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Differences Between The Last Samurai And Satsuma Rebellion

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The Last Samurai vs. The Satsuma Rebellion “The Last Samurai” is a war film depicting Civil War veteran Nathan Algren, thrust into the middle of a conflict between a small sect of samurai and the newly formed Japanese empire after being sent over to train the empire's army. The film was inspired by the events of the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion led by Saigo Takamori. While the film retains some genuine aspects of the time period, many aspects of the film are fictionalized. This most notably includes the size of the conflict. While the rebellion was a massive conflict that exhausted the resources of the fledgling Japanese empire, the film depicts the conflict as relatively small, limiting it to only two battles. The film is, overall, an entertaining yet inaccurate depiction of the Satsuma Rebellion and the time period as a whole. …show more content…

It would be far more likely to see a European adviser, more specifically from either Prussia or Britten. It would also be out of place for the United States to be negotiating any terms of trade at this time as there was already a treaty out in place in 1858 that regulated trade between the two nations. Another inaccuracy would be the use of firearms within the film compared to reality. In reality not only were samurai well versed in the use of rifles (the film depicts them using only swords, spears and bows) but the newly formed Japanese army would have fairly competent with firearms as well as they had been common place in the nation over two hundred years. Algren would have more likely been helping to organize the army as opposed to showing soldiers how to use a

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