The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98 (Campaign) [Paperback]

Stephen Turnbull (Author), Peter Dennis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Campaign | Publication Date: July 22, 2008

The invasions of Korea launched by the dictator Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1592-1593 and 1597-1598) are unique in Japanese history for being the only time that the samurai assaulted a foreign country. Hideyoshi planned to invade and conquer China, ruled at the time by the Ming dynasty, and when the Korean court refused to allow his troops to cross their country, Korea became the first step in this ambitious plan of conquest. In 1592 a huge invasion force of 150,000 men landed at the ports of Busan and Tadaejin under the commanders Konishi Yukinaga and Kato Kiyomasa. These two Japanese divisions rapidly overran their Korean counterparts, taking the principal cities of Seoul and then Pyongyang and driving the remnants of the Korean Army into China. The Japanese division under Kato Kiyomasa even started to advance into Manchuria. However, the Korean strength was in their navy and the vital Korean naval victory of Hansando disrupted the flow of supplies to the invasion forces, forcing them to hold their positions around Pyongyang. In 1593, the Chinese invaded capturing Pyongyang from the Japanese and driving them southwards. This phase of the war ended in a truce, with the Japanese forces withdrawing into enclaves around the southern port of Busan while the Ming armies largely withdrew to China. In 1597, following the breakdown in negotiations, the Japanese invaded again with a force of 140,000 men. However, the Chinese and Koreans were now better prepared and the advance came to a halt south of Seoul, and then forced the Japanese southwards. In November 1598 Hideyoshi died, and with him the enthusiasm for the military adventure. The Japanese council of regents ordered the withdrawal of the remaining forces, and the naval battle of Noryang, which saw the Japanese fleet annihilated by the Korean admiral Yi-Sunshin, proved to be the last significant act of the conflict.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Stephen Turnbull's The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98 is for any collection of early military history and covers the early invasions of Korea launched by Japanese dictator Hideyoshi: a unique event in that he was the only samurai to invade a foreign country - and planned to move from Korea to China." -The California Bookwatch (October 2008)

"Like all Osprey titles, it is highly recommended and one that you will find as fascinating a read as did I." -Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness (August 2008)

About the Author

Stephen Turnbull is recognized as one of the world's foremost military historians of the medieval and early modern periods. He first rose to prominence as a result of his 1977 book, The Samurai: A Military History. Since then he has achieved an equal fame in writing about European military subjects and has had 30 books published. He has always tried to concentrate on the less familiar areas of military history, in particular such topics as Korea, Eastern Europe, the Baltic states and the Teutonic Knights. The author lives in Leeds, UK.

Peter Dennis was born in 1950. Inspired by contemporary magazines such as Look and Learn he studied illustration at Liverpool Art College. Peter has since contributed to hundreds of books, predominantly on historical subjects.The illustrator lives in Nottinghamshire, UK.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (July 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1846032547
• ISBN-13: 978-1846032547
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 0.3 x 9.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #15 in Books > History > Military > Korean War
  • #43 in Books > History > Asia > Korea

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Turnbull's 2002 edition was superb, but this volume is disappointing..., October 19, 2008

By 

JC (USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98 (Campaign) (Paperback)

I enjoyed Turnbull's 2002 edition "Samurai Invasion," but this 2008 version really disappointed me. There is really no new information or insight added from his previous book. But the real disappointment is that it is very dry and boring to read. His elegant and captivating writings from the 2002 classic is missing and the readers are only left with a 90 pager book full of colorful, fancy illustrations.

The publisher 'Cassel & Co." is not reprinting his 2002 edition anymore, so perhaps that prompted him to write a new, inferior book.

7 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Biased and not informative enough, September 12, 2009

By 

Taichiman (MIAMI, FL United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98 (Campaign) (Paperback)

I was looking for a condensed version of the Samurai Invasion by the same author with lot more pictures on it but I was dissapointed. There are fewer illustrations than I expected. A major weakness of the book is that Turnbull offers no insight whatsoever on the tactics and strategies of the Ming (Chinese) army which makes the book greatly incomplete!

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shorter version of his earlier work., July 28, 2008

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98 (Campaign) (Paperback)

Stephen Turnbull's The Samurai Invasion of Korea 1592-98 is part of the Osprey Campaign series. Like in most other Turnbull's books, this book proves to be well written, clearly explained and well researched about a subject matter that very few Americans would have any inking about.

The book basically summarized the Japanese invasion of Kingdom of Korea during the 1590s. This was Japan's only act of aggression against a foreign nation until the modern period. The book followed the typical Osprey Campaign model, giving the background, commanders and unit types before hitting the ground running with very nice narrative of the seven year campaign of Taiko Toyotomi Hideyoshi's efforts to rule eastern Asia. I thought the maps, drawings and photographs inserted into this book were quite good and very helpful.

Interestingly, the author often points out his other books that he has written for Osprey to tell the readers that if they wanted to know more, then read this book or that depending on the subject matter pertaining to the war.

If there is a pitfall in this book, this book is basically a shorter version of Turnbull's earlier work, Samurai Invasion that came out in 2004. The author's claims that in this current book, he gave a more balance account of the war. Having read the older book first before reading this book, amount of balance don't seem to justified getting this book if you owned the older book already.

It is also interesting that Stephen Turnbull failed to give some realistic reasons for the cause of this war. He apparently believed that this war was a result of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's megalomaniac dream of an Asian Empire or something that seem more out of some historical TV drama then real history.

But overall, this is a fine book about a subject matter little known to most Americans and Turnbull's gives clarity to the campaign that well reflects his expert knowledge of Japanese history. It is interesting to note that this campaign foretold the collapse of the two major powers that fought so hard over Korea, Ming Dynasty that fell to the Manchus while Toyotomi family that fell to the Tokugawa family.