I wonder if Hideyoshi might have also seen some parallels between himself and Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, who founded the Ming Dynasty. Like him he came from a humble peasant background and was able to rise to power through his own political and military skills.
Here's the full track I edited it from (Chinese group Second Hand Rose): freemusicarchive.org/music/Second_Hand_Rose/Live_on_WFMUs_100_Whatever_with_Mary_Wing_October_19_2014/Picking_Flowers
Even after Japan invaded Korea, China still didn't believe it and accused the Korean of false alarm. And in the middle of Imjin war, China once prepared to send navy to directly attack Japan but cancelled because of China's bad economic situation at that time. China's main concern of the war was its cost. China's goal was not eliminating the Japanese but negotiating with them to go back so that the war would be kept at small scale and won't cause big damage to China's economy.
Another reason that China didn't want to fight with the Japanese is that China's main threat was from the Mongols in the north. Fighting Japanese in Korea would be totally a waste of resource for China, so China tried it best to keep the war at the smallest scale.
@@befriendmywater142 Not true; treaty had been signed with the most powerful Mongol lord in 1571. For the real story from the Ming side, which fully explains China's strategic position and their views concerning Korea, read the many works of Kenneth Swope. In fact, there's a major international project on this war that brings together scholars from all over the world operating at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. So lots more work will be produced soon, producing a much more complete picture of the war for Western readers.
You are right. At almost the same era of the Imjin war, the Chinese Ming dynasty was waging two other wars, one against the northwest rebels, one aginst the southeast rebels. Due to the famous imperial exam system, most Ming dynasty officials were from the rich south China region (south to the Yangzi river). The officials represented the interests of south China landlords and were reluctant to raise taxes to fund the wars in the north.
@@befriendmywater142 and Manchus from the northeast which was growing during early 17th century. Manchus allied with the Mongolian tribes via marriage as a part of the campaign to down Ming.
@@sunsin1592 You forgot that Nurhachi and the Manchus are in the Northeast, they are about to create the Qing Empire, and the Ming Dynasty is aware of this crisis.
I learned so much about the sengoku period but the history between the Sengoku period and the Meiji era is so interesting... Thank you for this content
The more I know about the situation Japan was in the more I respect Tokugawa. He and his dynasty kept Japan united and at peace for over 200 years after all!
I'm glad I found your channel. So little on the imjin war on youtube and it's so important in the modern conflicts between the two. kings and generals are finally covering it but your series is so much more in depth ( which their series focuses on battles mainly ) I hope you do a series on the US civil war or the other japanese chinese wars. maybe even proxy wars.
Thanks, Dan! I try to take in the bigger sweep of things, but it's tough, and it seems to stir some people up. (I just got what I can only describe as an email death threat from a guy in Japan, who thinks my videos are anti-Japanese.)
@@realsamuelhawley That's youtube in general. don't pay it any mind. Have you watched the book of corrections? it's a pretty good series on the imjin war.
I find it strange that Hideyoshi plans the Invasion of Korea and China in order to keep them preoccupied and ensuring him and his survival, as a huge number of the commanders that participate in the invasion are some of his most loyal and trusted retainers (Kato Kiyomasa, Fukushima Masanori, Konishi Yukinaga, Wakisaka Yasuharu, Kobayakawa Takakage, etc.). if anything, Hideyoshi opens up the way for Tokugawa Ieyasu to overpower Toyotomi clan's influence shortly after his death. Before the invasion, Hideyoshi was offering Ieyasu a domain exchange. Ieyasu can have a new domain of 8 prefectures in the Kanto Region that were previously held by the Hojo Clan, like Sagami and Musashi, in exchange of giving up his old domain on 5 prefectures, including his home prefecture, Mikawa. In addition, Hideyoshi also gave Ieyasu a decree which states that Tokugawa and its subordinate clans were exempted from war, including be able to not participate in the upcoming invasion, for 10 years. Hideyoshi was doing this in order to kept the Tokugawa in check since they are the second most powerful clan just under Toyotomi clan. Hideyoshi was giving Ieyasu a vast land of Kanto region by assuming that the populace won't be so welcoming to this "foreigners" from another prefecture, that Ieyasu would have a hard time cooperating with the populace, let alone building up strength to contend with his own. Ieyasu, left with little choice, agree with this offer and had to continue waiting for his time. Contrary to what Hideyoshi taught would have work as a containment strategy, Ieyasu in just a few years managed to cooperate with the people of Kanto and even further, he managed to building up his already great power and wealth to a whole new level. it was said that in 1600, the entire Tokugawa domain's wealth is worth 2,500,000 koku. with this, he starts to lobbying other daimyos in Japan to flock to his side, either by persuasion, bribery, or show of force. slowly, but steadily, diminishing Hideyoshi's influence over Japan right up until Hideyoshi's death in 1598. even after the invasion ended in failure, Hideyoshi's trusted retainers were turning against each other so from what i see, Hideyoshi's plan to ensure him and his clan's survival, are the one that led to their demise maybe i was oversimplifying things. if you find this inaccurate, pls don't hesitate to respond Great video from you, sir. thanks
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.
Again, Great work! keep these videos coming! However from your book I was under the impression that Hideyoshi was intending the subdue China (not just Korea) more than conquer it, using the same political system he used in Japan. Maybe it was my impression or maybe I'm wrong - feel free to correct me here.
That’s true. There’s a huge grey area, though, between subduing with minimal fighting and all-out war. It’s hard to know how Hideyoshi envisioned things playing out with China once he got his armies up through Korea and poised on China’s doorstep. I don’t think, though, that he expected to conquer China without a serious fight. I'm going to be looking at an alternate history to all this in Episode 9: "Could Hideyoshi Have Conquered China?"
Hi Samuel, will this series cover the reasons that Japan did not improve their navy for their second invasion or switch up their offensive to more reliance on naval-assisted offensives along the Korean coast? I've always been curious about that. Will the series also mention the discrepancies between the three sources detailing the war (Korean/Japanese/Chinese)? Cheers.
I won't get to the 2nd invasion for a while. When I do, I'll try to address your first question, which is an excellent one. As to discrepancies in sources, I will try to make mention of this (just did in episode 6, which I'm working on now). An interesting side note to this is that the Chinese language edition of "The Imjin War" (which was published in July) has been savaged by Chinese reviewers as incorrect because it tells the story mainly from the Korean perspective (and doesn't adhere to the Ming Chinese line). There's even been spill over onto the English-language edition on Amazon. Amazon appears to have blocked some of the recent one-star reviews.
@@realsamuelhawley Yeah I've seen some bad reviews, translated into English. Most of the criticisms I've seen are small stuff like the exact number of troops in a particular battle or whatever. A few were more substantive (though mostly stemming from 50 cent army pro-Ming bias), and several of those I was able to debunk with just basic research.
Excuse me Mr. Hawley I have a question: Why would conquering China, 'a land so rich and so vast' ensure the House of Toyotomi's survival, even if he didnt have a direct heir? Wouldnt that just make Hideyoshi powerful? What was the direct reason for this?
"Therefore, my Harry Be it thy course to busy giddy minds With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out, May waste the memory of the former days." William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Act 4, Scene 3. A war of conquest abroad has always been the usurper's standby solution for quelling domestic discontent. As for megalomania and overconfidence, they were not in short supply in Sengoku Era Japan. I can't remember whether it was Nobunaga or Hideyoshi, but one of them said they would conquer China "As easily as a man would roll up a mat and tuck it beneath his arm."
Nobunaga took 30 years because he started from scratch as a lowly daimyo in owari then slowly rising the ladder one at a time and was also against those big time daimyo like yoshimoto imagawa, shingen takeda, kenshin uesugi, azai nagamasa and asakura, plus those buddist that was lead by kenyo honganji and rairen, and the saika mercenary lead by magoichi saika and also the shogun himself yoshiteru ashikaga and oda nobunaga manage to repel the coalition against him. i doubt even hideyoshi would be even to survive that if he lead the oda at the time.
That's 30 years of fierce competition! The Takeda, Mori, Imagawa, Hojo, Uesugi, Miyoshi, Hosokawa, Asakura, Azai, Sanada, Chosokabe clans and the Ikko Ikki are still opposing Nobunaga up until Mitsuhide betrayed him at Honno-ji. You cannot compare Hideyoshi's 9 years with Nobunaga's 30 brilliant years as much of these clans are already subdued/annihilated by the Oda clan when Hashiba took over.
Seriously. It’s really annoying me how he keeps saying this over and over like Hideoyoshi is so much better than Nobunaga. No disrespect to Hideoyoshi but what he did was far easier than what Nobunaga accomplished.
Hideyoshi was Nobunaga's right had during those 30 years, so he had a part in his success. Hideyoshi also had to deal with the Mori, Chosokabe, Shimazu, Hojo clans who were quite the force, while also dealing with Akechi's betrayal.
@@Tiorpk calling Hideyoshi Nobunaga's right hand was a bit of a stretch. There are quite a number of senior samurais before Hideyoshi came to serve Nobunaga. Whom of which were Shibata Katsuie and Niwa Nagahide. As proof, Hideyoshi's former name "Hashiba" was taken from both generals name. "Ha"(Wa) from Niwa and "Shiba" from Shibata. Ofcourse, Hideyoshi sought permission(as a subordinate would do) to use their names and was granted permission in condition that Hideyoshi won't disgrace it. Hideyoshi served Nobunaga together with other senior retainers.
@@itsrye8001 Damn, that was a quick response. Well Hideyoshi was at least Nobunaga's retainer. He was so trusted by his lord he could lead armies without supervision. He also defeated Shibata Katsuie at Shizugatake and managed to fend off another of Nobunaga's retainers, Tokugawa Ieyasu. All of this while being a simple commoner while the others were lords.
One very important point to clear up, the 'Chinese' did not try to conquer Japan. It was 'China under the Mongol rule' that try to conquer Japan. It is the Mongolians and NOT the Chinese that wanted to conquer Japan. There is a distinction here. Refer to this video at the 2:00 min mark.
“A direct sea route to China would have been too risky.”What particular risks were there? Were China’s shorelines too well-fortified for Japanese naval landings?
The main risk by far, when transporting such a large number of men, would have been the weather and the sea itself. The relatively short crossing from Tsushima to Busan alone was risky.
Hideyoshi was what could could well be the 1st mass murderer in history. Every village, innocent or not we’re put to the sword-man, women & child. It was as if he wanted the water red. I own one of his swords, sadly, didn’t want it but his infamy doubled the value, never to kill again. This is was a very sick dude.
They launched their invasion to soon... Well hideyoshi need something to make the samurai have things to do or they will turn to banditry, remember japan at this point never seeing a peace and have no idea what to do in peace time... If they send spies and gather informations for few years first then preapared their military specially their naval army... they might conquered joseon... joseon at that point is corrupt as hell.... spying and bribing some courts member doesnt seems hard.
@@lild3838 true. preparation IS everything, but unfortunately for Hideyoshi, time does not allow. he is getting older and his succession line is not yet established. he has a nephew, but not an actual heir. so with all those powerful daimyo surrounding him ready to take his place, his clan wont survive once he perished. he needs to create a diversion.. to exhaust these daimyo's wealth and manpower somewhere else. a war far away to keep the hardearned peace at home.
i always wondered what would have happened if king seonjo "gave in" to Hideyoshi's demand of military access to china via marching his army through the korean peninsula? could have saved A LOT of lives and avoided a bloody fucked up war all together.
and when the japanese invasion fails in china? the ming emperor would just what? say okay and leave the koreans alone? because lets face it, ming was in decline but not yet so weak that a Japanese invasion in the 16th century, marching thousands of miles from their supply lines, could have defeated the ming. so they would have lost then the ming would then chase them through korea, and burn everything while they're at it since korea would be an enemy in this case leading to equal if not worse devastation for the koreans. remember even the Manchus who would form the Qing a century later could not force their way into china, they were let through after the ming capital has already fallen to internal rebels and that was the ming in terminal decline not the same ming that fought the imjin war. in addition remember at this time korea was very much content to be a chinese tributary, it would almost be treason to allow an enemy to use korea as a land route to invade china.
The perception of "survival" is an excuse, a sort of medieval propaganda than reality. Hideyoshi himself was a conqueror. A more reasonable explanation, is appeasing his bloodthirsty warlords and doing what he only knew best, namely conquering lands, killing, and taking spoils. If there was anyone actually fighting to survive, it was the Koreans.
I protest the whole notion of China had attempted to conquer Japan. And used as a justification for Japan’s attempted invasion of China. China was the victim of the Mongols, mongols wanted to invade Japan, not China. This is akin to say France want to invade Britain after they being conquered by Nazi Germany.
The difference is the China assimilated the Mongols and the Mogol naval army were made of Chinese and Koreans led by Chinese Generals, so the line between them is more diffuse than Nazi Germany/Vichy France. The more correct way to say it was a Yuan Dynasty invasion of Japan and Hideyoshi tried to conquer it's sucesor but a different state, the Ming Dynasty.
Kate Xie No that is so untrue. Ethnic Chinese was never in control of Mongolian Empire on the level of making strategic decisions. Mongol royal court never even learnt to speak or read Chinese, saying Chinese had assimilated Mongols (maybe at lower level to some extent) is quite laughable. China got conquered and Chinese culture almost got destroyed. Read Yuan court document, nothing was authentically Chinese.
@@KathyXie the chinese were 3rd class citizens in the yuan dynasty. quite literally encoded in yuan law. them never being fully integrated is one of the big reasons the yuan didn't last for more than 100 years in china.
As I recall, Alexander the Great Megalomaniac, also had this problem, after unifying the Greek city-states, and found the same solution! And coincidentally, Persia had also invaded Greece. 🤣🤣🤣🤫🤫🤫 However, Alexander was more successful.
At 1:50, China intended to invade Japan- Wrong. It was Mongolians not Chinese. Many Europeans and Americans don't distinguish between Chinese and Mongolians, between Chinese and Manchurians
Hideyoshi wanted to conquer China? But in episode 20 you told that the Japanese army fled back to Japan when the Chinese army arrived. How can you conquer China if you fear that much the Chinese army????
Japan was very very lucky the the huge typhoon thwarted Mongol/Korea invasion. Mongols were fierce om horsebacks but not as in yhe sea. So basically, Japan was lucky it was across the sea of the vast Asia continent
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.
I wonder if Hideyoshi might have also seen some parallels between himself and Zhu Yuanzhang, the Hongwu Emperor, who founded the Ming Dynasty. Like him he came from a humble peasant background and was able to rise to power through his own political and military skills.
Gosh, the intr music is so awesome!
Here's the full track I edited it from (Chinese group Second Hand Rose): freemusicarchive.org/music/Second_Hand_Rose/Live_on_WFMUs_100_Whatever_with_Mary_Wing_October_19_2014/Picking_Flowers
@@realsamuelhawley amazing, thank you so much :D I didn't know I needed this in my life until I found it.
True 😀🔥👍
I think the volume is a bit loud compate to the content. I always have to turn down the intro muisc. But overall amazing channel
It sounds like what one would hear from a Muay Thai match.
Even after Japan invaded Korea, China still didn't believe it and accused the Korean of false alarm. And in the middle of Imjin war, China once prepared to send navy to directly attack Japan but cancelled because of China's bad economic situation at that time. China's main concern of the war was its cost. China's goal was not eliminating the Japanese but negotiating with them to go back so that the war would be kept at small scale and won't cause big damage to China's economy.
Another reason that China didn't want to fight with the Japanese is that China's main threat was from the Mongols in the north. Fighting Japanese in Korea would be totally a waste of resource for China, so China tried it best to keep the war at the smallest scale.
@@befriendmywater142 Not true; treaty had been signed with the most powerful Mongol lord in 1571. For the real story from the Ming side, which fully explains China's strategic position and their views concerning Korea, read the many works of Kenneth Swope. In fact, there's a major international project on this war that brings together scholars from all over the world operating at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. So lots more work will be produced soon, producing a much more complete picture of the war for Western readers.
You are right. At almost the same era of the Imjin war, the Chinese Ming dynasty was waging two other wars, one against the northwest rebels, one aginst the southeast rebels. Due to the famous imperial exam system, most Ming dynasty officials were from the rich south China region (south to the Yangzi river). The officials represented the interests of south China landlords and were reluctant to raise taxes to fund the wars in the north.
@@befriendmywater142 and Manchus from the northeast which was growing during early 17th century. Manchus allied with the Mongolian tribes via marriage as a part of the campaign to down Ming.
@@sunsin1592 You forgot that Nurhachi and the Manchus are in the Northeast, they are about to create the Qing Empire, and the Ming Dynasty is aware of this crisis.
I learned so much about the sengoku period but the history between the Sengoku period and the Meiji era is so interesting... Thank you for this content
The more I know about the situation Japan was in the more I respect Tokugawa. He and his dynasty kept Japan united and at peace for over 200 years after all!
An example of "slow and steady wins the race".
I'm glad I found your channel. So little on the imjin war on youtube and it's so important in the modern conflicts between the two. kings and generals are finally covering it but your series is so much more in depth ( which their series focuses on battles mainly ) I hope you do a series on the US civil war or the other japanese chinese wars. maybe even proxy wars.
Thanks, Dan! I try to take in the bigger sweep of things, but it's tough, and it seems to stir some people up. (I just got what I can only describe as an email death threat from a guy in Japan, who thinks my videos are anti-Japanese.)
@@realsamuelhawley That's youtube in general. don't pay it any mind. Have you watched the book of corrections? it's a pretty good series on the imjin war.
Thank you so much for this series! I've been looking for stuff about this for a long time. I'll be buying your book for sure.
Something to watch during the coronavirus.
I find it strange that Hideyoshi plans the Invasion of Korea and China in order to keep them preoccupied and ensuring him and his survival, as a huge number of the commanders that participate in the invasion are some of his most loyal and trusted retainers (Kato Kiyomasa, Fukushima Masanori, Konishi Yukinaga, Wakisaka Yasuharu, Kobayakawa Takakage, etc.). if anything, Hideyoshi opens up the way for Tokugawa Ieyasu to overpower Toyotomi clan's influence shortly after his death.
Before the invasion, Hideyoshi was offering Ieyasu a domain exchange. Ieyasu can have a new domain of 8 prefectures in the Kanto Region that were previously held by the Hojo Clan, like Sagami and Musashi, in exchange of giving up his old domain on 5 prefectures, including his home prefecture, Mikawa. In addition, Hideyoshi also gave Ieyasu a decree which states that Tokugawa and its subordinate clans were exempted from war, including be able to not participate in the upcoming invasion, for 10 years. Hideyoshi was doing this in order to kept the Tokugawa in check since they are the second most powerful clan just under Toyotomi clan. Hideyoshi was giving Ieyasu a vast land of Kanto region by assuming that the populace won't be so welcoming to this "foreigners" from another prefecture, that Ieyasu would have a hard time cooperating with the populace, let alone building up strength to contend with his own. Ieyasu, left with little choice, agree with this offer and had to continue waiting for his time.
Contrary to what Hideyoshi taught would have work as a containment strategy, Ieyasu in just a few years managed to cooperate with the people of Kanto and even further, he managed to building up his already great power and wealth to a whole new level. it was said that in 1600, the entire Tokugawa domain's wealth is worth 2,500,000 koku. with this, he starts to lobbying other daimyos in Japan to flock to his side, either by persuasion, bribery, or show of force. slowly, but steadily, diminishing Hideyoshi's influence over Japan right up until Hideyoshi's death in 1598. even after the invasion ended in failure, Hideyoshi's trusted retainers were turning against each other
so from what i see, Hideyoshi's plan to ensure him and his clan's survival, are the one that led to their demise
maybe i was oversimplifying things. if you find this inaccurate, pls don't hesitate to respond
Great video from you, sir. thanks
Insightful comment!
@@realsamuelhawley megalomaniac part made me laugh too hard sir.
In other words, the two of them fall into the Thucydides Trap 🤔
@@realsamuelhawley thank you, sir. keep up making videos about other wars as soon as Imjin War is done. maybe about The end of Ming Dynasty
Actually, Hideyoshi promised his rivals too much wealth that he basically didn’t have.
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.
Again, Great work! keep these videos coming! However from your book I was under the impression that Hideyoshi was intending the subdue China (not just Korea) more than conquer it, using the same political system he used in Japan. Maybe it was my impression or maybe I'm wrong - feel free to correct me here.
That’s true. There’s a huge grey area, though, between subduing with minimal fighting and all-out war. It’s hard to know how Hideyoshi envisioned things playing out with China once he got his armies up through Korea and poised on China’s doorstep. I don’t think, though, that he expected to conquer China without a serious fight.
I'm going to be looking at an alternate history to all this in Episode 9: "Could Hideyoshi Have Conquered China?"
Great content 👌🏻all the best from all the way over here in Scotland 🏴
Cha Gheill!
Bravo!👍 👏 well detailed in although very brief explanation!
2:01 ah yes thanks to our time travelling camera man we have a photograph of Kublai Khan
Hi Samuel, will this series cover the reasons that Japan did not improve their navy for their second invasion or switch up their offensive to more reliance on naval-assisted offensives along the Korean coast? I've always been curious about that. Will the series also mention the discrepancies between the three sources detailing the war (Korean/Japanese/Chinese)? Cheers.
I won't get to the 2nd invasion for a while. When I do, I'll try to address your first question, which is an excellent one. As to discrepancies in sources, I will try to make mention of this (just did in episode 6, which I'm working on now). An interesting side note to this is that the Chinese language edition of "The Imjin War" (which was published in July) has been savaged by Chinese reviewers as incorrect because it tells the story mainly from the Korean perspective (and doesn't adhere to the Ming Chinese line). There's even been spill over onto the English-language edition on Amazon. Amazon appears to have blocked some of the recent one-star reviews.
@@realsamuelhawley Cheers
@@realsamuelhawley Yeah I've seen some bad reviews, translated into English. Most of the criticisms I've seen are small stuff like the exact number of troops in a particular battle or whatever. A few were more substantive (though mostly stemming from 50 cent army pro-Ming bias), and several of those I was able to debunk with just basic research.
Darn. I had to buy the book. Now I need you autograph on it
I had to buy the book too.
I LOVE YOUR VIDEO OF THE INJIM WAR!! THANK YOU!!
Thanks, Niel!
Loving your content! Hoping episode 20 comes out soon :)
Excuse me Mr. Hawley I have a question: Why would conquering China, 'a land so rich and so vast' ensure the House of Toyotomi's survival, even if he didnt have a direct heir? Wouldnt that just make Hideyoshi powerful? What was the direct reason for this?
Other male members in his family could inherit his power
"Therefore, my Harry
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of the former days."
William Shakespeare, Henry IV, Act 4, Scene 3.
A war of conquest abroad has always been the usurper's standby solution for quelling domestic discontent.
As for megalomania and overconfidence, they were not in short supply in Sengoku Era Japan.
I can't remember whether it was Nobunaga or Hideyoshi, but one of them said they would conquer China "As easily as a man would roll up a mat and tuck it beneath his arm."
So interesting to know my family is of Seo-In the western faction who warned that Hideyohi will wage a war.
Nobunaga took 30 years because he started from scratch as a lowly daimyo in owari then slowly rising the ladder one at a time and was also against those big time daimyo like yoshimoto imagawa, shingen takeda, kenshin uesugi, azai nagamasa and asakura, plus those buddist that was lead by kenyo honganji and rairen, and the saika mercenary lead by magoichi saika and also the shogun himself yoshiteru ashikaga and oda nobunaga manage to repel the coalition against him. i doubt even hideyoshi would be even to survive that if he lead the oda at the time.
That's 30 years of fierce competition! The Takeda, Mori, Imagawa, Hojo, Uesugi, Miyoshi, Hosokawa, Asakura, Azai, Sanada, Chosokabe clans and the Ikko Ikki are still opposing Nobunaga up until Mitsuhide betrayed him at Honno-ji. You cannot compare Hideyoshi's 9 years with Nobunaga's 30 brilliant years as much of these clans are already subdued/annihilated by the Oda clan when Hashiba took over.
Nobunaga : hardest difficulty
Hideyoshi : normal difficulty
Ieasu : easy difficulty
Seriously. It’s really annoying me how he keeps saying this over and over like Hideoyoshi is so much better than Nobunaga. No disrespect to Hideoyoshi but what he did was far easier than what Nobunaga accomplished.
Hideyoshi was Nobunaga's right had during those 30 years, so he had a part in his success. Hideyoshi also had to deal with the Mori, Chosokabe, Shimazu, Hojo clans who were quite the force, while also dealing with Akechi's betrayal.
@@Tiorpk calling Hideyoshi Nobunaga's right hand was a bit of a stretch. There are quite a number of senior samurais before Hideyoshi came to serve Nobunaga.
Whom of which were Shibata Katsuie and Niwa Nagahide. As proof, Hideyoshi's former name "Hashiba" was taken from both generals name. "Ha"(Wa) from Niwa and "Shiba" from Shibata. Ofcourse, Hideyoshi sought permission(as a subordinate would do) to use their names and was granted permission in condition that Hideyoshi won't disgrace it.
Hideyoshi served Nobunaga together with other senior retainers.
@@itsrye8001 Damn, that was a quick response. Well Hideyoshi was at least Nobunaga's retainer. He was so trusted by his lord he could lead armies without supervision. He also defeated Shibata Katsuie at Shizugatake and managed to fend off another of Nobunaga's retainers, Tokugawa Ieyasu. All of this while being a simple commoner while the others were lords.
I've often thought of Toyatomi Hideyoshi as the Napoleon of Japan.
One very important point to clear up, the 'Chinese' did not try to conquer Japan. It was 'China under the Mongol rule' that try to conquer Japan. It is the Mongolians and NOT the Chinese that wanted to conquer Japan. There is a distinction here. Refer to this video at the 2:00 min mark.
I have a question, when Korea tried to invade Japan with Mongol and China, after that, did Japan tried to conquer Korea too?
Too much repetition in this video. The information given was mostly already covered in ep1 and the new content could have been said in two minutes.
Why did Tojo think about almost the same thing?
I ask ? where was the Emperor in re to Hidioshi ?
“A direct sea route to China would have been too risky.”What particular risks were there? Were China’s shorelines too well-fortified for Japanese naval landings?
The main risk by far, when transporting such a large number of men, would have been the weather and the sea itself. The relatively short crossing from Tsushima to Busan alone was risky.
Hideyoshi was what could could well be the 1st mass murderer in history. Every village, innocent or not we’re put to the sword-man, women & child. It was as if he wanted the water red. I own one of his swords, sadly, didn’t want it but his infamy doubled the value, never to kill again. This is was a very sick dude.
Keep your words for the Imperial Japanese Army. Samurai heika banzai!!!
Japan was punching way above its weight. But good try though. Ming would’ve been a good prize.
They launched their invasion to soon...
Well hideyoshi need something to make the samurai have things to do or they will turn to banditry, remember japan at this point never seeing a peace and have no idea what to do in peace time...
If they send spies and gather informations for few years first then preapared their military specially their naval army... they might conquered joseon... joseon at that point is corrupt as hell.... spying and bribing some courts member doesnt seems hard.
They could have had new territory in Manchuria
@@lild3838 true. preparation IS everything, but unfortunately for Hideyoshi, time does not allow. he is getting older and his succession line is not yet established. he has a nephew, but not an actual heir. so with all those powerful daimyo surrounding him ready to take his place, his clan wont survive once he perished. he needs to create a diversion.. to exhaust these daimyo's wealth and manpower somewhere else. a war far away to keep the hardearned peace at home.
Did you seriously use the "Marco Polo" version of Kublai Khan at 1:48? Other than this trifle, very informative video!
I used the more traditional painting of Kublai Khan in episode one. Trying something different this time. Keeping you guys on your toes!
@@realsamuelhawley I just couldn't stand Kublai's New York accent in the show, nor the way they butchered "Khanbaliq" as "Cumbulac" XD
@@realsamuelhawley professor by the way as as historian do you believe in Marco Polo travel to china
@@elbolishe9538 Yes.
The first time japan tried to conquer its neighbors happened in the 600s. Thank you
i always wondered what would have happened if king seonjo "gave in" to Hideyoshi's demand of military access to china via marching his army through the korean peninsula? could have saved A LOT of lives and avoided a bloody fucked up war all together.
and when the japanese invasion fails in china? the ming emperor would just what? say okay and leave the koreans alone? because lets face it, ming was in decline but not yet so weak that a Japanese invasion in the 16th century, marching thousands of miles from their supply lines, could have defeated the ming. so they would have lost then the ming would then chase them through korea, and burn everything while they're at it since korea would be an enemy in this case leading to equal if not worse devastation for the koreans. remember even the Manchus who would form the Qing a century later could not force their way into china, they were let through after the ming capital has already fallen to internal rebels and that was the ming in terminal decline not the same ming that fought the imjin war. in addition remember at this time korea was very much content to be a chinese tributary, it would almost be treason to allow an enemy to use korea as a land route to invade china.
@Samuel Hawley In a way, the Japanese were like the Spanish Conquistadors of the 15th to 17 centuries. They just didn't just did it for gold!
I don't fully understand how having the Daimyo conquer China would help ensure the continuation of the heirless Hideyoshi?
The perception of "survival" is an excuse, a sort of medieval propaganda than reality. Hideyoshi himself was a conqueror. A more reasonable explanation, is appeasing his bloodthirsty warlords and doing what he only knew best, namely conquering lands, killing, and taking spoils. If there was anyone actually fighting to survive, it was the Koreans.
Talkin about Imjin war without mentioning Yi Sun Shin?
Soon enough, don't worry, he'll sail here soon enough ;)
The war hasn't even started yet!
Yi is coming up in Episode 6: "The Korean Navy Strikes Back."
I protest the whole notion of China had attempted to conquer Japan. And used as a justification for Japan’s attempted invasion of China.
China was the victim of the Mongols, mongols wanted to invade Japan, not China.
This is akin to say France want to invade Britain after they being conquered by Nazi Germany.
The difference is the China assimilated the Mongols and the Mogol naval army were made of Chinese and Koreans led by Chinese Generals, so the line between them is more diffuse than Nazi Germany/Vichy France. The more correct way to say it was a Yuan Dynasty invasion of Japan and Hideyoshi tried to conquer it's sucesor but a different state, the Ming Dynasty.
Kate Xie No that is so untrue. Ethnic Chinese was never in control of Mongolian Empire on the level of making strategic decisions. Mongol royal court never even learnt to speak or read Chinese, saying Chinese had assimilated Mongols (maybe at lower level to some extent) is quite laughable. China got conquered and Chinese culture almost got destroyed. Read Yuan court document, nothing was authentically Chinese.
Kate Xie Go study Yuan history before making any more sound. 😂
@@KathyXie the chinese were 3rd class citizens in the yuan dynasty. quite literally encoded in yuan law. them never being fully integrated is one of the big reasons the yuan didn't last for more than 100 years in china.
Lots of repeating in this.
As I recall, Alexander the Great Megalomaniac, also had this problem, after unifying the Greek city-states, and found the same solution! And coincidentally, Persia had also invaded Greece. 🤣🤣🤣🤫🤫🤫
However, Alexander was more successful.
At 1:50, China intended to invade Japan- Wrong. It was Mongolians not Chinese. Many Europeans and Americans don't distinguish between Chinese and Mongolians, between Chinese and Manchurians
He tried to but Admiral Yi crushed his dreams.
ttoo bad korean king was such a pus-sy and wimp lmaoy
Hideyoshi wanted to conquer China? But in episode 20 you told that the Japanese army fled back to Japan when the Chinese army arrived. How can you conquer China if you fear that much the Chinese army????
Japan was very very lucky the the huge typhoon thwarted Mongol/Korea invasion. Mongols were fierce om horsebacks but not as in yhe sea. So basically, Japan was lucky it was across the sea of the vast Asia continent
i do not like it when the narrator's head appears at the beginning and end of the video. it ruins my suspension of disbelief.
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.
[Voiceover] Right, and India, led by Akbar the Great, also had the ambition to get its hands on the colonies.
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.
Hideyoshi had heard Philippines were colonized by Spain and became aware of the threat of Spanish Empire. He was also informed by some foreign missionaries that Spain had the intention to invade East Asia. Hideyoshi thought it would be better Japan conquer China before Spain invade China in order to protect Japan from Spanish Empire.