Koreawank scenario

With a POD of no earlier than 1850 what events can result in Korea industrializing and modernizing like Japan and possibly building a large empire?
 
Or China could simply fall into civil war.
I have to say, with a POD after 1850, there are a lot of potentials for China falling into civil war- not the Qing Dynasty's height by any means... for one thing, there are the Taiping...

And let's see, my knowledge of Korean history is shaky, but wasn't there a faction in the court (Queen Min may have been involved) which did want to undergo modernization and have closer relations with Japan, but in the end the "Hermit Kingdom" faction which wanted to resist change won out? Could reversing that have an effect? (Though closer relations with Japan seems possible to lead to colony of Japan)
 
I have to say, with a POD after 1850, there are a lot of potentials for China falling into civil war- not the Qing Dynasty's height by any means... for one thing, there are the Taiping...

And let's see, my knowledge of Korean history is shaky, but wasn't there a faction in the court (Queen Min may have been involved) which did want to undergo modernization and have closer relations with Japan, but in the end the "Hermit Kingdom" faction which wanted to resist change won out? Could reversing that have an effect? (Though closer relations with Japan seems possible to lead to colony of Japan)

Queen Min's faction wanted closer relations with Russia but then Korea could simply have become a Russian colony.
 
If Japan doesn't modernize it might not pose a threat to Korea, allowing Korea to be the aggressive, expansionist neighbor in the 30s, invading China,
and it's Korea bombing Pearl Harbor...?
 
If Japan doesn't modernize it might not pose a threat to Korea, allowing Korea to be the aggressive, expansionist neighbor in the 30s, invading China,
and it's Korea bombing Pearl Harbor...?

Korea isn't crazy enough to bomb Pearl Harbor or to invade China proper [though they'll probably occupy Manchuria but that didn't piss off the Americans in OTL]
 
Korea isn't crazy enough to bomb Pearl Harbor or to invade China proper [though they'll probably occupy Manchuria but that didn't piss off the Americans in OTL]
A super-Korea would have more reason to invade China than Japan did OTL- Japan was paranoid about its own security and wanted to control China to make sure China could not threaten Japan or western powers could not use China as a base to take Japan. This was the same motivation that led to them taking Korea, the "dagger pointed at the heart of the Japanese nation". This paranoia is what led to the programs of massive reform as well.

These are exacerbated in the case of Korea, which shares a land border with China, and so is in an inferior defensive position. An outward looking Korea will probably attempt an occupation of southern Manchuria as soon as the 1911 Revolution (assuming it or something like it occurs). Conflict with Russia is inevitable. Conflict with Japan is also inevitable, probably before conflict with China or Russia.

And if you plop Korea down in the situation that Japan faced itself in 1941 (which would be a kind of boring and unlikely ATL, but ignore that), why not attack Pearl Harbor? It's the base of American strength in the Pacific Ocean, and Korea wouldn't have the oil or metal resources that Japan didn't have, so it would be hit just as hard by an embargo...
 
Additionally, parts of Manchuria have ethnic Korean populations and were part of the ancient state of Goguryo. Korean irredentism would give them ample reason to try and sieze that territory.
 
The 1860's and early 1870's would be the best time for a PoD. There were French and American attempts to force open Korea but they remained isolationist until the Japanese forced them open in 1877. There were plans for a joint French-American punitive expedition against Korea but it never eventuated due to lack of interest.

If a joint expedition forced the Koreans to open in about 1868, it could work. Korean Christians were pushing for an alliance with France in 1866, in this scenario the Koreans might become close to France and the United States, advanced powers far enough removed from Korea to not really threaten it. American and French missionaries flood in, and the cultural predelictions that have allowed the boom of Christianity in OTL Korea would happen even earlier here.

Not sure what would happen with Korea and Japan, and Korea and Russia. Korea and Japan would become natural rivals, but both countries would likely have an interest in checking Russian ambitions in the region. Korean expansionism would be aimed at China, not Japan so much. It'd be very interesting.
 
The 1860's and early 1870's would be the best time for a PoD. There were French and American attempts to force open Korea but they remained isolationist until the Japanese forced them open in 1877. There were plans for a joint French-American punitive expedition against Korea but it never eventuated due to lack of interest.

If a joint expedition forced the Koreans to open in about 1868, it could work. Korean Christians were pushing for an alliance with France in 1866, in this scenario the Koreans might become close to France and the United States, advanced powers far enough removed from Korea to not really threaten it. American and French missionaries flood in, and the cultural predelictions that have allowed the boom of Christianity in OTL Korea would happen even earlier here.

Not sure what would happen with Korea and Japan, and Korea and Russia. Korea and Japan would become natural rivals, but both countries would likely have an interest in checking Russian ambitions in the region. Korean expansionism would be aimed at China, not Japan so much. It'd be very interesting.

In this scenario Korea and Japan might divide China with Korea getting Manchuria and Japan getting Taiwan and the Shandong peninsula. Also Korea could join the Central Powers since Japan would ally with the British.
 
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