![]() Government & Social ClassesĪll of the states in this period had a similar system of government and social organisation. By 668 CE Silla, after dealing with the Tang army left to govern the Chinese provinces which Goguryeo and Baekje had become, was in control of all of Korea, establishing what became known as the Unified Silla Kingdom. Uija, the last Baekje king, was taken prisoner to China, and the kingdom followed the way of Gaya and Goguryeo. A Silla army of 50,000 led by the general Kim Yu-sin and a naval force of 130,000 men sent by the Tang emperor Gaozong proved more than enough to crush the Baekje army. ![]() The kingdom failed to tempt aid from Japan and could not prevent the fall of their capital Sabi when attacked by a joint Tang and Silla force on land and sea in 660 CE. This did not stop the Tang Dynasty – ambitious to play off these troublesome southern kingdoms against themselves – forming an army and naval force and attacking Goguryeo in 644 CE, but the great general Yang Manchun once again brought victory to the Koreans.īaekje was not faring any better than Goguryeo. Two more attacks were defeated, and a 480-km (300 miles) long defensive wall was built in 628 CE so as to deter any further Chinese ambitions. Things were still going well in the 7th century CE for Goguryeo when their general Eulji Mundeok won a great victory at the battle of the Salsu River in 612 CE, defeating a massive invading Chinese Sui army. This move gave Silla access to the western coast and the Yellow Sea, providing the possibility to forge greater links with China. In 554 CE, at the battle at Gwansan Fortress (modern Okcheon) Baekje tried to reclaim its lost territory, but their 30,000-strong army was defeated and King Seong killed. Meanwhile, Baekje's alliance with Silla came to a dramatic end when the latter occupied the lower Han River valley. According to a tradition based on the 12th-century CE Samguk sagi ('Historical Records of the Three States'), this happened from the 1st century BCE, but modern historians prefer the 2nd or 3rd century CE (or even later) as a more accurate date for when the states could be described as having more centralised governments. These then grouped together to form single political entities. Historical OverviewĪll of the kingdoms began from local tribes who settled and built fortified towns. Eventually, the Silla kingdom, with significant Tang Dynasty aid, would come to dominate and in the late 7th century CE form a single state, the Unified Silla Kingdom. These four states were in constant rivalry, and so they formed ever-changing alliances one with another and with the two dominant regional powers of China and Japan. There was also, though, a fourth entity, the Gaya ( Kaya) confederation at the southern tip of the Korean peninsula. The Three Kingdoms Period of ancient Korea (57 BCE – 668 CE) is so-called because it was dominated by the three kingdoms of Baekje ( Paekche), Goguryeo ( Koguryo), and Silla.
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