Chapter 13: The World Takes up Arms
Yo o komete / Tori no sorane wa / Hakaru tomo / Yo ni Osaka no / Seki wa yurusaji
The rooster's crowing / In the middle of the night / Deceived the hearers / But at Osaka's gateway / The guards are never fooled.
Sei Shonagon (A.D. 966-1025)
With the mutual protection pacts in place, Tokugawa waited patiently for the next development to occur. He did not know who would trigger the war, but he was almost certain that Japan would soon get dragged into the conflict. Fortunately he was prepared, as many new units had been airlifted to danger zones such as Fukuoka, Hannover, and especially Bremen.
For the first year or so, Tokugawa was actually hopeful that war could potentially be delayed. He expected Hammurabi to notice the situation and avoid any offensive action against Russia and Greece lest the Japanese get involved. In the end it turned out that the war was almost averted, but still caused by a minor techincality.
The Russians had scored their first major victory on their continent, seizing the Babylonian city of Eridu. According to international law, the region surrounding Eridu was now considered Russian territory, and any Babylonian troops in that area were deemed offensive combatants. When Russian Cossacks opened fire on them outside Eridu, there was no longer any excuse for Japan to remain at peace.
Needless to say, Hammurabi was not at all pleased with this result. "How dare that idiot side with my enemies!" he shouted. "I will go teach Tokugawa a lesson right now."
At the time, the only Japanese city within the reach of Babylonian forces was Bremen, as Sippar was still besieged by the Russians, and Izibia was in such a remote location that it was barely even defended. Hammurabi did not want to engage the Japanese infantry just yet, but his horsemen spotted a unprotected workers and were quick to capture them.
"Not a wise move, Hammurabi," snickered Tokugawa. "You forgot that we still have another mutual protection pact that has not come into play yet."
Otto von Bismarck was certainly not the right person for Hammurabi to anger. As soon as the Babylonians had crossed the border into Japanese territory, he began sending riflemen toward Samarra. The Germans had captured the city once before, the same year that Japanese longbowmen had stormed Berlin, but they lost it again shortly afterward. Now they were determined to settle the score for good.
Command of the Japanese forces in Bremen had been given to Minamoto no Yoritomo, the hero of the previous war with Germany. Yoritomo was quick to notice the German battle plan, and after some consideration, he felt that it would probably fall flat on its face.
How are riflemen supposed to attack a city? he wondered.
It would be a true waste of their defensive power.
Yoritomo had rather meager resources to work with, mainly the infantry had had been recently airlifted from mainland Japan, as well as a few longbowmen who were veterans of the German war. Samarra was defended by a Babylonian infantry division, but they were new recruits and preferred to stay within their city limits rather than risk fighting outside. While it seemed they would have a better chance of holding onto the city that way, it left them vulnerable to bombardment by German frigates off the coast.
The Japanese had given the mountain outside Bremen a nickname, "Tetsuyama," because of the iron deposits that had been found there. It was from the top of Tetsuyama where Yoritomo saw the German frigates firing upon Samarra, destroying the harbor and killing any innocent civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He also faintly heard the sharp cries of anguish from the defending infantry, some of whom had also been cut down by the German bombardment.
Gradually the Germans moved in, but they chose to march directly through the plains rather than into the hills.
They would make some nice bait for a Babylonian counterattack, thought Yoritomo. Indeed, Babylonian horsemen attempted to ambush the German riflemen, but they proved to be far outmatched and soon were in full retreat. This presented the perfect opportunity that Yoritomo was waiting for. A lookout from Tetsuyama summit reported that Samarra was now thinly defended, ready for the taking.
"Charge!" Yoritomo ordered his longbowmen. They seemed to falter for a moment, as the gunfire from the Babylonian defenders cut several of them down. "Do not be afraid of their guns," he encouraged them. "Just because they can fire bullets does not mean they won't get hurt by your arrows. And I assure you, your aim is far better than theirs."
Sure enough, the longbowmen were able to wipe out the defense force of Samarra, much to the chagrin of Hammurabi. Yoritomo decided that there was nothing worth keeping in Samarra, so he ordered the city to be razed.
After destroying Samarra, Yoritomo turned his sights northward, toward the Babylonian city of Shuruppak, but he was surprised to find that it wasn't there. All that remained was a smoking ruin, with not a single living soul in sight. It was not clear if Hammurabi had abandoned the city, or if it had suffered a the same fate as Samarra, except inflicted upon them by the Greeks.
Whatever the reason, it did not matter. For the report that Yoritomo sent to Kyoto described a rich deposit of coal where Shuruppak once stood, which Shogun Tokugawa was determined to control. "Send some workers over there to set up a colony," he ordered. "We
must get that coal, no matter what it may cost us."
"Not so fast," responded Yoritomo. "There is still one more Babylonian city that stands in our way. But Nippur is nothing to worry about, I will take care of that soon enough." He then surveyed his own meager forces again, and seemed a bit disappointed. "Can't you pick it up a little back home?" he asked of Kyoto. "We need reinforcements, and fast!"
"I'll see what I can do," replied Tokugawa. "Keep up the good work!"
Indeed there was something that could be done. Over the protests from cultural, religious, and scientific leaders, Tokugawa ordered all production in Japanese cities to be dedicated to the war effort.
When more reinforcements arrived Bremen Airport, Yoritomo became more and more confident that his next attack would succeed. One infantry division after another marched northward toward Nippur, which put up only token resistance. When at last Yoritomo entered the city to find no enemies left, he ordered all of its residents out and every building burned to a pulp.
Some of the citizens of Nippur were sent over to the former site of Shuruppak, where they were forced to set up a coal mine under the watchful eyes of Yoritomo's infantry. The coal would be sent overland to Bremen, where it could then be shipped back to Japanese ports. And with iron and coal at his disposal, Shogun Tokugawa could now begin the process of building railroads across Japan.
Elsewhere in the world, the war was making little progress. While Cossacks had finally broken into Sippar and ended any potential threat to Hannover, the front lines remained stagnant on the continent. Still, the Russians seemed to be firmly in control of Eridu, frustrating all of Hammurabi's efforts to retake the city. Kish and Uruk, now cut off from the rest of Babylon, appeared to be in great danger, but it seemed as though Catherine the Great was more interested in penetrating deeper into the Babylonian core.
If I were Hammurabi, thought Tokugawa,
I would be saying my prayers right now... or begging for peace.
At this point something else caught the Shogun's attention. Persian frigates seemed very active all along the Japanese coast, escorting galleons past the ports of Kobe and Osaka. Tokugawa could only make some random guesses about what they could be up to.
A quick inspection of the map revealed that the Persians had now built a settlement at Ergili, near Fukuoka, on the exact spot where the Babylonian city of Zariqum once stood. This was interesting, since while Zariqum had come and gone, the tundra in that area remained barren as ever. In private, Tokugawa wondered about Xerxes's sanity, but he was careful not to annoy him any further.
In 1590 AD, ten years into the war with Babylon, Tokugawa approached the Persian leader with a request. The Japanese leader was quick to notice that Xerxes suddenly had a very different fashion sense, and wondered what might be the matter.
"Greetings, Xerxes," he said. "My, that's a strange hairstyle you have now."
Xerxes seemed a bit more sensitive than Tokugawa had expected. "Are you insulting me? Your pathetic little civilization ought to know its place before Mighty Persia."
"Certainly, certainly. You have my apologies." Tokugawa paused for a moment before delivering his message. "But you do realize that your ships are passing through Japanese territory, right?"
"What do you mean? Not a single Persian has ever set foot on Japanese soil, except for that one worker you hired many years ago."
"Well, I meant to say our territorial waters. You know, the oceans have boundaries, too."
"The glorious navy of Mighty Persia knows no boundaries, Tokugawa," sneered Xerxes. "It is your responsibility to enforce them, and I'd imagine that tiny fleet of yours can do a fine job of it."
"But what you are doing is in violation of all international conventions," argued the Shogun. "Do you mean war?"
Xerxes cackled. "Ha, ha, ha! War! No mortal has ever dared say that despicable word in my presence. But you seem to be quite interested in it. Very well, you shall have it."
Oh dear, thought Tokugawa.
This is quite a bit more than what I had come for.
"I beg that you reconsider," he pleaded. "Are you aware that we have mutual protection pacts with Greece, Germany, and Russia? Surely you would think twice about this matter."
"NEVER!" boomed Xerxes. "The mighty military of Persia fears no one! We will crush them all! Now get out of here, before I get physical with you." He motioned toward the door, through which Tokugawa hastily left.
The Shogun sighed. There was no hope in any more diplomacy. He now had two wars to fight. But at least there would be allies to come to the aid of Japan.
A Persian frigate bombarded the island of Hannover, and by international standards, this was an act of war against the Japan on Japanese territory. There was no room for argument, for this incident was nothing like Eridu; it was clearly an unprovoked aggression. Alexander, Bismarck, and Catherine were well aware of this, and they dutifully fulfilled their commitments.
And so, by the end of 1590 AD, the whole world was engulfed in war, a true diplomatic nightmare.
Four against two, said Tokugawa to himself.
I don't think this should go too badly for us.
... to be continued