An ancient story tells of the kamikaze, or "divine wind," that twice saved Japan from Kublai Khan's Mongol fleets. So powerful was the legend that centuries later thousands of World War II pilots known as kamikazes would sign up to protect Japan again, by crashing their planes in suicide missions.
Now University of Massachusetts Amherst geologist Jon Woodruff says he has uncovered evidence of some truth to the legend of the ancient kamikazes, typhoon-strength winds that saved Japan from Kublai Khan in the 13th century.
Woodruff traveled halfway around the world to find evidence of the winds in Japanese lake beds, near the site of shipwrecks thought to be part of Kublai Khan's sunken armada.
"This is one of the earliest historical examples of atmospheric and oceanic conditions having a significant geopolitical impact," says Woodruff. Not until the 20th century would Japan have to defend its borders from a foreign power again.
In the 13th century, Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai Khan had already conquered much of China and hoped to expand his Mongolian empire. To attack Kyushu, the southernmost of the four main Japanese islands, he amassed an enormous fleet of Chinese and Korean ships. It was one of the largest armadas the world has ever seen, with more than 140,000 sailors, according to Woodruff.
Yet twice, in 1274 and 1281, Kublai sent his overwhelming forces across the Korea Strait, and twice his fleet was destroyed. Legend has it that Khan's ships were sunk when an emperor summoned two massive storms, the kamikazes.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... -invasion/
This is a well-known episode in Japan but some believe that Japan was invaded by the Mongols. The "divine intervention" or freak typhoons sank hundreds of Mongol transport ships loaded with tens of thousands of Mongol soldiers in 1274 and 1281. Japan got a lucky break from being invaded by the world's most ferocious army which would have killed millions upon landing on Japan's shores.
Mongolia owes its political sovereignty to Russia. Despite some bitter memories of the Soviet era, Mongolians have not forgotten this fact. In 1911, as the Qing empire that ruled China collapsed, the “outer” portion of Mongolia declared independence with Tsarist Russian support.
At first the newly independent nation was ruled by the head of the Buddhist church, the Bogd Khaan or “living Buddha of Urga [latterday Ulaanbataar]”, but in 1919 the capital was occupied by the Chinese warlord Xu Shuzheng. In 1920 the Russian civil war spilled over into Mongolia when a White Russian army led by the “mad baron” Ungern Sternberg attacked the Chinese, taking the capital from them the following spring.
The Soviets reacted by sending troops in support of Mongolian revolutionaries to oust Sternberg the same year. After the Bogd Khaan died in 1924, they established the first Soviet satellite state – the Mongolian People’s Republic.
http://theconversation.com/russias-bord ... hina-36721
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