Korea and the Fall of the Mongol Empire : Alliance, Upheaval, and the Rise of a New East Asian Order

Korea and the Fall of the Mongol Empire explores the experiences of the enigmatic and controversial King Gongmin of Goryeo, Wang Gi, as he navigated the upheavals of the mid-fourteenth century, including the collapse of the Mongol Empire and the rise of its successors in West, Central, and East Asia. Drawing on a wealth of Korean and Chinese sources and integrating East Asian and Western scholarship on the topic, David Robinson considers the single greatest geopolitical transformation of the fourteenth century through the experiences of this one East Asian ruler. He focuses on the motives of Wang Gi, rather than the major contemporary powers, to understand the rise and fall of empire, offering a fresh perspective on this period of history. The result is a more nuanced and accessible appreciation of Korean, Mongolian, and Chinese history, which sharpens our understanding of alliances across Eurasia. "This book explores the experiences of one East Asian ruler--Wang Gi, King of Goryeo--as he navigated the upheavals of the mid-fourteenth century. The details of his tale not only yield a more nuanced appreciation of Korean, Mongolian, and Chinese history but also sharpen understanding of alliances across Eurasia. The Mongol empire was unprecedentedly large, and its deterioration directly touched most of Eurasia, from today's Eastern Europe, Turkey, Russia, Iran, Iraq, across today's Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, China, Korea, and Vietnam and indirectly exercised an even broader influence. For a generation and more, polities and peoples in West, Central, and East Asia created, with many false starts, much uncertainty, and repeated clashes, a series of new alliances in the wake of the Mongol empire's eclipse. The fortunes of the great powers - the Ming dynasty, Muscovite Russia, the Ottoman Empire, among others - during that anarchic age have been recounted often and ably, but the fate of their smaller allies is much less known and far too underappreciated. Here for the first time ever in English is the story of Wang Gi and his struggle for allies in chaos"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half-title page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents List of Charts List of Maps Kings of the Late Goryeo Period Preface Goryeo History Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction 1 Child of Empire: 1330–1341 2 A Decade at the Yuan Court: 1341–1351 3 The Goryeo Dynasty on the Eve of Wang Gi’s Enthronement: 1341–1351 4 Becoming the Goryeo King: 1351–1353 5 Ally in Collapse: 1354–1355 6 Redefining Allegiance: The Summer of 1356 7 A Tipping Point: 1357–1367 8 Choosing a New Lord: 1368–1370 9 A New Age: 1370–1374 Conclusion References Index David Robinson explores the collapse of the Mongol empire and the rise of its successors across Eurasia through the experiences of King Gongmin of Goryeo. Charting the way this East Asian ruler navigated the upheavals of the mid-fourteenth century, Robinson offers a fresh perspective on a transformative period of history.