Episode 6: The Mongol Invasions of Japan

The Mongols are remembered as perhaps the greatest conquerors in world history. Great nations throughout Eurasia felt the wrath of Genghis Khan and his successors as they built the largest land empire in human history. In that light, the failed attempts of Kublai Khan to subdue Japan are a stark outlier, so much so that the two Mongol defeats are commonly just viewed as being the result of poor weather and nothing else. A closer look at the events of their invasions of Japan reveals a more complicated story, however — one of folly, overreach, and naturally, incompetence. Join us on “No One is Competent” as we look at the Mongol invasions of Japan of 1274 and 1281 AD.