Imjin War

The Imjin War, also called the Japanese invasions of Korea, was fought from 1592 to 1598 after the Japanese daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi, having unified Japan, launched an invasion of Joseon Korea intending to use it as a corridor for the conquest of Ming China. Japanese forces initially swept across the Korean peninsula with modern arquebus firearms, capturing the capital Hanseong (Seoul) and Pyongyang within months, but the tide turned as Ming China intervened on Korea's behalf and the Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin won a remarkable series of naval victories, most famously at Hansando in 1592, using the armored "turtle ship" to repeatedly cut Japanese supply lines. A prolonged stalemate followed a failed 1596 peace negotiation, and Hideyoshi launched a second invasion in 1597 that was likewise contained; his death in 1598 prompted a full Japanese withdrawal. The war devastated Korea, left Ming China financially and militarily weakened ahead of its own collapse, and delayed Japanese overseas ambitions for nearly three centuries.