-Silla's golden age! 700-800.
-King Hyoso, King Sinmun's eldest son, was crowned king in 692.
-Bone Rank aristocrats continued to try and undermine the crown during this time. They even tried to revolt/stage a coup in the 700.
-Silla also continued warm relations with the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang continued to export tons of culture to Silla as Silla paid tribute.
-Also, Silla had replaced Baekje as the middle man between China (Tang dynasty) and Japan (Yamato) for trade.
-King Hyoso died in 702, replaced by his younger brother, King Seongdeok.
-Meanwhile, the Tang was fighting many wars- against the Tibetans, Malgal hordes, Muslim armies from the Middle East, and even Balhae.
-The Tang dynasty asked Silla for help to attack Balhae, and Silla agreed to help. However, Silla was held back by a brutal blizzard.
-Also, Silla built a huge wall to the north to protect themselves from Balhae.
-In Japan, the capital moved to Nara (Heijō-kyō), marking the end of the Asuka/Yamato period and the beginning of the Nara period.
-Balhae sent a bunch of delegations to the new Japanese government, convincing them to recognize Balhae as the legit successor state to Gogoryeo, a former Yamato ally.
-Balhae also convinced the Japanese to raid the Silla coastline as pirates!
-In response to this, Silla built a massive fortress to protect Gyeongju from the Japanese raiders (Mobeol Fortress).
-King Seongdeok tried to empower the common folk and limit the power of the aristocracy, which definitely improved his standing among the peasantry.
-King Seongdeok died in 736/737, replaced by his second son, King Hyoseong.
-Silla was in great shape, and Gyeongju was a wealthy, cosmopolitan city.
-It had Buddhist monks from Japan and China, Arab traders, Roman and Byzantine goods, slaves, beautiful gardens, palaces, villas, etc.
-The flourishing of the city was even noted in Japanese and Chinese sources!
-One historian has even argued that in the 8th century, Gyeongju was the 3rd largest city in the world behind Chang'an (Tang dynasty) and Constantinople (Byzantine empire), with about 250,000 people!
-Around 737, a huge Tang dynasty coalition showed up with a huge force and tons of gifts tto try and convince Silla to ally with them in an attack against Balhae. However, King Hyoseong died in 742, so this caused problems in getting Silla to get its shit together enough to attack.
-742- King Hyoseong died, so he's replaced by his younger brother, King Gyeongdeok.
-Commissioned the Bronze Bell of King Seondeok, a huge ass bell that is said to be able to be heard from miles away.
-He also built Bulguksa Temple in 751 at the site of some other old-ass temple.
-765- King Gyeongdeok died, replaced by his son, King Hyegong.
-King Hyegong was only a young boy, but he still had a fairly secure grasp on power due to his queen mother who acted as regent.
-However, she wasn't quite strong enough, and faced 4 coup attempts by aristocrats in 768, 770, 775, and 780. This was possibly due to King Hyegong possibly being gay or at least overly-effeminate, and the aristocrats used this as an excuse to kill him (!).
780- So, King Hyegong was killed, replaced by King Seondeok, a descendant of King Naemul.
-785- King Seondeok dies, replaced by King Wonseong, another descendant of King Naemul.
-King Wonseong was really into the Tang dynasty, especially their culture and power to back him as the legit king. So, he sent a tribute to them, and his diplomats returned with news that the Chinese had developed a new civil service exam system.
-788- King Wonseong implemented his own Korean version of the Tang's civil service exam, called "The National Civil Service Examination" (과거).
-However, King Wonseong's version was also based on Silla's bone rank system, whereas the Tang's was built on the Confucian system of merit only.
-798- King Wonseong dies in 798, replaced by his grandson, King Soseong.
-King Soseong married a woman from the Sook clan, which meant that the power was beginning to shift from Kim to Sook.
-800, King Soseong dies, replaced by his son, King Aejang.
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