How Small Sillawon Wars Research Assignment Paper (Essay Sample)

How small silla won wars
Silla is one of the biggest Korean state that was created over 57 years ago as showed in the history of South Korea. It existed as an independent state in the southeastern region of Korean peninsula and expanded its contro over neighboring states such as Jinham Baekje ,Goguryeo and Gaya . In the 7th century , the Silla united Korea south of Daedong River and effectively resisted any attempt by the rulers of China to conquer North Korea . it was formed by Pak Hyeolgeose and the state was mainly under con troll of Gyeongju family members of the Kim family . It was mainly ruled by the people from different familiies which included Parks,Seoks and Kims. The first leaders of Silla had the title of chachaung which meant shaman or priest thus suggesting that those leaders were selected based on responsibility as community shamans . It constanly engaged on endless batttles with neighboring states such as Goguryeo, Gaya confederation and Baekje with all these fighting for the control of Korean peninsula and regularly switching alliances . The state had great advantage of local mountains which keep it protected to some extend against other Korean states . Further, it formed a military alliance with Goguryeo to reject a Japanese –Barkje military in 400 CE but when Gorguyeo started to attack Silla then Silla and Baeklje established a long lasting alliance for the period bewteeen 433 and 553 CE. Despite being Sillas新羅’s land being too small and disadvantage to fight , the state was able to fight against China and rival states and they won the war based number of tactics applied during the war.[Injae, Lee, Owen Miller, Park Jinhoon, and Yi Hyun-Hae. Korean History in Maps. Cambridge University Press, 2014: 30]
Tactics applied by Silla 新羅 to win war against their enemies
Silla used Silla- Tang alliance to win war against Baekje, Goguryeo and Gaya confederation kingdoms
Silla became more powerful after it formed a strong army which made it expand its territories by attacking as well as conquering nearby kingdoms . Its first war occurred between Silla and Baekje and Goguryeo kingdoms and the Tangs Dynasties of China CITATION Cho16 \p 8 \l 1033 (Choe 2016, 8). It is notably that the internal political state between Korea and China contributed to splitting of territorial border which is based on the Daedong River. Further, more success for Silla came after it attacked Gay capital assisted by Tang army which finally was absorbed under Silla territory . In 562 CE, the territories of Kaya as well as Gaya confederation were completely absorbed into the state of Silla. As result of conquering these two terrorities, Silla was left with only two strong opponents which were Baekje and Goguryeo and they combined effectively with Tang army to completely conquer Taya which is currently known as Hapchon in 562 CE. Silla needed more military assistance from Tang army in order to achieve its ambition of taking over Korean peninsula . Fornunately , China was at that time governed by Tang Dynasty in the period between 618 and 907 CE who got a chance to play these upsetting southern kingdoms against each other for the purpose of benefitting themselves. At first the alliance between Silla and Tang armies did not work well and they were initially defeated by Gorguryeo army under the leadership of Yang Manchun in 644 CE. Further, the alliance was defeated three more time in the following decade and this completely changed the political map of the Korean peninsula political map . Later , a large military alliance between Silla and Tang army was created to attack and conquer the Goguryeo and Baekje kingdoms (Leeand Denise ,2013,45). A military alliance which constituted of 50,000 Silla army which was under leadership of Kim Yushin and 130,000 Tang armies was formed . Such vast military force caught Baekje unaware and the whole kingdom was completely destroyed in 660 CE . This was great achievement for Silla because one of the revival kingdom had been conquered and it had been left with Gorguryeo. Later, the capital city of Goguryeo was attacked by Chinese army and it was completetly made one of the Chinese province.[Beckwith, “The Ethnolinguistic History of the Early Korean Peninsula Region: Japanese-Koguryŏic and Other Languages in the Koguryŏ, Paekche, and Silla Kingdoms.”Lewis, China’s Cosmopolitan Empire : The Tang Dynasty,2016: 67] [Injae, Lee, Owen Miller, Park Jinhoon, and Yi Hyun-Hae. Korean History in Maps. Cambridge University Press, 2014: 35] [Lee, Soyoung, and Denise Patry Leidy. Silla: Korea's golden kingdom. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013: 45]
Silla brought together the Silla army with the armies of the conquered kingdoms Goguryeo and Baekje in a alliance against the Tang army
The silla-Tang alliance which had previously defeated Baekje and Goguryeo made it possible to occupy the previous territories of the two kingdoms by an alliance of Silla and Tang military forces. Immediately after the fall of Gogutyeo in 668 AD, the Tang emperor established the Office of Territory General in order to calm down East and tried to place the entire region which they had conquered including its all kingom under its terriotory. The Silla- Tang alliance collapsed because Tang attempted to create dominance in the Korean Peninsula through establishing new office and Silla which was its former ally where Silla disagreed with its efforts. The Sillas’s leader, King Munmu , brought together the armies of conquered Goguryeo and Baekje kingdoms in an alliance that aimed at fighting against Tang army which had started plan of conquering the acquired terriotories and even attempting to forcefully put silla under its leadership . In order to succesully to conquer the Tang army , King Munmu had to fake coalition with Goguryeo irony leaders such as Anseung and Geo Mojam and started sophisticated attacks on Tang military forces that occupied land belonging to the defeated kingdoms such as Goguryeo and Baekje . The coalition between Silla and defeated kingdoms of Baekje and Goguryheo made it possible for King Munmu to take part of the previous territories they got from the two defeated kingoms.
The alliance between Silla and Tang had strong military force and unity which made it possible to defeat Gogutyeo and Baekje kingdoms . However, the alliance splitted after Tang attempted to create a Korean Peninsula including Silla which was considerably independent .King Munmu decided to assemble a strong milltary army which helped to defeat the Tang army (De Bary 2008, 34). One of the tactic used by Silla to attack and conquer Tand was first establishing an alliance with Tang to assist in conquering Baekje and Goguryeo kingdoms .Afterwards, Silla downplayed with Tangs by forging a coalition to the conquered Baekje and Goguryeo kingdoms in order to form an coaltion that were strong and large in number to completely destroy Tangs.
Silla forged negotiations and relationships to conquer Tang’s Dynasty of china
Another strategy used by the leaders of Silla in order to defeat Tang and chase them away from their territory was through forged negotiations and fake relationship (Eom 2015, 226). This was evident when king Munmu made an apology to Emperor Gaozang who is the leader of Tang kingdom due to the strong relationship which was established between King Munmu’s father and his close associate from Tang before he became an emperor in this kingdo (Chun-xiang 2016, 23). In the 4th century , Silla maintained strong diplomatic relations with china by regularly paying tribute the regional powerhouse . The two states engaged in long period trade with china able to export silk ,tea and books while Silla able to export horses ,hides and manufactured goods . the closer relationship between Tang china and Silla mde it possible for China to send large number of military forces to assist Silla conquer their opposing kingdoms . However , Sillas used these good diplomatic relations and close relationship with China to conquer the Tang dynasty of China which higly powerful and economically stable.[Eom, Ik-sang. "2,200 years of language contact between Korean and Chinese." The Oxford Handbook of Chinese Linguistics (2015): 226.] [Injae, Lee, Owen Miller, Park Jinhoon, and Yi Hyun-Hae. Korean History in Maps. Cambridge University Press, 2014: 45]
Silla established a coalition with the defeated Goguryeo army to defeat Japanese- Baekje army
It is evident that Japan and Baekje had formed strong alliance that justified the existence of Japanese prince who can trace his origin and ancestry line to Baekje kingdom found in North Korea. The leaders of Baekje kingdom made their relationship with Japan more strong for the purpose of minimizing territorial conflicts as well as make sure that the kingdom received great support from Japana as it had not established a good relationship with Tangs .Japan made more changes in its relationship with B...