Gwanggaeto the Great (374–412, r. 391–412) was the nineteenth monarch of Goguryeo. His full posthumous name means "Entombed in Gukgangsang, Broad Expander of Domain, Peacemaker, Supreme King", sometimes abbreviated to Hotaewang.

Under Gwanggaeto, Goguryeo began a golden age, becoming a powerful empire and one of the great powers in East Asia. Gwanggaeto made enormous advances and conquests into: Western Manchuria against Khitan tribes; Inner Mongolia and the Maritime Province of Russia against numerous nations and tribes; and the Han River valley in central Korea to control over two-thirds of the Korean peninsula. In 399, Silla, the southeastern kingdom of Korea, sought aid from Goguryeo due to incursions by Baekje troops and their Wa allies from the Japanese archipelago. crushing his enemies and securing Silla as a de facto protectorate; he thus subdued the other Korean kingdoms and achieved a loose unification of the Korean peninsula under Goguryeo. In his western campaigns, he defeated the Xianbei of the Later Yan empire and conquered the Liaodong peninsula,

Gwanggaeto's accomplishments are recorded on the Gwanggaeto Stele, erected in 414 at the supposed site of his tomb in Ji'an along the present-day China–North Korea border. Constructed by his son and successor Jangsu, the monument to Gwanggaeto the Great is the largest engraved stele in the world.

Family

  • Father: King Gogukyang ()
  • Grandfather: King Gogukwon ()
  • Unknown wife
  • Son: Prince Georyeon ()
  • Unknown son; father of Go Seung-cheon ().

Birth and background

At the time of Gwanggaeto's birth, Goguryeo was not as powerful as it once had been. In 371, three years prior to Gwanggaeto's birth, the rival Korean kingdom of Baekje, under the great leadership of Geunchogo, soundly defeated Goguryeo, slaying the monarch Gogukwon and sacking Pyongyang. Baekje became one of the dominant powers in East Asia. Baekje's influence was not limited to the Korean peninsula, but extended across the sea to Liaoxi and Shandong in China, taking advantage of the weakened state of Former Qin, and Kyushu in the Japanese archipelago. Goguryeo was inclined to avoid conflicts with its ominous neighbor, the Xianbei, and the Rouran, in order to defend itself from future invasions and to bide time to reshape its legal structure and to initiate military reforms.

Gogukwon's successor, Sosurim, adopted a foreign policy of appeasement and reconciliation with Baekje, and concentrated on domestic policies to spread Buddhism throughout Goguryeo's social and political systems.

Furthermore, due to the defeats that Goguryeo had suffered at the hands of Baekje as well as the proto-Mongol Xianbei, Sosurim instituted military reforms aimed at preventing such defeats in the future.

Reign

Rise to power and campaigns against Baekje

Gwanggaeto succeeded his father, Gogukyang, upon Gogukyang's death in 391. Upon Gwanggaeto's coronation, Gwanggaeto adopted the era name Yeongnak (Eternal Rejoicing) and the title Taewang (Supreme King), which was equivalent to "emperor", affirming that he was an equal to the Imperial rulers of China. In response, Asin, the monarch of Baekje, launched a counterattack on Goguryeo in 393 but was defeated. Asin invaded Goguryeo once more in 394, but was defeated again. In the following year, in 396, Gwanggaeto led an assault on Wiryeseong by land and sea, using the Han River, and triumphed over Baekje. surrendering a prince and 10 government ministers.

250px|left|thumb|Goguryeo at zenith under Gwanggaeto and Jangsu.

Northern conquests

In 395, while his campaign against Baekje was ongoing to the south, Gwanggaeto made an excursion to invade the Khitan Baili clan to the west on the Liao River, destroying 3 tribes and 600 to 700 camps. In 398, Gwanggaeto conquered the Sushen people to the northeast,

In 400, while Gwanggaeto was occupied with Baekje, Gaya, and Wa troops in Silla, the Xianbei state of Later Yan, founded by the Murong clan in present-day Liaoning, attacked Goguryeo. Gwanggaeto repulsed the Xianbei troops. In 402, Gwanggaeto retaliated and conquered the prominent fortress called 宿軍城 near the capital of Later Yan. In 405 and again in 406, Later Yan troops attacked Goguryeo fortresses in Liaodong (遼東城 in 405, and 木底城 in 406), but were defeated both times.

In 410, Gwanggaeto attacked Eastern Buyeo to the northeast. who had resided in Goguryeo as a political hostage since 392, back home to Silla and appointed him as the king of Silla.

In 404, Gwanggaeto defeated an attack by the Wa from the Japanese archipelago on the southern border of what was once the Daifang commandery, inflicting enormous casualties on the enemy.

Death and legacy

200px|right|thumb|Detail of Gwanggaeto Stele

Gwanggaeto died of an unknown illness in 412 at the age of 38. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Jangsu, who ruled Goguryeo for 79 years until the age of 97,

Gwanggaeto's conquests are said to mark the zenith of Korean history, building and consolidating a great empire in Northeast Asia and uniting the Three Kingdoms of Korea under his influence. Gwanggaeto established his own era name, Yeongnak Eternal Rejoicing, proclaiming Goguryeo monarchs equal to their counterparts in the Chinese mainland. and made great advances in science.

Gwanggaeto is regarded by Koreans as one of the greatest heroes in Korean history, and is often taken as a potent symbol of Korean nationalism.

The Gwanggaeto Stele, a  monument erected by Jangsu in 414, was rediscovered in the late 19th century.

Depiction in arts and media

Film and television

  • Portrayed by Yoo Seung-ho and Bae Yong-joon in the 2007 MBC TV series The Legend.
  • Portrayed by Lee Tae-gon in the 2011–2012 KBS1 TV series Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror.
  • Portrayed by Lee Do-yeob in the 2017 KBS1 docudrama Chronicles of Korea.

Literature

Many novels, comics, and games about Gwanggaeto the Great have been released in South Korea.

Games

The popular and award-winning Korean mobile game Hero for Kakao features Gwanggaeto as a playable character.

Age of Empires: World Domination, a mobile game produced in collaboration with series owner Microsoft, includes Gwanggaeto as a selectable hero of the Korean civilization.

Others

The International Taekwon-Do Federation created a pattern, or teul, to honor Gwanggaeto the Great. The pattern's diagram represents Gwanggaeto's territorial expansion and recovery of lost territories, and the 39 movements represent the first two numbers of 391 AD, the year when Gwanggaeto came to the throne.

See also

  • History of Korea
  • Three Kingdoms of Korea
  • List of Korean monarchs

References

  • Campaigns of Gwanggaeto The Great
  • Picture of Gwanggaeto The Great
  • An Attempt to Reconstruct the King's Southerly Conquest
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20120426165331/http://www.itf-information.com/patterns11.htm]