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Tonghak Peasant Revolution

a major peasant revolt in Korea, 1894-1895

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 23, 2026
Entity authorityQ701045 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Tonghak Peasant Revolution (Korean: 동학 농민 혁명) took place between 11 January 1894 and 25 December 1895 in Korea. The peasants were primarily followers of Donghak, a Neo-Confucian movement that rejected Western technology and ideals.

The Revolution began in the province of Gobu-gun. In the early 1890s, Jo Byeong-gap, nominated magistrate of the gun in 1892, enforced harsh, oppressive policies upon the local peasant population. Correspondingly, in March 1894, a group of peasants led by Jeon Bong-jun and Kim Gae-nam began an uprising against local authorities. The initial revolt was suppressed under Yi Yong-tae, and Jeon Bong-jun fled to nearby Taein. Jeon gathered an army in Mount Paektu and recaptured Gobu in April. The rebels then defeated governmental forces in the Battle of Hwangtojae and the Battle of the Hwangryong River. Jeon then captured Jeonju Fortress and fought in a siege against Hong Gye-hun's government forces. In May, the rebels agreed on a truce through the Treaty of Jeonju.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Tonghak Peasant Revolution” as a major peasant revolt in Korea, 1894-1895. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tonghak, Peasant and Revolution.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1894, 1895, 1892—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Tonghak, Peasant and Revolution providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Tonghak Peasant Revolution”, the useful work is to connect “a major peasant revolt in Korea, 1894-1895” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q701045. The Library of Congress control number is sh85135989. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1894, 1895 and 1892.

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This entry incorporates text from “Tonghak Peasant Revolution” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.