WI: Northern Wei conquers all of China?
- Thread starter Dorozhand
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Dorozhand
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The one from the Southern and Northern Dynasties period which existed from 386-535 CE
Maybe the Wei won't have ambitions of conquering all of Han Dynasty's holdings, which means it'll leave the Korean kingdoms alone outside of trying to contain the Goguryeo.
Since Tang's alliance with Silla is what sealed the fate of Goguryeo and Baekje, a Wei-led unification of China could have huge ramifications for the future of Korea.
Since Tang's alliance with Silla is what sealed the fate of Goguryeo and Baekje, a Wei-led unification of China could have huge ramifications for the future of Korea.
It depends. The Wei fell apart IOTL because of disputes between the "old" and "new" aristocracies, as the former thought that they were being sidelined as a result of Sinicization efforts, and a similar situation would probably still arise ITTL. In addition, the Wei continued to have cordial relations with Goguryeo, unlike the Sui, although their relationship would almost certainly change once China is reunified. However, Goguryeo might also be in a much stronger position ITTL as well, given that it could take advantage of the chaos in China to reunify the peninsula between 450 and 530, instead of limiting their gains to the Han River Valley as it did IOTL. The Wei decided to maintain a close relationship with Goguryeo because it needed to keep the Liu Song, and later the Southern Qi and Later Liang, in check, while Goguryeo was wary of conducting a major expedition southward because of the possibility of Baekje allying with the Wei, although both pressures would be entirely removed if the Wei decides to reunify China, paving the way for Goguryeo to simultaneously unify the Korean peninsula. Given the geopolitics, the Rouran would also almost certainly ally with Goguryeo, leading to more tensions in the long run.
As a result, Goguryeo and the Wei would almost certainly go to war with each other in order to cement and protect their respective statuses, similar to the extensive conflicts IOTL between Goguryeo and the Sui/Tang, although the result would be ambiguous, given that issues before the major war have to be significantly addressed beforehand.
There was only one Northern Wei IOTL, although there were other "Wei"s in general, such as Cao Wei.
See above.
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My Recap of the Northern Dynasties should be perfect information for this premise! (The 6th century recap that is!)
I skimmed the relevant posts a while ago when you first posted them, and I noticed that while they do an extremely good job of covering events and specific details as they occurred IOTL, they barely cover the main causes and effects of social, cultural, economic, and military changes (at least for East Asia), which is crucial to creating a coherent scenario. It's certainly helpful to look over relevant posts in order to understand the general background, which is extremely handy for readers when they're reading a TL. However, a writer who is constructing a scenario/timeline has to go far beyond that, as you need to thoroughly analyze why and how specific conditions occurred, then attempt to present them in a coherent and enjoyable manner to readers, instead of attempting to just regurgitate them without actually digging deeper to grasp the greater picture.
In any case, the posts regarding the Wei and Goguryeo solely reference Wikipedia (although I did see other sources for Europe and the Middle East), which is an important first step, but is certainly not the only one. The summary also does nothing to explain the diplomatic relationship between the Wei and Goguryeo, which is certainly understandable given that there is very little to speak of, in part due to the lack of extant sources. However, the developments are extremely crucial to this scenario, as the Wei and Goguryeo would almost certainly wage war with each other that would essentially dwarf the proportions set out during the conflicts between the Sui and Goguryeo IOTL, if not the Tang.
Other states, such as Baekje and the Rouran, need to be covered significantly as well, as they would attempt to curtail Goguryeo and the Wei's influence, respectively, but analyzing these issues go beyond Wikipedia's coverage, as sources generally tend to focus on Baekje's development after 475, while sources on the Rouran are generally rare.
I've stated this before several times within other threads, but I generally tend to rely on Korean sources, many of which are extensive translations and commentary of the original ones in Classical Chinese, which even I have a difficult time digesting, so I don't think that they would be particularly helpful for other people on this forum in general.
I would recommend this as a relatively helpful source in English, but it mostly focuses on Korea, although there is extensive information on China as well. In addition, it focuses much more on Goryeo and Joseon than previous dynasties, not to mention that there are a fair amount of inaccuracies interspersed throughout, specifically concerning earlier events, so I would recommend looking up other sources on Wikipedia or Google, although they generally tend to be limited in scope, before attempting to tackle the source.
If it is any indication, I barely relied on the source provided while constructing my TL for close to four years, which specifically focuses on events between 395 (PoD) and 455 as of now, although I also loosely covered previous events in order to present the general background as well, given that people generally know very little about East Asia.