miguksaram
Master of Arts
This post is more for the Korean History buffs than anyone else, and since I am bored of the same ol' TKD sport vs TKD traditional threads, I thought I would throw some history at you.
As many of you know the Silla dynasty plays a big roll in many of the Korean martial arts history. Around 676 AD Silla, finished its campaign to push back the T'ang armies, which subsequently helped Silla gain command of the other two kingdoms, Koguryo and Paekche. Of course T'ang basicly helped in order to bring Korea into the Chinese empire's control and it is quite significant that Silla was able to thwart this ambitious cause of the T'ang. We are now lead to believe that everything was peaches and cream in the newly unified Korea, but this is not actually true.
First of all the kingdom was not truely unified as there was another kingdom, called Parhae which was located north of the Yalu and Tumen rivers, lead by King Tae Cho-young, a former general of the Koguryo army. While Silla tried to bring them into their control, they fought back feverishly which ended with Silla building a defensive wall and keeping them content with the territory they already had. Many could say that the Silla kingdom reflected that of the Roman empire where the rich were lavished with excessive comforts and the poor would be taxed into slavery. The changing of how political prowess was distributed caused many members of the aristocracy, who subsequently built up their own private armies, to undermine the throne and over throw the reigning kings. In fact 20 kings came and went in this short period of time. Another problem were the peasents who were began to rebel. The biggest rebellion came about around 889 in Sangju. This eventually lead to the splitting of the Silla kingdom into three seperate states again, Later Koguryo lead by Kyungye and Later Paekche led by Kyonhwon.
Kyounhwon attacked the capital of Silla, killing the king the king, abducted officials, seized large treasures and arms and imprisoned many skilled craftsmen. It was Kyungye along with Wang Kon, Kyungye's commander, which stopped the progression. Kyungye, however, ruled his territory in terror and was eventually overthrown by his own generals who placed Wang Kon who gave his new state the shorter name of Koryo. Koryo and Later Paekche were evenly matched for some time, until specific battles were won by Koryo which lead to the eventual defeat of Paekche. It was not long after that Silla peacefully surrendered themselves to Wang Kon. The Parhae kingdom was slowly being overthrown by the Kintae tribes. They eventually fled their area and was welcomed into the new kingdom lead by Wang Kon. This ushered in the Koryo dynasty and the legend of Wang Kon who was named in Korean history books as King Tae'jon.
So there is a bit of history to chew on for a while.
As many of you know the Silla dynasty plays a big roll in many of the Korean martial arts history. Around 676 AD Silla, finished its campaign to push back the T'ang armies, which subsequently helped Silla gain command of the other two kingdoms, Koguryo and Paekche. Of course T'ang basicly helped in order to bring Korea into the Chinese empire's control and it is quite significant that Silla was able to thwart this ambitious cause of the T'ang. We are now lead to believe that everything was peaches and cream in the newly unified Korea, but this is not actually true.
First of all the kingdom was not truely unified as there was another kingdom, called Parhae which was located north of the Yalu and Tumen rivers, lead by King Tae Cho-young, a former general of the Koguryo army. While Silla tried to bring them into their control, they fought back feverishly which ended with Silla building a defensive wall and keeping them content with the territory they already had. Many could say that the Silla kingdom reflected that of the Roman empire where the rich were lavished with excessive comforts and the poor would be taxed into slavery. The changing of how political prowess was distributed caused many members of the aristocracy, who subsequently built up their own private armies, to undermine the throne and over throw the reigning kings. In fact 20 kings came and went in this short period of time. Another problem were the peasents who were began to rebel. The biggest rebellion came about around 889 in Sangju. This eventually lead to the splitting of the Silla kingdom into three seperate states again, Later Koguryo lead by Kyungye and Later Paekche led by Kyonhwon.
Kyounhwon attacked the capital of Silla, killing the king the king, abducted officials, seized large treasures and arms and imprisoned many skilled craftsmen. It was Kyungye along with Wang Kon, Kyungye's commander, which stopped the progression. Kyungye, however, ruled his territory in terror and was eventually overthrown by his own generals who placed Wang Kon who gave his new state the shorter name of Koryo. Koryo and Later Paekche were evenly matched for some time, until specific battles were won by Koryo which lead to the eventual defeat of Paekche. It was not long after that Silla peacefully surrendered themselves to Wang Kon. The Parhae kingdom was slowly being overthrown by the Kintae tribes. They eventually fled their area and was welcomed into the new kingdom lead by Wang Kon. This ushered in the Koryo dynasty and the legend of Wang Kon who was named in Korean history books as King Tae'jon.
So there is a bit of history to chew on for a while.
