The Gempei War 1180-85: The Great Samurai Civil War

by Stephen Turnbull, Giuseppe Rava (Illustrator)

Overview

Internationally renowned samurai expert Dr Stephen Turnbull delves into a pivotal era of Japanese history in this highly illustrated account of The Gempei War a conflict that defined the age and the ethos of the samurai.
Never before had there been a large-scale clash between two rival samurai families, the Taira and the Minamoto, and never again would the result of a war in Japan be quite so dramatic. Fought to gain control over the emperor it would end with imperial power being totally eclipsed in favour of the military might of the samurai class and the establishment of the position of Shogun – Japan's military dictator. Turnbull examines the events of the five-year long conflict, revealing the changes that the war inflicted on Japanese culture and the establishment of many of the traditions of the samurai.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781472813862
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	07/28/2016
Series:	Campaign
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	96
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Stephen Turnbull is recognized as one of the world's foremost military historians of the medieval and early modern periods. He first rose to prominence as a result of his 1977 book, The Samurai: A Military History. Since then he has achieved an equal fame in writing about European military subjects and has had 30 books published. He has always tried to concentrate on the less familiar areas of military history, in particular such topics as Korea, Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, and the Teutonic Knights. Stephen was Historical Advisor for the 2012 Universal Pictures movie The Forty-Seven Ronin starring Keanu Reeves.

Giuseppe Rava was born in Faenza in 1963, and took an interest in all things military from an early age. Entirely self-taught, Giuseppe has established himself as a leading military history artist, and is inspired by the works of the great military artists, such as Detaille, Meissonier, Röchling, Lady Butler, Ottenfeld and Angus McBride. He lives and works in Italy. For more on Giuseppe, please visit his website at www.g-rava.it
Stephen Turnbull is the world's leading authority on samurai culture. He took his first degree at Cambridge and has two MAs (in Theology and Military History) from Leeds University. In 1996 he received a PhD from Leeds for his thesis on Japan's Kakure Kirishitan. In its published form the work won the Japan Festival Literary Award in 1998. Having lectured in East Asian Studies and Theology he is now retired and is an Honorary Lecturer at Leeds, a Research Associate at SOAS and Visiting Professor of Japanese Studies at Akita International University. He has published 73 books and many journal articles. His expertise was also put to use in helping design the award-winning computer strategy game Shogun Total War, and in 2010 he acted as Historical Adviser to Universal Pictures for the movie 47 Ronin. He is currently working on a major project tracing the historical evolution of the ninja as a cultural phenomenon.

Table of Contents

Introduction/Chronology/Opposing commanders/Opposing armies/Opposing plans/The campaign/Aftermath/The battlefield today/Further reading/Index