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 around 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 the Khitans or to enter a negotiation with them. Kang supported the second opinion, which was selected by the king as the official decision. Seo Hee 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, the Khitans defeated Chinese Song Dynasty and forced its emperor to pay tribute to the Khitans. With Chinese kneeling down in front of Liao Dynasty, the only threat remaining against the Khitans was 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 the Khitans. The 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 the whole body of troops himself. He easily defeated the resisting army of General Gang Jo, who was executed by the Khitans. However, Kang urged King Hyeonjong to escape from the palace, not to surrender to the invading Liao troops. The King followed Kang's advice, and managed to escape from the burning capital. A Korean insurgency began to harass Khitan forces. Finally Shengzong ordered a withdrawal of the entire Khitan force; the Khitans won the war, but gained no benefit from it. Thus another bloody war between the 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 the king to enter into peace negotiations, since the damage from the Second Goryeo-Khitan War had been so great, leaving Goryeo unable to recover. However Kang again urged to the king to enter a war against the Khitans, since the enemy force was much smaller than in previous invasions. He volunteered to be deputy commander-in-chief of the 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 the Khitan army would withdraw from the war, and awaited them at the fortress of Kwiju, where he encountered the retreating Khitans in 1019. Discouraged and starving, the Khitans were heavily defeated at the hand of General Kang; only General Xiao and few remaining survivors managed to escape from the devastating defeat. This battle is known as the Battle of Kwiju in Korea. General Kang returned to the capital and was welcomed as the military hero who saved the kingdom. After the war, Kang retired from both army and government to rest, since he was too old and had earned enough fame, already having become the 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 the battles of Kwiju and Heunghwajin are often compared with the victories of General Eulji Mundeok at the Battle of Salsu or Admiral Yi Sun-sin at the battles of Hansan and Myeongnyang, which, like Kang's battles, overcame disadvantages and successfully defended the country. Of course, Kang is regarded as one of the greatest military commander of entire Korean history, along with General Eulji and Admiral Yi, even though Kang was never trained as a soldier like Eulji or Yi.
Following his victories in the Third Goryeo-Khitan War, the peace among the three powerful East-Asian empires settled; Goryeo established a long-time friendly relationship with Liao, who gave up the hope of taking over either Song or Goryeo; as a result, Goryeo broke off relationships with Song Dynasty, but continued commercial trading with the Chinese; Song continued to pay tribute to Liao, and Song would also pay tribute to Western Xia, which would pay tribute to the Khitans. The peace lasted for about a century; the Jurchens took advantage of this time to expand their power without any interruption until their establishment of Jin Dynasty. Song Dynasty got the least benefit from the peace, and secretly encouraged the Jurchens to attack Liao, but after the fall of the Khitans, the Jurchens turned on Song and took over its capital, forcing the Chinese to flee southward. The victories of General Kang thus marked the ending point of the chains of wars between the countries and were the beginning of triangle diplomacy (Goryeo, Liao, Song), setting the scene for the ascendency of the Jurchens.
Kang's shrine, called "Anguksa," stands today in Sadang-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul.
