It thus became one of the early vessels of the modern Shogunate Navy. To learn more about the Shogunate Navy and other American influence on its development, take a listen to my episode of the @USNAMuseum Preble Hall podcast here: naval-history-lyceum.simplecast.com/episodes/the-s…
In turn, Nakajima and several other Uraga Magistrate Office officials were sent to Nagasaki upon the establishment of the Shogunate Naval Academy there in 1855.
This academy, moved to Tsukiji in Edo, in 1859 (now roughly the site of Tsukiji Fish Market), became the forerunner of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy, which was moved to Etajima in Hiroshima, many years later.
This became in turn the forerunner of the modern Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Academy which is still at Etajima.
This, friends, is how the Japanese response to James Biddle's slapdash diplomacy, was one current that set in motion Japanese military modernization, and all that before Perry even showed up. In short, by 1853, the Shogunate was underprepared, but not unprepared.
Again, I think it behooves us to factor that in to our appreciation of the Perry mission.
I'm Nyri and this has been Friday Night History.
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This week on #FridayNightHistory: US Navy slapdash gunboat diplomacy prompts Japan's naval modernization, *before* Perry and 1853. "The Shove Heard Round the World," Part 3 of 3, begins NOW!
Commodore Biddle's slapdash attempt at gunboat diplomacy in the summer of 1846 failed, hampered especially by the fact that neither the US personnel nor the Japanese officials had anything in common for communication beyond a mutually tenuous grasp of Dutch and classical Chinese.
So I have another Beirut story to tell. It has to do with a question I often get: "what got you into history?" The answer I give lately is "I'm Armenian, I didn't get a choice." As a descendant of genocide survivors, history haunts me. I just made it into a career.
I can't remember *not* having historical awareness-- I suspect this is a diaspora thing and a genocide survivor thing, broadly stated. It was just always there. I knew that my people used to live somewhere that they were driven from. I knew we had our own language and food.
I knew there were places we had and that we lost, but I didn't quite know why.
And I remember the elders talking in vague terms about "the year of exile" or "the Great Crime," in particular.
As I lie sleepless, I wonder: my book #GreyDawn has 4 characters who are veterans (a modern Army 11B & 13F, 1 ACW era cav, 1 KATUSA 12B). What would they be like on their world's version of #miltwitter?
Depending on which: it'd run the gamut from nerdy to insufferable.
Man, I was up late last night.
But yes, I stand by this. and because they're all lesbians, it'd overlap with sapphic Twitter.
Leigh's Twitter would be work and travel photography, thirst traps, with some memes interspersed.
Chloë's Twitter feed would have a lot of drone photography, for reasons the book may make obvious. Also I think she'd be a loyal follower of @CivilWarHumor, drawn in by that avatar that looks eerlly like her old division commander.
Just saw something that if true, suggests that the capital of Artsakh is increasingly surrounded and in-range of Azeri forces. If that's the case, I expect our people will fight to their last breath-- but I fear it will not stop there.
Those of you who follow me on here, in some measure, do care and I know that. But the powers that be, that could do something about this, don't care and won't do anything.
And if cease fires mean nothing, even if all of us on the ground fought to the last, what the hell is going to stop the Azeri and Turkish forces from destroying Armenia, after Artsakh falls?
SALUTATIONS, you magnificent denizens of the Twitterverse! This is #FridayNightHistory and this week we talk Part 2 of "Ranald MacDonald, the First ALT." The US Navy, Dutch merchants, and one tenacious whaler who really really wanted to teach English intersect herein!
For the first time, a Friday Night History topic has to be in two parts. I know, right? A topic that's long enough that I feel like I want to split it up. Wild!