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davepamn | October 05, 2009 02:02 PM | in History

Historically, did Mongolia try to conquer Japan?

What was the outcome of the conflict between Japan and Mongolia?

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BEST ANSWER chosen by asker | keepontryin | October 05, 2009 03:45 PM

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/ba/Kublai_Khan.jpg/479px-Kublai_Khan.jpg

Mongolian ruler Kublai Khan sent his soldiers to attack Japan in 1274 and again in 1281. Traditional wisdom tells us that the Mongol army of Kublai Khan was defeated by Japan only because of typhoon like winds that brought "divine intervention" which became known as "kamikaze". That traditional wisdom has recently been challenged by Cornell scholar Thomas D. Conlan's translation of the Takezaki Suenaga's Scrolls of the Mongol Invasions of Japan. Conlan claims that Japan was well equipped to defeat the Mongols with or without the divine intervention of kamikaze.

In any case, the Mongols tried twice and twice lost significant number of ships and men, mostly due to typhoons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIk7zJ73D74

source(s):
http://www.mhkcorp.com/layout.php?cath=board&exec=view&code=notice&...

http://www1.american.edu/ted/ice/divine-wind.htm#ref11

http://www.einaudi.cornell.edu/eastasia/publications/item.asp?id=44

Asker's rating:

Do you think the typhoon event was divine or coincidence? How common are typhoons in this region?

voted helpful: davepamn

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keepontryin | October 05, 2009 05:25 PM

I think it was coincidence as it was typhoon season, but I may be wrong. There is a striking similarity to the Spanish Armada heading to England and being thwarted by a storm in the channel, which many westerners call providence, so who knows?

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davepamn | October 05, 2009 05:30 PM

Will you find a report that shows the typhoon activity for the last 100 years? This will give an idea of the likelihood of typhoons in this region.

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keepontryin | October 05, 2009 06:11 PM

Well, this site says an average of 27 per year. It's not a hundred year record, but it's the best I could find.

http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/Explore/calendar/september/typhoon.html

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davepamn | October 05, 2009 07:17 PM

What is the myth of "divine intervention"?

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