Kublai Khan was an adventurous ruler in his time ruling over the Mongol Empire and eventually his portion after its split. He sought for power for a massive empire spanning most of Asia, and he was never satisfied with it. Kahn’s consistent push for more land or vassal’s to add to his empire led to his overstretch of both his military but also the resources of his empire. He build massive invasion forces that largely failed leading to some hard to answer questions about his empire and what truly happened to some of his army. James P. Delgado uses a large collections of sources in his book Kublai Khan’s Lost Fleet to try and answer three main questions, what happened to Khan’s fleet in Japan, how his fleet was defeated, and why Khan wanted to
…show more content…
After the Mongols attacked Japan the first time (before Khan ended the Song Dynasty), the Japanese knew that they’d be back, so readied real defense so the wouldn’t immediately lose an island at the initial fighting. In addition to ramping up their defenses, their was a general moral boost when fighting the Mongols. They had been seen as unbeatable warriors, never being truly defeated in battle, so when the Samurai (defenders of Japan) learned that they could receive great rewards for success in battle, the Japanese were more committed to battle. This was exemplified by one Samurai, Takezaki Suenaga, who told his tale to the Japanese government to receive compensation. Suenaga in order to prove that he fought bravely drew pictures to tell the stories about how he was the first to charge into battle. This news got around to the rest of the Japanese defenders, leading to the aforementioned moral boost. Japan also created the Ghenko Borui, a figurative wall of defenses to prepare for the next invasion force. The defenses were also tightened by the replacement of feudal lords after the first Mongol invasion to those that were more closely aligned to those of the Bakufu (military body of Japan) due to a lack of fighting from the old feudal lords’
After the Mongols attacked Japan the first time (before Khan ended the Song Dynasty), the Japanese knew that they’d be back, so readied real defense so the wouldn’t immediately lose an island at the initial fighting. In addition to ramping up their defenses, their was a general moral boost when fighting the Mongols. They had been seen as unbeatable warriors, never being truly defeated in battle, so when the Samurai (defenders of Japan) learned that they could receive great rewards for success in battle, the Japanese were more committed to battle. This was exemplified by one Samurai, Takezaki Suenaga, who told his tale to the Japanese government to receive compensation. Suenaga in order to prove that he fought bravely drew pictures to tell the stories about how he was the first to charge into battle. This news got around to the rest of the Japanese defenders, leading to the aforementioned moral boost. Japan also created the Ghenko Borui, a figurative wall of defenses to prepare for the next invasion force. The defenses were also tightened by the replacement of feudal lords after the first Mongol invasion to those that were more closely aligned to those of the Bakufu (military body of Japan) due to a lack of fighting from the old feudal lords’