Tumult and Turnover in Joseon
The Kings of Joseon were faced with many difficult decisions throughout the 1600s as their nation faced Manchurian invasion, internal military coups, and a tumultuously factional political class. Supp...
11 Jan 202431min
The Rise of the Qing Dynasty
As the Ming Dynasty faced utter collapse in the face of famines, plagues, and peasant rebellions, the Qing Dynasty of Manchuria would surge and, eventually, take its place as the ruling dynasty of Chi...
8 Jan 202426min
The Fall of the Ming Dynasty
Under pressure from outside and within, the Ming Dynasty of China gradually lost control after a series of famines, plagues, and peasant rebellions. By the early 1600s, however, the Later Jin Dynasty ...
21 Dec 202326min
Iemitsu's Marvelous Machine
The reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu proved to be a stabilizing force in Japanese politics, as he defined the duties of the various office-holders throughout the Bakufu which helped make the Edo Shogunate th...
18 Dec 202327min
A State of Emergency
The reign of Tokugawa Iemitsu was marked by a general trend toward increasing the shogunate's power through self-perpetuating bureaucracy. His son Ietsuna's reign would prove to be a test of the Bakuf...
14 Dec 202328min
The Shimabara Rebellion
As the Bakufu continued to persecute Christianity, and certain daimyo continued taxing their subjects at punitive rates, a rebellion broke out in Kyushu in 1637 which would prove to be the end of any ...
11 Dec 202326min
The Siege of Osaka
When conflict erupted at last between Toyotomi Hideyori and Tokugawa Ieyasu, the resulting battles would decide the political future of Japan for hundreds of years to come. However, in spite of the re...
7 Dec 202333min
Tokugawa Ieyasu's Big Move
Shortly after the foundation of the new shogunate, Tokugawa Ieyasu gradually makes his fortified city Edo into the new unofficial political capital of Japan. He needed to proceed carefully, however, t...
4 Dec 202334min
