Divine Wind

Hi, this is Our Bloody History, where we drown in a sea of conjecture to bring you a sip of summarised historical goodness.

Here’s today's adventure:

A just-in-time typhoon that saved Japan from the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty this week, 741 years ago, on 15 August 1281.

Let's get innit.

Look at this kamikaze!

Seriously, there's nothing better than Japanese gameshows! The level of absurdity is impressive.

But before kamikaze became modern slang for a dangerous, reckless, thrill-seeking flirter of death, it was an informal reference to these guys:

The shinpū tokubetsu kōgekitai (divine wind special attack units) were the young men charged with flying planes into Allied warships during the Second World War. About 3,800 kamikaze pilots died during the war, and more than 7,000 naval personnel were killed in the attacks. It was a brutal, no mercy job and their work shocked the world.

During the war, the Japanese press began to informally refer to the suicide attacks by an alternative pronunciation of 'divine wind' – kamikaze.

Why?

Well, it starts with the Battle of Bun'ei in 1274. Also known as the First Battle of Hakata Bay, this is the first attempt by the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China to invade Japan. But after one day of fighting, a savage typhoon rocks the Yuan fleet and destroys a third of their force. The Yuan invasion is called off and the Japanese give thanks to the divinely conjured wind.

But Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor and founder of the Yuan Dynasty, really really wants Japan. So seven years later the Yuan dynasty tries again. In early 1280, Kublai orders the construction of a massive fleet, but only allows one year for completion. The result? Some pretty shoddy ships that will come to bite him in the butt.

In June 1281, two massive fleets set sail from Korea and China. The force from Korea is first to arrive at Hakata Bay on 23 June 1281. But they don't wait for the second and much larger fleet to arrive. Nope, stuff that. They boldly launch an assault, kicking off the Battle of Kōan or the Second Battle of Hakata Bay. But the defending samurai are too tough. Over the next few weeks, 3,000+ men are killed in close quarter combat trying to gain a foothold on Japanese land, but they never succeed.

Finally, ships from the second fleet begin arriving on 16 July. Now you're gonna get it! And on 12 August, the combined Yuan forces are ready to launch a joint attack on Japan. Let's do this.

Then, on 15 August 1281, our day in history this week, another massive typhoon smashes itself through the Tsushima Straits.

The terrible winds last two full days and completely ravage the Yuan fleets (again). The poorly constructed ships are splintered and torn apart and their crews drowned in the frothing waves. Contemporary Japanese accounts claim that over 4,000 ships are destroyed in the storm and that 80% of the Yuan soldiers are either drowned or killed by samurai on the beaches. Such is the destruction that it's said that "a person could walk across from one point of land to another on a mass of wreckage".

Only a small fraction of the original fleet returns home to tell the tale.

Twice the great Kublai Khan sends his mighty fleets against Japan, and twice they are destroyed by just-in-time divine winds.

Wow.

The stuff of legends indeed.

Divinely conjured or not, the legend of the kamikaze is so powerful that it will later inspire thousands of WWII pilots to sign up to the divine wind special attack unit and protect Japan once again.

3 quick facts:

• According to Japanese legend, the kamikaze was created by Raijin, the god of lightning, thunder and storms in Japanese mythology and the Shinto religion.

• Geologist Jon Woodruff has searched extensively for evidence of the "divine wind," that twice saved Japan from Kublai Khan's fleets. Backed by the National Geographic, he has found some compelling evidence to support the legend: "We have fairly strong evidence of two intense inundations at the end of the 13th century."

• It's said that the 1274 and 1281 invasions of Japan were the largest naval invasions in history until D-Day, the landing of Allied forces in Normandy in 1944 during World War II.

Other conflicts that happened this week:

• 15 August 778: The Battle of Roncevaux Pass takes place between the army of Charlemagne and a Basque army.

• 16 August 1819: Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England during the Peterloo Massacre.

• 17 August 1549: The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed in England during its fifth and final battle, the Battle of Sampford Courtenay.

• 18 August 1965: Operation Starlite kicks off, the first major offensive action conducted by a purely U.S. military unit during the Vietnam War.

• 19 August 1666: Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships, an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire".

• 20 August 636: Arab forces take control of the Levant away from the Byzantine Empire in the Battle of Yarmouk, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.

• 21 August 1169: Uprising of the black African forces of the Fatimid army against Saladin. Known as the Battle of the Blacks, the uprising is defeated after two days, consolidating Saladin's position as master of Egypt.

A historical quote about historical things:

DisclaimerYou are reading my abstractions based on the abstractions of others. History is not always an accurate map of what really happened. The map is not the territory. Reality can be very different. We are like blind people groping an elephant, describing what we feel. It always pays to do your own research and ask questions.