Hi!
I can tell of Japanese civil wars to you.
Interesting thread. And, sorry.. I don't know of any online maps for this right now that come to mind..
Well, in ancient times there were wars in Japan, and the Yamato unified much of central Japan in these wars, and founded the Empire of Japan and the Yamato ruler Jimmu became the first Emperor, Jimmu, 2,663 years ago. It is he who the modern Emperors of Japan are descended from.
For a time, during the first millenium C.E. times, the Empire controlled several small coastal areas on the Korean mainland. Eventually Korean cavalrymen defeated the Japanese there. These were not civil wars. Also during this time though, there was some disorder in the Imperial Courts. Perhaps Battle of Jinshin could be considered "civil wars".
About 900 years ago, there was the Gempei Wars between Heike and Genji clans which was civil war. Also there was Heiji and Hogen Wars before Gempei War. All of these were mainly between the two most influential warrior families, the Heike and Genji. The Heike were defeated in Gempei Wars at Dan no Ura, and Minamoto Yoshitsune, a great Genji general (Probably the most popular in the war, followed by Heike Tomomori), was forced to commit seppuku, because his brother Yoritomo was jealous of his fame. Yoritomo was proclaimed Seii Taishougun and his family ruled Japan from their capital of Kamakura.
Soon, however, they died out and the Hojo Clan, who was closely related to them, became the new Shouguns. In the years 1274 and 1281, the Mongols led by Kublai Khan invaded Japan. Many of their men were defeated in navy by the "divine wind" (
kamikaze ) and the ones who landed were defeated. These were also not civil wars. However, from these wars, the samurai became discontented: No new land was conquered. So, samurai could not be payed their land. There was unrest, and then during the 1300's, there was civil war, and the Ashikaga Shougunate was founded. During their rule, there was peace. And also contact and trade with China and Korea and mainland of Asia.
During the Ashikaga Bakufu (Shougunate)'s rule, the daimyo around the country became very powerful. They were not limited in their army sizes, etc. So, they became more and more powerful, and bakufu became weaker and weaker. Finally, the Onin War began. This was a civil war. In the end, Kyoto was destroyed, the Ashikaga Bakufu shown to be quite weak, and the daimyo very powerful.
The "Warring States Era" (Sengoku Jidai) began, and until 1603, there was much civil war around Japan. This is the most famous of civil war periods and the largest. Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu were three of the most important men of this era.
Oda Nobunaga used many guns traded with the Europeans, and won great victories over his enemies. He conquered Kyoto and defeated the Ashikaga Bakufu, and defeated the Imagawa family, and was invading the Mori lands. But, he was killed by Akechi Mitsuhide, a traitor.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi was born a peasant. His father had no home. Hidyoshi became a peasant soldier (ashigaru) and quickly became a general of Oda's armies and the favorite of Oda Nobunaga. He was leading the Oda armies fighting against the Mori clan, and turned back when he heard of Oda Nobunaga's death. He defeated Akechi Mitsuhide, and became ruler of the Oda lands. He defeated the Hojo and other main ememies.
Then Hideyoshi invaded Korea. This was not a civil war. It is thought several reasons why he may have done this. Some think he wanted to impress the daimyo. Some of which would not let a peasant be their ruler. Some also think he was trying to distract them from revolting and getting them to fight a new enemy. In Korea, the Ming Empire assisted the Koreans. Hideyoshi's forces won many victories in Korea, but in the end Koreans naval blockaded Japanese supplies and were successful. This led to defeat. He later attempted to invade again, but then died.
Tokugawa Ieyasu next began to fight. He had promised Hideyoshi that he would ensure Hideyoshi's only son became next ruler, but then Tokugawa went against his rivals. He now saw his chance to take control and even win the wars and unite Japan. He fought against his rivals, and won the battle of Sekigahara against them. This was the largest battle fought in Japan.
In 1603, Tokugawa became Shougun of Japan, and his family ruled until 1868. During this time, there was mostly peace. Only few times was there unrest, and that was little. However, during the 1800's, there was famine in Osaka and much disorder was there.
In the 1860's, the Meiji Revolution began, and there was civil war then against the Tokugawa Bakufu. In the next years, there was disorder and unhappiness by some against the new Constitutional Monarchy government, but eventually, by about the end of Emperor Mutshito's (Meiji's) reign, this disorder ended.
I hope that my post helped.
Meiji-Tenno
