Kublai Khan built 4,400 ships to invade Japan — a typhoon sank them all

After conquering China and Korea, Kublai Khan — the most powerful man on earth — turned his attention to Japan. Beginning in 1268, he sent a series of envoys demanding submission. The Japanese court, encouraged by the samurai regent Hojo Tokimune, refused. In 1272, Kublai sent a more threatening message. Hojo executed the Mongol envoys — the gravest possible insult. Kublai prepared an invasion.

The first invasion came in 1274. A combined Mongol-Korean fleet of approximately 900 ships carrying 40,000 troops landed at Hakata Bay on Kyushu. The Mongols brought gunpowder weapons, massed archery, and disciplined infantry — tactics the samurai had never faced. After a day of fierce fighting, the invaders withdrew to their ships for the night. That night, a typhoon struck. A third of the fleet was lost. The Mongols retreated. Japan had survived — but Kublai was not finished.

Kublai planned a second invasion on a scale that had never been attempted. Two fleets would converge on Japan: an Eastern Route from Korea (900 ships, 40,000 men) and a Southern Route from China (3,500 ships, 100,000 men). The ships were built in a rush — Korean and Chinese shipyards worked under impossible deadlines. The Chinese ships were river boats, designed for the Yangtze, flat-bottomed and structurally unsuited to the open ocean. The two fleets were supposed to coordinate their arrival. They did not.

The Eastern Route reached Hakata Bay in June 1281, seven weeks before the Southern Route. The Japanese had built a stone wall along the coast, blocking the Mongol cavalry. Stalemate set in. When the Southern Fleet arrived in August, over 4,000 ships prepared a final assault. On 15 August, a massive typhoon — the kamikaze, the 'divine wind' — struck the Kyushu coast. The river boats broke apart against the rocks. Ships collided and sank. Estimates suggest 70–80% of the fleet was destroyed and over 100,000 men drowned. Survivors stranded on the beaches were slaughtered.