The smaller the country, the more influence victory or defeat in battle can have on its history, although the dependence here is not always so direct. But look: during the Hundred Years War, the French lost many battles to the British, the king himself was captured, and … this did not have any effect on the history of the country. But when the Normans invaded England in 1066, it was enough for the British to lose the Battle of Hastings, and … that's it! The very next day they woke up in another country, in which almost everything in the world had changed. The consequences of this battle are felt even today, although more than 900 years have passed since that time. We can say that this battle fell on the point of bifurcation, that is, the maximum instability of the causal flow of history, but in France none of the battles got to this point. Yes, most likely it is. But now we will have another such example with a bifurcation point, but already at the other end of Eurasia - in Japan, where the legendary Battle of Sekigahara became the same fateful battle for the country.
It all started with the fact that to the heights of power in Japanese society at the end of the 16th century … a commoner, the son of a woodcutter Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He reached the highest civilian position of the kwampaku - chancellor, but he could not become a shogun - the supreme military leader, since he did not belong to the old military clan aristocracy. He had a son, Toyotomi Hideyori, but at the time of his death he was still too young to inherit his father's power. It is clear that Hideyoshi wanted to keep the title of kwampaku for him, for which he created a Council of Regents of five people, headed by his loyal nominee from the poor family of Ishida Mitsunari. Tokugawa Ieyasu, who at one time also swore allegiance to him, but came from the ancient and noble family of Minamoto, was the head of another guardian structure - the council of five elders. Then he became the head of the Council of Regents and made a lot of efforts, trying to gradually stir up discontent among the noble daimyos, who did not smile at all to obey various rootless upstarts, since they already had a Tokugawa "prince"!
Ishida Mitsunari believed that the Council should by any means support Hideyori. He was close to him and his mother, and thus, by supporting the boy, he supported himself. However, other daimyo (and there were also enough of them) rightly believed that the country should be ruled by the shogun - "the supreme military leader who slays the savages." And the boy had to first grow up, and then prove that he inherited the abilities of his father. And everyone understood that all this time he would be a toy in the hands of his advisers! Nobody wanted this, besides, there was already a candidacy for the post of shogun - all the same Ieyasu Tokugawa, who was old enough, wise, experienced in military affairs and had in his hands the richest rice-growing province of Kanto.
Ieyasu wanted the same, but until the time publicly declared his loyalty to Hideyoshi's will and Hideyori's support. As always, there was an impatient one who decided to start earlier than others and thus provoked a general speech. It turned out to be a supporter of Mitsunari Uesuge Kagekatsu, also one of the regents, who, without asking permission from Ieyasu, began to gather supporters, buy weapons, food and ammunition - that is, openly prepare for war.
His possessions were located in the north of the city of Edo, the capital of Tokugawa, so if a war broke out, Ieyasu would have to fight on several fronts at once against both Kagekatsu and Mitsunari. But he used his right as senior regent, declared Uesuge a rebel and called on all Hideyoshi's vassals to oppose him, as he was disturbing the peace in the country.
It is clear that Ishida Mitsunari could not help but support a man loyal to him and, in turn, urged his supporters to rebel against Ieyasu Tokugawa, whom he allegedly blamed for his desire to become a shogun instead of Hideyori's legitimate heir - the son of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Since the main forces and supporters of Ieyasu were in the east of the country, the forces of their coalition were called "Eastern", and the forces of Ishida Mitsunari, located in the west, - "Western". On the side of Isis were the treasures accumulated in the Osaka castle, on the side of Ieyasu Tokugawa - most of the rice reserves of the empire.
On September 1, 1600, his troops moved towards Osaka, where the main forces of Ishida Mitsunari were gathering. The son of Ieyasu was delayed on the way because of clashes with the vassals of Ishida, but Ieyasu did not wait for him, but set off on a swift march along the Nakasendo road, which runs between the mountains from east to west.
The opponents met in a valley between the mountains near the small village of Sekigahara on October 21 ("a month without gods") 1600. Mitsunari had about 80 thousand people, Tokugawa - 74 thousand, and these figures can be considered reliable, since the Japanese were obsessed with a mania to write down everything and everything, from the number of soldiers mobilized to the army and up to the copies issued to them, flags and the so-called " borrowed armor."
The troops marched in a forced march all night in the pouring rain and only in the morning reached Sekigahara. In the darkness, the vanguards clashed, there was a violent skirmish, but the commanders quickly dispersed the troops, and the tired samurai fell to sleep. In the morning, steam from their wet armor poured out under the sun, but the samurai and ashigaru (peasant infantry) quickly lined up for battle. Everyone understood that the fate of the country would have to be decided in it, and, despite the mud under their feet, they were very determined.
Ishida Mitsunari knew how formidable the enemy was in front of him, but this time he hoped to defeat him. Firstly, he had information from his scouts that Ieyasu's son Hidetada with troops was besieging the castle of one of his supporters and, therefore, would not be able to get to the place of the battle. Secondly, he hoped that in the rear of Ieyasu there were several detachments of the "western" - units of Kikkawa Hirowe and Mori Terumoto, for a number of reasons found themselves in the rear of the "eastern" army. However, they were quite far from the place of the upcoming fight, and it was difficult for them to take part in it. Nevertheless, his left and right flanks were located on the hills, so it was obvious that Ieyasu would deliver the main blow in the center, in the lowlands, and then the blows of his samurai from the flanks and rear would decide the outcome of the battle. The farthest on Matsuo Hill, on the right flank of the Western army, were the forces of Kobayakawa Hideaki, numbering 16,500 men.
As for Tokugawa Ieyasu, he, of course, saw the weakness of his position, but he was sure of victory, because he knew something that Ishida Mitsunari did not know and did not expect: at the decisive moment of the battle, Kobayakawa will go over to his side! Where and when they met and agreed on this betrayal and the reward for it - history is silent. But it was so, because afterwards everything happened exactly that way! The troops of Otani and Wakizaka were stationed nearby. In the center of Mitsunari's position, not all was well either. There were samurai from Satsuma, to whom their commander and head of the Shimazu clan Yoshihiro gave the order to repel everyone who would attack them, but in no case go on the offensive themselves. So he wanted to maintain his loyalty to both Mitsunari and Tokugawa at the same time. Feudal liberties, but what to do ?!
There were no serious fortifications at the site of the battle at Sekigahara - they simply would not have had time to be installed by either one or the other, and it was a typical oncoming battle, when two armies, right from the march and only after waiting a little, rushed to one another!
Battle of Sekigahara. Position at ten o'clock in the morning. Red denotes the troops of the Tokugawa, blue - its opponents, and yellow - that part of the Western army that during the battle will go over to the side of the enemy.
The honor of starting the battle fell to the fourth son of Ieyasu Tokugawa, named Matsudaira Tadayoshi, who had just turned twenty-one. So it is necessary, Ieyasu decided, wishing that Hideyoshi's commanders, who went over to his side, would understand well that this war between Toyotomi and Tokugawa is going to be destroyed and that one of them is simply obliged to crush the other once and for all.
As soon as the fog spread over the battlefield, at eight o'clock in the morning, thirty horsemen, led by Matsudaira Tadayoshi and Ii Naomasa, attacked Yukita Hideie's detachment from the Western Army, after which 800 Fukushima Masanori arquebusiers went into battle and opened frequent fire on the enemy. The Western Army's left flank was attacked by Otani's forces, while Matsudaira and Ii continued their attack in the center. Mitsunari himself was attacked by the forces of Kuroda, Takenaka and Hosokawa. His commander Shima Katsutake was wounded in this, but since he, according to the Japanese historian Mitsuo Kure, had several guns, Mitsunari was able to repel all these attacks. On the left flank of Ieyasu, the attack of the Fukushima Masanori detachment was also unsuccessful, and he was thrown back to his previous positions.
Steam was pouring from the warriors in wet armor, heated by the battle, and the whole field was covered with thick clouds of gunpowder smoke. Samurai "eastern" now and then rushed to the enemy, however, despite all their courage, they did not manage to break through the front of the "western". A situation of balance of power has developed, fraught with defeat for both one side and the other. As in any typical Japanese clash of samurai troops, arquebusiers came forward row after row (by the way, as in Europe), fired a volley: the first row - from the knee, the second - while standing. And while they were reloading their weapons, they were covered by ashigaru with spears more than five meters long, and the archers bombarded the enemy with arrows. Wakato servants waited behind them with boxes of arrows and immediately ran to replenish their ammunition. From time to time, because of the smoke and fire, samurai rushed to attack the enemy with spears, swords, masakari axes, naginata halberds and spiked kanabo clubs and, if they did not have time to stop them with volleys at close range, inflicted serious losses on the shooters. Horse attacks were swift and were carried out on the flank. At the same time, the shooters were covered by spearmen, who were required to strike with a spear in the horse's neck, since if they missed, then … they hit the rider, which, in general, was also good. If the horse and rider fell in front of the spearman, he had to throw a spear, draw out his sword and quickly hack to death the lying and stunned samurai, but not get carried away by separating his head from the body, but quickly return to the ranks!
The battle had been going on for several hours. The Tokugawa forces were pulled into the lowlands, and Mitsunari decided it was time for a flank attack. He sent a messenger to Kobayakawa, but did not receive an answer, and all because he did not dare to betray, because he was a samurai. Therefore, both Mitsunari and Ieyasu sent messengers to Mount Mitsuo one after another, trying to push him to take action, but Kobayakawa was silent. This infuriated Tokugawa, and he ordered his arquebusiers to fire several shots in his direction, while a messenger sent to him by Kuroda Nagamasa (Ieyasu's commander) demanded to start an attack immediately! And completely confused Kobayakawa finally gave the order to his samurai to attack the troops of Otani Kinoshita. And he had been looking closely at what was happening for a long time, saw that the Tokugawa arquebusiers did not shoot in the direction of Kabayakawa and was ready for what happened. Shouts rang out: “Betrayal! Treason! " And although the samurai of the "traitor from Mount Matsuo" fled from top to bottom, Otani managed to repel their first attack. But then Wakizaka Yasuhara followed Kobayakawa's example, and Mitsunari's right flank practically ceased to exist.
Seeing that death was inevitable, Shimazu Yoshihiro, at the head of about eighty mounted samurai, made a daring attempt to break through, but galloped not backward, but forward, believing that in the rear of Ieyasu there would be fewer troops than where his own army was retreating! Ii Naomasa, the commander of the Red Demons, rushed after him, but in his blood-red armor and huge golden horns on his helmet, he was such a good target that one of the Shimazu arquebusiers managed to wound him in the left arm, yes that he fell from his horse.
Yoshihiro took only fifty or sixty people with him, but they nevertheless escaped and rode along the road to the southwest, and then headed for the mountains. Here they met scouts Kikkawa and Mori, who, listening to the noise of the battle, tried to guess its outcome. They were told that Ishida Mitsunari was defeated, and Kikkawa immediately followed Kobayakawa's example. Mori Terumoto did not become a traitor, but he could not do anything either, since the troops of Kikkawa were not far from him. Because of this, he went after Yoshihiro, who, through the port of Sakai, not far from Osaka, moved to his island of Kyushu.
Ishida Mitsunari was also forced to flee the battlefield. For three days he wandered through the forests, trying to get to the coast, but fell ill with dysentery and in such a pitiful state was betrayed to his enemy. Tokugawa ordered to first bury him up to his neck in the ground, and then, after he had spent three days, saw through his neck with a bamboo saw! It is believed that the winners at Sekigahara chopped off 40,000 heads there, which were brought to the site of the head inspection ceremony in bags, nets and baskets!
Interestingly, Ieyasu Tokugawa spent the entire battle sitting on a marching stool without a helmet, only in a hachimaki armband. But immediately after the victory, he put it on his head and uttered the historical phrase: "After the victory, tighten the ties of your helmets tighter!" Kobayakawa walked over and bowed before him, and Ieyasu pointed to a place beside him. He bandaged the wounded hand of Iya Naomas with his own hands, and scolded his son Hidetad, who had just arrived with the troops, for being late.
Soon after this outstanding victory, Ieyasu Tokugawa became a shogun, that is, he received what he had secretly dreamed of all his life. Kobayakawa for his betrayal got land on the island of Honswu and an income of 550 thousand koku, but after that he lived only two years. He was only 25 years old when he suddenly went crazy and soon died, leaving no heirs behind. Nobody, of course, reproached him for anything, everyone understood that his act saved the country from the horrors of a long-term civil war, but, apparently, in the eyes of his samurai, he constantly saw something that simply did not allow him to live in peace.
