-993- The Khitan (Liao dynasty) send a horde to invade Goryeo!
-Goryeo defended itself, but sent off an envoy to China to try and get help from the Song dynasty.
-This was funny because the Song Dynasty had tried for a long time to get Goryeo's help to fight the Khitan, but Goryeo had refused.
-The Khitan were able to successfully invade parts of Goryeo, but Goryeo forces held them at bay via guerrilla tactics.
-The Khitan knew that they could crush Goryeo, but it would be a pain in the ass, so they tried to sue for peace and annex all of the old Balhae lands (which would be everything north of Pyeongyang) along with tribute and submission of the Goryeo crown to the Liao dynasty.
-Goryeo refused, so the hordes marched on Pyeongyang! Luckily, General Seo-hui (Goryeo) was able to convince the Khitan to back down by agreeing to cut off ties with the Song dynasty, who threatened Khitan territory. Somehow, he also convinced the Khitan to allow for Goryeo to have access to the Yalu River for trade and communication purposes.
-As soon as the Khitan packed out of Goryeo territory, Goryeo quickly built new fortresses and resumed its relations with the Song dynasty, which pissed off the Khitan immensely.
-997- King Seongjeong dies, replaced by King Mokjong, his son.
-However, the true power lay in the hands of his aunt, Queen Heonae, who was acting as regent since Mokjong wasn't quite old enough yet.
-Eventually, Queen Heonae decided to try and overthrow her nephew completely in a coup- the king's palace was burned and the king fled, summoning his top general to protect him. However, the general decided to betray the king and kill him.
-1009- King Mokjong was dead, so he replaced by a grandson of King Taejo, King Hyeonjong. Of course, King Hyeongjong was too young, so he didn't have any power.
-1010- The Khitan decide to have another go at Goryeo! They were still pissed about what happened the first time, and also at apparently the corruption that was going on in Goryeo's court (good excuse, anyway).
-A Khitan horde of 400,000 reached all the way to Pyeongyang (again), and the Gaeseong court fled to the south, hoping to overextend the horde.
-During this time, the Goryeo dynasty also produced the Tripitaka Koreana, a collection of woodblock prints with a bunch of Buddhist stuff.
-The Khitan horde continued to push into Goryeo, and they sacked Gaeseong! In the carnage and destruction, tons of historical records and treasures and shit were destroyed, some of the treasure even dating back to the pre-Three Kingdoms period!
-King Hyeonjong tried to sue for peace, but the Khitan only would agree if the king went up to the Liadong Peninsula and personally bent the knee to Emperor Shengzong (Liao dynasty).
-1014- Northern Goryeo was now under Khitan occupation, but far from pacified.
-It was too much trouble to keep it under control, so the Khitan began to pull out, losing thousands of troops in the process, and finally sued for peace with Goryeo.
-Meanwhile, northern Goryeo was in shambles.
-The aftermath of the Goryeo-Khitan Wars:
-Goryeo saw the rise of a new powerful military class due to the conflict and need for a strong army.
-New ethnic diversity as the Khitan conquests brought in new people and Khitan slaves.
-These new ethnicities were usually heavily discriminated against, and usually had shitty jobs, eventually becoming the Korean version of the "untouchables" ("baekcheong"), the lowest of the low, who couldn't even serve in the military.
-This class would actually exist all the way up into the 20th century!
-Also caused an increase in contact with the Jurchen hordes that occupied the area of Manchuria north of the Khitan. The Jurchen desperately wanted to become civilized and copy Goryeo society and culture (and who would eventually succeed in doing so and develop into a legit empire (the Jin dynasty)).
-1024- Arab traders arrive in Gaeseong, and it's possible some of them some of them stayed and settled in Goryeo!
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