In 1274, Mongol emperor Kublai Khan sent nearly 40,000 men on 900 ships to invade Japan. Landing at Hakata Bay, his forces pressed against Japanese samurai until a sudden typhoon sank a third of the fleet, killing around 13,000 soldiers. Seven years later, in 1281, an even larger force of 140,000 men and 4,400 ships was met with staunch defense. Another massive typhoon then decimated the fleet, and the Japanese named these divine winds kamikaze, believing they were sent by the gods to protect th