Sino-Korean Wars
The Sino-Korean Wars refer to a series of military conflicts between Chinese dynasties and the Korean kingdom of Koguryo, primarily during the Sui and Tang dynasties. These wars were motivated by a desire for political dominance and territorial expansion in Northeast Asia. The First Sino-Korean War began in 598 when the Sui emperor Yang Jian attempted to subdue Koguryo, but his massive invasion force suffered heavy losses due to poor supplies and diseases, forcing him to withdraw. Following this, the Second Sino-Korean War saw Sui Yangdi launch multiple large-scale campaigns between 612 and 614, which ultimately failed to secure a decisive victory over Koguryo.
The Third Sino-Korean War occurred between 645 and 648 under the rule of Tang emperor Li Shimin, but also ended in failure. It wasn't until the Fourth and Fifth Sino-Korean Wars in the late 660s that Chinese forces successfully conquered Koguryo, marking the end of its kingdom and the establishment of temporary Chinese rule in northern Korea. These conflicts had significant implications for the political landscape of East Asia, contributing to the decline of the Sui dynasty and altering the trajectory of Korean history.
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Sino-Korean Wars
At issue: Chinese conquest of north Korea
Date: 598-668
Location: Southern Manchuria, north Korea
Combatants: Chinese vs. the Koguryo (north Koreans)
Principal commanders:Chinese, Yang Jian (541-604), Sui Yangdi (569-618), Li Shimin (600-649), Tang Gaozong (628-683); Korean, Yongyang, Bojang
Principal battles: Liaodong, Pyongyang
Result: Koguryo’s victory during the first three wars; Tang Chinese victory in the last two wars against Paekche and Koguryo, respectively
Background
In the Sui and early Tang Dynasties, four Chinese emperors conducted war against their northeastern neighbor Koguryo. Although each emperor had his own rationale for initiating hostilities, all were lured by the prize of military action—political dominion and territorial aggrandizement in northeast Asia. Because the Chinese had established colonies in north Korea in the Western Han dynasty, some Sui-Tang court advisers argued in favor of invading Koguryo in order to reestablish Chinese sovereignty.
Action
After the 589 reunification of China under Yang Jian (Wendi), Koguryo reinforced its defenses in areas bordering on Sui China. The Koguryo-Malgal joint incursion under King Yongyang into Sui territory in southern Manchuria prompted Yang Jian to launch the First Sino-Korean War in Sui-Tang times in 598. That summer, Yang Jian mobilized a force of 300,000 in a two-prolonged attack on Koguryo from land and sea. The land forces under Yang Liang and Gao Jiong proceeded from southern Manchuria east, and the sea forces under General Zhou Luohou were launched from the Shandong Peninsula across the Yellow Sea to march on Pyongyang, the Koguryo capital. Inadequate supplies, endemic diseases, and inclement weather resulted in the loss of 80 percent to 90 percent of the Sui invading army. Yang Jian was forced to call off the operation.
Yang Jian’s successor Sui Yangdi pursued a much more aggressive policy toward Koguryo, making three attempts from 612 to 614 to bring it to submission in the Second Sino-Korean War. Sui Yangdi launched the first campaign against Koguryo in early 612 with the largest number of troops ever amassed up to then in Chinese history, about 1,133,800. He personally commanded the main force of the invading army to attack the city of Liaodong. Sui general Lai Hu’er led a force of 40,000 to venture into Pyongyang, the capital of Koguryo, only to be defeated by an ambuscade and driven back. Meanwhile, a Sui force of more than 300,000 under Generals Yu Zhongwen and Yuwen Shu was put to rout at the Salsu near Pyongyang by the Koguryo general Ulchi Mundok.
Yangdi launched his second campaign in early 613. While the Sui army was laying siege to the city of Liaodong, a domestic rebellion led by Yang Xuangan forced Yangdi to make a hasty retreat. By the time Yangdi’s third campaign started in early 614, both Sui China and Koguryo were exhausted. Yangdi accepted King Yongyang’s token surrender and withdrew without actually conquering Koguryo.
During the reign of the second Tang sovereign, Li Shimin, the Koguryo king Yongnyu was killed by his general Yon Kaesomun who placed a figurehead, Bojang, on the throne. Ensuing developments convinced Li Shimin of the need to conquer Koguryo. He subsequently launched three unsuccessful campaigns in 645-648 during the Third Sino-Korean War.
The eventual subjugation of Koguryo was accomplished by Li Shimin’s successor Gaozong. In the Fourth Sino-Korean War in 660, Gaozong succeeded in vanquishing Paekche, the southwest power on the Korean peninsula. The death of Yon Kaesomun in 666 threw Koguryo into a political crisis. Taking advantage of the internecine struggle at the Koguryo court, and allying himself with Koguryo’s traditional enemy, Silla, Gaozong dispatched his general Liu Rengui to storm Pyongyang and capture the king of Koguryo in the Fifth Sino-Korean War in 668.
Aftermath
The Second Sino-Korean War by Yangdi contributed significantly to the downfall of the Sui and their replacement by the Tang. The Fifth Sino-Korean War ended the more than seven-hundred-year-old kingdom of Koguryo and established temporary Chinese rule in north Korea.
Bibliography
Pan, Yihong. Son of Heaven and Heavenly Qaghan: Sui-Tang China and Its Neighbors. Bellingham: Center for East Asian Studies, Western Washington University, 1997.
Twitchett, Denis. Sui-Tang China. Vol. 3 in The Cambridge History of China. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1998.