Few images are more cursed than flounder eyes mid-migration.

The planet is significantly smaller now than when it formed.

Sometimes, simple methods are more effective than complex bespoke technologies.

Throughout its over one thousand-year history, Russia has been invaded numerous times, some more famous than others. In fact, the development of the modern Russian state is inexorably linked with these various invasions, both successes and failures. From the widely successful 1237 Mongol invasion and 1609 Polish conquest to the massive failures of the 1708 Swedish invasion, Napoleons 1812 campaign, and Operation Barbarossa of WWII, Russias history, society, and culture were massively influenced by these invasions.1. The Mongol Invasion of the Kyivan RusMongols at the walls of Vladimir 1238, the Mongol army besieges the city of Vladimir by Vassily Maximov, c. 1900. Source: Wikimedia CommonsBefore Russia became a single unified state, it was a decentralized realm of principalities known as the Kyivan Rus. While the Rus states, particularly their capital cities, had grown as commercial centers throughout the medieval period, the Mongol Empires conquests would change the trajectory of the region forever.Beginning in 1237, a Mongol army under the leadership of Batu Khan (one of the grandsons of the more famous conqueror Ghengis Khan) swept through the Rus lands. Major cities including Ryazan, Vladimir, and most importantly Kyiv were obliterated by the Mongols with their populations massacred and any survivors enslaved. By 1241, the Rus principalities were almost entirely subjugated by the Mongols with the exception of a handful of northern cities, namely Novgorod and Pskov. In the following centuries, the westernmost Rus cities were occupied by Poland and Lithuania while those in the east remained as vassals of the Mongol Golden Horde.While the Mongol invasions were brief and their reign over Russia not long in the grand scheme of history (the Tatar Yoke as the Russians call it ended definitively in 1480), their impact on Russian history cannot be understated. With Kyiv, the greatest center of power in the Russian lands, destroyed and now under Polish influence, a small city known as Moscow gradually became the most powerful of the Rus Principalities under Mongol vassalage. Essentially, the western Rus cities that fell under Polish influence evolved into Belarus and Ukraine while the eastern principalities unified under the banner of Moscow, eventually becoming the Tsardom of Russia.2. The Polish Conquests and the Time of TroublesAppeal of Minin by Konstantin Makovsky, 1896. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAfter the definitive end of Mongol rule in 1480, Moscow centralized power in the region. In 1547, the Grand Prince of Moscow, Ivan IV, claimed the title Tsar of All Russia, officially transforming the Moscovite state into the Tsardom of Russia. Tsar Ivan would come to be known as Ivan the Terrible. Among many other accomplishments and acts, the conquests east into Siberia began under Ivans rule. By the end of his reign in 1584, Ivan had only one remaining heir in his third-born son, Feodor. Feodor would reign until he died, heirless, in 1598.With the death of the last male member of the ruling family, Russia descended into a chaotic succession crisis known as the Time of Troubles. Over the next few years, several different tsars, from powerful nobles such as Boris Godunov and Vasily IV Shuisky to a pretender who claimed to be one of Ivan IVs dead sons, False Dmitry I, reigned in Russia at different times. However, the penultimate tsar of the Time of Troubles was not Russian, but Polish.The Relief of Smolensk, during the Polish-Muscovite War (1605-1618) by Juliusz Kossak, 19th century. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, another major power in Eastern Europe and one of Russias greatest rivals, saw an opportunity in the chaos of the Time of Troubles. In 1609, the Poles launched an invasion of Russia. The Polish invasion was shockingly successful, seizing Moscow in 1610 and placing a Polish prince, Wadysaw Vasa (called Vladislav in Russian) on the Russian throne as tsar. While Wadysaw was overthrown by a major revolt by Russian nobles in 1613, Poland was able to annex significant territories from Russia at the end of this conflict, namely the city of Smolensk. Following the overthrow of Wadysaw, the Russian noble families voted to crown Michael Romanov as the Tsar of All Russia. Michael Is dynasty, the Romanovs, would rule Russia for three centuries.3. The Swedish Invasion and the Great Northern WarBattle of Lesnaya by anonymous artist, 1829-1831. Source: Hermitage MuseumBy 1700, Russia had almost completed its conquest of Siberia and gained powerful rivals in Europe. The most concerning of these rivals at the time was the Swedish Empire, the preeminent power in the Baltic Sea. Tsar Peter, later known as Peter the Great, sought to usurp Swedens power in the Baltic. When 15-year-old Charles XII ascended the throne of Sweden in 1697, Peter saw an opportunity. In 1700, Peter formed an anti-Swedish alliance with Denmark-Norway and Poland-Lithuania, which soon launched invasions of the Swedish Empire from east, west, and south. The conflict that ensued would come to be known as the Great Northern War.To the surprise of the anti-Swedish alliance, the young Swedish king turned out to be an effective military commander, quickly outmaneuvering the Danes and forcing a Danish surrender. Charles then turned his army east, crushing a Russian army at Narva (modern-day Estonia, then a Swedish territory). Charles then turned his attention south to Poland while Russia reeled from the defeat. However, this decision might have been his greatest mistake.In 1708, after subduing Poland, Charles began a full-scale invasion of Russia. When the Russian and Swedish armies met at Poltava (in modern-day Ukraine), the Swedish king was met with a crushing defeat. Although the Great Northern War officially continued for another decade, the Swedish defeat at Poltava sealed their fate. Because of their victory in the war and over the Swedish invasion, Russia annexed much of Swedens territories on the east coast of the Baltic, namely Ingria. Ingria became the home of Russias new imperial capital, named for the tsar who conquered the land and built it: Saint Petersburg. In the end, the Russian victory over Swedens invasion cemented Russia as the preeminent power in the Baltic Sea, supplanting the once-dominant Sweden.4. The Napoleonic Wars and the French InvasionNapoleon Meets Alexander I, Frederick William III and others in Tilsit June 26, 1807 by Daniel Berger, 1807. Source: Hermitage MuseumIn the wake of its victory over Sweden, Russia had annexed large swathes of territory from the Swedish Empire. Later in the 18th century, Russia also participated in the Partitions of Poland, greatly expanding its territory in Eastern Europe. In 1812, Napoleons French Empire dominated almost all of Europe. While Russia and France had had a shaky alliance since 1807, Russia even gained Finland from Sweden thanks to this alliance, it was not to last. This Franco-Russian alliance finally broke in 1812 when Russia refused to cease trade with Britain. Napoleon prepared an army of over 600,000 men from across Europe, the largest ever assembled to that point in history, to invade and subdue Russia.As Napoleons army pushed into Russia, it defeated the Russians in battle at almost every turn. At the Battle of Borodino, Napoleons army clashed with the Russians and tens of thousands of men died on both sides. Despite heavy fighting, the battle ended in a French victory and opened the way for Napoleon to take Moscow. However, when Napoleon rode into the city with his army, instead of a bustling city as expected, the French Emperor found a devastated and burned city. On its way out, the Russian army had burned the city to ensure that the French could not benefit from its resources and logistics. By this point in the invasion, Napoleons army had suffered hundreds of thousands of casualties, mostly through attrition but many too to battle.The Battle of Borodino on 26 August (7 September) 1812 by Peter von Hess, 1843. Source: Hermitage MuseumHoping to receive an offer of surrender from the Russians, Napoleon kept his army in Moscow for over a month. However, no such offer arrived and the French army was stuck deep in Russian territory with winter only months away. Finally, Napoleon decided to admit defeat and retreat west. As Napoleons army retreated, it suffered enormous casualties from the cold, starvation, disease, and constant harassment by Russian guerillas. By the time the French Army finally escaped the vast Russian Empire, its numbers had been reduced to only around 120,000 men. While this invasion was not won by a Russian force of arms, it was a major influence on Russian national pride. Ultimately, the prestige associated with this victory and later victories against Napoleon resulted in Russia becoming the uncontested greatest military power on the continent for a time.5. Operation Barbarossa and the Great Patriotic WarGerman troops crossing the Soviet border by Johannes Hhle, 22 June 1941. Source: Wikimedia CommonsOn June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched its invasion of the Soviet Union. Known as Operation Barbarossa, this invasion utilized nearly 4 million soldiers in its march east. Barbarossa was initially successful and resulted in hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops killed in battle and millions more captured. By September, the German army was at the gates of Moscow and another major Soviet defeat seemed inevitable.Despite repeated offensives by the German army, the Soviet Red Army held its ground. The Germans finally suffered a major defeat on the field in the three-month Battle of Moscow. With the German advance halted the Red Army began a winter counteroffensive which pushed the Germans further away from Moscow, definitively ending Operation Barbarossa. Operation Barbarossa had failed and with it, the Nazis chances for a quick, decisive war with the Soviet Union were dashed, replaced by a long grueling war of attrition.Europe Countries Map (Cold War). Source: PixabayAlthough Operation Barbarossa had failed in its objectives, the eastern front of World War II, known to the former Soviet countries as the Great Patriotic War, would continue until 1945. The Red Army would continue its offensives west, crushing the Germans in such major battles as the Battles of Stalingrad, Kursk, and Operation Bagration. In the end, the Red Army took Berlin and occupied much of Eastern Europe.Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War came at an enormous cost, roughly 11 million Red Army soldiers and 7 million Soviet civilians died. They would not forget this devastating invasion from the West, which would shape their foreign policy for the rest of the Unions existence. Soon after the end of the war, the Soviet Union established a sphere of influence across Eastern Europe; a shield against possible further invasions from the West, yet also influencing the start of the Cold War, which would shape global politics for decades to come.Sources:Figes, O. (2023). The Story of Russia. Metropolitan Books.Hosking, G. Russian History: A Very Short Introduction, 2012.

Some major battles of the medieval period became world-shaking events for their time. Two, like the Battles of Hastings, or Crcy, later showed how each altered the status quo. The other three (Tours, Ain Jalut, and Constantinople) represented a complete checkmate for one side, causing a change of history.The True End of Imperial Rome: The Fall of Constantinople (1453)The Fall of Constantinople, 1453. Source: Today in HistoryThe collapse of Imperial Rome in 476 saw the beginning of the medieval era. Yet the Byzantine Empire carried Romes imperial pedigree until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. By 1453, the Byzantines only represented a shadow of their former imperial glory, with the capital being the sole remaining jewel. By April 1453, the Ottomans arrived with nearly 100,000 troops. They invested the city by sea and land.The Byzantines, led by Emperor Constantine XI, numbered less than 10,000. The siege lasted until May 29, 1453. The Ottomans, using wave attacks and giant cannonades, breached Constantinoples famed Theodosian Walls. Upon sacking the city, the Ottomans declared Constantinople their capital city.And with that, a millennium of Romes legacy and Byzantine history ended. For the Western world, the seizure of Constantinople meant the end of the medieval era. Attention would soon shift to the New World, moving away from the Mediterranean.The Beginning of the End: The Battle of Crcy (1468)The Battle of Crcy, from Chroniques de Jean Froissart, 15th century, Source: Wikimedia CommonsTheres no doubt that the armored knight ruled the medieval battlefield. The first (and greatest) shock would come at the Battle of Crcy. In July 1346, Edward IIIs slash-and-burn raid of the French countryside took a different turn from expectations. Englands Flemish ally failed to show up, so the English retreated, pursued by a larger French army.Battle of Crcy, by Master of Boucicaut, 1415. Source: The British LibraryhEdward III chose the village of Crcy, near Caen in Normandy, on August 26, 1346. Positioning his army on higher ground, he placed his longbowmen on the wings; his men-at-arms occupied the center. The French army, under King Philip VI, arrived in the late afternoon and moved in.In successive but disorganized waves, first Genoese crossbowmen and then French knights and infantry attacked. Charging up the muddy hill, each wave got blasted by withering arrow volleys. For the first time, the French knights met a disciplined unit of archers. Well trained with a rate of 6 to 12 arrows per minute, they rained death. Slowed by mud, arrows inevitably found weak spots or gaps like visors in the armor. English infantry swarmed, finishing off any wounded knights.This battle marked the end of the knights dominance. Now discipline, tactics, and firepower prevailed over these armored fighters.Stopping the Unstoppable: The Battle of Ain Jalut (1260)The Battle of Ain Jalut, by Joseph Feely. Source: Fine Art AmericaOne notable fact is how far the Mongols penetrated into the Middle East. In 1260, their army, after sacking Baghdad and Damascus, came south. At the Battle of Ain Jalut, the Mongols met their match in Egypts Mamluks, the tough slave warriors.On September 3, 1260, both sides clashed in a valley. Under the Mamluk leader Sultan Qutuz, the Mamluks feigned a retreat, using a common Mongol tactic. The Mongols followed, anticipating an easy victory. With cries of O Islam, the Mamluk heavy cavalry and infantry swarmed the Mongols flanks, crushing the horse lords.Ain Jalut ended the Mongol expansion in the Middle East. Besides saving Islam, the Mamluks inflicted the Mongols first critical defeat.England Forever Changed: The 1066 Battle of HastingsAn 1868 drawing of the Battle of Hastings, which occurred on October 14, 1066, and resulted in a Norman victory over the Anglo-Saxons. Source: Joseph Martin Kronheim / Wikimedia CommonsThe 1066 Battle of Hastings on October 14 changed England forever. Duke William of Normandy crossed the English Channel to enforce his claim to Englands throne. Met by King Harolds Saxon army at Hastings, the Normans mixed force of knights, infantry, and bowmen wore down an exhausted English army. Unknown to William, the English had only days before defeated a Viking invasion further north.As the day ended, victory came swiftly. According to legend, an arrow in the eye killed King Harold, and the Saxons collapsed. The Norman Conquest changed England like never before by introducing feudalism, creating a central monarchy, and laying the basis for modern English.An Expansion Stopped Cold: The Battle of ToursCharles Martes Position at Tours Source: WikimediaThe summer of 732 saw Islams reach into Europe soundly checked at the Battle of Tours. A Muslim Umayyad Caliphate army marched from Spain. These warriors sacked Bordeaux and defeated a Frankish army. In the north, the de facto ruler of the Franks, Charles, marched south after appeals with his army to Tours. Throughout the day, Frankish infantry held off the Umayyad cavalry. This changed when some Muslim troops broke off at the rumor of the Frank forces in their rear. Charles forces attacked, breaking apart their enemy and killing their leader.The Muslims retreated south to Spain. For his victory, Charles received the title the Hammer, or Charles Martel. Like Ain Jalut, Tours kept Western Europe Christian at a time when Islams victory seemed inevitable.

In The Last Samurai (2003), a group of 19th-century Japanese warriors rebel against the government because it abandoned the katana in favor of guns. In the end, the last of the samurai perished during the Battle of Shiroyama, pitching blades against bullets in a last-ditch attempt to preserve traditional Japanese culture. Or so the movie claims. In reality, the samurai not only fought for something far less noble, they also relied heavily on firearms, which their class had mastered 300 years prior.Match, Lock, and 300,000 Smoking BarrelsSamurai Gunners firing hinawaju. Drawing by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1855. Source: Wikimedia CommonsTo understand the events of the Battle of Shiroyama (September 24, 1877), we will have to go back to the 16th century. In 1543, a Chinese vessel carrying Portuguese sailors was blown off course by a typhoon and made an unplanned stop on the Japanese island of Tanegashima. It was the first documented interaction between Japan and Europe. The islands feudal lord acquired two arquebuses from the Portuguese and then gave them to his craftsmen. Over the following years, they were able to reverse-engineer the design and produced over 300,000 Japanese matchlock guns known as tanegashima or hinawaju (fire-rope gun), which quickly appeared on the battlefield.Japanese guns were first used in combat during the 1548 Battle of Uedahara when the Murakami clan deployed 50 arquebuses against the legendary warrior Takeda Shingen. At the time, firearms were the weapons of foot soldiers because of their relatively low learning curve. However, the fire-rope guns did not immediately revolutionize Japanese warfare. The arquebuses of the period were too limited. Their short range, vulnerability to rain, and slow reloading made them less effective than a seasoned archer. But, little by little, with improvements in technology and the invention of new battlefield tactics, they became a staple of Japanese battles, with samurai picking up marksmanship as another weapon in their arsenal. They honed that skill and kept it alive all the way until the late 19th century and the last stand of the samurai.Will the Real Last Samurai Please Stand Up?Saigo Takamori Portrait, Tokonami Masayoshi, 1887. Source: Collection of Kagoshima City Museum of Art via Wikimedia CommonsThe Last Samurai makes no mention of Shiroyama and casts Ken Watanabe as Moritsugu Katsumoto, leader of the last stand of Japanese knights. But the character and the entire plot of the movie are a thinly-veiled retelling of the real-life Satsuma Rebellion, which did end at Shiroyama and was led by Saigo Takamori. Once a key figure in the Satsuma-Choshu Alliance that was instrumental in the toppling of the shogunate and the restoration of imperial power under Emperor Meiji, Saigo, like Katsumoto, was a supporter of the emperor but eventually removed himself from government. It had nothing to do with his dislike of modernization or firearms.In The Last Samurai, Katsumoto is seen living in a secluded mountain village and devoting himself to traditional Japanese arts that bordered on asceticism. The real Saigo Takamori, on the other hand, was a practical soldier. He admired the European powers for their proficiency in warfare, owned and frequently wore a Western-style army uniform, and personally met with British arms dealers to supply his Satsuma domain (modern-day Kagoshima) with firearms of all shapes and sizes.The Rebel Insurrection in the Kagoshima Disturbance, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1877. Source: Los Angeles County Museum of ArtSaigo Takamori also opened private schools throughout Satsuma (Tubielewicz, 1984, p. 359) that were essentially military academies mixed with cults, as they required literal blood oaths and taught everything from military history to artillery tactics and Western-style engineering. That is not to say that Saigo abandoned his katana. He acknowledged that swords cannot deflect bullets, but he still saw himself as a samurai, an heir to a tradition going back many centuries. So did many of his contemporaries. That is one of the reasons behind the Satsuma Rebellion and the Battle of Shiroyama.Saigo Takamori and 19th-Century Samurai Were Complex FiguresAlbumen Silver Print of Samurai in Armor, by Kusakabe Kimbei, 1860s. Source: J. Paul Getty Museum via Wikimedia CommonsSaigo Takamori left his government position because the emperor did not want to invade Korea where the recently-sent Japanese delegation was treated coldly (Tubielewicz, 1984, p. 356). Saigo wanted blood to restore the honor of Japan, though a chance to test out some of those Western military tactics and weapons was definitely also a factor. With his bloodlust unquenched, he retreated back to his home province where many samurai who fought for the new emperor were finding themselves feeling left out.Though Shinto and Buddhism had coexisted and frequently intermingled for well over a millennium in Japan, the new government firmly separated the two, making the emperor the protector of Shinto (lessening the role of Buddhism) and taxing some lands belonging to temples. For centuries, samurai had been adherents of Zen Buddhism, and suddenly they were feeling as if their religion was being relegated to second place (Totman, 2016, pp. 300-301). That did not sit well with many. Though not as much as suddenly being equal to peasants. Emperor Meiji did away with the feudal system, freeing commoners from the obligation to literally fall flat on their faces in the presence of samurai. Farmers and merchants were now also allowed to ride horses, have surnames, and, worst of all from the point of view of Japans ex-warrior caste, serve in the Imperial Army.Battle of Shiroyama. Painting by Nagashima Msai, 1877. Source: Wikimedia CommonsAll that anger was not just a question of elitism. Low-ranking samurai were left basically destitute by the sudden abolition of the feudal system that used to supply them with rice or money. In its early years, the Meiji Restoration failed to offer them a viable alternative. The government bailed out the big feudal lords with subsidies and bonds but mostly ignored the little guys, something that a lot of people from all walks of life can recognize as an understandable source of anger. In this rapidly changing atmosphere of confusion, anxiety, and a feeling of being forgotten after shedding blood for a glorious future that never came, the seeds of the Satsuma Rebellion first started to sprout.Full Metal SamuraiPortrait of Saigo Takamori, Ishikawa Shizumasa, 19th century. Source: Osaka City Museum via Wikimedia CommonsWhile on the surface being very grateful for his role in helping defeat shogun loyalists, the Meiji government was worried about Saigos military schools. To make sure they would not lead to any rebellions, Tokyo decided to confiscate all their firearms and gunpowder in 1877 (Tubielewicz, J., 1984, Historia Japonii, 362.) Ironically, this led to a rebellion. When a ship arrived to take away Satsumas guns, the local authoritiesmost of them graduates of Saigos academiesraided the ship and took control of the domains arsenal with help from over 1,000 samurai. Saigo was away when it all happened, and when he came back, he found himself in the middle of an insurrection in want of a leader. He decided to take on that role.Saigo gathered 15,000 troops and marched towards Tokyo to tell the emperor that his advisers did not have his best interest at heart. To make sure they would not be stopped, the Satsuma rebels carried with them Snider-Enfield rifles, carbines, pistols, about 1,500,000 rounds, pack howitzers, field guns, and dozens of mortars (Buck, J. H., 1973, The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle, 431). By the time they got to Kumamoto Castle, under the command of imperial loyalists, the last samurai were ready for a shooting battle.The Satsuma Rebellion Started and Ended With a BangThe Battle of Shiroyama by Yamazaki Toshinobu. Saigo is depicted preparing to commit ritual suicide. Source: Japan ReferenceDuring the Siege of Kumamoto Castle, Saigo set up cannons around the fortification and bombarded it mercilessly (Turnbull, 2003, p. 198). Finding themselves insufficiently prepared, the soldiers at Kumamoto at one point resorted to digging up unexploded rebel ordinances in order to have something to shoot at the enemy (Turnbull, 2003, p. 199). While swords made occasional appearances during sorties and skirmishes, the siege was very much all about firepower. Things were looking up for Saigo Takamori, but the situation quickly changed after the Imperial Army showed up. Through months of battles, surprise attacks, encirclements, Saigo was forced to keep retreating. In the end, he was left with only 500 fighters and by some miracle seized Mount Shiroyama where he planned to make his last stand.At this point, Saigo had lost most of his firearms. In the final days of the Satsuma Rebellion, his army apparently started melting down bronze statues for bullets. He knew that Shiroyama would be his grave so he went back to basics. He burned his army uniform, exchanged cups of sake with his officers, did a ceremonial sword dance, and wrote a traditional death poem. Though the Imperial Army outnumbered the rebels 60-to-1, they were not taking their chances and reduced their numbers via heavy artillery fire. When only 40 rebels were left, there was a full-frontal assault where Saigos men relied on their katana swords, and that part may have looked a little bit like the very end of The Last Samurai. Severely wounded by a bullet, Saigo ended up finding a quiet spot on the battlefield to commit seppuku. Thus ended the last stand of the samurai on the slopes of Shiroyama.BibliographyBuck, J. H. (1973). The Satsuma Rebellion of 1877. From Kagoshima Through the Siege of Kumamoto Castle. Monumenta Nipponica, 28(4). pp. 427-446.Totman, C. (2016). A History of Japan, Second Edition. Blackwell Publishing.Tubielewicz, J. (1984). Historia Japonii. Ossolineum.Turnbull, S. (2003). SamuraiThe World of the Warrior. Osprey Books.ar

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