The Greatest Example of the Butterfly Effect
This corpse changed history.
His name? Charles Lennox Richardson. [1] He was killed in the village of Namamugi- now part of Yokohama, Japan in 1862. Why?
Well, he happened to be riding a horse along with some other mounted Brits when they encountered…
the large, armed retinue of Shimazu Hisamitsu, the regent and father of Shimazu Tadayoshi, the daimyō of Satsuma, heading in the other direction. The party continued to ride along the side of the road without dismounting until they reached the main body of the procession, which occupied the entire width of the road. In Japan, samurai had a legal right to strike anyone who showed disrespect… [2]
Foreigners were supposed to be exempt. However, the nation was rife with ‘expel the barbarians’ emotion…. [3]
The others escaped, Richardson was killed.
For the murder…
Britain demanded reparations from the government (£100,000, eventually paid) and from the daimyō of Satsuma (together with the arrest, trial and execution of the perpetrators, which never took place). Satsuma prevaricated … [4]
Leading to the Anglo-Satsuma War, or the Bombardment of Kagoshima. The Japanese defeat in this war resulted in a close relationship with the British eventuating in deep influence in the development of the Japanese navy. [5]
One of the young samurai who defended Kagoshima from the British Navy was Heihachiro Togo, who was subsequently despatched to Britain to study naval technology and strategy. In 1905, he became a world-historical figure when as Commander-in-chief of the Japanese navy, he oversaw the destruction of the Russian fleet at the Battle of Tsushima, the first victory of an Asian power over Westerners since the time of the Mongols. [6]
The shock of this defeat led to the 1905 Russian Revolution which Lenin called…
"The Great Dress Rehearsal," without which the "victory of the October Revolution in 1917 would have been impossible". [7]
Furthermore, without this naval training and expertise, another world-shaking event probably could not have happened: Pearl Harbor
Image: Timeline to Pearl Harbor, Part One
Note: Russia has actually had several defeats to Asians: List of wars involving Russia. There was a defeat to Ulugh Muhammad (1438–1445) for example. I think what the author was trying to convey is a sense of psychological defeat. A crushing of the spirit defeat. The following quote is an attempt to capture the Russian zeitgeist:
Prince S. N. Trubetskoi, the distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Moscow University and a founding member of Beseda, contended that Russia was defending the whole of European civilization against 'the yellow danger, the new hordes of Mongols armed by modern technology'. The academic leaders of Kiev University described the war as a Christian crusade against the 'insolent Mongols'. Orlando Figes., A People's Tragedy A History of the Russian Revolution, Kindle Edition.
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