| “ | The common people are the foundation of any country. It is only when this foundation is strong that a country can be stable and prosperous.
— King Sejong the Great
|
” |
The Joseon Army was the ground forces of the Korean Joseon dynasty founded sometime during the 14th century. The army is best known for conquering the Korean peninsula and defending the Joseon dynasty from Jurchen raiders.
Upon its founding, the Joseon Kingdom took on many of the armies that previously served for the previous Goryeo dynasty. Initially, no centralised army existed as many court officials owned their own private armies. This ended when King Jeongjong banned private armies on advice from his brother, Yi Bang-won. When Sejong ascended the throne, he supported the advancement of military technology. Subsequent rulers weren’t keen to follow his example as neo-Confucianist beliefs disavowed military advancement.
The Joseon Army would go on to expand Joseon their territory to the entire Korean peninsula and defend it from the Jurchen, Qing, and Japanese. They would also crush Hong Gyeong-Rae's Rebellion and aided the Qing dynasty in defeating the Russians in the Sino-Russian border conflicts.
After opening its ports in 1876, Joseon learned of the world situation and learned that the western powers outgunned it. This led to a slow process of modernization, which saw the kingdom buy firearms from the western powers and ask Japan for aid in reorganizing its military.
In 1894 the Donghak Peasant Revolution kicked off, which saw the Joseon government nearly overthrown. To prevent something from like this happening again, a series of sweeping reforms called the Gabo Reforms took place. In 1897, Emperor Gojong declared the Korean Empire and the Joseon Army was reformed into the Imperial Korean Army.
Battle vs. Conquistador (by Kazanshin)[]
The Joseon Dynasty rules unchallenged in Korea during this period of the early 16th century. Nobody would ever suspect a Japanese invasion, how delusional. However, there was one thing that bothered the Koreans: a group of European missionaries, who came to spread their “word of God". The local monks were already expressing their discontent on their presence. With the expanding influence of Christianity, there could only be one meaning: a religious invasion. The emperor responded with power. He ordered a group of five warriors to assassinate the Westerners. No religious uproar would be tolerated.
The five conquistadors escort a group of missionaries. They walk near a Neo-Confucianism temple, which they intend to dethrone as the leading religion of the area. However, they aren't aware of the group of eyes watching them. The conquistadors follow their captain, chatting with each other, unsuspecting of anything. Suddenly, a loud, sharp sound. Instinctively, the captain tackles one of the missionaries to the ground. A bullet of cold lead grazes his steel helmet.
“¡Todos, a tus armas! (Everyone, to your weapons!)”
Joseon: 5
Conquistadors : 5
The conquistadors draw their weapons while the missionaries run away. Two draw their arquebus, one grabs his halberd, another grabs his espada ropera, as the captain takes out his crossbow. Soon, they see their enemies. A group of five Korean soldiers, armed with swords, polearms and muskets.
“¡A la carga! (Charge!)”
“돌격! (Charge!)
The two sides fire their muskets. The Joseons miss their shots, but so do the conquistadors. The Spanish captain fires his crossbow, hitting a Korean in the shoulder. The injured warrior yells in pain and holds his wound. The fighters who charged meet between the two sides and engage. The sword armed conquistador thrusts at his opponent, who deflects the attack with his Geom sword. The Joseon swings his sword sideways, but the conquistador manages to block the swing with his espada, then kick the Asian away. The Joseon thrusts with his sword, but the Spaniard moves away, then swings his own sword, but is blocked by the Korean’s shield. The Joseon bashes the Spanish in the face with the shield, then attempts to stab, but the Conquistador kicks again, saving his life. The Conquistador then thrust violently before the Joseon can recover, stabbing through his chest and killing him.
Joseon: 4
The other Spanish, with his halberd, engages two Joseon warriors at the same time. One of the two swings down his hyeopdo, but the Conquistador parries the attack with his weapon. The other warrior, with his Jedok Geom out, charges at the Spaniard, but is repelled by the superior reach of the halberd. The Conquistador swings his halberd wildly, making the two Koreans jump back. The Conquistador thrusts his weapon at one of the Joseon warriors, who steps aside and swings his hyeopdo. The polearm hits the Conquistador in the head, dazing him with pain and damaging the helmet, but unable to deal lethal damage.The other Joseon tries to slash at the European with his sword, but is shot in the head by one of the arquebus armed Conquistador.
Joseon: 3
The sword armed Conquistador rushes to aid his ally and swings his espada at the Korean, who blocks with his hyeopdo. The Korean thrusts once again, but is again dodged. The dazed Spanish recovers and faces the Joseon. But this time, one of the Korean musketeers fires, hitting the halberd armed Conquistador through the neck.
Conquistadors: 4
The Conquistador captain fires his crossbow once again, impaling the first injured Joseon through the head.
Joseon: 2
The sword armed Conquistador swings down his sword but is blocked by the hyeopdo's pole. He then uses his free hand to punch the Joseon warrior in the face, then throw a wild sideways swing at the dazed Asian, decapitating him.
Joseon: 1
The sword armed Conquistador regroups with his friends as the remaining Korean musketeer charges angrily at the opponents, then throws his grenade at them. The captain and the musketman manage to roll away, but the Conquistador swordsman gets his legs blown up, while the other is completely obliterated.
Conquistador: 2
“¡Cuidar de él! ¡Lo mataré yo mismo! (Take care of him (wounded)! I’ll kill him myself!)”
The captain shouts as he throws his crossbow aside and draws his Espada Ropera and grabs his shield. The Joseon Warrior does the same, throwing his musket aside and drawing his Jedok Geom and his shield.
Quickly the two runs at each other, with their shields bashing into each other. The captain swings down his espada, which is blocked by the geom. The Joseon kicks the captain in the shield, knocking him away. The captain recovers fast enough to block a slash from the Korean. He then swings his shield sideways, hitting his enemy in the ribs. He then takes the brief opening in the Joseon’s defense to swing his espada down, hitting him in the shoulder and draws some blood, but unable to deal any major damage. The angered Joseon stabs down his geom faster than the captain can bring his espada back and hits him in the chest, but equally unable to stab through the armor. The Joseon then brings his sword downwards, slashing at the captain’s thigh. The captain grunts in pain, but kicks his foe back once more. The two swing their swords again, locking them into each-other. The captain brings his sword down, slashing the Joseon in the hand and forcing his to let go off the sword. The captain then bashes the Joseon in his face with the espada’s hilt and slashes at his other hand, disarming him of his shield. The korean warrior reaches out to grab another grenade, but the captain stabs him in the lower jaw, with the tip of the espada coming out of the top of the Joseon helmet.
Joseon: 0
The conquistador captain returns to his friends, and the missionaries come back to help the wounded conquistadors. Later, the Spanish Empire hears of the assassination attempt, and give their answer. A huge fleet of European galleons bombard Korea’s coastal cities and villages, and the Spanish forces debark. Soon, the Emperor submits and is forced to abandon a part of their land to the Spanish, who then use this new land to monopolize trade with the Japanese, outmatching their Portuguese rivals.
Expert's Opinion[]
While both sides were highly trained, fierce warriors, only one brought down an entire empire single-handedly. The conquistadors had the advantage in armor, long range weaponry, and most importantly the halberd, which was much more versatile and destructive than the hyeopdo. To put the nail in the coffin, the Joseon would be lucky to even have half the battle experience of the Conquistadors, who fought on multiple continents and faced multiple foes, while the Joseon Warrior only fought the Manchurians and the Samurai, with the latter battle lost until they got help from the Ming .