07-27-2006, 04:13 PM
The test of a successful military machine is: can it beat a foreign equivalent? The dictator Hideyoshi sent a huge army to conquer China, made up for the most part of veterans of the recently concluded series of civil wars. It was probably about as good an army as the samurai ever had. It never got all the way through Korea. Nobody makes a big deal over the martial prowess of the Koreans, but they stopped and repelled an invading samurai army despite being saddled with one of the most inept and cowardly kings who ever lived. In fact, reading accounts of that war, it's hard to decide who deserved to lose more. The Japanese leadership was utterly incompetent with generals contending for individual glory instead of cooperating for victory. The Korean leadership was about as bad, with a few brilliant exceptions like Admiral Yi. The king always punished any hint of military competence because he feared any successful general as a rival. In the end, it was the population who were determined to expel the invading army and succeeded.
Pecunia non olet
