Hey!
How could we make Korea much, much, MUCH more strong and Japan and China much less strong than OTL?
Korea takes parts of OTL Russia`s Far East (before Russia can take them), Sakhalin, even takes over whole Japan and big parts of Manchuria.... MAYBE (not a must) even parts of Alaska....
How could we make that all happen, that Korea just does everything right? I mean, on PLAUSIBLE ways. No ASB-stuff or something....
The result should be like this (or similar) at 1900:
I'm currently tackling this in my TL (see sig below), although it is taking an extremely long time because I have to go through numerous Korean sources. The areas around the Katmatchka Peninsula are extremely unlikely, and I honestly don't think that Japan can be held for long, much less the entire country, but the rest are certainly possible.
Problem is Japan has a much higher population. With the right European allies at the right times Japan and China could be crippled. But this is very difficult without an early POD.
Korea's population stagnated for almost a millennia due to countless invasions, and even decreased significantly during the Mongol and Japanese invasions. Considering that Japan's population did not exceed that of the peninsula until around 1200 or so, however, if Korea had managed to retain more land for centuries, presumably with a PoD before 450 or so, or if Goryeo had managed to successfully extend territory further north, it would have most likely retained a much larger population base.
An early POD is essential. One of the biggest problems Korea faces is an overzealous Confucian faction who wanted nothing to do with the outside world and would do everything they could to stop Korea making the necessary reforms.
Yes, although it took a few centuries after Joseon's foundation in 1395 for the court to greatly influence the monarch, mostly due to weak rulers. A PoD before 1200 or so in order to retain Buddhism as the state religion would probably be necessary, although Gwanghaegun (1608-23) retaining the throne would be another possibility.
A Three Kingdoms Era POD maybe?
Have the expansionist Goguryeo be the victor of the Korean unification (rather than Silla) and have them continue to integrate Manchuria and assimilate the Tungusic Tribes there. That'd give Korea a much, much larger population base to work off of.
Considering Goguryeo was Buddhist and was opposed to Chinese influence in Korea, I doubt they'd look kindly on the decidedly Chinese Confucian thought entering Korea.
Basically, yes, although Silla technically never unified the "Three" Kingdoms, as Balhae eventually recovered most of Goguryeo's former territory. Sosurim (371-84) had also established Taehak institutions, which promoted Confucian thought, in order to create a stable educational base, so I don't think that the ideology would be much of an issue.
Since I'm trying for this myself, I'm watching the thread with interest. Things I did in Japan were to extend an alternate north/southern courts era and strengthen Confucianism and certain trade in an attempt to undercut any rise of the warrior class.
For Korea I've done something similar to this thread's suggestions. Jurchens take Korea and are assimilated for the most part as an alternate-Jin dynasty with a greater focus on Manchuria and associated tribes. Notably, they settled Christian (Sryian/Nestorian) Mongols on their western border to fight off militant Buddhist steppe kingdoms.
It would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the Jurchen to take over the entire peninsula. Goryeo resisted both the Khitan and the Mongols for decades, and the Jurchen never made a serious attempt to invade Korea precisely because they had absorbed and admired Balhae and Goryeo's culture to a significant extent. In any case, any invasion from the north would be fiercely resisted by the Korean military anywhere from a few years to several decades until the outsiders eventually leave.
I heard that Korea controlled at times in history extensive parts of Manchuria, and even reached as far as Sakhalin. If you have a somewhat more expansionist Korea, which conquers, colonizes, and full assimilates those regions to Korea, then you can probably have Korea "out-balance" Japan.
Stuff like Kamchatka, and the Alaskan islands, though, I think would be out of Korea's reach until modernization. Territories like Shandong and what appears to be a Shanghai concession would require defeating China in battle (so would pushing that far west into Manchuria, for that matter). As Korea only controls those territories, and nothing in between or else, I assume it's a modern addition, as a Mongol/Manchu conquest would require absorbing a lot more.
Basically, if you get the extension into Manchuria, and Sakhalin, then Korea's population base might grow enough so that it could effectively replace Japan as "China's serious rival in the East." Then, if Korea pulls its own Meiji, it can take the harder of the territories to get, annex Japan through a reverse of OTL, etc.
Gojoseon held a significant amount of Manchuria, along with Liaodong and Liaoxi, while Goguryeo and Balhae held almost half of Manchuria at their heights, although I don't think that any of them controlled Sakhalin. Manchuria, with the exception of Liaodong, was already considered as an integral part of Korea by the time that Goguryeo had been established, as Buyeo had controlled most of the southern regions before then. In addition, the Mohe were either composed of ethnic Yemaek tribes, or had already assimilated into Korean culture by 400-500, which was the reason why Balhae was established only 30 years after Goguryeo's downfall. In other words, Southern Manchuria was certainly within Korean influence by the time that the Sui invaded Goguryeo, although the peninsula would need to be unified in order for Korea to retain control of the region.
However, I agree that taking areas near Kamchatka, along with Japan, would be extremely unlikely, as later Korean states had claims to Manchuria through Gojoseon, Buyeo, Goguryeo, and Balhae, but the same is not true for the other regions, which would be considered "outside" Korea's sphere of influence. No Korean state ever expanded into foreign territory IOTL since Gojoseon, and it would be extremely difficult for any state in an alternate scenario to permanently retain territory outside of Manchuria.
Problems with this:
A big advantage Japan had was being further outside the Chinese sphere; whereas Korea was always a bit too close to the Chinese heartland, Japan's separation by a decently sized sea meant that compared to the other countries near China, Japan could always afford to be a bit more independent. Case in point; the Imjin War was representative of Japan's position giving it an independent enough status to contest China for local hegemony, something which Korea, being too close to the Chinese core, and not strong enough to maintain itself as a serious competitor (which may even still be the case if she absorbs the extra base territories in Manchuria and Sakhalin) could not do.
Not necessarily. The biggest issue is unification, which was never achieved IOTL. Goguryeo managed to hold out against the Sui and Tang for 70 years, even though it had to simultaneously fight a second front against Silla. In addition, internal issues, along with the Silla-Tang alliance, contributed to its downfall, which could have been easily avoided with a unified political entity within the peninsula. Balhae also maintained a separate identity from China for more than two centuries, while Goryeo had a few opportunities to expand further north as well, although the nomadic states ultimately prevented them from retaining territory within Manchuria.
