Korea has a long military history going back several thousand years, with an extensive series of wars that involved invasions, civil discord, counter-piracy actions against medieval Japan, the first use of armoured battleships in seabattles, and the devastation of rebellions against the Joseon era Japanese invasions, the forced peace after the Russo-Japanese War as well as the Korean War, and activities in the Vietnam War, and peacekeeping actions abroad since then. Joseon or Chosun (Korean: 조선; Hanja: 朝鮮; Revised: Joseon; McCune-Reischauer: Chosŏn; Chinese: Cháoxiǎn; Japanese: Chōsen) is a name for Korea, as used in the following cases: As part of the name of several ancient kingdoms (including Gojoseon, Gija Joseon, and Wiman Joseon); During most of the Joseon... Greater Manchuria, Russian (outer) Manchuria is region to upper right in lighter Red; Liaodong Peninsula is the wedge extending into the Yellow Sea The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) was an extremely bloody conflict that grew out of the rival imperialist ambitions of Russia and Japan in Manchuria and Korea. ... The Korean War (Korean: 한국전쟁/韓國戰爭), from June 25, 1950 to cease-fire on July 27, 1953 (technically speaking, the war has not yet ended), was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea. ... The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN, or North Vietnam), allied with the National Liberation Front (NLF, or Viet Cong) against the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam), and its allies—notably the United States military in support of...

This article will look at the entire history of the Korean military in brief from ancient beginnings, through the late 19th century; and with great brevity on the 20th century before 1945.

See also

• Military of South Korea
• Military of Korea
• History of Korea
• Military history