Strategic and Operational Aspects of Japan's Invasions of Korea, 1592- 1598Rockstein, Edward D., JUN 1993.
This paper reviews the events leading up to and comprising the Japanese invasions of Korea 1591-1598. It attempts to place these events in their historical context for perspective and then to employ the events as historical example for gaining new insights into warfare, strategy, policy and East Asia. Based on the history of the invasions, the paper discusses a gamut of issues which may be examined profitably in the light of the events studies. These include what happens when a predominantly maritime power fights a predominantly land power the virtues of offense versus defense the effects of poor integration of various types of forces into a war effort the criticality of maintaining lines of communication command and control issues operational tempo the impact of technological advancement on warfare deception and surprise guerrilla warfare and war termination issues, inter alia. Finally, the paper discusses the positive impact which Korean brown water dominance had on the fortunes of their war efforts over the course of the war.