Japan had intervened in 662 on Baekje’s behalf, but sees its land sea forces defeated and its fleet destroyed in 663 by the Chinese navy in the Battle of Baekgang.

The Daming Palace in Chang'an becomes the government seat and royal residence of Emperor Gaozong.

Muslim rule has expanded to Khorasan; garrison cities are founded at Merv and …

with the scattered Italian possessions remain securely in the fold of the Empire.

…Seistan as bases for expeditions into Central Asia and northwestern India.

Emperor Constans travels westward, passing through northern Italy to Rome, then …

…settles at Syracuse in Sicily, where he undertakes operations against the Lombards.

A brief outbreak of plague hits Britain in 663.

Silla emerges victorious in 668.

It is from this famous date that South Korean historians speak of a unified Korea.

The period of the Three Kingdoms thus ends, but not before all of them had come under the long-term sway of Chinese civilization by introducing Chinese statecraft, Buddhist and Confucian philosophy, Confucian practices of educating the young, and the Chinese written language (Koreans adapt the characters to their own language through a system known as idu).

The Three Kingdoms had also introduced Buddhism, the various rulers seeing, in a body of believers devoted to Buddha but serving one king, a valuable political device for unity.

Artists from Goguryeo and Baekje perfect a mural art found on the walls of tombs and take it to Japan where it deeply influences Japan's temple and burial art.

Indeed, many Korean historians will come to believe that the wall murals in royal tombs in Japan indicate that the imperial house lineage may have Korean origins.

A succession dispute in Japan breaks out in 672 following the death of Emperor Tenji.

The name refers to the jinshin or ninth year of the sixty-year Jikkan Jinishi calendrical cycle, corresponding to the Western year 673.

Tenji had originally designated his brother, Prince Oama as his successor, but later changes his mind in favor of his son Prince Otomo, who takes the throne as Emperor,

Otama reigns for less than a year during the course of the violence that erupts as a result of factional rivalries before taking his own life.

His uncle Oama succeeds to the throne as the Emperor Temmu.