Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet: History's Greatest Naval Disaster - Softcover

Delgado, James

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847920780 ISBN 13: 9781847920782

Publisher: Bodley Head, 2009

Synopsis

*After finally achieving what eluded even his grandfather Ghengis Khan - the conquest of China - and inheriting the world's largest navy, Khubilai Khan turned his sights to Japan, which he attacked with an immense armada in 1274. Vastly outnumbered and facing total massacre, the Japanese prayed to their gods for survival, and the very next day Khan's entire armada was destroyed by a 'divine wind' (kamikaze). When Khan tried again seven years later, with a fleet double the size of the first, the very same thing happened.
* The legend of the kamikaze - revived as a Japanese national legend as they modernised and militarised, culminating in the suicide bombers of WWII - has endured for centuries.
* Now, after decades of painstaking research and underwater excavation, marine archaeologist James Delgado has discovered what really happened.
* Based on original sources as diverse as actual sunken ships, archeological excavations on land, temple inscriptions, hand-painted scrolls, woodblock prints, and historical and literary records from China, Japan and Vietnam, Khubilai Khan's Lost Fleet is a captivating journey back through the mists of time.
* It tells the fascinating tale of the great Mongol's maritime forays, offers a compelling study of where myth, legend and history blend and blur, and solves one of history's greatest mysteries: what sank the Khan's immense fleet?

About this title

Review:

"This is history at its best - the world's greatest naval disaster brought to vivid life by a rare combination of personal experience and rigorous scholarship." (John Man)

"Terrific ... a fascinating adventure tale packed with insights into a maritime empire about which most Westerners know almost nothing." (Nathaniel Philbrick)

"Through brilliant and painstaking research Delgado has brought Khubilai Khan's lost fleet to the surface, showing for the first time the true nature of the doomed adventure." (Stephen Turnbull)

"One finishes the book ready to strap on mask and tanks to dive for the buried remains of the shops that still hold more Mongol secrets" (rev’d Carol Gluck TLS)

"James Delgado does a splendid job as a cultural historian in showing how the legend of a brave but doomed defence, supported by the intervention of the gods, shaped national identity over seven centuries." (Adrian Brewer Tablet)

Book Description:

The true story of history's greatest naval disaster - the destruction of Khubilai Khan's immense armada, the largest fleet the world had ever seen, by a legendary act of divine intervention: the kamikaze.

About this edition

• Publisher: Bodley Head
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1847920780
• ISBN 13: 9781847920782
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 240