남한산성(Namhansanseong Fortress) : The invasion of the Jurchen people

1. Introducing Namhansanseong Fortress

​I'll introduce 남한산성(Namhansanseong Fortress).

It was built in 673 during the Unified Silla Period.

Later, King Injo of Joseon (1623 ~ 1649) expanded it.

It is famous for its well-preserved castle.

It is an area where Joseon fought a war with the Jurchen people.

It was designated as a World Heritage Site in 2014.

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2. The invasion of the Jurchen people

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1) Background

During the Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592, Ming(China) and Joseon(Korea) together defended Japanese invasion.

In the process, both countries weakened their national power.

Therefore, Ming(China) and Joseon(Korea) did not stop the Jurchen people from growing in Manchuria(It is located just above the Korean Peninsula).

Nurhachi unified the Jurchen people and established a country called Jin Dynasty.

At that time, the king of Joseon was Gwanghaegun, the reformer monarch, and had neutral diplomacy between the Ming and Jin.

However, King Gwanghaegun killed his brothers to become king and sent his stepmother to exile.

At that time, Joseon was a society dominated by Confucian ethics. In Confucianism, morality was considered the most important thing, and Gwanghaegun's behavior was unforgivable to people.

Gwanghaegun was impeached by his servants and King Injo took the throne.

Because he became king thanks to the trust and fidelity emphasized in Confucian ethics, King Injo had to protect his fidelity with his ally Ming and had to antagonize Jin.

The Jin Dynasty, which benefited from the Gwanghaegun military's neutrality policy, invaded Joseon to avenge his enemies in 1627.

This war is called the First Manchu Invasion.

They got a promise from Joseon that they would not intervene in the war against Ming.

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2) the Second Manchu Invasion, or “Byungjahoran” in Korean.

Jin changed the name of the country to Qing Dynasty and made unreasonable demands to Joseon, including gold, platinum, horses, and soldiers.

Due to their unreasonable demands, Joseon decided to go to war with them.

Upon hearing this news, King Taejong of the Qing Dynasty invaded Joseon with 120,000 troops in 1636.

King Injo of Joseon fought for 45 days in the Namhansanseong Fortress. However, after hearing that all the royal families were taken hostage, he surrendered to the Qing Dynasty.

King Injo was taken to Samjeondo Island, bowed to King Taejong three times, and hit his head hard nine times.

His head was covered with blood.

This is called the humiliation of Samjeondo.

The prince, his subjects and 200,000 ordinary people were taken to the Qing Dynasty. After that, the Qing Dynasty destroyed Ming. This Qing Dynasty fought the Opium War with Britain after 206 years(in 1842).

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If you are curious about the information on the Imjin War(Japanese Invasion of Korea in 1592), you can look at my previous post, Gyeongbokgung Palace.

 

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