally known in the West by its Japanese name Zen) in the remote mountain area. The defeated nobility of Goguryeo and Baekje were treated with some generosity. Subsequent to the fall of Goguryeo, General Dae Joyeong lead a group of his people to the Jilin area in Manchuria. The general founded the state Balhae (Bohai in Chinese) and regained control of lost northern territory of Goguryeo. Eventually, Balhae's territory would extend from the Sungari and Amur Rivers in northern Manchuria all the way down to the northern provinces of modern Korea. In the 10th century Balhae was conquered by the Khitans and Silla disintegrated as regional strongmen vied for power. The kingdom of Goryeo slowly took over and replaced Silla as the dominant power in Korea in the years 918- 935. Many of the Balhae ruling class, who were mostly Koreans, moved south and joined the newly founded Goryeo Dynasty. While the most of the Manchurian portion of the Balhae territory was lost, the area south of the Amnok (Yalu)- Turman (Tumen) boundary was restored.

Politics	Business	Finance

Topics: Korea Go-joseon Korean Silla Chinese Goguryeo Koreans State...

KoreaKorea is a formerly unified country, situated on the Korean Peninsula in north East Asia adjacent to China in the west and Russia in the north. When World War II ended in 1945, the country was divided into two: the Republic of Korea ( South Korea) and the	Korean languageThe Korean language is the most widely used language in Korea, and is the official language of both South and North Korea. The language is also spoken widely in neighbouring Yanbian, China. Worldwide, there are around 78 million Korean speakers, including	Korean WarThe Korean War from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953, was a conflict between communist North Korea and anti-communist South Korea. It was also a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The principal combatants were North and South Korea.
Korean Peninsula Energy Development OrganizationThe Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization KEDO is an organization founded on March 15, 1995 by the United States, South Korea, and Japan to implement the 1994 Agreed Framework that froze North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Since then, other	Korean reunificationThe Korean reunification is the possible future unification of North Korea and South Korea under a single government. After the end of rule by Imperial Japan, Korea was divided into two countries. Ever since 1945 there were efforts to solve the Korea prob	Korean Air Flight 7Korean Air Flight 7 (KAL007, KE007) was the flight number of a civilian airliner shot down by Soviet fighters on September 1, 1983, over Soviet territorial waters just west of Sakhalin island, killing all 269 passengers and crew. The USSR said it was just
Korean	Korea Energy Development Organization	Korean name
Koreatown, Manhattan	Korea Standard Time	Korean American
Korean Peninsula	Korean War order of battle	Korean Workers' Party

Non User