After Kublai Khan became Great Khan of the Mongol Empire in 1264, it was up to him to
continue the legacy of his grandfather, Chinggis Khan, and complete the conquest of China.
The Mongols believed that Heaven decreed all the world to be their domain, and in this
belief turned their attention to Japan. In the first episode of the second season we
will examine perhaps the most famous, and seemingly inexplicable, invasion undertaken
by the Mongol Empire.
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Japan first came to Kublai’s attention due to Japanese piracy on the coast of Korea from
the 1220s until the 1260s. Political anarchy and Mongol invasions had left Korea unstable
and unable to defend itself, but these operations ceased once Korea was finally conquered by
the Mongols in 1259. Meanwhile, the Japanese continued to trade with Kublai’s main enemy,
the Song Dynasty, supporting economically a foe Kublai was driven to crush.
Until the 9th century, Japan and China were linked through trade, political and cultural
ties, until persecution of Buddhism by the Tang Dynasty led Japan to isolate itself.
Thus, to bring Japan under his control would legitimize Kublai to his Mongolian supporters
through conquest, and to his Chinese subjects through bringing it back into the fold. Such
symbolism mattered for securing and maintaining the Mandate of Heaven, which granted dynasties
the right to rule China. In 1266 Kublai sent his first envoys to Japan,
inviting them to offer tribute. While this letter didn’t feature overt threats of destruction,
it still referred to Kublai as ‘master of the universe,’ and the implication was hardly
hidden in the letter’s conclusion: “let us engage in cordial relations. Who desires
the resort to arms?” While Kublai’s letter was addressed to the
Emperor, since the late 12th century the Emperor had been a figurehead for the Shogun, and
after the death of the first Shogun, real power was held by his regent, the Shikken,
a position controlled by the Hojo clan. Kublai’s envoys in 1266 were ignored, a brusque reception
the Khan did not take lightly, with similar responses to envoys in the following years.
The silence increasingly looked like insolence, an affront the most powerful sovereign on
earth could not ignore. Kublai’s preparations for this unprecedented
seaborne Mongol invasion began in 1268. As the Mongols had little experience in naval
warfare, aside from operations on the rivers of China, they relied on the expertise of
Korean sailors and their vessels. In addition, the Koreans also supplied the provisions for
the invasion, a burden which led to a short-lived revolt. This uprising gave word to the Japanese
of Mongol preparations, and the new shikken, Hojo Tokimune, began his own preparations;
warriors were sent to Kyushu, the most likely site for landings.
The fall of the key Song stronghold at Xiangyang in 1273, freed men and resources to be sent
elsewhere. Japan too, could finally receive its retribution for resisting Kublai’s demands.
Exact numbers for the Mongol forces are disputed, with estimates giving 15,000 Mongol, Northern
Chinese, Khitan and Jurchen soldiers, 6-8,000 Korean soldiers, and another 7,000 Korean
sailors, spread among some 300 warships and 4-500 smaller vessels - a large contingent,
but not enough to occupy a country. While Kublai’s forces had never undertaken
an overseas operation before, the last 60 years had provided few foes who could match
the Mongols in battle. If the mighty empires of the Jin and the Song bent to the Mongols,
how could the small nation of Japan dare stand before him? To Kublai, anything other than
a swift victory was impossible. The fleet departed from Korea in autumn 1274,
falling first upon the small islands of Tsushima and Iki. The sparsely defended settlements
offered little resistance to experienced Mongol warriors, for in their isolation from the
mainland, the Samurai had developed their own brand of warfare, reliant on individual
duel, rather than the complex formations of the Mongols.
The Mongols left Tsushima and Iki with prisoners nailed to the prows of their ships, arriving
in Kyushu’s Hakata Bay in November. Their landing was not unopposed: An old sea wall
ran along much of the bay, and behind it were stationed the warriors of Hojo Tokimune. Numbers
for the Japanese force are disputed, with some figures as low as 3,600, and it is clear
that the defenders were outnumbered, with no experience in fighting foreign forces and
lacking the tactical and strategic ability of the Mongols. With the landing of the Yuan
armada, the first battle in Hakata Bay had begun.
The Samurai were, like the Mongols, skilled archers both on foot and on horseback, wielding
their signature asymmetrical yumi. The Japanese opened combat with whistling arrows, designed
to unnerve and intimidate their foes. Japanese sources describe the Mongols as laughing at
the arrows, then driving the horses of the Samurai mad with fear at the sounds of the
war drums and gongs used to direct Mongol forces in battle. Unused to such noise, the
Japanese horses panicked before they even met the enemy.
Defending their homes and skilled warriors nonetheless, the Japanese fiercely fought
along the sea wall. The Mongols, fighting uphill from the beaches, were unable to bring
their fearsome cavalry to bear, but, as shown from archaeological and pictorial evidence,
the Mongols used bombs against the Japanese. In a few places the Mongols broke through,
burning down the nearby town of Hakata. The area beyond the breach proved unfavourable
to the Mongols however: the site chosen for their camp, Akasaka, proved undefendable,
and Japanese archery proved skillful even by Mongol standards. The Yuan commander Liu
Fu-Shang was struck in the face with an arrow, and had his horse captured by a Samurai. With
their commander incapacitated, unable to press inland and running low on munitions, despite
inflicting heavy losses on the Japanese, a withdrawal was ordered.
What followed next is a matter of some debate, but has become a defining moment of the campaign.
Japanese sources for this invasion describe a reverse wind which pushed the Mongol fleet
back, beaching a few ships. Yuan sources on the other hand, speak of a great typhoon which
rose up, crushing much of the fleet beneath the waves and forcing the remainder to retreat.
The reasons for such an emphasis are obvious, for by blaming a freak weather accident, the
Mongols could maintain their military reputation, rather than admit that the Japanese had offered
stiffer resistance than anticipated. Neither side saw this first engagement as decisive,
and when Kublai’s envoys in 1275 were executed, his return was ensured.
In 1279 the Song Dynasty finally fell to the Mongols, completing the conquest of China
begun by Chinggis Khan in 1211. Now Kublai could raise men, resources and ships from
southern China to use against Japan. With Korea economically devastated by the first
invasion, these newly conquered troops had to take a leading role. In Japan Hojo Tokimune
did not sit idle, repairing and extending the sea wall around Hakata Bay for 20 kilometres,
as well as preparing a larger defence. By 1281, Kublai was ready to strike back,
gathering perhaps the largest seaborne invasion before the Normandy landings of 1944. While
it is to be expected that medieval sources inflate numbers, it is clear by any measure
that this was a mammoth undertaking. The sources state that over 100,000 men were split between
two fleets: a northern fleet of approximately 40,000 Mongols, Jurchen, Northern Chinese
and Korean troops aboard 900 ships, and another of around 60,000 men from the newly conquered
territories of southern China, aboard 3,500 vessels. Few of these were proper ocean-going
warships or transports, rather repurposed coastal or river ships never intended for
such lengthy expeditions. Immediately the expedition was off to an inauspicious
start. Intended to leave in spring to avoid the typhoon seasons, the southern fleet suffered
delays, a general fell ill and food spoiled in the warm weather of south China. The plan
had been for the northern fleet, departing again from Korea, to rendezvous on Iki with
the southern fleet departing from Quanzhou, but ultimately the northern fleet set off
alone, occupying Iki by June 1281. Two weeks later, the fleet was off the coast
of Kyushu, but found the landing sites defended by well-prepared Samurai on the sea wall.
The stout resistance near Munakata kept the northern fleet from fully landing or making
progress inland. The southern fleet finally arrived in July,
towards the southern end of the wall, and intended to fight their way north to meet
with the first fleet. But this southern fleet, composed almost entirely of Chinese from the
recently conquered Song Dynasty, lacked the skill, discipline and experience of the Mongol
troops, and had little stake or interest in risking their lives for foreign masters in
a foreign land. The language barrier between the Mongols, Koreans, Chinese and others,
and tensions between Mongol and Chinese generals and the Korean admiral, weakened leadership
and their ability to act. From late June to early August, the Yuan and Japanese engaged
largely indecisively, the Yuan unable to advance against the Japanese, but the Japanese unable
to overpower the great armada. At night, the Japanese took their smaller,
nimble craft out among the fleets, climbing aboard and killing men in their sleep or sending
fire ships out to set ships alight. Yuan losses were mounting, with supplies running low,
unable to billet their men on anything but what they brought with them. Nights aboard
cramped, rocking ships proved no respite for Mongol warriors used to open steppe, knowing
Samurai may come crawling out of the darkness. On the 15th of August, 1281, came the coup
de grace. The sea off the coast of Kyushu churned as a typhoon rose unseasonably early,
the Yuan fleets now caught between the storm and the coast. The sturdier Korean vessels
made for open waters managed to avoid being crushed against the rocks, but the more makeshift
southern fleet was helpless against the ocean’s wrath. Over August 15th and 16th, perhaps
a third of the northern fleet and over half of the southern were destroyed, and the second
Mongol attempt to take Japan was over. Those Yuan soldiers who washed ashore were swiftly
found by the Japanese and killed, while the remainder limped back to China.
Kublai was furious. The aura of Mongol invincibility built up over the century was not destroyed,
but was definitely tarnished, and the economic blow was significant. The second invasion
was a massive expenditure of men and resources, much of which now sat at the bottom of the
ocean. Korea in particular was devastated, having provided much of the grain, ships,
materials and young men of both invasions. To cover the costs, Kublai had to turn to
financial advisers such as Ahmad Fanakati and Li Shih-Jung, who became infamous for
corruption, nepotism and over taxation, ushering an era of financial mismanagement and increasing
inefficiency. In 1281 a major restraining voice on Kublai,
his chief wife Chabi, died, followed by his heir Jingim in 1286. With their deaths, Kublai
became increasingly withdrawn from governance, finding solace in food and drink, and suffering
from depression, obesity and gout. His military demands grew ever wilder: he
ordered a third invasion of Japan, which never materialized, launched invasions of Burma,
Vietnam and even a seaborne invasion to Java, all of which ended inconclusively or in outright
disaster, the tropical heat and disease of southern Asia and dense jungle rendering Mongolian
cavalry useless. He faced revolt from Tibet and from his cousins
Kaidu and Nayan, who challenged Kublai’s legitimacy from Central Asia and Manchuria,
all the while his influence over the western Khanates of the empire grew ever weaker. Despite
having completed the conquest of China, Kublai oversaw the fragmentation of the Mongol Empire.
Kublai Khan died in February of 1294, succeeded by his grandson Temur Oljeitu. The succeeding
Yuan Khans held only nominal authority over the other Khanates, each going their own separate
paths and collapsing over the following century. It is this collapse of the Mongol Empire that
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