몽골-한국 전쟁: 저항과 정복

이 에피소드에서는 13세기 몽골의 전쟁 기계에 맞선 한국인의 놀라운 40년 저항에 대해 이야기합니다.

### 몽골-한국 전쟁: 몽골의 침략에 맞선 한국의 놀라운 저항
* 🇰🇷  고려 왕국은 이전의 침략에 성공적으로 저항했지만 13세기에 몽골의 위협에 직면했습니다.
* 🏹  몽골은 조공을 요구하며 한국에 군대를 파견했고, 몽골의 통치 아래 한국은 평화로운 초기 경험을 하게 됩니다.
* 🏰  한국인들은 몽골의 침략에 맞서 놀라운 저항을 했고, 포위 공격을 견뎌냈으며, 게릴라전 전술을 사용했습니다.
* 💰  막대한 조공 요구에 직면했지만 한국인들은 몽골에 저항하며 장기간의 투쟁을 벌였고, 수년간의 파괴 끝에 휴전과 비교적 평온한 상태를 유지하게 되었습니다.
* 🕊️  몽골은 한국에 대한 공격을 계속했고, 일련의 반란과 평화 협상 끝에 결국 저항과 항복으로 이어졌습니다.
* 🇰🇷  한국은 몽골 제국의 완전한 고객 왕국이 되었고, 계속되는 부담스러운 요구에 직면하여 결국 1274년 몽골의 일본 침략에 참여하게 됩니다.

Previously in this series, we talked about the resistance against the Mongols mounted by Central Europeans, Ruthenians, Mamluks, and Chinese, but of all the states to put up a lengthy resistance to the Mongol war machine in the 13th century, perhaps the relative success of the Koreans is the most surprising. For 40 years, the peninsula staved off conquest by the greatest military of the Middle Ages. In today’s episode, we will discuss the lengthy Mongol-Korean war. This video is made available for free thanks to our Youtube Members and Patrons. We fund our free content through our program of exclusive videos made for our members and patrons, who get two documentaries per week not available to the public. We’ve got a growing collection featuring the First Punic War, the History of Prussia, the Italian Unification Wars, and a review of the classic text:

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and behind the scenes info and goodies. We rely on our backers to support our 
growing team pumping out these videos,   so thank you to everyone already involved, 
and we hope you’ll consider joining in too. The thirteenth century kingdom of Koryo, ruled 
by the house of Wang, had successfully resisted   previous northern invasions by the Khitan Liao and 
Jurchen Jin, who had also fought as horse archers

like the Mongols. Generally, the Koreans entered 
into beneficial tribute relationships with these   states in order to maintain peace. After 1170, the 
Korean kings were reduced to figureheads, while   military dictators acted as the de facto rulers of 
Korea. General Ch’oe Ch’unghon took power in the   1190s, beginning the military dynasty that would 
rule over Korea throughout the Mongol conquests.  The 1211 Mongol invasion of the Jin Empire, 
Koryo’s northern neighbour, brought unease to   the peninsula. The Korean ambassador to the Jin 
was killed in the fighting, while new break-away   states and Jin deserters began to harass Korea’s 
border at the Yalu River. In autumn 1216,   several thousand rebelling Khitan horsemen blazed 
through the frontier. Skilled horse archers,   the Khitans drove deep into Korea, menacing 
the capital, modern Kaesong. With effort,

the Koreans halted their advance. Unexpectedly, 
in the winter of 1218, the Mongols sent some 30,000 troops into Korea with a simple message to 
the Koreans: they would crush the rebel Khitans, the Koreans would provide troops and supplies 
to assist with this, and would then pay tribute to the Great Khan. After a brief delay 
in answering, the Koreans acquiesced, sending 1,000 picked troops and 1,000 bushels of 
rice. The rebel Khitans were crushed, and Korea began sending tribute to the Mongols in 1219.
Korea’s first Mongol experience was relatively peaceful. Though forced to send tribute, their 
cities had not suffered. The dictator Ch’oe Ch’unghon’s advancing age, failing health, and 
desire to pass his rule onto his son stopped him from provocating. A keen observer, he had 
judged the danger of this new foe, expecting

the relationship would differ little from Liao’s 
or Jin’s tribute demands. Ch’oe Ch’unghon died   in late 1219 and was succeeded by his oldest 
son, Ch’oe U. A military man like his father,   and decisive leader, Ch’oe U helmed Koryo for the 
next two decades. Ch’oe U detested the Mongols’   demands, especially for valuable otter skins, 
desired for their water-resistant properties.  While Chinggis Khan was absent in Central 
Asia, his chief commander Muqali had been   left to maintain pressure on the Jin Dynasty. 
With Muqali’s death in 1223 and a reduction in   the Mongol military presence, the political 
situation changed dramatically; while the   Jin made peace with their neighbours, a Mongol 
vassal kingdom in Manchuria ruled by Puxian Wannu   declared his independence. He sought to ally with 
Koryo, which declined but made their own moves. In

1225, the chief Mongol envoy to Korea mysteriously 
disappeared while transporting the annual tribute   north. The Koreans insisted it was bandits, 
but the Mongols put the blame square on Koryo.  Ögedei Khaan was enthroned in 1229, and demanded 
both Puxian Wannu and the Koreans to be punished.   Initially the new Khaan demanded Koryo aid in 
an attack against Wannu. With the failure of the   Koreans to comply, Ögedei ordered an invasion of 
the peninsula, the first of six Mongol invasions.   Led by Sartaq-Qorchi, the army crossed the Yalu 
River in autumn 1231. The attack was overwhelming;   Koryo’s armies were annihilated in the field 
and Kaesong surrounded. Yet there was notable   resistance at a few fortified cities, especially 
Kuju. Famed for a victory over the Khitans in

1018, in late 1231 through early 1232 under the 
command of Pak So, the city withstood weeks of assault. The most famous event occurred early 
in the siege. The southern wall of the city was defended by Kim Kyongson and a skilled unit of 
pyolch’o, translated as Defense Command Patrol, Extraordinary Watches or Night Patrol. These 
were local troops from outside the regular army, an elite militia specializing in guerilla 
warfare. Sending most of the unit inside the city, Kim Kyongson led a group of 12 picked men before 
the south gate. Telling them “not to think of their lives and accept death as their fate,” Kim 
and his men withstood four or five Mongol charges, girding the city to further resistance. Attacks 
were launched on the walls day and night: the Mongols pushed carts of dry grass 
and wood to the gates to burn them,

only to be destroyed by Korean catapults;
a tower built before the walls to protect sappers was destroyed when the Koreans
dug holes through their own walls to pour molten iron onto it. 15 large catapults were
driven off by the Korean counter artillery; scaling ladders were toppled by Korean polearms.
Bundles of sticks soaked allegedly in human fat, set aflame and hurled into the city could not
be put out with water, but the crafty Koreans smothered them with mud and earth. Another
catapult team made 50 breaches in the walls, which the defenders filled as they were made.
After a month of terrible destruction but no success, the siege was lifted, the Mongols
declaring the city was protected by heaven. Military ruler Ch’oe U came to terms with the
Mongols in January 1232, and was so frustrated that Kuju had continued to resist that he wanted
to have its commanders, Pak So and Kim Kyongson

executed, fearing that their defiance would 
provoke Mongol retaliation. Here the Mongols   interceded, saying: “Although he went contrary to 
our orders, he is a loyal subject of yours. We are   not going to kill him now that you have already 
pledged peace with us. Would it be proper to   kill the loyal subjects of all your cities?”
Still, Koryo had submitted to Sartaq-qorchi   in the first month of 1232. The tribute demands 
were massive. 20,000 horses, 20,000 otter skins,   slaves, royal hostages, and clothing for 1 
million men were demanded, alongside gold,   silver, and other treasures. Appointing overseers, 
Sartaq withdrew his forces, considering the   peninsula conquered. The Koreans were less 
keen to comply. The demands were onerous;   while Koryo sent much in gifts, it was unwilling 
to send royal hostages and could barely produce

1,000 otterskins. By the summer of 1232, Ch’oe U moved King and court moved from Kaesong to Kanghwa island, under naval protection. Mongol officials in Korea were murdered, and the peninsula was in open revolt. Sartaq returned in the fall of 1232, blazing a trail of destruction across the country's northern half until he was killed during a siege by a Buddhist monk-turned-archer, Kim Yunhu. On Sartaq’s death, the Mongol army withdrew. As Ch’oe U ably predicted, the Mongols’ lack of navy would stop them from being able to get the royal court into their hands by force. The Mongols were not done with Korea. The defection of one Korean commander, Hong Pogwon, gave them control of the lands north of Pyongyang, which Hong was made the overseer of.

The next attack came in the summer of 1235, after 
the conquest of North China. This campaign, led by Tangut Ba’atar, was hugely destructive; with 
the assistance of Hong Pogwon, by winter 1236, he had penetrated some 470 kilometres into Korea. 
The Koreans could not field armies against them, and alternative strategies were developed 
to respond. Just as the court had fled to Kanghwa Island, most of the population outside 
of fortified settlements fled to coastal islands or mountain refuges to escape Mongol riders. 
Offensives were limited to guerilla warfare, pyolch’o units launching surprise night raids, 
ambushes through mountain passes and striking small parties. Hitting quickly and hard and using 
local terrain, these small units were more mobile than even the Mongols. It was a frustrating 
way of war for the Mongols, and destruction increased when they got frustrated. Fortified 
settlements were left to fend for themselves,

and when they did fall, the destruction 
was horrific. The countryside was ravaged,   and the death toll was horrendous. The guerilla 
tactics harassed but could not stop the Mongols,   who could not bring the country to submission. 
Korean defections to the Mongols were enormous.  By winter 1238, the Korean court was willing 
to come to talks with the Mongols to halt the   destruction. As the Koreans feared, Mongol demands 
were stiff. Alongside the expected tribute,   the Mongols required a census and for the Korean 
King Kojong to present himself to the Mongol court   at that time. For the military ruler Ch’oe 
U, this presented an issue. His legitimacy   rested on his control of the King; Mongol demands 
would remove him from power. Peace on Mongol terms   could not be accepted as long as the Ch’oes 
wanted to remain in control. For two years,

the Koreans made excuses not to send the King, 
until a distant relation was made up to be the Crown Prince, and sent to the Mongol capital 
of Qaraqorum in 1241. The Mongols found out about the deception… 14 years later. By then, he 
was a loyal member of the Mongol court and even married the daughter of Great Khan Möngke.
With the “royal” hostage and resumption of tribute, Ch’oe U achieved a six-year truce. The 
Mongols still wanted the royal court to return to the mainland though, and their envoys grew ever 
more insistent on the matter. Ch’oe U spent the next six years building elaborate fortifications 
on Kanghwa Island and readying militia units, while consecrating Buddhist projects like the 
Tripitaka Koreana to secure heavenly favours. In autumn 1247, the new Khan, Güyük, ordered 
another attack under Amukhan and Hong Pogwon.

Again, the countryside was abandoned for coastal islands and mountain fortresses; guerilla attacks were launched; the northern half of the peninsula was desolated. The deaths of Khan Güyük in summer 1248 and Ch’oe U in winter 1249 brought a relative calm. Ch’oe U was succeeded by his son, Ch’oe Hang, not the equal of his father or grandfather. More arrogant and hasty than his father, he struggled to maneuver the complicated politics of Koryo and Mongol attacks, and within months he faced coup attempts. In 1251 Möngke was confirmed as Great Khan; again, envoys demanded the Korean King visit the Mongol court and abandon Kanghwa island. Again, excuses were made. King Kojong was too old and sickly for such a trip, but the Koreans suggested sending the crown prince again, while preparing for the expected invasion. By 1252 Möngke sent Prince

Yeku into Korea in August 1253 alongside Amukhan, 
and Hong Pogwon. Mongol envoys announced that   King Kojong had six days to comply and meet Mongol 
representatives on the mainland. Though the King   actually met with Mongol envoys on the straits 
across from the island, it achieved nothing. Once   more Mongol forces were unleashed on the peninsula, 
while the people fled to their hideouts. Pyolch’o   raids attacked Mongol parties, and Mongols 
destroyed the cities which fell to them.   Yeku was held up and fell ill during the long 
siege of Ch’ungju, ably defended by Kim Yunhu,   the same Buddhist Monk who had killed Sartaq some 
20 years prior. Ultimately, Möngke recalled Yeku   before the end of the year due to his feuding with 
another prince. Amukhan and Hong Pogwon continued

the campaign for a few more weeks, organizing a brief effort at amphibious warfare: seven captured Korean ships landed Mongol troops on Kal Island in early 1254, to no great result. Amukhan pulled the troops back in spring, returning in August with reinforcements under Jalayirtai Qorchi, with more demands for submission that went unheeded. Early in the summer of 1255 Jalayirtai and Amukhan fell back to the northern border; by then, aside from years of destruction and abandonment of farmland, the peninsula was also in the midst of an ongoing drought. In the first year of Jalayirtai’s command in Korea an estimated 206,8000 persons were taken captive. The suffering was horrific. Jalayirtai’s forces attacked again in autumn 1255, beginning a ship building program. Frustrated with the continued resistance, the Mongols were considering assaulting the well

defended Kanghwa Island. A sense of Jalayirtai’s 
frustration is evident in his response to Korean 
envoys in mid-1256. The envoys came asking for 
peace and Mongol withdrawal, to which Jalayirtai, 
incensed with pyolch’o attacks in the night, 
snapped, “If you desire peace and friendship, then 
why do you kill our soldiers in great numbers?”
Jalayirtai’s withdrawal in the autumn of 1256 
was no respite. Famine gripped even Kanghwa 
island. When Jalayirtai returned in the spring, 
it must have been apparent that the Ch’oes 
were hanging by a thread. Ch’oe Hang soon died, 
succeeded by his son Ch’oe Ui, who proved a very 
poor choice. His attempts to win favour by grants 
of food to the populace and court did not offset 
bad advisers enriching themselves and his own poor

decisions. Alienating just about everyone in the 
court, the pressure of the situation finally led to a coup. Officers led by Kim Injun assaulted 
Ch’oe’s palace in May 1258. Ch’oe Ui tried to escape over the walls but was too fat to 
get himself over. Caught by the assassins, Ch’oe Ui’s death ended six decades of Ch’oe 
military rule in Korea. Gaining the support of the elderly Kojong and handing out the wealth of the 
Ch’oe’s, Kim Injun made himself the new military governor. However, his position was much weaker 
than the Ch’oe’s had been and still refused to submit to the Mongols. Mongol envoys who arrived 
in the summer of 1258 brought threats that they would storm Kanghwa Island, and in August, 
Jalayirtai received further reinforcements. Refusal to supply either the Crown Prince or 
the King was met with unchecked destruction

across the Korean peninsula. If the Royal court 
did not come to them, the Mongols would impose direct rule. No matter how bloody the pyolch’o 
attacks were, they could not stop the Mongols. Resistance broke in 1259. Revolts against 
military rule began across the country, and towns and cities surrendered on the arrival 
of the Mongols rather than continue fighting. With food supplies exhausted, their military forces 
ground nearly to dust, and in the spring of 1259, a peace deal was reached. The Crown Prince, Wang 
Chon, was to travel to the Mongol court as a royal hostage, the court moved back to the mainland, and 
the defences of Kanghwa were demolished. Kim Injun was not removed, but his power was considerably 
lesser than that of the Ch’oes. Organized Koryo resistance to the Mongol Empire was over. In May 
1259, Prince Wang Chon set out for the imperial

court and inadvertently became the first foreign 
ruler to recognize MKhubilai as the next Great Khan of the Empire. In turn, Khubilai provided 
Wang Chon with an armed escort to return to Korea and be installed as the new king, as the 
venerable Kojong had died in July 1259. Kojong had reigned through the entire Mongol-Korean war, 
and fittingly he died only weeks after it ended. Wang Chon, known better by his temple name, 
Wonjong, proved a loyal vassal to Khubilai Khan, marrying his son and eventual successor 
to one of Khubilai’s daughters. Military rule in Korea ended in 1270 after a series of 
assassinations and rebellions, and the Korean court finally returned to the mainland. With 
that, Koryo was a fully incorporated client kingdom. The King ruled in earnest, though with 
Mongol backing; when briefly ousted by a coup,

Khubilai’s forces came in and reinstalled him. 
Yet Mongol demands upon Korea did not grow any less burdensome. Wonjong had to mobilize the 
Koreans for another war, this time fighting alongside the Mongols. Korean ships, food supplies 
and men were needed by Khubilai Khan against the island of Japan, which had spurned his demands 
for submission. Korea was to be a launchpad for the first Mongol Invasion of Japan in 1274.
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How Korea Defended against the Mongols - Medieval History

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몽골의 침략에 맞선 고려의 놀라운 저항

한국은 13세기 40년 동안 몽골의 정복에 성공적으로 저항했습니다.

한반도는 처음에는 몽골에 저항했지만 나중에는 대칸에게 군대와 조공을 보내며 이를 묵인했습니다.

조공을 보내야 했지만 도시가 큰 영향을 받지 않았기 때문에 조선의 첫 몽골 경험은 비교적 평화로웠습니다.

초의는 아버지의 뒤를 이어 13세기 몽골의 침략 당시 한국을 이끌었습니다.

이 침략은 처음에는 몽골의 조공 요구로 촉발되었고, 나중에는 한국과 그 동맹국을 응징하려는 몽골의 욕망으로 인해 촉발되었습니다.

압도적인 공격에도 불구하고 구주는 전략적인 방어 전술과 결단력으로 몽골의 포위망을 견뎌냈고, 결국 포위망을 해제하는 데 성공했습니다.

몽골은 조선에 막대한 조공을 요구했고, 이는 반란과 참혹한 전쟁으로 이어졌습니다.

한국인들은 게릴라전과 전략적 피난을 통해 그 요구에 저항했고, 몽골군은 좌절감을 느꼈습니다.

몽골군의 파괴적인 전술은 높은 사망자 수와 막대한 파괴로 이어졌고, 결국 조선 조정은 협상을 통해 평화를 추구할 수밖에 없었습니다.

고려는 먼 친척을 황태자로 보내 몽골을 속여 휴전과 정교한 요새화를 이끌어 냈습니다.

몽골은 한반도를 반복적으로 공격했고, 조선은 계속되는 분쟁으로 저항과 고통에 직면했습니다.

몽골의 끈질긴 공격에는 포위 공격, 상륙전, 수많은 조선인 포로가 포함되었습니다.

한국에서 초의 군부 통치의 몰락

조선의 공격에 대한 잘라이르타이의 불만은 폭력적인 대응으로 이어졌고 결국 초의 군부는 몰락하게 됩니다.

초의의 리더십 부족과 민심을 얻으려는 시도가 실패하자 쿠데타가 일어나고 초의 왕조는 종말을 맞았습니다.

몽골은 결국 별다른 저항을 겪지 않고 한국을 직접 통치하게 됩니다.

왕촌의 통치와 몽골의 한국 통치

왕촌은 쿠빌라이 칸의 지원으로 고려의 새 왕이 되어 고려를 몽골 제국의 고객 왕국으로 확고히 했습니다.

그는 쿠빌라이 칸의 충성스러운 신하로 남아 일본과의 전쟁에 고려인들을 동원하기도 했습니다.

몽골의 한국 지배는 결국 1274년 몽골의 첫 일본 침략의 발판으로 이어졌습니다.