Long before the invention of the modern machine gun, the Korean military developed remarkable mass-volley weapons designed to defend mountainous fortresses and borders against large enemy forces.
In this video, we explore the Wata, a family of multiple-shot volley weapons, including the five-shot Oano and the remarkable Haaga, a massive weapon system capable of firing up to 50 shots in rapid succession.
We also look at the bizarre Mouas, designed with a winged-tiger-shaped wooden chassis to intimidate enemy soldiers and horses, and discover how these weapons were deployed in a defensive square formation.
At its most impressive, this formation could unleash a staggering 5,000 shots in all directions, creating one of the closest things to a machine gun on an 18th-century battlefield.
Discover how these ingenious Korean weapons worked and why they were such a terrifying sight to opposing armies.
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The need for the Koreans to defend its isolated and mountainous border fortifications against
mounted barbarians of the north gave rise to a trend of developing massed volley weapons
such as the Hwacha. Such multiple-shot gun platforms were very effective in countering
large numbers of enemies with as few defenders as possible. The Oyeonjapo, meaning the five-shot
volley gun, was mounted on a cart to release a burst of lead bullets at incoming enemies
from all five of its 3.4-centimeter-wide gun barrels. But the Jungwon Pilbi, a guidebook
on 18th-century Joseon Dynasty military tactics, describes a fascinating new type of Hwacha,
also called a Hwaga. It stacks on a cart five racks of Sipyeonjapo, or the ten-shot volley gun,
to form a massive wall of gun barrels able to fire 50 shots in rapid succession,
in essence creating the closest thing to a machine gun in the 18th century.
Columns of these monstrous weapons deployed on the battlefield were sure to be a terrible sight
to behold, at a time when gunpowder weapons were still in their infancy. Each individual gun barrel
of the Sipyeonjapo is attached to its platform via a hinge that allows it to be swiveled up
for easier reloading. The guns are linked together by an iron dowel that forms the spine,
holding them in their place in the rack. And the unique modular nature of the ten-shot
volley guns enables the Hwaga operators to rapidly replace them with freshly loaded gun racks after
fire. Perhaps the most bizarre type of Hwacha is the Mokhwasuga, which has a painted wooden chassis
shaped like a winged tiger, designed to strike fear into enemy troops and horses.
In a defensive Hwacha square formation, 20 Mokhwasuga, each armed with three
Ohyeonjapo volley guns, were deployed in the corners and line centers.
The rest of the lines were filled by a total of 100 Hwaga, 25 in each side,
which were all armed with five rows of Sipyeonjapo each, allowing for 50 shots per Hwaga.
When the battle commences, the Mokhwasuga are the first to open fire, and each successive
Ohyeonjapo unleash a volley upon the advancing enemy's vanguard. And when the main force
approaches the Hwacha square in full, the Hwaga fire all their guns to targets in range.
A combined firepower of 5,000 shots in all directions.
