Stephen Turnbull

Very interesting book about part of Japanese military history that is not mentioned that often.

Considering the fame Japanese warriors garnered on the bloody battlefields of their homeland, it was not unexpected that during the peacetime, all these warriors turned their attention toward near abroad where they could sell their services and do what they do best. For Japanese central government that emerged after the bloody internal war period this was also a very good turn of events because they were getting rid of surplus of armed and dangerous men that could never be put under the full control and could cause problems.

Besides above mentioned way of exporting soldiers, Japanese became involved with foreigners, serving as hired swords, through the Japanese communities in the South East Asia that had rather strange relationship with the motherland - while they did bring business and trade to the mainland and thus enabled exchange of goods through the entire region, these freelancers were also very much involved in the piracy in South East Asia. As pirates they were quite notorious. Because of this dual role Japan did not want to do anything with them, when they got into problems. Very interesting are correspondences between Shogun and kings of Siam and Cambodia, where Shogun informs them that these pirates if caught are to be treated by the local law and custom, without any interference from the Japanese government.

Third source of Japanese mercenaries was due to the religious issues - lots of Japanese Christians were expelled from the mainland and these people found very soon service in Spanish and Portuguese armies fighting for their respective state interests in the South East Asia. This caused Japanese forces to fight one another at times.

Also interesting is role played by Dutch East India Company (VOC) and their employment of Japanese troops for outright conflict with Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. When it comes to Chinese, Taiwan (known as Isla de Formosa at the time), also played a central role in the wars involving Japanese mercenaries. And not just mercenaries, but also several plans for invasion of China that were planned but never executed by the Japanese themselves.

Playing a pivotal role in conflicts from Siam, Cambodia to Malaya and Taiwan (Koxinga's Iron Men, tell me better name for the mercenary outfit, even if it wasn't 100% Japanese outfit) , Japanese mercenaries suffered a fate that no mercenary group can evade - while they were used by their mainland government from time to time, at the very end they were abandoned and left to their own devices whenever they got into troubles with locals.

Also interesting is the way how they were viewed by their employers - while local SE Asia kingdoms held them in high esteem and trust, European powers viewed them as they viewed all the mercenaries - good soldiers, with a bit of wee crazy/berserker approach to combat, but something to keep at the arms length due to the nature of the job they are hired for.

Very interesting book, highly recommended to history and especially military history buffs.… (mehr)

Covering period of little more than 150 years, from fall of Constantinople to Polish-Russian wars, this book gives a very good overview of evolution of military thought and technology. This is by far the best book I read that gives short overview of the events and military evolution of the period (because to be honest for every part of the story there are at least 2 or 3 books of same size for those interested in the full details). Interspersed we find stories about renown names of military thought and science at the time, from nobles (like William the Silent) to mercenary captains (like John Smith). Together with this author stresses how cruel and savage wars became, with forces of thousands of soldiers invading countries getting paid by pillaging the countryside, burning and killing off the entire cities. This was time of mercenary captains who would fight one day for one side, next day for the opposition and then come back and be hired by their original employers. Life was cheap and war was perpetual.

We follow how might of artillery and gun-powder slowly changed the front-line landscape but also how proven old methods like use of well drilled cavalry lance charges, infantry organized in "boxes", like Spanish tercios or Swiss pike formations followed by German Landsknechts, proved their value time and time again even when confronted with modern firepower. Book proves that no matter the technological advancements if they are not practical or cannot be put to work en-masse to make a difference (I especially liked the chapters on reiters and cavalry caracole maneuver) it is discipline and drill of soldiers that will always prevail.

I recently read another book, one about the Cataphracts and evolution of this type of heavy cavalry and only comment I had was that book lacked graphical elements - it was well written but without graphics and pictures that would enrich the text.

Here we have no such situation. Book is beautiful, with great color photographs, especially of fortifications that became more and more sophisticated in this period, and black and white contemporary graphics of people, battlefields and fortified cities.

Highly recommended to everyone interested in birth of modern military. Do note that if you seek details, bibliography provided is extremely rich and provides a starting point for further reading.

Excellent book.… (mehr)

Excellent book giving overview of Ninja historical facts and what became accepted as truth in the 1900's when Ninja started to play role in numerous pulp fiction and (quasi)historical works.

Author gives a very clear picture of elite, highly trained warrior clans/families of Japan's turbulent past and how term Ninja - and concept that has very little to do with historical facts but much more with fantasy fiction - by which we know Ninja today - did not appear until late 19th and into 20th century.

What did irritate me a a little is slight apologetic context especially at the start of the book where Mr. Turnbull says he made mistakes in his previous works and unintentionally helped further the [historically untrue] view of the Ninja.

We are talking about something that was part of warfare in medieval Japan - of course not everything is in the historical records and of course they get distorted with times but that is why it is important to write on the subject and this is something Mr. Turnbull did at all times - investigation, exploration of available [accent on this] texts and writing books on the subject. This is area of one nations culture where everything was always kept in-house, transmitted from master to apprentice in direct form without writing everything [or in some cases anything] down in order to keep the clan/family safe and their business/trade secure in future. Same can be said of any guild where they have trade secrets of sorts - e.g. in Europe this would apply to glass and porcelain manufacturers.

If anybody has any criticism of Mr. Turnbull's work (s)he can write and publish their own work on the subject and provide detailed information. This type of counter-argument is productive. Counter-productive is when counter-argument is provided via various blogs and other sites where internet in general is prime source of information (which unfortunately is not so good idea because you can find a lot of stuff that just does not have anything to do with historical facts).

Author shows how myths are made - starting from the point where basic elements are in (those that are based in real world facts) and then use of magic and wizardry puts the myth more and more into domain of fantasy.

Highly recommended. If you are interested in Japan's military history I wholeheartedly recommend works by Stephen Turnbull and books by Karl F. Friday.
… (mehr)