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After finally achieving what eluded even his grandfather Genghis Khan - the conquest of China - and inheriting the world's largest navy, Khubilai Khan turned his sights on Japan, which he attacked with an immense armada in 1274. Vastly outnumbered and facing total massacre, the Japanese prayed to their gods for survival, and the very next day the Khan's entire armada was destroyed by a 'divine wind' (kamikaze). When the Khan tried again seven years later, with a fleet double the size of the first, the very same thing happened.
The legend of the kamikaze - revived as a Japanese national legend when they modernised and militarised, culminating in the suicide bombers of the Second World War - has endured for centuries, but the truth has remained a mystery. Now, after decades of painstaking research and underwater excavation, leading marine archaeologist James Delgado has discovered what really happened.
