Episode #201- What Was the Great East Asian War? (Part I)

Our Fake History

PodcastOne

Education, Talk Radio, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2024

⏱️ 79 minutes

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Summary

In 1592 the Japanese launched a massive invasion of the Korean Peninsula. The Japanese leader Toyotomi Hideyoshi believed that Korea would submit without much of a fight and that his army would very quickly move on to the real target, the capital of Ming China. Six years later the Japanese were still fighting in Korea. What the Koreans call the Imjin War has recently been redubbed the Great East Asian War by scholars in recognition of it's truly massive scope. Based on the sheer number of soldiers involved this was the largest war fought anywhere in the word in the 1500's. But despite that this conflict has remained relatively obscure outside of Korea. Why? Tune-in and find out how eager to please sandal-bearers, Huck Finn, and the most convoluted title for a leader in history all play a role in the story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	People often ask me if I'm worried that I'll run out of topics for this show.
0:11.6	After 200 episodes I must be concerned that the well of historical myths will soon run dry.
0:19.0	How many legends, lies, misrememberings, and misconceptions could there possibly be wrapped in the historical record?
0:27.1	It's an honest question, but I think it reveals a certain naivete about how much human history there actually is.
0:36.4	The world's history is just as wide as it is deep, and I've yet to encounter a past event that hasn't sparked some form of
0:45.4	historical debate. Consensus tends to be more rare than controversy and
0:51.8	mythmaking is literally everywhere if you're looking for it.
0:57.0	So no I'm not worried about running out of topics.
1:02.8	But every now and then I do need some inspiration, and one of the most reliable sources for
1:08.9	fake history is the world of history themed internet listicles.
1:16.3	If you want to quickly absorb
1:18.1	some widely believed myths passed off his history,
1:22.2	the clickbate internet list will never let you down.
1:27.8	For instance, I recently found myself scrolling through a poorly cited list posted on an otherwise well-meaning website called
1:37.2	Freedom to read.CA. This was a list of history's most famous instances of book banings and book burnings.
1:48.0	And sure enough, right off the hop, I encountered a number of historical myths that I had busted on this show.
1:55.8	The oldest instance of a book burning cited on the list was the first Chinese emperor, Chin Shih Huang,
2:03.4	rounding up and burning books
2:05.4	deemed too influenced by Confucian philosophy
2:09.1	in the second century BC.
2:12.1	The list also dutifully reports that he had
2:14.8	four hundred and sixty Confucian scholars buried alive. But as long time
	...

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