Silla Unifies the Peninsula, Then Expels the Tang
Silla borrows a Chinese army to win a war, then fights that same army to get its country back
Quick facts
- Baekje falls
- 660 CE
- Goguryeo falls
- 668 CE
- Tang expelled at
- Maesosong (675 CE), Kibolpo (676 CE)
- Silla general
- Kim Yushin
What happened
By the 650s Baekje and Goguryeo had joined forces against Silla, capturing dozens of Silla border fortresses. Silla answered by allying with Tang China: a Silla army of 50,000 under general Kim Yushin, combined with a Tang naval force of 130,000, crushed Baekje in 660 CE, and in 668 CE a combined Silla-Tang army took the Goguryeo capital Pyongyang, ending the Goguryeo kingdom after its last king Bojang was deported to China along with 200,000 subjects. Tang China, however, intended to absorb the whole peninsula rather than hand it to Silla. While Tang was distracted by a rising Tibet, Silla armies turned on their former ally and defeated the remaining Chinese forces in Korea at the battles of Maesosong (675 CE) and Kibolpo (676 CE), driving Tang out and securing Korea's first unification under a single Korean state.
Why it matters
Silla's unification, completed by expelling the very ally that had made it possible, gave the Korean peninsula a single political center for the first time in its history and set the template Korea would use for the next 1,300 years: use a stronger neighbor's help when needed, but never let that neighbor stay.
How we know
The unification wars and Silla's later campaigns against Tang garrisons are documented in the 12th-century Samguk Sagi and cross-referenced against Tang dynastic records, which independently confirm both the joint conquest of Baekje and Goguryeo and Silla's subsequent break with Tang.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Goguryeo · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- World History Encyclopedia. Unified Silla Kingdom · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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