Sumeragi
Banned
In the mountainous battlefield of Korea which has numerous fortresses, a longbow is a liability in that it is difficult to carry around in the geography while being able to make quick nips at the enemy. In addition, Korean composite bows have been known to easily pierce the armor of the Japanese. Basically, as long as close combat was avoided, the Joseon troops did fairly well in battle OTL-wise.I'm not sure I buy your argument Sumeragi. Against Japanese armor, why are composite bows different than longbows?
1. The longbow is too cumbersome to carry around when compared to the firearms. This is not the case with composite bows.In Europe, longbows gave way to firearms and pikemen. Why not in Asia too? As, ultimately, they did.
2. In terms of geography, Korea is more mountainous than most of the main European battlfields. In the relatively flat European geography, the use of pikemen were effective in stopping cavalry, which is the main reason they were deployed in the first place. Cavalry is a secondary force in Korea, and thus the need for pikemen decreases relatively.
3. The firearms of this era are not accurate or fast-shooting enough to have the advantage in every single battlefield. As noted above, the geography favored the bow and arrows in relatively long-range combat.
Basically, Korean geography does not favor firearms of the era in question as much as in Europe. To try and say the success in Europe would be replicated easily in Korea is basically ignoring the reality on the ground.