Korea's Technological Connections to the Rest of the World: The Crossbow

From the moment we discovered it, we always depended on technology- there's no denying it. With the tools our human ancestors first created, daily tasks became easier, which eventually made our lives easier. Agricultural tools promoted massive crop productions,utility tools provided cleaner, more secure homes, and most importantly, weapons gave men the ability to hunt, trap, and even conquer.

I've noticed some similarities between ancient Korean, European, and American weaponry before their industrial revolution. The first item for analysis is the automatic crossbow created by Korea.

This image is an excavated remnants of what is known to be a Bue-ine crossbow by Chosun, Korea. 

It is an automatic, self reloading crossbow used by Korean soldiers throughout the war with ancient Japan. 

The image at the right is a refurnished replica of the Bue-ine. 

Statistics are as follows:

- Fires 30cm-long darts

- Firing speed of 1 dart per 1.5 seconds

- Single fire and triple fire burst mode

- Dart magazine that can hold about 60 darts

- Name Bue-ine comes from Korean word "Wife" because the crossbow was so easy to operate that a housewife could operate it with great ease.

Although this crossbow was technologically obsolete to the ancient musket used by the Japanese invaders, its rapid fire capability was responsible for many Japanese casualties according to surviving war documents from the Chosun period.

Meanwhile, halfway across the globe, pre-modern Europe had their own version of the automatic crossbow. Their names for the weapon varied from region to region, but were most commonly known as the push/pull lever crossbow. The European crossbow used a similar design of the Bue-ine, but the only difference was its projectile: an aerodynamic, long-range-capable arrow. 

It's hard to debate which crossbow was more efficient in the battlefield. Although Bue-ine had a rapid fire rate and little to no reloading time, because of the short darts, it greatly lacked accuracy. The European crossbows however, mostly used feathered arrows, which proved to be dangerously accurate, but had a slower fire rate due to the manual reloads it required.

In my opinion, violence of action conquers all rules of engagement in a battle due to the level of threat rapid firing can cause. Furthermore, even though the Bue-ine lacked the power of the killing blow of a musket used by the Japanese, higher fire rate meant that it had a better chance of hitting a target due to its quantity rather than quality. 

Korea's Technological Connections to the Rest of the World: Iron Clad Ships

Iron Clad Ships of Korea, United States, and Confederate States:

In an age where technology was strictly limited due to the existence of electricity and other major factors that allow us to have what we have in the modern age, past civilizations had surprisingly advanced weaponry at their arsenal which allowed them to defend and conquer.

Before the invention of a use for electricity, pre-modern civilizations only had fire as a tool for forging and developing. But with fire alone, metals were able to be smelted, and with that metal, sturdy, nearly impenetrable warships arose.

Choson, Korea and United States were one of the first nations who developed iron clad ship and paved a path for floating impenetrable fortresses.

Choson created their fist iron clad ships during the Imjin War against ancient Japan (1592-1598). It was mainly built to withstand the heavy assault form the Japanese Navy. The ship was able to carry 80 oarsmen, 50 soldiers and 26 cannons. The ship mostly relied on oars for transportation due to it mainly fought in rough, narrow channels among the peninsula's minuscule islands. It's main features included an arched ceiling made of iron to prevent enemies from boarding in situation of close encounters.

Today, the remakes of the turtle ship features hundreds of metal pikes erecting from its arched ceiling. Creators say that the iron pikes were there to prevent ship boarding, but according to historical index, the ached back without the pikes were enough to prevent enemies from boarding due to the rough nature of the Korean seas.

Even though this ship proved to be impenetrable and very efficient for combat out at sea, the turtle ship never went through mass production. Records indicate that Choson never had more than a half dozen ships at a time; and after the Imjin War, the turtle ship production was permanently halted due to a lack of need for defense at sea.

300 Years later, the western side of the world saw its own iron clad ships in the 1800 during the Civil War. In fact, two iron clad ships emerged from two countries, which ultimately paved a path for the modern ship, capable of carrying more, traveling further and longer, and most importantly, invulnerable to oceanic storms.

Technically, the Confederate States of America was the first country in the west to create the iron clad ship on February 1862. The CSS Merrimack (Virginia) mainly one purpose: to break the Atlantic blockade at sea created by the Union to reopen the trade routes between themselves and Europe.

The Merrimack was capable of carrying 320 officers and men, had an underwater battering ram at the bow of the ship, carried one seven inch pivot mounted rifle, two six inch cannons, six nice inch cannons, and two twelve pound howitzers, and was powered by steam engines and boilers.

While the Confederates thought to have obtained water superiority, the Union responded with their own warship made of iron. The USS Monitor was commissioned on February 1862, was capable of carrying 59 officers and men, had a steam engine propulsion system, and  carried 2 by 11 280mm guns.

The two ships became a revolutionary icon for naval architects in the 1800's and in the battle of the Merrimack and Monitor on March 8, 1862, the Merrimack made its first appearance and sank two Union ships before the Monitor engaged its iron rival at the Hampton Roads. The battle lasted for two days, but in the end, the fierce fighting resulted in a draw and the two ships never met the day of full utilization.

In the end, we can agree that the first iron clad ships were among its first and proved its usefulness to the world. Today, unlike the irony of the service time of the indestructible ships of the past, iron ships run and defend the world with massive cargo ships hauling thousands of carts of goods across the Atlantic and Pacific while battleships and aircraft carriers guard and defend the world from pirates and other sea-born threats.

Korea's Technological Connections to the Rest of the World: Gates

Gates never went through a significant technological revolution, a small percentage of all gates created by mankind represented significant events in human history, which is what they are remembered for- as well as their great size. Great gates symbolizing the achievements of a country or society can be found across the world- including South Korea today, which connects its technological icons with the rest of the world's.

The Dokripmun, Independence Gate, is the great arched gate of South Korea which can be found in Seoul, South Korea, was built to announce the country's independence under the constant harassment of Ching, China and Japan. 

The construction of Independence Gate began in 1896 and finished in 1897. During that time period, the fear of an annex of the country by either China or Japan. Unfortunately, Japan won the war of Ching-Japan War in 1896 and eventually annexed Korea in 1910. 

The gate still stands and today, but instead of standing for Korea's independence under chaos before the end of World War II , the gate symbolizes all the hardships Korea undergone in order to become completely independent from foreign countries after Japan's surrender in World War II and their withdrawal from Korea in 1945.

Arc de Triomphe, or the Arc of Triumph, stands as one of the most famous architecture of Paris, France. The arch was built to honor the fallen soldiers of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Underneath the arc lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers which hold all unidentifiable deceased soldiers from World War I.

The Arc's construction began in 1806 and was inaugurated in 1836. The arc itself was used as the root designs for the Independence gate of South Korea.

Last but not least, on the American side of the world, stands the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. This icon of Missouri was built o symbolize as a gate into the western territory during America's western expansion as it stands on the Mississippi River.

The construction of the metallic beast began on 1963 and was completed on 1965 after a slight struggle to conjoin the two parts of the superstructure into one when nature of the how summer hear bent the steel foundation and separated the two final tips off by a couple feet. Fortunately, when the engineers first recognized the flaw of their design, firefighters were ordered to hose down the two ends with a cold hose to keep the metal from bending and therefore, the arch was completed without any major problems.

Other than these three gates in Korea,France, and the United States, many other symbolic gates stand across the world. They were all built for different reasons, but overall, they were all built to commemorate the accomplishments of a society or to remember a day which would never be forgotten. 

Korea's Technological Connections to the Rest of the World: Firearms

While the Choson Navy ultimately emerged victoriously under the leadership of Admiral Yi, during the Imjin War, Choson, Korea- other than in number of soldiers- severely lacked in the number of firearms and its effectiveness due to the muskets, or Arquebuses, used by Japanese troops.

Even though gunpowder was around for hundreds of years as it was utilized in fireworks and cannons, when Japan invaded the Korean peninsula, they stormed the Korean coasts with a frightening new weapon which, when correctly utilized, destroyed the Choson forces. The Arquebus musket was far more advanced, frightening, and deadlier than the bows and other ranged weapons used by Korea; therefore, had no chance repelling the Japanese invaders on land. It was only by defeating the Japanese at sea that the enemy's supply line was cut and forced the Japanese to retreat due to starvation.

I believe that the Arbescus was able to make it to the hand of the Japanese due to their open-door policy toward foreign trading compared to the closed-door policy of the Choson bureaucracy. The musket technology eventually made it to Korean armories once Choson soldiers commandeered the weapons from fallen Japanese troops.

However, before Choson was introduced to the "Jo-chong" by the Japanese, they were experimenting with a gunpowder weapon of their own. However, it was so inefficient that the Choson muskets never made records- at least to the world wide web or Korean history books. My assumption is that the lack of efficiency came from its design and the way it was used. These 'ancient blunderbusses' were exactly what I said it was: portable cannons.

The weapon was extremely inaccurate due to the fact that these miniature cannons required to be hand-held, had poor range, and was engineered out of a quick need to respond against the Japanese muskets. Either way, Choson repelled the Japanese thanks to the leadership of Admiral Yi.

Korea's Unique, One of a Kind's

Koreans were resourceful, and from the weapons they create to combat their enemies, there is no doubting it. Although these weapons never existed in Europe or America according to records, I believe that the Hwacha and Gum-cha deserves their own short segment.

The first weapon which was creatively engineered to utilized the sloped terrains of the Korean landscape was the Gum-cha or the (sworded-carts).

The weaponized carts were created by Koryo, Korea around 1010 under the rule of King Hyunjong to combat the Khitan invaders, utilized by general Kangjo, of the Koryo army. The carts created an important strategy to combat: weakening the enemy formations before a soldier-to-soldier engagement. The key to the carts were surprise and gravity. What Kangjo often did was before a full engagement against enemy troops, he would position his soldiers atop a hill while concealing several dozen carts among the formations of his men. Once the enemy decided to make the first move by charging, that was when the carts revealed itself and rushed toward the vulnerable enemies. 

The design was as simple as its method of use. The only item that proved to be crucial when designing this weapon was a stable, sturdy cart capable of carrying about dozen spears or pikes, a shield to keep the weapons stable and pointed towards the enemy, and reasonable weight distribution to keep the cart rolling in a straight line. The biggest challenge for developers was an easy, time saving method to keep the cart stable when moving. 

The answer was: more wheels, which proved to spread the weight of the cart more equally, thus keeping the direction of motion in one direction rather than shifting back and forth as the cart struggled to find the cart's center of gravity as it sped downhills.

The Gum-cha also had a sister weapon which used arrows and rockets mostly to inflict fear rather than casualties in psychological warfare. Hwacha's (arrow carts) were also common weapons used by the land troops before engaging a large army. 

Each cart carried about 100 to 200 arrows each strapped to a small firework rocket connected to a universal fuse which could propel an arrow out to about 200-400 feet. The arrows were designed to be twice the length of an average arrow and a relatively average sized arrowhead to keep the arrow the arrow stable while airborne and eventually land with its arrow-tip downward where the enemy would be.

However, rather than relying on the casualties the arrows would inflict upon the enemy- which with small amounts of arrows often penetrated through the enemy- the cart was built to produce a sight of awe in order to temporarily disorientate the enemy before a frontal engagement. In the end, victories were always determined by numbers, morale, and skill of arms.

Although these carts never paved a path for better, more reliable weapons of fear and surprise, they were indeed creative and got the job done. Since the carts are declared to be used by Koryo, it is reasonable to assume that Koryo was able to keep its dynasties and defend its land for such a long time partially through creative ingenuity.

The Scientist

Everything must come from somewhere in order to be in existence, according to physics, nothing can just appear out of thin air. Same goes for inventions and engineered goods: inventors and engineers are always required to create such goods. Up to date, hundreds thousands of useful, clever inventions were recorded and utilized by mankind to make daily routines simpler and time-saving so we as a society can generally get more done.

When asked to name a famous scientist from pre-modern Korea, most Korean students would offer the name Jang Young-Sil, who created many useful objects for the Choson dynasty. 

Records indicate that Jang Young-Sil was born on 1390 into a slave status and was taken from home at the age of 10 to a local government building to work as a repairman and caretaker of mechanical equipment. But due to his incredible skills with his hand, his skill was eventually noticed by King Sejong- who notoriously encouraged intellectual and technological studies and advancement in the country- and was given a bureaucratic position as with a slave status at the age 32. 

Jang Young-Sil's main task was to act as a technological emissary for Choson and learn the technologies of China. Upon his return, the scientist went off to work right away. He created several refurnished Chinese inventions such as the sundial, water clock, star dials, and other devices used for observing the change of nature. His greatest invention was probably the Korean rain gauge or the Chuk-ou-gi. Jang-Young-Sil's main interest was agriculture which made the rain gauge an extremely useful invention to farmers across the country; it was able to record rainfall and show patterns of monthly droughts and monsoons, which was crucial to a successful harvest.

Unfortunately, the scientist's career in government came to an unexpected end when a carriage he designed for Sejong unpredictably collapsed with the King inside and was accused of conspiring against the country at the age of 53. After getting banished from his bureaucratic seat, he was believed to have died on 1450 around the age of 60.

But despite his dishonorable end to a more than honorable life and legacy, he is remembered of the great passion and service he offered for Korean science.