The Goryeo–Khitan War (Chinese: 遼麗戰爭; Korean: 고려-거란 전쟁) was a series of 10th- and 11th-century conflicts between the Goryeo dynasty of Korea and the Khitan-led Liao dynasty of China.
Goryeo–Khitan relations
Silla experienced a period of decline starting in the latter half of the 9th century that continued until it was ultimately succeeded by Goryeo. This transition followed a time known as the Later Three Kingdoms, marked by conflict between the resurgent aristocracies of Goguryeo, Baekje, and the ruling Silla nobility.[12] In 926, the Khitan-led Liao dynasty conquered Balhae, leading its last crown prince and the survivors to flee southward and seek refuge in Goryeo. This event marked the unification of the two successor states of Goguryeo.[12][13][14][15]
Taejo of Goryeo embraced the refugees from Balhae as his fellow kin and pursued a policy of northern expansion (possibly enabled by the absence of a fellow Korean kingdom in what was once Goguryeo territory).[16] In 942, the Khitan sent 50 camels to Goryeo as a gift. However, due to cold relations, Goryeo declined the gift, banished the envoy to an island, and had the camels die from starvation under a bridge.[17] Hyeonjong ordered preparations in case of an upcoming conflict with the Liao.
In 993, the Liao dynasty launched an invasion against the northwestern frontier of Goryeo with a force that the Liao commander alleged to be 800,000 strong.[9][10] After a military stalemate,[18] negotiations began between the two states, producing the following concessions: first, Goryeo formally ended all relations with the Song dynasty, agreed to pay tribute to Liao and to adopt Liao's calendar;[19][20][21] second, after negotiations led by the Goryeo diplomat Sŏ Hŭi, Goryeo formally incorporated the land between the border of Liao and Goryeo up to the Yalu River, which was at the time occupied by Jurchen tribes, citing that in the past the land belonged to Goguryeo.[22][23][24] With this agreement, the Liao forces withdrew. However, in spite of the settlement, Goryeo continued to communicate with the Song,[25] having strengthened its defenses by building fortresses in the newly gained northern territories.[26]
In 1009, General Kang Cho of Goryeo led a coup against King Mokjong, killing him and establishing military rule.[27] The Liao dynasty attacked with 400,000 troops in 1010, claiming to avenge the murdered Mokjong.[28][29]
Kang Cho blocked the Liao's first attack, but he was defeated in the second attack and was executed.[9][30]King Hyeonjong of Goryeo was forced to flee the capital, which was sacked and burnt by the Liao,[29][31][32] to Naju temporarily.[9] Unable to establish a foothold and to avoid a counterattack by the regrouped Goryeo armies, the Liao forces withdrew.[33] Afterward, the Goryeo king sued for peace, but the Liao emperor demanded that he come in person and also cede key border areas to him; the Goryeo court refused the demands, resulting in a decade of hostility between the two nations during which both sides fortified their borders in preparation of war.[33][31] Liao attacked Goryeo in 1015, 1016, and 1017, but the results were indecisive.[34]
In 1018, Liao assembled an army of 100,000 troops to invade Goryeo. In preparation, General Kang Kam-ch'an ordered a stream to the east of Heunghwajin to be dammed. When the Liao troops crossed the Yalu River, Kang Kam-ch'an opened the dam and attacked the enemy troops with 12,000 mounted troops, catching them by surprise, inflicting severe losses, and cutting off their line of retreat. The Liao troops soldiered on and headed toward the capital, but were met with stiff resistance and constant attacks, and were forced to retreat back north. During the retreat, 10,000 Liao army troops were annihilated by the Goryeo army under Kang Min-cheom of Goryeo.[35] Kang Kam-ch'an and his troops waited at Gwiju and engaged the approaching Liao army, annihilating most of them. Barely a few thousand Liao troops survived after the Battle of Gwiju.[36]
Aftermath
In the next year the Liao assembled another large army in order to launch another invasion but it became clear that neither side could gain a decisive victory. In 1020 King Hyeonjong resumed sending tribute, and in 1022 the Khitans officially recognized the legitimacy of King Hyeonjong's reign. In 1022, a Khitan envoy was sent to invest Hyeongjong as king, and when he died in 1031, his successor Wang Heum was also invested by the Liao court as king. Goryeo broke off relations with Song and the Liao ceded territory around the Yalu to Goryeo. The relationship between Liao and Goryeo would remain peaceful until the end of the Liao dynasty.[36][37][38][39]
In the Goryeo-Liao peace treaty formalized in 1022, the only terms stipulated were that the Goryeo king acknowledge their vassalage to the Liao and to release detained Liao envoys. After 1022, Goryeo did not have diplomatic relations with the Song until 1070, with the exception of an isolated embassy in 1030. The sole embassy was probably related to the rebellion of Balhae people in the Liao dynasty. The rebellion was quickly defeated by the Khitans, who returned to enforce Goryeo's tributary obligations. Goryeo adopted the reign title of the Liao in the fourth month of 1022.[40] However according to Bielenstein, Goryeo maintained diplomatic relations with Song, Hyeonjong kept his own reign title, and the two states concluded peace as equals in 1022.[4]
^Bowman, John (2000-09-05). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. Columbia University Press. p. 202. ISBN9780231500043. Retrieved 30 July 2016. The Mongolian-Khitan invasions of the late tenth century challenge the stability of the Koryo government, but a period of prosperity follows the defeat of the Khitan in 1018..
^Yi, Ki-baek (1984). A New History of Korea. Harvard University Press. p. 126. ISBN9780674615762. Retrieved 30 July 2016. Subsequently the Khitan launched several small-scale attacks, to press demands for Hyŏnjong's appearance at their court and surrender of the region of the Six Garrison Settlements, before mounting their third great invasion in 1018. Led by Hsiao P'ai-ya, this time the Khitan army was harassed at every turn and then, retreating, was all but annihilated by a massive Koryŏ attack at Kuju (Kusŏng) executed by Kang Kam-ch'an. The Koryŏ victory was so overwhelming that scarcely a few thousand of the 100,000 man invasion force survived. The Khitan invasions of Koryŏ thus ended in failure. Koryŏ had resolutely resisted foreign aggression and had driven the invaders back. The result was that the two nations worked out a settlement and peaceful relations were maintained between them thereafter.
^Ebrey & Walthall 2014, [1], p. 171, at Google Books: Liao forces invaded Goryeo territory in 993. Instead of pushing for total victory, the Khitans negotiated a peace that forced Goryeo to adopt the Liao calendar and end tributary relations with Song (a violation of King Taejo's testamentary injunction never to make peace with the Khitan)."
^Hyun 2013, p. 106: "the Khitan army attacked Goryeo, who was forced to accept the status of a Liao tributary in 994."
^Twitchett & Tietze 1994, p.103: "The Korean king was invested with his title by the Liao emperor."
^Yun 1998, p.64: "By the end of the negotiation, Sŏ Hŭi had ... ostensibly for the purpose of securing safe diplomatic passage, obtained an explicit Khitan consent to incorporate the land between the Ch'ôngch'ôn and Amnok Rivers into Koryô territory."
^Twitchett & Tietze 1994, p.102: "Until the 980s Khitan-Koryǒ relations had been at arm's length, for the Jurchen tribes and Ting-an had provided a buffer zone between Koryǒ's northern frontier and the Liao border". p.103: "Koryǒ was left free to deal with the Jurchen tribes south of the Yalu Valley".
^Hyun 2013, p.106: "Even though the Goryeo court agreed to set up tribute exchanges with the Liao court, that same year [=994] it also sent an envoy to the Song court to appeal, but in vain, for military assistance against the Khitan."
^Bowman 2000, p. 203: "Fearful of plots against him, Mokchong summons Kang Cho from his administrative post in the northwest. However, Kang Cho himself engineers a successful coup in which Mokchong is assassinated."
^Bowman 2000, p. 203: "Liao initiates a fresh attack on Koryo's northern border with the ostensible purpose of avenging the murdered Mokchong."
^ abEbrey & Walthall 2014, [2], p. 171, at Google Books: "In 1010, on the pretext that the rightful king had been deposed without the approval of the Liao court, the Khitan emperor personally led an attack that culminated in the burning of the Goryeo capital."
^ abSimons 1995, p. 93: "a second Liao incursion resulted in heavy losses, the sacking of Kaesong, and the imposition of Liao suzerainty over the Koryo state." p. 95: "a prelude to more invasions during the reign of King Hyonjong (1010-1031) and the occupation of Kaesong, the Koryo capital."
^Hatada, Smith Jr & Hazard 1969, p. 52: "in the reign of King Hyŏnjong (1010-1031) there were numerous Khitan invasions, and even the capital Kaesŏng was occupied."
^Twitchett, Denis C.; Franke, Herbert; Fairbank, John King (1978). The Cambridge History of China: Volume 6, Alien Regimes and Border States, 907-1368. Cambridge University Press. p. 111. ISBN9780521243315. Retrieved 30 July 2016. From 1015 to 1019 there was incessant warfare, with attacks on Koryŏ in 1015, 1016, and 1017 in which victory went sometimes to Koryŏ, sometimes to the Khitan, but in sum were indecisive.
^Shin, Hyeongsik (January 1, 2005). A Brief History of Korea, Volume 1. Ewha Womans University Press. pp. 64–65. ISBN9788973006199. "On the 9th year of Hyeongjong (1018), Khitan launched another invasion with a 100,000 strong army, but the army was crushed by general Gang Gamchan at the Great Battle of Guiju. Thus, Goryeo expanded its territory to the north as far as the Yalu River basin."
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