Why couldn't the Mongols conquer Japan? (Short Animated Documentary)

The Mongols are historically most famous for conquering all of this. From humble

beginnings on the step to their conquests of places like the Kievan Rous in Eastern Europe, the Kurasmian Empire in the Middle East and most notably the Jin and Song dynasties in China. Now

obviously they couldn't subjugate everything in the history of the Mongol Empire is filled with places that they simply couldn't beat. And one of the most notable examples is that of Japan, which sat just off the coast of the core of Mongol wealth and power, the great

empire of China, the Yuan dynasty. This

dynasty was established by a certain Kubla Khan who was himself a very capable general and leader. And yet even this combined with the incredible wealth of manpower that ruling China gave him, Kubla was never able to conquer Japan

despite two attempts and after this no other ruler of China would ever make an attempt to do so again. Which raises a pretty obvious question. Why couldn't

the Mongols conquer Japan? Why was such a large and militarily capable empire not able to crush his much smaller neighbor? So to backtrack a bit, when

neighbor? So to backtrack a bit, when the Kagan, that is the emperor of the Mongol Empire, Monk Kakar, died from a medical condition known as being shot with an arrow in 1259, rulership of the empire went to his younger brother

Kubli, who was seen by some Mongol nobles as being far too Chinese in his habits. As such, they wanted his younger

habits. As such, they wanted his younger brother Ari to rule instead. Now when a ruler was challenged, the Mongols had a long history of settling this with reason debate. By which I mean brutal

reason debate. By which I mean brutal and bloody civil war. This ended with the Reek surrendering and the Mongol Empire fracturing with Kubla remaining as the titular ruler of the empire. But

in fact, he was just a notional figurehead, and the great Mongol Empire was really no more. Kubla would go on to prove his opponents wrong and would not only subjugate Korea, but would also go on to crush the remainder of the Song Dynasty in the south, which would then

cement the new Chinese dynasty that he had founded. Now, it won't shock you to

had founded. Now, it won't shock you to know that a man like Kubla wasn't exactly satisfied with all that he had.

And so, it was obviously time to conquer more. And whilst he was finishing off

more. And whilst he was finishing off the song and deciding where to go next, Kublai was sure to establish diplomatic relations with the Japanese government next door. This government was the

next door. This government was the Kamakura Shogunut. And as you'll likely

Kamakura Shogunut. And as you'll likely know, for much of its history, Japan's emperors were simply a puppet of the shogun. However, at this time, the

shogun. However, at this time, the shogun was also a puppet under the shiken, that is the regent, which was occupied by a man called Hojo Tokimune, who had just gotten the job when Kubla's messengers turned up. The message they

carried was simple. You're our vassel, so pay his tribute or we'll hurt you.

His response was that he didn't respond and just sent them back to China. This

didn't go down well with Kubli, who now had an excuse to invade. Now, those of you with a keen knowledge of military strategy will know that the Mongol method of mounted warfare wasn't very applicable at sea. And so, Kubla had to build an armada to carry his army to

Japan and potentially defeat any naval or coastal defenses on the way. And for

this, he turned to the Koreans who had a long history of ship building and naval warfare. And also, they couldn't say no.

warfare. And also, they couldn't say no.

So, Kubla figured that a naval invasion of a highly militarized island would be easy enough. And by 1274, the fleet was

easy enough. And by 1274, the fleet was ready to go. And so, off they went. The

Mongols or more accurately the Mongol led Yuan Chinese and Korean army quickly captured the island of Tsushima before landing in Japan proper. Kubla of course couldn't go himself because he and the bulk of his army were still trying to secure the Mongol group from China, but

he wished them well. Anyway, upon

landing in Japan, the Yuan had to fight and establish a beach head. And during

this initial skirmish, the samurai defending Japan did very poorly. Now,

there's a common misconception that this was due to the samurai tradition of jeweling and that in battle they would challenge individual yuan soldiers or leaders to honorable combat only to then get shot in the face. The actual reason that they struggled was that whilst

gunpowder weaponry wasn't entirely new to Japan, it wasn't something commonly used in warfare there. And so, when the mass ranks of Yuan soldiers fired volley of hand cannons into the Japanese lines, they had no idea how to respond, which

meant that it was just easier to run away and resort to hit and run tactics.

The Yuan army pushed forwards, but it didn't take long for its leaders to realize that they didn't have the resources to actually conquer the place.

And also, the sailors that had taken them there warned them of an impending storm, which if they remained could strand them on Japan. And so, before any real damage could be done, the Yuan retreated and sailed away and promptly into affforementioned storm, which

drowned a third of them. So, attempt

number one hadn't gone too well, and Kubla wanted revenge. His main priority was that he still had to finish off subjugating the rest of China. But as

this was going on, he ordered his advisers to plan a much grander invasion to punish those who had resisted him.

And the Kagan, because he was just so nice, sent more emissaries to Japan to give them yet another chance to pay him tribute. However, unlike the last time

tribute. However, unlike the last time these envoys were ordered not to return from Japan until they got an answer and so Tokimune, realizing that he couldn't get rid of them, agreed to meet Kubla's representatives in the capital where

they were promptly beheaded because as far as the Shikim was concerned, he had just defeated them. So why would he pay them tribute? I mean, he wouldn't even

them tribute? I mean, he wouldn't even listen to his own emperor, let alone someone else's. Now, the Japanese didn't

someone else's. Now, the Japanese didn't know it, but they were now a part of a noble history of states killing Mongol envoys. And like the other times, there

envoys. And like the other times, there would be consequences. And the shogunut was quick to start preparations for the inevitable round two. The government

ordered the building of coastal fortifications to make landing even harder, as well as forming militias to increase the number of soldiers available to repel an invasion. The

Kamakura government also began preparations for an invasion of Korea.

The Shikans hope was that they would simply be able to conquer it swiftly and thus deprive the Mongols of a staging ground for any further expeditions. And

if not, the plan was that they'd at least be able to seize these islands off of Korea's coast, which would then be aortioned out to those who had just defeated the Mongols. This plan was dropped after a couple of months because one, the Kamakura shogunut wasn't exactly the most stable government, and

its leaders were concerned that many of their nominal vessels would simply rebel. And two, the number of men

rebel. And two, the number of men required for such an overseas invasion meant that the previously announced coastal walls would take much longer to build, which the Shiken saw as a priority. And in 1281, the Yuan army

priority. And in 1281, the Yuan army returned, but this time it was a much larger force. Sources from the time

larger force. Sources from the time claimed that the invasion numbered about 135,000 to 150,000 men sailing to Japan.

However, if you know anything about medieval and classical historians and their approach to reporting on numbers involved in wars, they have a tendency towards exaggeration. But either way,

towards exaggeration. But either way, this force was almost certainly many times larger than the last one. Kubli

planned for a smaller first fleet to leave Korea and take these islands here, which would give the main fleet departing from China somewhere to assemble before launching the invasion of the Japanese mainland. That was the theory. But when the first fleet arrived

theory. But when the first fleet arrived in Japan and took the Tsushima and Nikki islands again, its leaders decided that they would lead a small detachment of their own to secure a footing before the Japanese could react. They briefly

established a small beach head here, but the Japanese fortifications and fierce resistance meant that they couldn't advance. The remnants retreated to here,

advance. The remnants retreated to here, Shikoshima Island, until raiding by samurai forced them to yet again retreat back to Iki Island, where as planned, they would await the arrival of the main force. Slight problem though, the plan

force. Slight problem though, the plan had changed. Yuan military leaders

had changed. Yuan military leaders worried that landing in the same place as the first invasion was stupid. And so

they decided to land here on Herado Island, which they were able to take with relative ease. The main force then sent two small detachments to the north.

One to tell the first force where to meet them, and the second to take the island of Takushima as a midway point between the two. Yet more samurai raiding meant that the first force were more than happy to depart and they quickly abandoned Iki Island. They

joined up with the main force and after some skirmishes, Yuan leaders were preparing for the long march up through Japan. However, this would have to be

Japan. However, this would have to be delayed because of a famous typhoon, Kamakazi, the Divine Wind. This wrecked

the overwhelming majority of the Yuan fleet and stranded the army. But that

was okay because the leaders of the expedition had a plan that would fix everything. But before they could put it

everything. But before they could put it into action, they quickly just had to go and see this thing. But don't worry about it.

They're not coming back. So, with the army abandoned, it wasn't long before the Japanese attacked and finished off the rest of it. And whilst it goes without saying that the typhoon was disastrous for the Mongol design on Japan, it's important to note that even without them, the Japanese were more

than capable of repelling the invaders at a high cost to themselves. And whilst

it's impossible to know how things would have gone without the kamicazi, we do know that the Yuan would have struggled to supply such a large army the further they advanced into Japan. And we also know that the vast majority of the shogunuts forces were still waiting and

ready to fight. Back in China and undeterred by two catastrophes, Kubla immediately began to set in motion a third invasion. And it was at this point

third invasion. And it was at this point that basically everyone advised him not to do so. The last two had obviously been terrible for everyone involved and at this point there were now rebellions across China and so taking tens of thousands of soldiers and moving them

away would only serve to undermine his rule. Kublai begrudgingly agreed and

rule. Kublai begrudgingly agreed and spent the rest of his reign invading Burma which went pretty well as well as Vietnam and Java which very much did not. Now after Kubla's death, the

not. Now after Kubla's death, the Mongols remained in charge of China until the Yuan dynasty fell to the Ming and no emperor after Kubli gave any real thought to conquering Japan. Much of

this was because the Yuan emperors struggled with maintaining stability in China and so their resources were stretched already and the Ming whilst maintaining that the Japanese were rightfully their vassels were often reminded of Kubla's failures whenever they tried to get involved in Japan's

internal affairs. For example, when

internal affairs. For example, when Japan had a donastic dispute between two different emperors, the Ming interfered and gave its support to one claimant, simply demanding that the other submit immediately. But the shogun, who was now

immediately. But the shogun, who was now back in charge, told him to butt out and made it clear that China wasn't capable of doing anything about it anyway. And

so for the Ming, it was better to just focus on trade and being amicable. That

was of course until Japan launched their own invasion of Korea in the late 16th century and relations between the two got really bad again, but that's a whole other episode. I hope you enjoyed this

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