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Marine Defence and Military Working of the Cheonghae Garrison

Shin, Seongjae 1

1해군사관학교

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ABSTRACT

During the reign of King Heungdeok, Silla had established Cheonghae Garrison in order to eliminate pirates that ran rampant in the southwestern seas of the Korean Peninsula. Since the garrison was previously regarded as maritime military barracks, its component was also strongly thought to be a naval force. However, Cheonghae Forces were not solely comprised of the navy. During the period between 838 and 839, the very existence of 3,000 cavalry out of 5000, that displayed superb abilities by defeating the Silla Government Army of 100,000 strong at the battle of Muju and Daegu, clearly demonstrate such fact. In fact, Cheonghae garrison was the military unit that was organized with not only the navy, but also cavalry and infantry as well. Such characteristics stemmed from the need to efficiently combat the threats of pirates which marauded on both land and sea. Especially, the pirates active during this period operated in a cohesive manner, connecting the sea, islands, coasts and inland based on their dominant powers. It was the time when the scale of piracy reached its peak, so that the forces of the Cheonghae Garrison had to be organized accordingly. It was this very reason which made King Heungdeok assign 10,000 men to the garrison. This force was presumably made up of elite soldiers awarded by the king at the time of Cheonghae establishment, regional soldiers who belonged to fortresses and garrisons of the west coast but were restructured by the king to give commanding powers to Jang Boko, and inhabitants of the frontier regions nearby Wando Island. The maritime activities of Cheonghae Garrison soldiers were basically conducted on the differentiation of military units. Navy was fully responsible to oust the pirates at sea, while cavalry and infantry were to rout the pirates inland. Despite such division of roles, tradition endured as the units took multiple functions in terms of guarding the seas. This was because there was no independent command system of the navy at the time, battle method also was similar to land battles, and of the fact that the weaponry system did not develop significantly. Consequently, duties and roles of different military units were bound to be operated flexibly. The very fact that the Silla Navy was underdeveloped in respect to system, strategy and tactics, and arms partly explains the essential composition of cavalry and infantry as a majority of Cheonghae Garrison's military organization, which was initially constructed for the purpose of maritime defence.

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