Imperial Korean Armed Forces

The Imperial Korean Armed Forces were the military of the Korean Empire, which ended in 1910 when the Imperial Japanese Army annexed the empire and occupied Korea. They succeeded the Joseon Army and Navy through the Gwangmu Reform, which reorganized the military on a modern western model. Modernization had been urged in 1895, and Russian instructors led by Dmitry Putyata trained a select palace guard from 1896. Emperor Gojong set up a Board of Marshals to centralize control, and the Capital Guards, known as the Siwidae, grew from battalions into regiments with cavalry and artillery, reaching about three thousand men by 1902. From 1904 Japan, which had forced the Japan-Korea Treaty of February 1904 on Korea, pressed to shrink the force, and the 1905 treaty led to the disbanding of the navy and reductions in the guards. The article also covers the dissolution and resistance that followed.