Taekwondo would not have even come into existence if it were not for the three warring dynasties we would not have the martial art that we have today. The earliest form of Taekwondo originated from the Koguryo dynasty and the evidence of this was the painting of murals of men practicing an ancient form of martial arts. The Silla dynasty practiced a slightly different form of the martial art Sonbe and this was used for training of the Silla's mighty Hawarang warriors. The Silla even healed contests of a martial art called Soobakhee witch is very closely related to what we know as modern day Taekwondo.
The Baekjae kingdom also heavily influenced the modern day techniques that we use today. They practiced a similar form of martial arts that the other two kingdoms used and also used this combat technique for militaristic and entertainment purposes. Eventually the Koguryo resurfaces after a short lived defeat from the Silla and then with the three kingdoms combined they formed the Koryo dynasty.
The Koryo dynasty used martial arts in many different ways and some even say that Taekwondo came about in this dynasty. The martial arts were mainly used as something required for all solders but then evolved into a contest for solders to compete for a military officer position. The martial art was then used again as a sport and competitions were regularly held. The next and final dynasty of Korea named the Choesun witch also held martial arts contest and with its emphasis on literature the first martial arts book was made.
Martial arts in Korea continued until 1910 when Japan invaded Korea and banned the practice all together and it nearly disappeared by the end of world war two. With the help of some underground teaching of martial arts thankfully Taekwondo did not die out all together. With this came the exposure to the Koreans of Chinese and Japanese martial arts witch heavily influenced some of our techniques that we use today. After the war was over the practice came about again and then in 1959 the Korean Taekwondo Association (KTA) was formed and Taekwondo was reintroduced to the world.
In conclusion Taekwondo has evolved and transformed over the years and has a very rich history of war competition and almost complete extinction. It is a very rewarding sport and is very popular and is now an Olympic sport along with Korea's national sport.
