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siege of Ulsan

{{Short description|1598 siege}}

{{Infobox military conflict

| conflict = First siege of Ulsan

| partof = the Imjin War

| image = ChousenSyupei.jpg

| caption = Joseon and Ming dynasty soldiers assault the Japanese-built fortress at Ulsan

| date = 29 January – 19 February 1598

| place = Ulsan Japanese Castle, Ulsan, Southern Korean Peninsula

| casus =

| territory =

| result = Japanese Victory
Withdrawal of Korean and Ming Forces

| combatant1 = Joseon and Ming dynasty

| combatant2 = Japanese army

| commander1 = Ming:
Yang Hao
Ma Gui
Joseon:
Gwon Yul

| commander2 = Ulsan castle
Katō Kiyomasa
Asano Yoshinaga
Reinforcements
Mōri Hidemoto
Nabeshima Naoshige
Hachisuka Iemasa
Kuroda Nagamasa

| strength1 = Ming: 40,000{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=491}}
Joseon: 10,000{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=491}}

| strength2 = Ulsan castle: 10,000 - 23,000{{Cite web|url=https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2020/07/siege-of-ulsan.html|title=Siege of Ulsan | Great Ming Military|date=April 20, 2021}}
Reinforcements: 13,000{{cite web|url=https://dl.ndl.go.jp/info:ndljp/pid/936355/204|title=日本戦史. 朝鮮役 （本編・附記）|language=Japanese|work=National Diet Library of Japan}}{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=495}}

| strength3 =

| casualties1 = According to Ming sources:
1,621 killed{{cite web|url=https://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2019/08/critique-samuel-hawley-p2.html|title=A critique of Samuel Hawley's The Imjin War: Japan's Sixteenth-Century Invasion of Korea and Attempt to Conquer China — Part 2: The second invasion|work=Great Ming Military|date=16 August 2019}}
2,908 wounded

20,000 killedhttps://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%8E%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7320 明史/卷320 "鎬不及下令，策馬西奔，諸軍皆潰。遂撤兵還王京，士卒物故者二萬。上聞之，震怒。"

https://zh.m.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%8E%E5%8F%B2/%E5%8D%B7259 明史/卷259 "諸營上軍籍，士卒死亡殆二萬"

https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E6%98%8E%E5%8F%B2%E7%B4%80%E4%BA%8B%E6%9C%AC%E6%9C%AB/%E5%8D%B762 明史紀事本末/卷62 "諸營上簿書，士卒亡者二萬。"

According to Japanese sources:
10,386 killed『浅野家文書』 中野等 『文禄・慶長の役』 吉川弘文館〈戦争の日本史16〉、2008年、236頁

According to Korean sources:

3000-4000 killed當日諸軍撤還之際, 水陸 倭賊 , 合兵追撃, 至于三十里之外。 唐軍死者無數, 或云三千, 或云四千, 其中 盧參將 一軍, 則以在後, 幾盡覆沒云, 而軍中諱言, 時未知其的數矣。 大抵無端撤軍, 賊乘其後, 蒼黄奔北, 自取敗衄, 弓矢、鎧仗, 投棄盈路, 以至藉寇, 安有如此痛哭之事? 言之無及。『朝鮮王朝実録・宣祖実録』

tens of thousandshttps://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wna_13107015_002　『朝鮮王朝実録』”稱恤島山陣亡者, 不下數萬”

10,000https://sillok.history.go.kr/id/wna_13108029_002　『朝鮮王朝実録』”丁主事言: ‘島山喪師, 至於一萬。”

| casualties2 = ~9,000{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=495}} - 20,000+

| casualties3 =

| notes =

}}

{{Campaignbox Seven-Year War}}

The siege of Ulsan ({{ko-hhrm|울산성 전투|{{linktext|蔚|山|城|戰|鬪}}|Ulsanseong Jeontu}}) was an unsuccessful Ming-Joseon attempt to capture Ulsan from the Japanese. The siege lasted from 26 January to 19 February 1598.

Background

Yang Hao, Ma Gui, and Gwon Yul met up at Gyeongju on the 26 January 1598 and marched on Ulsan with an army of 50,000.{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=491}}

Battle

The allied army reached Ulsan on 29 January.{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=491}}

The battle began with a false retreat that lured the Japanese garrison into a frontal attack. They were defeated with 500 losses and were forced to retreat to Tosan fortress. The allies occupied the city of Ulsan.{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=491}}

On 30 January the allies bombarded the fortress and then took the outer wall of Tosan. The Japanese abandoned much of their food supplies and retreated into the inner fortress. The allies assaulted the inner fortress, at one point even taking a portion of the wall, but suffered heavy casualties. Their cannons were of no help since the fortress was situated too high to reach. Eventually the attack was called off, and a long siege began.{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=491}}

On 19 February the allied forces attacked again and were repelled. Seeing Japanese reinforcements arrive, Yang Hao decided to lift the siege and retreat, but the disorganized movement led to many stragglers being cut down by the Japanese, leading to heavy casualties.{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=495}}

Aftermath

Joseon and Ming forces losses according to Ming sources numbered 798 killed at the battle and a further 823 dead by injuries for a total of 1,621 dead. The wounded reached 2,908.

According to Hawley, the Japanese garrison at Ulsan Castle numbered 10,000 men, with less than 1,000 surviving the siege. Two Japanese historical sources claim the Japanese garrison numbered either 20,000 or 23,000.

According to official records, Kato Kiyomasa had a maximum of 10,000 soldiers,豊臣秀吉朱印状 Asano Yukinaga had a maximum of 3,000 soldiers, and even if some other soldiers are included, the maximum number is thought to be about 15,000. These are the numbers ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the actual number of soldiers mobilized was often less than this. This was the case throughout the Japanese military during the Imjin War.

Yang Hao would ultimately be called back to Beijing for his failure at Ulsan on 12 August 1598.{{sfn|Hawley|2005|p=518}}

Citations

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{{Refend}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ulsan 1598, 1st}}

Category:Sieges of the Imjin War

Category:1598 in Korea

Category:Conflicts in 1598

Category:History of Ulsan

Category:Sieges involving China

Category:Battles involving the Ming dynasty

Category:Attacks on castles in Korea

Category:Encirclements