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Timeline of Korean history

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This is a timeline of Korean history.

Early history

Proto-Three Kingdoms

Three Kingdoms

  • 42 AD: Traditional date for the founding of Gaya by Suro.[19]
  • 53: Goguryeo begins to become a centralized kingdom under Taejo's reign.[20]
  • 234: Baekje begins to become a centralized kingdom under Goi's reign.[21]
  • 244: Goguryeo is defeated by Cao Wei in the Goguryeo–Wei War.[22]
  • 313: Goguryeo destroys Lelang Commandery, ending the last of the four Han Chinese commanderies established by the Han Dynasty.[23]
  • 356: Silla becomes a centralized kingdom under Naemul's reign.[24]
  • 371: Baekje's King Geunchogo invades Goguryeo and kills King Gogugwon.[25]
  • 372: Under Sosurim, Goguryeo imports Buddhism from Former Qin of China and adopts it as state sponsored religion.[15]
  • 372: Sosurim also establishes Korea's first National Confucian Academy.[15]
  • 384: Chimnyu of Baekje officially adopts Buddhism.[26]
  • 392: Gwanggaeto the Great of Goguryeo begins his reign, expanding Goguryeo into a major regional power.[27]
  • 413: Jangsu of Goguryeo erects the Gwanggaeto Stele.[28]
  • 433: Baekje and Silla form an alliance against Goguryeo's aggression.[29]
  • 475: Goguryeo attacks Baekje and captures Hanseong (modern day Seoul).[30] Baekje moves its capital south to Ungjin (modern-day Gongju) due to Goguryeo's pressure.
  • 494: Last remains of Buyeo absorbed by Goguryeo.[31]
  • 498: Baekje attacks Tamna (modern-day Jeju Province), which enters into a tributary relationship with Baekje as a result.
  • 512: Silla vassalizes Usan (modern-day Ulleungdo).[32]
  • 520: Silla formalizes the Bone-rank system, an aristocratic rank system that acted as a caste system under the reign of Beopheung of Silla.
  • 527: Silla formally adopts Buddhism after Beopheung of Silla executes Ichadon, a Buddhist convert who had tried to persuade the king to adopt Buddhism.[33] Before he was executed, Ichadon predicted that milk colored blood would spill from his body after his death.[34] This supposed miracle allegedly occurred according to the Samguk yusa and convinced Silla's royal court to adopt Buddhism as its state religion.
  • 538: Baekje moves its capital to Sabi (modern-day Buyeo).[30]
  • 553: Silla attacks Baekje, breaking the alliance.[35]
  • 562: Silla completes annexation of Gaya.[36]
  • 598: First of a series of major Sui dynasty attacks in the Goguryeo–Sui War, which ends in 614 in a costly defeat for Sui.[37]
  • 612: Goguryeo repulses second Sui invasion at the Salsu.[38]
  • 631: Goguryeo builds the first Cheolli Jangseong following Tang incursions into Goguryeo's northwestern border.[39]
  • 645: First campaign in the Goguryeo–Tang War.[40]
  • 648: Silla establishes alliance with Tang.[41]
  • 660: Baekje falls to the Silla-Tang forces.[42]
  • 662: As a result of the fall of Baekje, Tamna enters into a tributary relationship with Silla.
  • 663: Battle of Baekgang, the remnants of Baekje allied with Japanese expeditionary forces are defeated by the Silla-Tang alliance, ending all hopes for the restoration of the kingdom.[43]
  • 668: Goguryeo falls to the Silla-Tang forces.[44]

North–South States period and Later Three Kingdoms

Goryeo

Joseon

Imjin War

  • 1592: The Imjin War begins.[92]
  • 1593: The war causes the Kyegap Famine (계갑대기근; 癸甲大飢饉) to begin. It lasts until 1594.[95]
  • 1597: António Corea, a Korean slave kidnapped and taken to Japan, is sold to an Italian master. He is then taken to Italy at latest by 1600, and becomes possibly the first Korean to set foot in Europe.[96]

Late Joseon period

Korean Empire

Japanese colonial period

Division of Korea

  • 1945 (after liberation)
  • 1946
    • 4 January. Cho Man-sik, Kim's main rival for leadership in the North, is removed from office and placed under house arrest by the Soviets.[210]
    • 8 February. The Provisional People's Committee of North Korea is established, and Kim Il Sung is made its chairman. While it supposedly represents all political groups in the North, it is dominated by the Soviet-backed Communist Party.[211]
    • 1 July. North Korea creates its first film: Our Construction.[212][213]
    • December. A coalition is made in the North among all major political parties, including representatives of left-leaning parties in the South. This coalition is again dominated by the Communists.[214]
  • 1947
  • 1948
    • April. Protests occur in Jeju that lead to the Jeju Uprising and are violently suppressed by 1949.[219][218] The estimated death toll is uncertain, but a significant portion (up to 30%) of the population is killed.[220] This event and its aftermath significantly threaten the Jeju language,[221] which as of 2023, is considered critically endangered.[222]
    • 10 May. Despite significant controversy, elections for the National Assembly are held in South Korea, and Syngman Rhee becomes its chair.[218]
    • 15 August. Establishment of South Korea with Syngman Rhee as president.[223]
    • 9 September. Establishment of North Korea with Kim Il Sung as premier.[223]
    • October. The Yeosu–Suncheon rebellion occurs. While being shipped off to Jeju to suppress the unrest, left-leaning soldiers launch a rebellion in South Jeolla Province. Thousands are killed.[220]
    • 20 November. The South Korean National Assembly passes the National Security Law. The law has been consistently criticized for its broad scope and historical use by South Korean dictatorships to quash political resistance.[220]
  • 1949: 26 June. Kim Ku is murdered in his home by Ahn Doo-hee. The exact motives behind the murder still remain unclear.[224]
  • 1950 (before Korean War)
    • 30 January.[225] After months of negotiations, Stalin finally relents to Kim's requests to launch an invasion of the South, but makes it conditional on whether Kim can convince Mao to support the effort.[226][227]
    • April. Mao agrees to support Kim in the invasion.[226][227]

Korean War

Animated map of the Korean War
  • 1950
    • 25 June. The Korean War begins with a surprise attack from the North. While minor border skirmishes had happened prior to the war, they are not comparable in scale of the invasion the North launches. The First Battle of Seoul begins with the deaths of hundreds of civilians; Seoul falls within a few days.[228]
    • 7 July. The UN Security Council creates the United Nations Command under the United States to support the South. Over the following years, tens of thousands of soldiers from a number of countries fight for the South.[229]
    • 26 to 29 July. The No Gun Ri massacre occurs. Unarmed South Korean civilians near the village of Nogeun-ri are deliberately killed by the US Army; the death toll and cause of the massacre is disputed.[230]
    • August. UN forces are driven back to the south-east corner of the Korean Peninsula ("The Pusan Perimeter").[231]
    • September. The Battle of Inchon occurs after UN Troops make a surprise amphibious landing on the west coast. Despite the death toll, the UN resolution's original goal of returning to the status quo borders, and the concerns of the US's allies that China or the USSR could enter the war, MacArthur and Rhee decide to push North and reunify the peninsula. The UN approves this on 7 October, and troops move North on 9 October. This prompts the Chinese to begin planning a counteroffensive.[232]
    • 19 October. Chinese forces as the People's Volunteer Army under Peng Dehuai secretly enter the North.[233]
    • 27 November. Chinese forces launch a massive offensive from the North, which puts the UN and ROK forces into a full retreat.[231]
    • 6 December. The Chinese retake Pyongyang.[233]
    • December. The National Defense Corps incident begins and lasts until February 1951. The Rhee government drafts hundreds of thousands of civilians into a militia, but fail to provide them adequate supplies. Tens of thousands die or disappear.[233][234]
  • 1951
    • 4 January. The North and China take Seoul.[233]
    • 31 January the UNSC votes unanimously to cease interest in the conflict, per UNSC Resolution 90.
    • 15 March. Seoul is retaken by the ROK and UN Forces.[233]
    • July. Armistice talks begin. While the establishment of a demilitarized zone and the creation of an armistice commission are agreed on, the talks stall on the issue of prisoner exchanges. Over the following two years of more stalled talks, the US and UN Forces drop more bombs on North Korea than the Allies did on Germany and Japan in World War II. Both the North and the South commit atrocities against their own citizens and civilians on the other side. Over a million and up to two million Koreans die.[235]
  • 1953
    • January. The South Korean newsreel Korean News is established. It serves as an arm of the South Korean government until it closes in 1994.[236]
    • 27 July. The Korean War is halted by the Korean Armistice Agreement that has remained in force until now.

Modern period

See also

References

Further reading

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