The Fight Between Tang Dynasty And The Three Kingdoms Of Korean Peninsula

Since the third century A.D., there had been three kingdoms including Koguryo, Silla and Paekch in the modern-days Korean Peninsula with continous fight with each other in order to enlarge its own territory. At the same time, China was in chaos with numerous warlords fighting for hegemony and none of them had the effort to care about the border regions, especially the Northeasten and Korean affairs. So China was only engaged in the mediation and recruitment of the three kingdoms in Korean Peninsula. However, with the unification of China in Sui and Tang dynasties, China was more and more actively engaged in the fightings in Korean Peninsula. The Sui dynasty has invaded Koguryo four times, but all ended with failures. Nevertheless, the Tang dynasty didn't stop invading the Korean Peninsula.This paper in comprised of four chapters:The first chapter is about the situation of the three kingdoms in Korean Peninsula before Tang dynasty and the communication between Tang dynasty and the three kingdom in Korean Peninsula.The three kingdoms in Korean Peninsula began to enlarge their territories since their formation. Because all of the kingdoms'reign centers were in the small-sized Korean Peninsula, the three kingdoms fought with each other for territory with the wax and wane of their territories. In some historical period, the weaker kingdom would ask for military aid from China to constrain the other kingdom's invasion and preserve its strength. At the same time, the other kingdoms also showed friendliness to China by paying Korean peninsula before Tang dynasty even though there were continous conflits among these kingdoms.Due to the fighting within China , the policy towards Korean peninsula wasn't active military intervention but simple mediation until the four-time invasion of Sui dynasty, but this invasion ended with failure which accelerated Sui dynasty's downfall. At the beginning of Tang dynasty, especially during the reign of Tang Gaozu, Tang dynasty was busy suppressing the military rebellions in the country without any effort to care the border affairs. So at this time, the policy Tang Dynasty adopted was also simple mediation and to strengthen the communication with them impartially. However, Korean peninsula was still regarded as part of Tang dynasty by Tang dynasty.The second chapter analyses the process that Tang Taizong invaded Koguryo.The invasion of Koguryo is actually the continued policy towards Korean peninsula after Sui dynasty. After Tang Taizong succeeded the throne, the rebellions have been suppressed, the war in the Northwest has over, so the Northeastern and Korean affairs became important that needed to be solved immediately, and Tang Taizong invaded Koguryo under such circumstance, but this invasion ended by the withdrawal of troops of Tang dynasty. This chapter not only analyses the cause and effect of this invasion, but also the reason of the failure.The third chapter is about the downfall of Paekch and Kogurgo by Tang Gaozong. After Tang Gaozong succeeded the throne, he still adopted the military policy towards Korean peninsula, but altered the approach and strategy: reinforce its influnce in Korean peninsula by defeating Paekch which was weaker than the others with Silla, and then defeated Kogurgo with Silla from the North and South respectively. This strategy provided strong ensurance to defeat Paekch and Kogurgo, and at the same time, the frequent war and conficts within Paekch and Kogurgo accelerated their downfall. What is worth noticing is that the confict bewteen Tang dynasty and Silla highlighted after the downfall of Paekch and Kogurgo, the war between them was inevitable. At last, Tang dynasty withdrew its troops from Korean peninsula, Silla unified the Korean peninsula by taking the places of Paekch and Kogurgo.The last chapter mainly discusses the influence that the withdrawal of Tang dynasty from Korean peninsula brings in.After Tang dynasty defeated Paekch and Kogurgo, it controlled and managed Paekch and Kogurgo by setting up counties and Supervision Office. But after Tang dynasty's withdrawal, these counties were replaced by Silla's counties. So the change of the territory of Korean peninsula after Tang dynasty's invasion was obvious.Objectively, the unification of Korean peninsula terminated the conficts in the Korean Peninsula and even the Northeast Asia, it not only provided a stable social and political environment for the historical communication between China and the Korean Peninsula, but also helped to establish the"East Asia culture circle".