Historical Review - The Last Samurai The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Page 2 of 2 PDF

2017-7-7 Historical Review: The Last Samurai; the Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Page 2 of 2
Friday, July 7, 2017

STORE ABOUT US MEDIA PARTNERS CONTACT US YOUR WORK SUBSCRIPTION TERMS OF SERVICE
NEWS GUEST BLOGGERS WORLDWIDE REVIEW MEDIA MILITARY VEHICLES VIDEO
STORE
Historical Review: The Last

Samurai; the Good, the Bad and
the Ugly
FEATURED HISTORY Dec 3, 2015 William Mclaughlin
SHARE: Facebook Twitter
Most Recent
Heroic End Of
French Fleet
Scuttled 77 Ships To
Avoid Capture By
Nazi Germany
Defend the nations

honor Missouri
farmer drafted into
U.S. Army during the
First World War
Joseph Stalin, The

Man of Steel A
Terrifying Titan On
The Eastern Front
NEWSLETTER
Saigo Takamori in his uniform looks little like

Katsumoto in the film.
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website More info Got it!
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/featured/historical-review-last-samurai-good-bad-ugly.html/2 1/10
The armor in the movie is quite impressive; it creates an

imposing sight that contributes to the routing of the
unprepared Imperial army and a later scene between
Algren and Taka revolves around putting armor on. In
reality the Samurai armor had been abandoned simply
because it didnt stop bullets.
Saigo Takamori, the real life leader Katsumoto is based on,

actually wore his Imperial officers uniform for many of the
engagements of the rebellion. It is easy to see why the
SUBSCRIBE!
director decided to include the armor however, it makes for Subscribe now to the
an impressive sight. War History Online Daily
Update and you may be
Though the film shows an early decisive victory for the lucky winner of this
Katsumotos army, the reality was that nearly all of the amazing book! We will
rebellions were doomed from the start. send you your Military
History Updates, every
Advertisement
day for FREE!
Email Address
Sign up for FREE
Most Read
1. When North
Korea Fired a
Missile at SR 71
Blackbird
Samurai rebellions often started with a quick organization
and surprise attack on a target that was often successful, 2. When You Are
but once the imperial armies became involved the Disrespectful At
The Tomb Of
rebellions were often decisively crushed. The Unknown
Soldier
The Ugly
3. 11 Military
Uniforms That
One of the worst omissions of the film is the mixed
Got Soldiers
motivations of the Samurai. The Samurai were indeed a Killed
noble warrior class, however they did not always act nobly.
Samurais occupied a position of power and wealth and the 4. Legendary
modernization of the Meiji Restoration meant the Warriors The
Maori
introduction of an army of conscripts drawn from the poor.
This essentially put the Samurai out of the job and elevated 5. 25 Things You
Didnt Know
a class that the Samurai historically abused to an almost
About
equal level. For comparison it would be like the peasant Schindlers
class of Medieval Europe very suddenly occupying the role List
of knights. The Samurai had a code of honor very similar to

6. Historic Stock
European Chivalry known as Bushido, but, like the concept
Footage Of The
of Chivalry, it was rarely followed exactly by the vast Famous Siege
majority. Of Bastogne
Samurai had a long history of squashing the lower classes 7. Top 5 Strangest
and the main motivation of their rebellions was to hold on to Photos of World
their power and wealth. The film shows none of this ugly War II
history, hiding it behind the honor of the Samurai.
8. Insane Gulf War
Footage of an F-
16 Dodging
SAM Missiles
9. This MiG-29
Display Will
Give You
Goosebumps!
10. 22 Heart
A depiction of Samurai troops in 1864, over ten years Wrenching
before the Satsuma Rebellion Images Of
Bombers That
Lastly, the depiction of Samurai putting up any kind of fight Didnt Make It
Home
with medieval weapons is quite absurd. Along with the fact
that the Samurai did not wear their traditional armor, they
also did not restrict themselves to traditional weapons.
Advertisement
In fact one of the early actions of the Satsuma Rebellion

was the attack of a weapons stockpile and almost all of the
Samurai would have had some sort of firearm, though it is
quite likely that swords and spears were still in use as
backup weapons.
Though the inclusion of Ninjas was an exciting moment in

the film, it was quite unrealistic. Ninjas had fallen out of
use
This website usescenturies before
cookies to ensure and
you get the would not
best experience on ourhave been
website More info present in Got it!
any sense. Though the hand claws and throwing stars

were true the average Ninjas arsenal.
Overall The Last Samurai has to be viewed with the

understanding that it is a compilation of several events and
figures of Japanese history and that it was made for
American audiences. The average viewer has seen
Samurai armor and likely would have been disappointed if it
was not seen in the movie.
As far as the code of Bushido, Saigo Takamori, who was

the basis for Katsumoto, was known to be one of the most
dedicated practitioners. The movies blending of history
was intentional and keeps some aspects of the story from
being completely unrealistic.
By William McLaughlin for War History Online
17 Unbelievable Facts You Never

Knew About World War II
FEATURED NEWS WORLD WAR II Dec 3, 2015 Joris Nieuwint
SHARE: Facebook Twitter
17 Amazing facts from World War II that you never thought

possible, but they are true!
The first U.S. service member killed in the European

theater was killed in Norway in 1940 during a battle against
the Germans
Advertisement
The highest ranking U.S. service member killed in action

was Lt. Gen. Lesley McNair who died during a bombing
raid by the U.S. Army Air Corps.
The youngest American service member to serve was 12-

year old Calvin Graham who was in the Navy. Graham
fought and was wounded in combat. He was later given a
Dishonorable Discharge for lying about his age. Years later
he would see his benefits restored by act of Congress.
45th Infantry Patch before it was

changed
At the time Pearl Harbor happened the U.S. Navy

command was called CINCUS (pronounced sink us), the
45th Infantry for the U.S. Army used the Swastika as their
shoulder patch and Hitlers private train was named
Amerika. All three were changed shortly thereafter for PR
purposes.
Advertisement
More U.S. service members died in the Air Corps than the
Marine Corps. Air Corps members were required to
complete 30 missions and had a 71% of being killed.
Despite the high likelihood of death, B-17 bombers were far
from helpless. They carried 4 tons of bombs and 1.5 tons of
machine gun ammo. Throughout the war the U.S. 8th Air
Force shot down 6,098 planes 1 for every 12,700 shots
fired.
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa in his Mitsubishi Zero A6M3 Model

22 (tail code UI-105)
There was no such things as an average fighter pilot

you were either an ace or you were a target. As an
example, Japanese ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa shot down
over 80 American planes. Ironically he met his maker while
a passenger on a cargo plane of all things.
During the war it was a common practice on fighter planes

to load a tracer with every 5th round to assist with aiming.
This was a very costly mistake. Tracers have different
ballistics. For every tracer that hit a target, 80% of regular
rounds were missing. Most alarmingly, the tracers instantly
tipped off an enemy that they were under attack and from
where. In addition to fighter planes, soldiers loaded a string
of tracers at the end of their belts to warn themselves they
were out of ammo. Eventually units learned of their folly,
those that discontinued using tracers saw their success
rate double and losses go down.
A universal act of the Allied armies was peeing in the Rhine

River upon arrival at it. Everyone from the lowest of
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website More info
privates to men no less than Winston Churchill (who made Got it!
a big show of it) or General Patton (who had himself

photographed in the act) did it.
The German Me-264 bomber was capable of bombing New

York City, but the Germans felt it was not worth the effort.
Copyright 2017 - War History Online

Historical Review - The Last Samurai The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Page 2 of 2 PDF

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Historical Review - The Last Samurai The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - Page 2 of 2 PDF

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

2017-7-7 Historical Review: The Last Samurai; the Good, the Bad and the Ugly - Page 2 of 2

Friday, July 7, 2017

NEWS GUEST BLOGGERS WORLDWIDE REVIEW MEDIA MILITARY VEHICLES VIDEO

Historical Review: The Last

SHARE: Facebook Twitter

Defend the nations

Joseph Stalin, The

Saigo Takamori in his uniform looks little like

The armor in the movie is quite impressive; it creates an

Saigo Takamori, the real life leader Katsumoto is based on,

Sign up for FREE

of knights. The Samurai had a code of honor very similar to

In fact one of the early actions of the Satsuma Rebellion

Though the inclusion of Ninjas was an exciting moment in

any sense. Though the hand claws and throwing stars

Overall The Last Samurai has to be viewed with the

As far as the code of Bushido, Saigo Takamori, who was

By William McLaughlin for War History Online

17 Unbelievable Facts You Never

SHARE: Facebook Twitter

17 Amazing facts from World War II that you never thought

The first U.S. service member killed in the European

The highest ranking U.S. service member killed in action

The youngest American service member to serve was 12-

45th Infantry Patch before it was

At the time Pearl Harbor happened the U.S. Navy

Hiroyoshi Nishizawa in his Mitsubishi Zero A6M3 Model

There was no such things as an average fighter pilot

During the war it was a common practice on fighter planes

A universal act of the Allied armies was peeing in the Rhine

a big show of it) or General Patton (who had himself

The German Me-264 bomber was capable of bombing New

Copyright 2017 - War History Online

You might also like