Military History
Did Civil War nurses have uniforms?
A Brief Commercial: I will be speaking about Civil War nurses at the Lyceum in Alexandria, Virginia on Thursday, February 4. (Here’s the link to the details–please note the snow date. I’m hoping Alexandria has had it’s share of snow for the winter, but you never know.) If any of you live in the area,…
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Blown Away: The (Attempted) Mongol Invasion of Japan
Japan had expected the Mongol invasion for years. In 1266, Kublai Khan, the new Mongol emperor of China, sent envoys to Japan with a letter addressed to the “King of Japan”–a title guaranteed to offend the Japanese emperor. The letter itself was equally unpalatable. The Great Khan “invited” Japan to send envoys to the Mongol…
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Female Samurai: Warriors and Otherwise
Female samurais are stock figures in modern anime, manga, western comic books, and fantasy novels: hard-fighting, often hard-drinking, badasses with swords and bows. The key word is fantasy. In medieval Japan, samurai was a class distinction as well as a job description. Women who were born into the samurai class were samurais whether or not…
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