ConflictSeptember 475(Lunar)

Fall of Hanseong and Move to Ungjin

King Jangsu took the Baekje capital Hanseong with 30,000 troops and killed King Gaero; Baekje moved its capital to Ungjin (Gongju).

Achasanseong, Seoul — where King Gaero was captured and killed in 475
Sadopaul · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

Jangsu is said to have sent the monk Dorim to lure Gaero into ruinous building projects before attacking. Hanseong fell in seven days and Gaero was captured and executed. Munju, who had gone to seek help from Silla, returned, took the throne and moved the capital to Ungjin.

Goguryeo now held the Han River basin and pushed south to a line from Asan Bay to Jungnyeong Pass, as the Chungju Goguryeo Stele shows.

Show on the map

The map in AD 475

Open the full map

OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors

States and rulers at the time: Goguryeo · victor — King Jangsu
Baekje · defeated — King Gaero
Places: Wiryeseong (Pungnap Earthen Fortress), Ungjin (Gongsanseong)

People

King JangsuAD 394 – AD 491
monarch · Twentieth king of Goguryeo, who moved the capital to Pyongyang and took the Han River basin
King GaeroAD 475
monarch · Twenty-first king of Baekje, captured and killed when Hanseong fell to Goguryeo

Before and after

Earlier: AD 450 Hwangnam Daechong, Gyeongju
Later: AD 480 Silla Gold Crowns

Themes that include this event

Seoul18 BC – 1988
From Hanseong Baekje to the June Democratic Struggle — the Han River land every kingdom fought for, and Joseon’s capital for five centuries
GongjuAD 475 – 1894
From Ungjin, Baekje’s second capital, to Ugeumchi — the town on the Geum River that became the heart of Chungcheong
ChungjuAD 450 – 1895
From the Goguryeo stele to Tangeumdae — Jungwon, the middle of the Namhan River route that the Three Kingdoms fought over