Japan was an archipelagic country in eastern Asia, and after the third century AD, a powerful state appeared in the central part of present-day Honshu (present-day Nara), the Yamato Kingdom, which basically unified the Japanese archipelago after years of conquest until the fifth century AD. However, after the establishment of the Yamato State, the invasion of the Korean Peninsula began, and for more than 1600 years, Japan never gave up its ambitions for the Korean Peninsula. Why does Japan always love to attack Korea?
Plunder the Korean Peninsula and absorb advanced technology and culture
The Korean Peninsula has been an important bridge for the export of Chinese culture to Japan since ancient times, such as rice, stone tools, pottery, bronze, architectural techniques, paintings, textiles, writing, etc. were all introduced to Japan through the Korean Peninsula.
The map is also from North Korea
After the 3rd century AD, after the Yamato state of the Japanese archipelago became stronger and stronger, plundering foreign property and absorbing China's advanced technology and culture became the main driving force for its foreign expansion. The Korean Peninsula, just a stone's throw away, is naturally Japan's first choice.
According to the "New Chronicle of the Japanese Royal Family", in order to stabilize the domestic situation, Empress Shengong besieged the Silla capital across the sea as early as 232, which can be said to be the earliest recorded Japanese invasion of the Korean Peninsula. Although the existence of Empress Shengong is disputed, the Japanese expedition to the Korean Peninsula in 232 AD is well documented, and although Japan did not capture the capital of Silla, it plundered a large amount of property, books and books, and population, and the Japanese who tasted the sweetness have now taken the plundering of the Korean Peninsula as a national policy.
In the 1660s, the Yamato Kingdom invaded the Korean Peninsula again, occupied the area of present-day Gyeongsangnam-do, established a colonial stronghold of Rennafu, and began to colonize the Koreans, and the baekje state at that time was forced to become a tributary state of the Yamato state. At this time, Japan gave up the short-term plunder of the Korean Peninsula and attempted to plunder for a long time.
Looting became an honor
At the end of the 4th century, the militarily powerful Yamato State accelerated its aggression and colonial plunder of the Korean Peninsula. According to the Goguryeo Emperor Haotai, the Yamato Kingdom began a large-scale expedition across the sea in the first year of Goguryeo Yongle (391 AD), and a large number of Silla and Baekje people were taken captive. In the ninth year of Yongle (399 AD), baekje surrendered to the Yamato kingdom (nine years of his own sea, a hundred cruelties, and a great deal of peace), and soon after the Yamato kingdom also launched a major attack on Silla, "when the Uighurs filled their borders and broke the city", Silla fell, and the entire Korean Peninsula south of the Han River fell into the hands of the Uighurs.
However, the victory of the Yamato State violated the interests of goguryeo, a powerful power in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, and in the tenth year of Yongle (340), Goguryeo sent 50,000 infantry and horses to conquer the Uighur army in the south. Unexpectedly, under the powerful offensive of Goguryeo, the Uighur army was vulnerable, and wherever the Goguryeo soldiers went, the Uighur army fled in the wind.
The Uighur army was defeated by Goguryeo
In 475, Baekje was destroyed by Goguryeo, and the remnants of the regime moved south, relying entirely on Japanese strength to restore the country in the Valley of the Kumazu River (Jinjiang). Later, the ascension of three consecutive kings to Baekje was completed under the intervention of Japan, and japan's relations with Baekje became closer. In 530 AD, Baekje agreed to contribute to Japan a large number of literati and craftsmen, such as scribes, musicians, and monks, which greatly promoted the development of Japanese science and technology and culture, and Japan's hope to absorb advanced scientific and technological culture through the Korean Peninsula was also achieved.
In 563, Silla invaded the Japanese stronghold of Renna Province, and Japanese forces were expelled from the Korean Peninsula. However, through its close relationship with Baekje, Japan was still able to continuously plunder the wealth of the Korean Peninsula and absorb advanced technology and culture. Therefore, Baekje remains extremely important to Japan's position.
Silla invaded the Japanese stronghold of Renna Province
At the end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th century, China entered the Sui and Tang dynasties, and the Korean Peninsula was still a situation in which the three kingdoms were standing, and the struggle between the three countries became increasingly fierce.
In 660, Baekje, aided by Goguryeo, invaded Silla, and king Jin Chunqiu of Silla asked the Tang Dynasty for help. In April of that year, Emperor Gaozong of Tang ordered the general Su Dingfang to lead an army of 100,000 men to march on land and water to conquer Baekje, and Baekje was immediately destroyed. In 662, the King of Baekje, Buyeo Feng, requested the Uighur army to send troops to resist the Tang army in an attempt to restore the country. Naturally, Japan, which had close ties to Baekje, could not tolerate the demise of Baekje, and if so, Japan would completely lose its interests on the Korean Peninsula.
In September 662, the combined forces of Silla and Baekje of the Tang Dynasty encountered the combined forces of Baekje at the mouth of the Baekje River, and a great war broke out. The Tang army fought four battles and four victories, burned more than 400 Ships, defeated the Japanese army, and completely expelled the Japanese forces from the Korean Peninsula. Japan's plot to plunder and occupy the Korean Peninsula also failed.
At the Battle of Baijiangkou, Japan was defeated
In a vain attempt to invade Korea, he took the Ming Dynasty in the north
The Battle of Baijiangkou shattered Japan's ambitions for nearly a thousand years, until In July 1590, after Toyotomi Hideyoshi achieved full control over Japan, which gave Japan once again the ambition to invade Korea, but at this time, Japan was not only plotting the Korean Peninsula, but also trying to encroach on the entire Ming Dynasty.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's ambitions were first fueled by his elite generals, Japan, who had just finished the war, and honed a large number of highly effective soldiers. In terms of armaments, Through trade with the Dutch and self-development, the armies of the major lords have been equipped with Western firearms and artillery in large quantities. Therefore, Toyotomi Hideyoshi arrogantly believed that his victorious division could easily solve the Korean army, drink the Yalu River, and then sweep through the Central Plains.
At the same time, japanese samurai were basically equipped with arquebusiers and had good experience in perennial wars, so they fought fiercely, and the Ming army at that time was very backward even the most advanced three-eyed rifle
On the other hand, Toyotomi Hideyoshi invaded Korea for the sake of the stability of his rule. After the end of the war, the major lords still retained a huge army, and only by launching a war of foreign aggression could the military strength of the local lords be depleted and the purpose of long-term peace and stability be achieved.
On April 13, 1592, Toyotomi Hideyoshi issued an order to the Japanese troops assembled in Kyushu to march toward Korea, and the vanguard of the Japanese army invading Korea totaled more than 18,000 people, led by Governor Konishi, landed at Busan the next day, and then the main Japanese army followed. Seoul fell on May 2, and Pyongyang fell on June 11. The Korean princes and ministers fled to the Sino-Korean border and quickly asked the Ming Dynasty for help. North Korea fell in just two or three months, much to the shock of the ming dynasty, the suzerainty.
On December 26, the Ming Dynasty sent Li Rusong to lead more than 34,000 Ming troops across the Yalu River, and launched an attack on Pyongyang City on the sixth day of the first month of the 21st lunar calendar, the Japanese army collapsed at a touch, Pyongyang City was soon occupied by the Ming army, the Ming army was greatly shaken, and the northern part of Korea was completely recovered. However, Li Rusong, who was too optimistic, thought that the Japanese army was vulnerable, personally led three thousand cavalry to try to take Seoul directly, but instead was ambushed by the Japanese army at Bijieguan, and the Ming army retreated to Pyongyang after a bloody battle broke through the siege. Knowing that they could not repel the Ming army, the Japanese army insisted on waiting for help, and the war fell into a stalemate. In 1597, after negotiations between the two sides, both sides withdrew their respective troops, and the war was declared over.
The Ming army invaded Pyongyang
In 1597, toyotomi Hideyoshi, who was not willing to accept defeat, gathered 140,000 troops and 24,000 sailors to invade Korea again. Due to command errors and insufficient logistical supplies, the Ming army suffered heavy losses in the early stage of the war, but the long-term war also led to more than half of the losses of the Japanese army invading Korea. In September of the 26th year of the Wanli Calendar, the Ming army continued to increase its troops in Korea, and the Ming army stationed in Korea reached 170,000 people, and it was only a matter of time before the Japanese army was destroyed.
At the same time, Li Shunchen also fought against the Japanese army at sea
After the Battle of southeast China, the Japanese army compressed in the southeast coast of Suncheon, Sacheon, and the South China Sea was already surviving and had no intention of fighting again. In October 1598, news of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's death reached Korea, and the Japanese army issued a general retreat order. When the remaining main force of the Japanese army retreated through the Luliang Strait, it was intercepted by the Ming Dynasty's combined forces, and the Japanese water army was completely destroyed. At this point, the Japanese army in Korea was expelled from Korea, and japan's vain attempt to take korea and the plan to encroach on the Ming Dynasty also failed miserably.
It is a vain attempt to use North Korea as a springboard to establish East Asian rule
After the 1860s, Japan gradually embarked on the capitalist road through the Meiji Restoration, and its national strength became stronger and stronger. However, due to the incomplete nature of Japan's reforms, social contradictions are still very sharp, and in order to divert domestic contradictions and dumped goods, foreign expansion has become the consensus of Japan's top level. At the same time, the Qing Dynasty was in a state of flux due to the deepening of the semi-colonial crisis and the decline of feudal rule, and the aggressive ambitions that had been silent for more than two hundred years because of the defeat of the Nongchen War were revived.
To this end, the Japanese top brass secretly formulated the "strategy of conquest of the Qing Dynasty," which later evolved into a mainland policy based on aggression against China. According to the plan, Japan plotted to annex Taiwan, conquer Korea, march into Manchuria and Mongolia, destroy China, occupy Asia, and finally conquer the world (after the outbreak of World War II, Japan's national policy was changed to establish a ruling order in East Asia). Among them, the conquest of Korea became the most critical breakthrough point.
In 1894, the Donggaku Party revolt broke out in Korea, and when the time came, Japan quickly sent troops to Korea, raided the Seoul Palace, and took control of the Korean royal court. After that, Japan fought without declaring war, sinking the Qing army ship Gaosheng in the Battle of Dadonggou Sea, thus triggering the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War.
Japanese troops raiding the Palace of the King of Seoul
After the Battle of Dadonggou, the Japanese Army quickly advanced northward, trying to wipe out the Qing forces stationed in Pyongyang in one fell swoop. Pyongyang's commander Ye Zhichao was ineffective in command, and finally escaped from the battle, causing heavy losses to the Qing army, and eventually Pyongyang fell. After the Battle of the Yellow Sea, the Japanese army eventually occupied all of Korea. More than 1,600 years after Japan's first invasion of the Korean Peninsula in 232 AD, Japan finally realized its ambition to completely occupy the Korean Peninsula.
A Deng Shichang could not save the decadent Qing Dynasty
After the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Dynasty relinquished suzerainty over Korea, after which Korea gradually became a Japanese colony. In August 1910, Japan forced the Korean Empire to sign the Treaty of Annexation and formally annexed the Korean Peninsula. Since then, Japan has stationed a large number of troops in Korea to support the operations of the Kwantung Army at any time, and Korea has become a springboard for Japan's invasion of China. After the "918 Incident", the Japanese 39th Mixed Brigade in Korea and the two squadrons under the command of the 6th Flying Wing in Pyongyang entered the northeast to reinforce the Kwantung Army.
In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China, and in order to support Japan's war of aggression, the Korean Peninsula became Japan's source of soldiers and logistics supply base. Throughout World War II, more than 240,000 Koreans were requisitioned by the Japanese Army and Navy, and 22,182 died on various battlefields. Another 7.32 million North Koreans were forced into hard labor, of which 860,000 were sent outside the Korean Peninsula. Throughout World War II, the Korean Peninsula under Japanese rule was completely reduced to a tool and springboard for Japan's war of aggression.
South Korean puppet army during World War II
In August 1945, the U.S. and Soviet armies liberated the Korean Peninsula, ending Japanese colonial rule and eventually gaining independence. Japan's aggressive ambitions against the Korean Peninsula were also finally dashed.
Reference: History of Japanese Aggression against Korea. Zhou Xingwang; Sino-Japanese War : The Fall of the Qing Empire; Shi Jian: The Sino-Korean War of Renchen joined forces to defeat Japan for two hundred years of peace; the Battle of Baijiangkou, which changed the pattern of the Silk Road in Northeast Asia
* This article is provided by the author and does not represent the position of Geo Valley