Volta
Conflict598–614

Goguryeo–Sui Wars

Sui, having reunified China, invaded Goguryeo four times and failed every time; the campaigns helped bring Sui down.

Tomb of Emperor Yang of Sui, killed in 618 after his failed Goguryeo campaigns — Yangzhou, China
Tomb of Emperor Yang of Sui, killed in 618 after his failed Goguryeo campaigns — Yangzhou, China

Yumeto · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

When King Yeongyang struck Liaoxi with Malgal troops in 598, Emperor Wen sent 300,000 men, who were driven back by rain and disease. In 612 Emperor Yang came with 1.13 million but could not get past Liaodong Fortress, and his strike force on Pyongyang was destroyed at the Salsu River. Further invasions in 613 and 614 ended in revolt at home, and Sui fell in 618.

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States and rulers at the time
Goguryeo · victor — King Yeongyang
Sui · invader — Emperor Wen

People

  • King YeongyangAD 618

    monarch · Twenty-sixth king of Goguryeo, who struck Liaoxi and repelled the Sui invasions

  • Emperor Yang of SuiAD 569 – AD 618

    monarch · Second Sui emperor whose three invasions of Goguryeo failed

  • Eulji Mundeok

    commander · Goguryeo general who lured the Sui strike force inland and destroyed it at the Salsu River

2 parts of this event

  1. 1
    AD 598Goguryeo Strikes Liaoxi

    King Yeongyang led some 10,000 Malgal troops in a pre-emptive attack on Sui’s Liaoxi; Emperor Wen’s counter-invasion of 300,000 failed.

  2. 2
    AD 612Battle of Salsu River

    Goguryeo forces under Eulji Mundeok routed a Sui strike force at the Salsu (Cheongcheon) River.

Before and after

Earlier
AD 589 Sui Reunification of China and the Civil Service Examinations
Later
AD 600 Gangseo Great Tomb

Related works

Themes that include this event

  • Wars of Korean UnificationAD 598 – AD 676

    From Goguryeo's wars with Sui and Tang to Silla's unification — eighty years of East Asian war on the peninsula

  • Sui, Tang and the East Asian WorldAD 317 – AD 979

    From the divided Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Gupta age through the Sui and Tang empires to the founding of the Song — the age when an East Asian world sharing law codes, Buddhism, Confucianism and Chinese characters took shape, and Korea and Japan built their states on its model