Second Manchu invasion of Korea

Second Manchu invasion of Korea
Date December 9, 1636 - January 30, 1637 Location Northern Korean Peninsula Result Qing victory.
Belligerents
Joseon Dynasty	Qing Dynasty
Commanders and leaders
Im Gyeong-eop Shin Gyeong-won Hong Myeong-gu † Kim Jun-yong Min Yeong †	Huang Taiji Dorgon Inggūldai
Strength
Unknown	128,000
Casualties and losses
500,000 civilian captured	Unknown

Second Manchu invasion of Korea
Hangul	병자호란
Hanja	丙子胡亂
Revised Romanization	Byeongja horan
McCune–Reischauer	Pyŏngcha horan

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The second Manchu invasion of Korea occurred in 1636, when the Manchu Qing Empire brought Korea's Joseon dynasty into submission. It followed the first Manchu invasion of Korea of 1627.

Background

After the first invasion of 1627, the Joseon Dynasty continued to defy the Manchurians. Trade was in bad condition and Korea did not return fugitives from Later Jin. In addition, Korea took a defiant attitude when Huang Taiji declared the new dynasty of Qing. The Manchu delegates Inggūldai and Mafuta got a cold reception in Hanseong (Seoul) where Korean soldiers stood in the shadow. The delegates were shocked and fled back to Qing.

The Korean court was dominated by the pro-war party. However, they did not enhance military power. In addition, a warlike message to Pyongan-do was carelessly seized by Inggūldai.

War

In the winter, Huang Taiji himself led Manchu, Mongol, and Chinese Banners and Mongol army of 120,000 to Korea. Instead of battling the forces of Im Gyeong Eop at the Baegma fortress in Uiju, Dodo, leading the vanguard, instead rushed straight to Hanseong to prevent King Injo from evacuating to Ganghwa Island as Korean kings traditionally did.

Failing to escape to the island, the king took refuge in the Namhansan fortress, which was immediately besieged by the Manchu army. The Korean army in the fortress suffered from scarcity of food and ammunition. While Korean officials had unrealistic debates, Dorgon occupied Ganghwa Island in a day and captured the second son and consorts of King Injo.

As the siege continued, the scarcity of food worsened. Also, the strategic situation worsened, as several attempts by Korean forces from regions to break the siege was foiled and charge from the fortress yielded no success. Ming China attempted to send a minuscule force in support of Joseon in what was merely a token effort, but the force was wiped out in the sea during a storm. This desperate situation forced Injo to make his submission. King Injo yielded up three pro-war officers to Qing, as well as agreeing to the terms of peace:

1. Korea submits to the Qing Dynasty.
2. Korea has to break her traditional relationship with Ming.
3. Korea offers the first and second sons of King Injo, and sons or brothers of ministers as hostages.
4. Korea pays tribute to Qing as she has done to Ming.
5. Korea will serve for Qing in the war against Ming.
6. Korea offers warships to return of Manchu soldiers.
7. Both ministers of Korea and Manchu became stuck together as marriage.
8. Korea is not allowed to build castles.
9. Korea pays tribute amount of quantity after 1639.

Huang Taiji set up a platform in Samjeondo--the upper reach of the Han River. At the top of the platform he accepted King Injo's submission. King Injo kowtowed to Huang Taiji, who allegedly forced Injo to repeat the humiliating ritual many times.

Aftermath

Joseon General Im Gyeong Eop, who was in charge of defending the Baegma fortress in Qing-Joseon border, made his way down to Hanseong with his army and ambushed one of the Qing army Divisions making its return home, beheading its general (要槌, nephew of Hong Taiji) in the process. As he was not aware of the surrender at the time, he was let go without any punishment by Hong Taiji who was also greatly impressed by Im's courageous efforts in behalf of his kingdom. Im had actually requested military support from Hanseong in the beginning of the war (which never came) and had planned to invade Mukden himself.

Northern and middle regions of Korea were devastated by war. Although the Manchurian army was strict in discipline, the Mongolian soldiers plundered cities.

In accordance with the terms of surrender, Korea sent troops to attack Pi Island at the mouth of the Yalu River.

Huang Taiji ordered Korea to put up a monument in honor of the so-called excellent virtues of the Manchu Emperor. In 1639 the monument was erected at Samjeondo, where the ceremony of submission had been conducted.

Koreans continued to harbor a defiant attitude, although in private, to the Qing Dynasty while they officially yielded obedience as they considered Manchurians uncivilized barbarians. Korean scholars secretly used Ming era names even after that dynasty's collapse. Many thought that Korea should be the legitimate successor of Ming civilization instead of "barbaric" Qing. Koreans also rebuilt their castles around Seoul and northern region.

King Hyojong, who lived as a hostage for seven years in Mukden and who succeeded Injo, planned a possibly unrealistic expedition to Qing called Bukbeol (북벌, 北伐, Northern expedition) during his ten years on the Korean throne, though the plan died with his death on the eve of the expedition.

Beginning in 1639 and until 1894, the Korean court trained a corps of professional Korean-Manchu translators. These replaced earlier interpreters of Jurchen, who had been trained using the Jurchen script. The official designation was changed from "Jurchen" to "Manchu" in 1667. The first textbooks for this purpose were drawn up by Shin Gye-am, who had also been an interpreter of Jurchen and transliterated old Jurchen textbooks for the purpose.

Until 1894, Korea remained a tributary state of Qing China, even though the influence of Manchus decreased from the late 18th century as the Joseon Dynasty began to prosper once again. Japanese forced Qing China after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895) to acknowledge the end of the traditional relationship with Korea, in an attempt to implement their plan to exploit and eventually invade Korea in the early 20th century.

See also

• First Manchu invasion of Korea
• History of Korea
• Yeongeunmun Gate
• Independence Gate
• Samjeondo Monument
• Korean-Jurchen border conflicts