History of Japan | Bill Wurtz | History Teacher Reacts 

This video is so hard to react to since it’s so fast paced. It’s brilliant though and one of my favorite history related videos on the web. It was hard to decide when to stop and talk without overdoing it!

I love hearing teachers’ true insight on a subject I would learn in school, that isn’t restricted by the structure of the educational system

"Japan is the only nation that beat the mongol' *sad vietnamese noise*

you know he's a history teacher when he can stretch a 9 minute video to 40 minutes

The Russo-Japanese war is very important to Russian history. It made clear that the Russian army was old fashioned and not the superpower it was showing of to be (and was during the reigns of Catherine the Great or Alexander I). This damaged the power and image of Tsar Nicolas II badly. The most important part of the Russian navy was sunk in less than an hour by Japan and the economy was damaged. This is one of the moments that was the beginning of the end of Tsarist Russia.

Man, you are permitted to interrupt as much as you want, I do really appreciate your broader perspective for each video topic that is shown in your channel. The way that you verbalize and explain each detail from those videos is very helpful for me at least.

10:08 the Chinese word for “China” is pronounced zhongguo, which literally translates to “middle country” because they believed themselves to be the center (or “middle”) of the world. So yes, their perception of “cultural superiority” is actually a bit of an understatement

Feudal Japan ending is an untapped goldmine for an Assassins Creed game.

You show these to your classes? Lucky kids. Too bad I never got that experience lol.

I appreciate that you provide actual input and commentary on the video rather than simply watching it. Too many reaction videos out there have little to no real reactions or input throughout the videos they watch.

Wanted to add some stuff why the dutch were the ones allowed to trade with japan. So basically before they got their permission the portuguese had the monopoly on japan but like you said they were very pushy when it came to christianity. So much so that there was a christian uprising in Kyushu which gave the Tokugawa shogunate a really big headache. So they kicked the portuguese out and asked the dutch for help crushing the revolt. After the revolt was over they got the permission to trade.

15:00 Interesting point about the Japanese belief that nature had saved them from the Mongol invasions. Those typhoons are where the term "kamikaze" or "divine wind" came from. The living winds had protected Japan. And thus it became a fitting name for pilots willing to die to protect their country.

Teachers who teach outside the box are becoming far less common due to an educational system that thinks "good test = learn" It needs more teachers like you

There were interactions between Romans and the Chinese. They both recognised each other as "great" nations, but realise it's geographically unrealistic to really care cause Persia and other Arab powers were in the way.

15:11 During the conflicts with the Mongols, the Japanese saw the massive armies and fleets of the Mongols driven away and torn by great typhoons, (not tornado's but close enough lol) and thus instilled this belief that their land was "Holy" and "Sacred" that no foreign power could dominate them, in fact the word "Kamikaze" 神風 , meaning "Divine Wind" was created from these events.

I haven't seen them yet, but oversimplified has just released a new two part video about The French Revolution.

The shogun was off somewhere else doing poetry, while the palace burned over the dispute of succession... Japans version of Nero

I really am enjoying your explanations about some topics, keep doing this fine work!

An honest teacher with a true passion for history. Great content man!

To your point about these videos being assessable - they're not, but that doesn't make them any less valuable. They're high point overviews of entire topics, which makes the little details more interesting. I so wish I had this in school, after watching them I became so curious about the rest of it & watching your reactions made me realize how cool history actually is after 22 years of hating it. Now that I have a solid overview of what happened, the details make so much more sense and I would have done a lot better on assessments from the lessons if I had the context these videos put everything in. School is about learning, not assessing. It's creating problems in this country that so many people in charge of education believe this. The only thing assessments do is give teachers hard data to base their performance on, but what happened is kids started only learning things for the test. I'd study up all night & then ace a test that I would fail if I tried to take the next week, because I was studying for a test, rather than studying to learn. If I had the contextual overview these fun videos provided prior to my history classes I would have learned so much more.

22:22 You can thank William Adams for that. A dutch tradesman who actually landed himself the title of Hatamoto due to his understanding of said teachings. He also modernized Japan's industry and naval infrastructures at the time, landing trust upon the dutch to the japanese government.

My favorite part of the video is when Bill says "you know what else is pretty western? Conquering shit." Bill seems to forget the first half of his video where he described all these different cliques conquering each other.

4:13 That's exactly the point of "react" videos, thank you very much for your insights and commentary.

I was big into history in high school and I love watching and reading stuff about history now. When I watched history of the world so many things clicked in my head that made me better understand certain aspects of history and how everything kinda fits together.

I've seen a bunch of these since I'm learning Japanese and watch a few Japanese RU-vidrs but it was great to hear another perspective from someone that actually teaches History. Great video!

5:20: “You’re collide but you’re not too close” Japan is a tsundere confirmed

Europe: Come on Japan, we're great together right? Remember how I sold you guns and you unified your whole country with them? Japan: Naw fam I seen how you treat all your ex's. I can't deal with you right now, I gotta work on myself... for like three hundred years.

Your reaction is quadruple the length of the original video You're my favorite reactor now

They called the storms kamikaze, divine winds. Things sure change.

I always appreciate the interruptions when you offer more insights or perspectives about what you're interrupting. It's better than most other reaction videos where they interrupt the video for some irrelevant anecdote or story that has nothing to do with the video they're reacting to.

*_"Hideyoshi... Hideyoshi... Hideyoshi we praise, for he built a castle in just one day!"_*

Mongols: *Angry invading noises from distance* Japan: Why use sword while you have the power of the *DIVINE WIND*

Just discovered your channel, I love hearing an actually student of history commenting on this stuff. Keep it up man!

This video is absolutely brilliant. Big ups to you, man

japanese after the mongols are stopped by a tornado: *PRAISE* the *WIND*

I'm learning a lot more from this. Thank you Mr. Terry.

I love your input. Subscribed

Chinese name of China "Zhōngguó" mean "The Middle Kingdom". They did thought they was the center of the heaven and earth

Ive notice for a long time that...all the axis countries make awesome cars, German, Italian, Japanese. I guess war machine engines work just fine in transportation.

I'm guessing that they also restringed the trade with western europe due to the influence of christianty. After more than 150 years of war, having to deal with both a western power and possibly with a religious uprising would have been to much. Japan was at peace after a long period that exhausted many of their... Feuds? I don't know an exact word to describe it, but it would be the regions that were controlled by different clans during the sengoku period. Also, one of their latest religious uprisings were a true pain. Most notably, the Ikko Ikki, a different branch of buddhism, who started an uprising near the end of the 15th century at the city of Echizen and they lasted until 1564, when Nobunaga actually managed to defeat them after a 10-year siege (Siege of Ishiyama Honganji). Plus, like you said, the fact that european kingdoms did take advantage of their trading partners. I guess that all of this had to do with Tokugawa's decision of closing the country. Finally, as an opinion, i don't think you should excuse yourself for pausing the video. If people is watching this, it's because they also care about what you have to say. Otherwise, they would have went to the original video. Plus, it's way more interesting to hear soemone more knowledgeable on the matter, who might point out something that looks like a little detail but that it was in fact a major thing, like the two typhoons during the mongol invasion. Someone would have usually said "Hey, that's lucky". You pointed out "This might have to do with their strong religious roots, after all they revered nature itself".

thank you for this mr. terry! you rock

I would love to see Mr. Terry react to the anime Hetalia.

the one thing that surprised me about this video is omitting how they let the emperor still be the emperor

I am a big fan of history and I love teaching others about the history and I have been a substitute teacher at times. Reason 1. It's fun and nr 2 I needed the money and I specialised in History I tried this video once and it is way to quick to use as study material but it is great fun. I found the oversimplified way better as it is not too quick and it is more in depth and you can pause easily to address certain things to the students.

I approve of the retrogame collection behind you

This is an amazingly interesting reaction/commentary video, informative and thoroughly captivating. Amazing job!

Just found your channel and im pretty impressed! Thats not simply watching a video with a giggle here and there, you actually pause, give insight and additional knowledge. I like that, keep doing your thing!

I am currently looking into getting a degree in history and eventually start teaching. My largest trepidation of the teaching aspect is getting my students interested enough about history that they become hungry to learn. Ultimately I want to teach military history to military cadets because of my prior service (ROTC, OCS, or maybe at one of the academies). I love the feeling when I see the look of excitement on someone's face when history "clicks" after I tell them little snippets and facts about certain historical topics, but those instances were just informal conversations with one or a tiny group; never a class in a learning institution.

Man this was GREAT. I LOVED getting an actual teacher's insight, as this video and the History of the World (which I will def watch your reaction to after this) are some of my favourite internet viral videos as of late. I love that you pause,a s well instead of talking over it like so many people do. 100% subscribing, loved your input. You seem like such a stellar teacher as well, love that you've shown these to your students. I bet you're highly regarded, with good reason!

Ever thought to react to Extra Credits or Knowledge Hub/Alternate History Hub?

very enlightening, thanks for the commentary, you've added a lot

"(...) Greece is an Island" Well yes, but actually no.

to be fair with the whole china and industrialization. if i remember right historical proof has been found that china had a sort of. proto-industrialization long before europe did simply because of efficiency. now i say proto-industiralization cause obviously it isn't nearly as industrialization as what we know as industrialization. but the idea of best using your massive work force for specialized "factory" (farm or plantation or even crafting) jobs was something used as early as the three kingdoms.

15:54 "Nature working for you to protect you" USSR and Winter in 1941 be like

You know I used to hate history class.. But I think now I would love it if I were back in school. It's like a really long story if you view it the right way.

This is very informative and it's interesting to hear an actual teachers prospective.

Nice NES cartridge display in the background.

Also because the dutch had the VOC. Which was probably one of the, if not the most powerful company at the time.

There’s no free lunch with Lady Luck. You got saved by two giant storms, and then get nuked twice centuries later. Lady Luck... she’s always keeping score

Really happy I found your channel, you really add a lot to videos I already watched myself. Shows how dumb the algorithm is, recommending me your channel 1 year after I shifted away from basically watching history channels exclusively.

Very true on the food thing, as one of my favorite games once said "food is a governing tool, just as cities and industries need workers workers need food. Food starts wars, food ends wars only a fool dismisses the power of food."

I'm glad you explained the Russia getting warm water thing I thought it was a joke bc Russia cold

Really great Videos man, you got a subscriber from Germany now ^^. Love your insight on historical topics and i would recommend to you the video series from the channel "Extra Credits" about Bismarck and the subsequent founding of Germany.

The Japanese weren't JUST lucky, if you look at the battles fought (except the very first few, which the Japanese did in fact lose) the Japanese did extremely well! Mostly because they held preferable defensive positions but still.

Maybe Japan's industrial took off because that earlier exposure from Dutch helped them

When I lived in Japan we had 5 or 6 Typhoons a year they aren’t that rare

I’d recommend watch Simple History. They not only post videos about history, but also stories of people you probably wouldn’t believe, such as Lauri Allan Törni, a soldier who fought in 3 wars/armies

Greece is an island? I always thought it was a peninsula with islands

Dang he actually reacts to it

Where the legend started 🙏🏼

I’m not sure if you saw my last comment but I’ll recommend it again. Extra Credits’s D-Day videos (1-4). And same as others, The Fallen of WW2.

Wooo! a history teacher that actually showed in class!

Mr. Terry. There's a channel called Eastory here on RU-vid, that has done a detailed 4 part series on the Eastern Front of WW2. Maybe you want to check those out unless you've seen them. He did these videos over a long period and he published the final part a few days ago so I guess you haven't seen it.

15:01 Didn't they lost in ancient Vietnam aswell?

"I've seen this Video... Many times" Good now do it again

15:17 to 17:23 That gives a greater reason for Japan to create something like Godzilla.

So, why did it take so long to control the northern part of Japan in early history? Geological issues?

Reminds me of the novel 'Shogun' I read like 15 years ago.

French revolution by oversimplified

I've watched this video like, 100 times now, and I love it more every time, but I also notice things I wish he'd included. Like there's no mention of the Ainu, for example. And Japanese history doesn't end in 1991. But still. I love it.

I believe the largest fleet assembled up till then was Persia at Salamis?

I once did an junior high assignment on why Japan tried to isolate itself from the world. Good times.

I feel like these can be apt for analysis. For me it was a good way to gain a perspective from a distance. Sometimes you can get muddled in the details and miss the big picture. I feel like Bill's videos are great for being able to see the big picture and peak interests on specific topics.

Nice to see some history that actually explicitly talks about selective borrowing, and hierarchies

others reacting to the video: laughs and random comments Mr Terry: tells you more about it

Do you prepare for these videos or do you 'spontaneously' watch them when you've got the time and just comment what comes to your mind?

You can see that in Germany too where Swiss and Austrians see themselves differently from germans, even the bavarians in the south often call themselves the free state of Bavaria where they are often disconnected from the rest of the german people and see themselves as different.

The channel Historia Civilis does great videos on the history of Julius Caesar. Not sure how familiar you are with that history but it'd be nice to hear your thoughts on it.

Do you ever consider anything from Extra Credits' "Extra History" videos?

First reaction video that I saw that respected bill... Subscribed

Bill's vid actually came out before the election as it was published in february 2016 and the election was in november of the same year

18:53 Also, something to note, Hideyoshi never achieved the title of Shōgun. The reason being, is because being Shogun wasn't just about wealth or power, you had to have proof that you were a part of the Minamoto Yoritomo (the First Shogun ever) lineage, if you couldn't trace your lineage to him, you could not be Shogun. So instead, he arranged to have himself adopted by Konoe Sakihisa, one of the noblest men belonging to the Fujiwara clan and secured a succession of high court titles including, in 1585, the prestigious position of Imperial Regent (kampaku). In 1586, Hideyoshi was formally given the new clan name Toyotomi (instead of Fujiwara) by the Imperial court. He built a lavish palace, the Jurakudai, in 1587 and entertained the reigning Emperor, Emperor Go-Yōzei, the following year. Not only did Tokugawa Ieyasu have wealth and power, but he had proof of his lineage to Minamoto Yoritomo, a claim, that not every Daimyo (warlord) had.

Nice video, enjoyed your perspective

The Typhoons that stopped the mongols are the namesake for a more modern japanese tactic, the Kamikaze pilots, as the typhoons got called this aswell when they stopped the mongols, it translates to Divine Wind.

Can you react to potential history

Just wanted to say that I like how you explain in depth. It pairs well with comedy because laughter is attention grabbing. I think this learning style might help future students retain information better.

"A lot of Kingdoos" - Mr Terry, June 2019 5:53

Not that I don't like history, but I'd definitely pay attention in every class if this guy was my teacher

22:57 Shusaku Endo"s book Silence is a great read and gives you an idea of what Christian persecution was like in Japan.

Hey, I was kinda wondering.. Where could I really learn some of the most important parts of Japanese history or history in general (books, the internet, etc.)? p.s. I really really fell in love with your channel since you provide us with insight rather than just reacting to the video. Keep it up and don't apologize for providing us with information!