Injo of Joseon

Yi Jong was born in December 1595, the eldest son of Prince Jeongwon and grandson of King Seonjo. In 1623 he led a coup d'état against his uncle Gwanghaegun and claimed the throne as Injo, the 16th monarch of Joseon. What followed was a cascade of crises: Yi Kwal's Rebellion broke out early in his reign, then came the Later Jin invasion, then the Qing invasion. The economy slid into recession while corruption spread through an increasingly ineffective government. He died in June 1649, remembered not for what he seized but for what unraveled under his watch.