Decline and Fall
Hubaekje and Goryeo were in constant state of hostilities without one being completely dominant over the other. However, in 930, the Hubaekje troops faced a heavy defeat at the Battle of Gochang (present-day Andong) and was unable to recover from the loss. Gyeon Hwon attempted to reverse the current by sacking the Goryeo capital of Gaeseong, but his army suffered another defeat in the year of 934.
Not only was Hubaekje reeling from military defeats, the kingdowm was in internal disarray. In 935, Gyeon Hwon's eldest son Singeom, who had been slighted as heir to the throne in favor of his younger brother Geumgang, overthrew Gyeon Hwon with the aid of his brothers Yanggeom and Yonggeom. Singeom killed Geumgang and confined Gyeon Hwon to Geumsan Temple, but Gyeon Hwon escaped and fled to his old enemy Wang Geon in Goryeo, who welcomed him and provided him with land and slaves.
King Gyeongsun of Silla formally surrendered to Goryeo in 935. The following year, at Gyeon Hwon's request, he and Wanggeon led a massive Goryeo army to Hubaekje and the kingdom fell.
Gyeon Hwon died the same year of an inflamed tumor.
Read more about this topic: Gyeon Hwon
Famous quotes related to decline and fall:
“Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall,
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)