Gang Gam-chan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Gang Gam-chan | |
|---|---|
| Hangul: |
강감찬
|
| Hanja: |
姜邯贊
|
| Revised Romanization: | Gang Gam-chan |
| McCune-Reischauer: | Kang Kamch'an |
Kang Kam-chan or Gang Gam-chan(948~1031) was a medieval Korean government official and military commander during the early days of Goryeo Dynasty (918~1392). Even though he was career scholar and government official, he is best known for his military victories during the Third Goryeo-Khitan War.
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[edit] Early days
Kang was born in 948 into a prominent aristocratic family in the hyeon of Geumju (now Gwanak-gu in Seoul). His father was also worked for the government, and was awarded by Wang Geon for helping him to establish new dynasty and unify the Korean Peninsula. A legend tells that on the day he was born, a meteor fell toward his house, and an adviser to the king visited the house, and he found out that a baby was born at the house. He predicted that the baby would be great one day, and would be remembered for a long time.
Kang was relatively small at his childhood, but he showed great sign of leadership and loyalty at his early age. He began to learn confucian philosophy, military tactics and martial arts from his father at the age of 7. After his father's death in 964, he left his household and traveled aroung the whole country. Later, in 983, he received the top score in the civil service examination, and qualified as a government official, at 36. In 992, he was appointed as a deputy secretary for the Ministry of Education, thus joining the royal court.
[edit] Goryeo-Khitan War
In 993, General Xiao Sunning of Liao Dynasty invaded Goryeo. The opinions among the court officials were divided, either to fight against Khitans or to enter a negotiation with them. Kang supported the second opinion, which was selected by the king as the official decision. Seo Hui was sent to Gen. Xiao as Korean representative, and the successful truce negotiation led to the withdrawal of Khitan forces and establishment of friendly relationship between Liao and Goryeo.
In 1004, Khitans defeated Chinese Song Dynasty and forced its emperor to pay tribute to Khitans. With Chinese kneeling down in front of Liao Dynasty, the only threat remaining against Khitans were Goryeo. Also in 1009, General Gang Jo of Goryeo led a coup against government; he deposed and murdered King Mokjong and began a military rule, and broke the peaceful relationship with Khitans. Khitans saw this as their reason to attack Goryeo, and in 1010, Emperor Shengzong of Liao led a massive invasion with 800,000 men, commanding whole troops himself. He easily defeated the resisting army of General Gang Jo, who was executed by Khitans. However, Kang urged toKing Hyeonjong to escape from the palace, not to surrender to invading Liao troops. King followed Kang's advice, and managed to escape from the burning capital and Korean insurgency began to harass Khitan forces. Finally Shengzong ordered a withdrawal of entire forces of Khitans; Khitans won the war, but didn't gain any benefit from the war. Thus another bloody war between two nations was foreshadowed, as both sided remained hostile to each other. After the war, Kang was promoted as the Minister of Government Administration
At last, in 1018, General Xiao Baiya of Liao invaded Goryeo with 100,000 men. This time, many officials urged to king to enter the peace negotiation, since the damage from the 2nd Koryo-Khitan War was so great and Goryeo was not able to recover from the damage. However Kang again urged to the king to enter a war against Khitans, since the force is much smaller than previous invasions. He volunteered to be deputy commander-in-chief of Goryeo army for the war, at the age of 71. He led about 200,000 men toward the Goryeo-Liao border. The first battle of the war was the Battle of Heunghwajin, which was won by General Kang by blocking the stream and destroying the dam when Khitans were crossing the water. However General Xiao did not give up the hope of capturing the capital Kaesung, and continued to march southward. Later Xiao realized that the mission was impoosible to achieve, and decided to retreat. General Kang knew that Khitan army will withdraw from the war, and waited them at the fortress of Kwiju, where he encountered retreating Khitans in 1019. Discouraged and starving, Khitans were heavily defeated at the hand of General Kang; only General Xiao and few remaining survivors were managed to escape from the devastating defeat. This battle is known as Battle of Kwiju in Korea. He returned to the capital and welcomed as the military hero who saved the kingdom. After the war, Kang retired from both army and government to rest, since his was too old and he had enough fame and already became hero of the whole nation. He was appointed as Prime Minister in 1030, one year before his death. He died in 1031.
[edit] Legacy
General Kang's overwhelming victories in Battles of Kwiju and Heunghwajin is often compared with those victories of General Eulji Mundeok at Battle of Salsu or Admiral Yi Sun-sin at Battles of Hansan and Myeongnyang, which, like Kang's battles, overcame the disadvantages and successfully defended the country. Of course, Kang is regarded as one of the greatest military commander of entire Koeran history, along with General Eulji and Admiral Yi, even though Kang was never been trained as a soldier like Eulji or Yi.
Following his victories in Third Goryeo-Khitan War, the peace among 3 powerful Asian Empires settled; Goryeo established long-time friendly relationship with Liao, who gave up the hope of taking over either Song or Goryeo; Goryeo, as a result, Goryeo broke off relationships with Song Dynasty, but continued commercial trading with Chinese; Song continued to pay tribute to Liao, and also Song would pay trubute to Western Xia, which would pay tribute to Khitans. The peace lasted for about 100 years, until the foundation of Jin Dynasty. While the peace dominated the century, Jurchens were able to expand their power without any interruptions, and established Jin Dynasty, ending the peace. Song Dynasty got the least benefit from the peace, and secretly encouraged Jurchens to attack Liao, but after the fall of Khitans, Jurchens turned on Song and took over its capital, forcing Chinese to flee southward. The victories of General Kang was the ending point of chains of wars between countries, and marked the beginning point of triangle diplomacy(Goryeo, Liao, Song), also allowing Jurchens to gain more power in the peace.
Kang's shrine, called "Anguksa," stands today in Sadang-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul.
