NationMaster - Encyclopedia: French Campaign against Korea, 1866

The French campaign against Korea of 1866 is also known as Byeong-in yangyo (Western disturbance of the byeong-in year). It refers to the French occupation of Ganghwa Island in Korea in retaliation for the earlier execution by Korea of French Jesuit priests prosletyzing illicitly in that country. The encounter, which lasted nearly six weeks, was the first armed encounter between Korea and a Western power. The overall result was a French retreat and a check on its influence in the region. The violent encounter also confirmed Korea in its isolationism for another decade, until Japan forced it to end its isolationism in 1876 through the threat of military force (much like the United States did to Japan in 1854). Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 Ã— 504 pixelsFull resolution (1352 Ã— 852 pixel, file size: 390 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Illustration from period French periodical depicting French attack on Ganghwa Island. ... Ganghwa Island is an island in the estuary of the Han River, on the west coast of South Korea. ... The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. ... Joseon redirects here. ... This article is about the Korean civilization. ... Admiral Roze. ... Jamo redirects here. ... Hanja is the Korean name for Chinese characters. ... The Revised Romanization of Korean is the official Korean language romanization system in South Korea. ... McCune-Reischauer romanization is one of the two most widely used Korean language romanization systems, along with the Revised Romanization of Korean, which replaced (a modified) McCune-Reischauer as the official romanization system in South Korea in 2000. ... Ganghwa Island is an island in the estuary of the Han River, on the west coast of South Korea. ... This article is about the Korean civilization. ... Occident redirects here. ...

Background

Throughout the Joseon Dynasty, Korea maintained a policy of strict isolationism from the outside world (save for tribute intercourse with China and occasional trading with Japan through Tsushima). However, it did not succeed entirely in sealing itself off from foreign contact. Catholic missionaires had begun to show an interest in Korea as early as the 16th century with their arrival in China and Japan. Through Korean tribute missions to the Qing court in the 18th century, foreign ideas, including Christianity, began to enter Korea and by the late 18th century Korea had its first native Christians. However it was only in the mid 19th century that the first western Catholic missionaries began to enter Korea. This was done by stealth, either via the Korean border with Manchuria or the Yellow Sea. These French Jesuits arrived in Korea in the 1840s to proselytize to a growing Korean flock. Bishop Siméon-François Berneux, appointed in 1856 as head of the infant Korean Catholic church, estimated in 1859 that the number of Korean faithful had reached nearly 17,000.^[1] Joseon redirects here. ... Isolationism is a foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy and a political policy of economic nationalism (protectionism). ... Tsushima is a name related to Japan. ... The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing the... Bishop Berneux was tortured and then beheaded on March 7th, 1866. ...

At first the Korean court turned a blind eye to such incursions. This attitude changed abruptly, however, with the enthronement of King Gojong in 1864. By Korean tradition, the regency in the case of a minority would go to the ranking dowager queen, in this case the fiercely conservative mother of the previous crown prince, who had died before he could ascend the throne. The new king’s father, Yi Ha-ung, a wily and ambitious man in his early forties, was given the traditional title of the unreigning father of a king: Heungseon Daewongun, or “Prince of the Great Court”. Though the Heungseon Daewongun’s authority at court was not official, stemming in fact from the traditional imperative in Confucian societies for sons to obey their fathers, he quickly seized the initiative and began to control state policy. He became one of the most effective and forceful leaders of the 500-year-old Joseon Dynasty. With the aged dowager regent’s blessing, the Heungseon Daewongun set out upon a dual campaign of both strengthening central authority Korean isolation from the disintegrating traditional order outside its borders. By the time the Heungseon Daewongun assumed de facto control of the government in 1864 there were twelve French Jesuit priests living and preaching illicitly in Korea and an estimated 23,000 native Korean converts.^[2] Image File history File links Size of this preview: 469 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (480 Ã— 614 pixel, file size: 42 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Sketch of the Daewongun around 1870. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 469 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (480 Ã— 614 pixel, file size: 42 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Sketch of the Daewongun around 1870. ... Gojong () is the temple name of several Korean kings. ... The Daewon-gun, or formally Heungseon Heoneu Daewon-wang, (1820â€“1898) was the title of Yi Ha-eung, who was the regent of Joseon during much of the later 19th century. ...

In January, 1866 Russian ships appeared on the east coast of Korea demanding trading and residency rights in what seemed an echo of the demands made on China by other western powers. Native Korean Christians, with connections at court, saw in this an opportunity to advance their cause and suggested an alliance between France and Korea to repel the Russian advances, suggesting further that this alliance could be negotiated through Bishop Berneux. The Heungseon Daewongun seemed open to this idea, though it is uncertain whether this was ruse to bring the head of the Korean Catholic Church out of his hiding place. Berneux was summoned to the capital, but upon his arrival in February 1866, he was seized and executed. A roundup then began of the other French Catholic priests and native converts. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Bishop Berneux was tortured and then beheaded on March 7th, 1866. ...

Several factors contributed to the Heungseon Daewongun‘s decision to crack down on the Catholics. Perhaps the most obvious was the lesson provided by China, which had apparently reaped nothing but hardship and humiliation from its dealing with the western powers, seen most recently in its disastrous defeat during the Second Opium War. No doubt also fresh in the Heungseon Daewongun‘s mind was the example of the Taiping rebellion in China, which had been infused with western Christian doctrines. 1865 had seen poor harvests in Korea as well as social unrest, which may have contributed to a heightened sensitivity to the foreign creed. The crackdown may also have been related to attempts to combat factional cliques at court, where Christianity had made some inroads. Combatants Qing China United Kingdom French Empire Commanders Unknown Michael Seymour James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin Jean-Baptiste Louis Gros The Second Opium War or Arrow War was a war of the United Kingdom and France against the Qing Dynasty of China from 1856 to 1860. ... Taiping (also Itu Aba, Chinese: 太平島) is the largest island of Nansha Islands (Spratly Islands) in the South China Sea. ...

As a result of the Korean dragnet all but three of the dozen French missionaries were captured and executed. An untold number of Korean Catholics also met their end (estimations run around 10,000),^[4] many being executed a place called Jeoldu-san in Seoul on the banks of the Han River. In late June 1866 one of the three surviving French missionaries, Father Felix-Claire Ridel, managed to escape via a fishing vessel and make his way to Tianjin, China in early July 1866. Fortuitously in Tianjin at the time of Ridel‘s arrival was the commander of the French Far Eastern Squadron, Rear Admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze. Hearing of the massacre and the affront to French national honor, Roze determined to launch a punitive expedition. In this he was strongly supported by the acting French consul in Peking, Henry de Bellonet. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Admiral Roze. ... Jeoldu-san åˆ‡é å±±, whose name carries the lugubrious meaning of â€œbeheading mountainâ€, is a rocky promontory overlooking the Han River in the district of Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea. ... (Chinese: ; Pinyin: ; Postal map spelling: Tientsin) is one of the four municipalities of China. ... Admiral Roze. ...

On the French side, there were also compelling reasons behind the decision to launch a punitive expedition. These had to do with increasing violence against Christian missionaries and converts in the Chinese interior, which after the Second Opium War in 1860 had been opened up to westerners. As China had influence in Korean affairs, the massacre of westerners and Christians in Korea was seen by diplomatic and military authorities in the context of anti-western behavior in China. Many believed a firm response to such acts of violence was necessary to maintain national prestige and authority. In response to the event, the French chargé d'affaires in Beijing, Henri de Bellonet, took a number of intitiatives without consulting with Quai d'Orsay. Bellonet sent a note to the Zongli Yamen, threatening to occupy Korea, and he also gave the French Naval Commander in the Far East, rear admiral Pierre-Gustave Roze instruction to launch a punitive expedition against Korea. In diplomacy, chargÃ© daffaires (French for in charge of business), is the title of two classes of diplomatic agents: ChargÃ©s daffaires (ministres chargÃ©s daffaires), who were placed by the reglement of the Congress of Vienna in the fourth class of diplomatic agents, are heads of... Peking redirects here. ... Quai dOrsay is a Parisian quay situated on the Ile de la Cité. Its name is commonly associated with the French Ministry of External Affairs, whose building is situated on the quay. ... Zongli Yamen (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Tsungli Yamen) was the name of the government office/department of foreign relations (or Foreign Office) of imperial China during the Qing dynasty. ... Admiral Roze. ...

Image File history File links Size of this preview: 768 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (1399 Ã— 1092 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 768 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (1399 Ã— 1092 pixel, file size: 2. ...

Preliminaries (18 September-3 October, 1866)

Though the French diplomatic and naval authorities in China were eager to launch an expedition, they were stymied by the almost utter absence of any detailed information on Korea, including any navigational charts. Prior to the actual expedition Rear Admiral Roze decided to undertake a smaller surveying expedition along the Korean coast, especially along the waterway leading to the Korean capital of Seoul. This was done in late September and early October 1866. These preliminaries resulted in some rudimentary navigational charts of the waters around Ganghwa Island and the Han River leading to Seoul. The treacherous nature of these waters, however, also convinced Roze that any movement against the fortified Korean capital with his limited numbers and large hulled vessels was impossible. Instead he opted to seize and occupy Ganghwa Island, which commanded the entrance to the Han River, in the hopes of blockading the waterway to the capital during the important harvest season and thus forcing demands and reparitions on the Korean court. Short name Statistics Location map Map of location of Seoul. ... The Han River located in South Korea, is the confluence of the South Han River, which originates in Mount Daedeok-san, and the North Han, which originates in Mount Geumgang-san. ...

The nature these demands were to take was never fully determined. In Peking the French consul Bellonet had made outrageous (and as it turned out unofficial)^{[citation needed]} demands that the Korean monarch forfeit his crown and cede sovereignty to France. Such a stance was not in keeping with the more circumspect goals of Rear Admiral Roze, who hoped only to force reparitions.^{[citation needed]} In any case, the demands of Bellonet were never officially endorsed by the French government of Napoleon III, and for his importunate blusterings he would later be severely reprimanded.^[5] Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (April 20, 1808 - January 9, 1873) was the son of King Louis Bonaparte and Queen Hortense de Beauharnais; both monarchs of the French puppet state, the Kingdom of Holland. ...

Expedition (11 October-12 November, 1866)

On October 11th, Admiral Roze left Qufu with the frigate Guerrière, two avisos (Kien–Chan and Déroulède), two gunboats (Brethon and Tardif) and a corvette (Primauguet), as well as almost 300 French marines from their post in Yokohama, Japan. The total number of French troops is estimated at 800.^[6] On October 16th a group of 170 French marines landed on Ganghwa island, seized the fortress which controlled the Han river, and occupied the fortified city of Ganghwa itself. On Ganghwa Island the French marines managed to seize several fortified positions, as well as booty such as flags, cannons, 8,000 muskets, 20 boxes of silver ingots, and various lacquer works, jades, and manuscripts and paintings that comprised the royal library on the island. These latter books would go on to become the core of the Korea collection in the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 640 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1405 Ã— 1317 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 640 Ã— 600 pixelsFull resolution (1405 Ã— 1317 pixel, file size: 2. ... Megane-bashi (Spectacles Bridge) Nagasaki listen? (é•·å´Žå¸‚; -shi, literally long peninsula) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture located at the south-western coast of Kyushu, Japan. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... The new buildings of the library. ...

From his earlier exploratory expedition Roze knew it was impossible for him to lead a fleet of limited force up the treacherous and shallow Han River to the Korean capital, and satified himself instead with a “coup de main” on the coast^[7] On the mainland across the narrow channel from Ganghwa Island, however, the French offensive was met with stiff resistance from the troops of General Yi Yong-Hui, to whom Roze sent several letters asking for reparation, without success. A major blow to the French expedition came on October 26th, when French marines landed briefly on the Korean mainland in an attempt to seize a small fortification at Mt. Munmu (depicted in the illustration above). As the landing party came ashore they were met by brisk fire from the Korean defenders. Three French soldiers were killed and scores injured before a retreat was called. Except for continued surveying activity around Ganghwa and the mouth of the Han River, French forces now largely fortified themselves in and around the city of Ganghwa.

Roze then sent a new letter, asking for the release of the two remaining French missionaries whom he had reason to believe were imprisoned. No answer was forthcoming but it became clear from activity seen on the mainland across the narrow straits that Korean forces were mobilizing daily. On November 9th the French were again checked when they attempted to seize a fortified monastery on the southern coast of Ganghwa called Jeongdeung–sa. Here again stiff Korean resistance, coupled by the overwhelming numerical superiority of the Korean defenders, forced a French retreat with dozens of casualties but no deaths. Soon thereafter, with winter approaching and the Korean forces growing stronger, Roze made the strategic decision to evacuate. Before doing so orders were given to bombard the government buildings on Ganghwa Island and to carry off the varied contents of official storehouses there. It was also learned around this time that the two missing missionaries feared captured in Korea had in fact managed to escape to China. This news contributed to the decision to leave.

All told the French suffered three dead and approximately 35 wounded.^[8] In retreating from Korea, Roze attempted to lessen the extent of his defeat by stating that with his limited means, there was little more he could have accomplished, but that his actions would have a dissuasive effect upon the Korean government:

The European residents in China considered the results of the expedition minimal and demanded a larger expedition for the following spring, but this never materialized.

After this expedition Roze with most his fleet returned to Japan, where they were able to welcome the first French Military Mission to Japan (1867-1868) in the harbour of Yokohama on January 13th, 1867. The French government ordered the military to leave as a result of heavy losses in the French intervention in Mexico. The French military mission before its departure to Japan, in 1866. ... For the town of Yokohama in Aomori Prefecture, see Yokohama, Aomori. ... Combatants Second Mexican Empire Second French Empire United Kingdom Spain Austria-Hungary Belgium Republic of Mexico Strength 38,493 French soldiers, 7000 Austro-Hungarian volunteers, 2000 Belgian volunteers ~80,000 Casualties 6,654 French killed and wounded 12,000 Mexican killed and wounded Emperor Maximilian Napoleon III of France Ju...

Epilogue

Slightly later, in August 1867, an American ship General Sherman foundered on the coast of Korea. Some of the sailors were massacred, but the United States could not obtain reparations. The United States offered to France to mount a combined operation, but the project was abandoned due to the relatively low interest for Korea at that time. An intervention happened later, in 1871, with the United States Korean expedition. â€¦The General Sherman Incident in 1866 was a significant event in Korean history that proved to be an important catalyst to the end of Korean isolationism in the 19th century. ... The Sinmi Yangyo (lit. ...

The Korean government would finally agree to open the country in 1877 only, when a large fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy was sent under the orders of Kuroda Kiyotaka, leading to the Treaty of Ganghwa. 1877 (MDCCCLXXVII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... For Combined Fleet, please see that article. ... Kuroda Kiyotaka (黒田清隆; October 16, 1840–August 25, 1900), also known as Ryōsuke, was a Japanese politician of the Meiji era, and the second Prime Minister of Japan from April 30, 1888 to October 25, 1889. ... The Treaty of Ganghwa, also called Korea-Japanese Treaty of Amity, signed in 1876, was written by Kuroda Kiyotaka, Governor of HokkaidÅ, and designed to open up Korea to Japanese trade. ...

Aftermath

References

^ Dallet, 452.
^ Kane (1999), 2.
^ Source
^ "It is estimated than 10,000 were killed within a few months" Source
^ Kane (1999), 20.
^ “Expédition de Corée:Extrait du Cahier de Jeanne Frey”. In U, Cheolgu, 19 segi yeolgang gwa hanbando [the great powers and the Korean peninsula in 19th century]. (Seoul: Beobmunsa, 1999), p. 216
^ Marc Orange, “Expédition de l‘amiral Roze en Corée.” Revue du Corée, 30 (Fall 1976), 56.
^ Numbers vary according to the source but they are nearly all unanimous in providing the number of French dead. See for instance, Ch. Martin, “Expédition de Corée en 1866.” Le Spectateur militaire (1883), p. 265.
^ "L'expédition que je viens de faire , si modeste qu'elle soit, en aura préparé une plus sérieuse si elle est jugée nécessaire,....Elle aura d'ailleurs profondément frappé l'esprit de la Nation Coréenne en lui prouvant que sa prétendue invulnérabilité n'était que chimérique. Enfin la destruction d'un des boulevards de Seoul et la perte considérable que nous avons fait éprouver au gouvernement coréen ne peuvent manquer de le rendre plus circonspect. Le but que je m'étais fixé est donc complètement rempli et le meurtre de nos missionnaires a été vengé" Source

Sources

The Journal of Asian Studies (JAS) is a quarterly journal published by the Association for Asian Studies (AAS), a scholarly, non-profit organization which brings together the shared interest of scholars in Asian studies. ... JSTORÂ®, begun in 1995, is an online system for archiving academic journals. ...

Contents

Background

Preliminaries (18 September-3 October, 1866)

Expedition (11 October-12 November, 1866)

Epilogue

Aftermath

References

Sources

See also

External links

Contents

Background GA_googleFillSlot("encyclopedia_square");

Preliminaries (18 September-3 October, 1866)

Expedition (11 October-12 November, 1866)

Epilogue

Aftermath

References

Sources

See also

External links

Background