Boshin War

is the designation for the fifth year of a sexagenary cycle in traditional East Asian calendars. Although the war lasted for over a year, Boshin refers to the year in which the war started. The characters can also be read as in Japanese, literally "Elder Brother of Earth-Dragon". which also became the first year of the Meiji era in October of that year, and ended in the second year of the Meiji era. ==Political background==

Early discontent against the shogunate For the two centuries prior to 1854, Japan had a strict policy of isolationism, restricting all interactions with foreign powers, with the notable exceptions of Joseon Korea via Tsushima, Qing China via the Ryukyu Islands, and the Dutch through the trading post of Dejima. In 1854, the United States Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry's expedition opened Japan to global commerce through the implied threat of force, thus initiating rapid development of foreign trade and Westernization. In large part due to the humiliating terms of the unequal treaties, as agreements like those negotiated by Perry are called, the Tokugawa shogunate soon faced internal dissent, which coalesced into a radical movement, the sonnō jōi (meaning "revere the Emperor, expel the barbarians"). , Japan's first screw-driven steam warship, 1855. The shogunate pursued modernization, but was faced by growing internal discontent against the harm to national sovereignty brought on by contact with Westerners. Emperor Kōmei agreed with such sentiments and, breaking with centuries of Imperial tradition, began to take an active role in matters of state: as opportunities arose, he vehemently protested against the treaties and attempted to interfere in the shogunal succession. His efforts culminated in March 1863 with his "order to expel barbarians". Although the shogunate had no intention of enforcing it, the order nevertheless inspired attacks against the shogunate itself and against foreigners in Japan: the most famous incident was that of the English trader Charles Lennox Richardson, for whose death the Tokugawa government had to pay an indemnity of one hundred thousand British pounds. Other attacks included the shelling of foreign shipping in the port of Shimonoseki. In 1863 and 1864, these actions were successfully countered by armed retaliations by foreign powers, such as the British bombardment of Kagoshima and the multinational Shimonoseki campaign. On 20 August 1864, the forces of Chōshū Domain, together with rōnin, raised the Hamaguri rebellion trying to seize the city of Kyoto, where the Emperor's court was, but were repelled by shogunate forces under the future shōgun Tokugawa Yoshinobu. The shogunate further ordered a punitive expedition against Chōshū, the First Chōshū expedition, and obtained Chōshū's submission without actual fighting. At this point the initial resistance among the leadership in Chōshū and the Imperial Court subsided, but over the next year the Tokugawa proved unable to reassert full control over the country as most daimyōs began to ignore orders and questions from the Tokugawa seat of power in Edo. Foreign military assistance troops near Mount Fuji in 1867. The painting by French officer Jules Brunet shows an eclectic combination of Western and Japanese equipment. The Shogun had sought French assistance for training and weaponry since 1865. Léon Roches, French consul to Japan, supported the Shogunal military reform efforts to promote French influence, hoping to make Japan into a dependent client state. This caused the British to send their own military mission to compete with the French. Despite the bombardment of Kagoshima, the Satsuma Domain had become closer to the British and was pursuing the modernization of its army and navy with their support. In preparation for future conflict, the shogunate also modernized its forces. In line with Parkes's strategy, the British, previously the shogunate's primary foreign partner, proved reluctant to provide assistance. The Tokugawa thus came to rely mainly on French expertise, comforted by the military prestige of Napoleon III at that time, acquired through his successes in the Crimean War and the Second Italian War of Independence. The shogunate took major steps towards the construction of a modern and powerful military: a navy with a core of eight steam warships had been built over several years and was already the strongest in Asia. In 1865, Japan's first modern naval arsenal was built in Yokosuka by the French engineer Léonce Verny. In January 1867, a French military mission arrived to reorganize the shogunate army and create the Denshūtai elite force, and an order was placed with the US to buy the French-built ironclad warship CSS Stonewall, which had been built for the Confederate States Navy during the American Civil War. Due to the Western powers' declared neutrality, the US refused to release the ship, but once neutrality was lifted, the imperial faction obtained the vessel and employed it in engagements in Hakodate under the name Kōtetsu ("Ironclad"). On November 9, 1867, a secret order was created by Satsuma and Chōshū in the name of Emperor Meiji commanding the "slaughtering of the traitorous subject Yoshinobu". Just prior to this, however—and following a proposal from the daimyō of the Tosa Domain—Yoshinobu resigned his post and authority to the emperor, agreeing to "be the instrument for carrying out" imperial orders. This ended the Tokugawa shogunate. While Yoshinobu's resignation had created a nominal void at the highest level of government, his apparatus of state continued to exist. Moreover, the shogunate government, the Tokugawa family in particular, remained a prominent force in the evolving political order and retained many executive powers. Satow speculated that Yoshinobu had agreed to an assembly of daimyōs on the hope that such a body would restore him, a prospect hard-liners from Satsuma and Chōshū found intolerable. Events came to a head on January 3, 1868, when these elements seized the imperial palace in Kyoto, and the following day had the fifteen-year-old Emperor Meiji declare his own restoration to full power. Although the majority of the imperial consultative assembly representing all the domains was happy with the formal declaration of direct rule by the imperial court and tended to support a continued collaboration with the Tokugawa (under the concept of ), Saigō Takamori threatened the assembly into abolishing the title "shōgun" and ordering the confiscation of Yoshinobu's lands. Although he initially agreed to these demands, on January 17, 1868, Yoshinobu declared that he would not be bound by the Restoration proclamation and called for its repeal. On January 24, he decided to prepare an attack on Kyoto, which was occupied by Satsuma and Chōshū forces. This decision was prompted by his learning of a series of arsons in Edo, starting with the burning of the outer works of Edo Castle, the main Tokugawa residence. This was blamed on Satsuma rōnin, who on that day attacked a government office. The next day shogunate forces responded by attacking the Edo residence of the daimyō of Satsuma, where many opponents of the shogunate, under Saigo's direction, had been hiding and creating trouble. The residence was burned down, and many opponents killed or later executed. ==Weapons and uniforms==

The forces of Chōshū and Satsuma were fully modernized with Armstrong Guns, Minié rifles and one Gatling gun. The shogunate forces had been slightly lagging in terms of equipment, although the French military mission had recently trained a core elite force. The shōgun also relied on troops supplied by allied domains, which were not necessarily as advanced in terms of military equipment and methods, composing an army that had both modern and outdated elements. Individual guns , a Starr, and an Minié rifle Numerous types of more or less modern smoothbore muskets and rifles were imported, from countries as varied as France, Germany, the Netherlands, Britain, and the United States, and coexisted with traditional types such as the tanegashima matchlock. The daimyō of Nagaoka Domain, however, an ally of the shōgun, possessed two Gatling guns and several thousand modern rifles. The shogunate is known to have placed an order for 30,000 modern Dreyse needle guns in 1866. Napoleon III provided Yoshinobu with 2,000 state-of-the-art Chassepot rifles, which he used to equip his personal guard. Antiquated tanegashima matchlocks are also known to have been used by the shogunate, however. Meanwhile, Aizu troops used the Bavarian M1842 Musket. Imperial troops mainly used Minié rifles, which were much more accurate, lethal, and had a much longer range than the imported smoothbore muskets, although, being also muzzle-loading, they were similarly limited to two shots per minute. Improved breech-loading mechanisms, such as the Snider, developing a rate of about ten shots a minute, are known to have been used by Chōshū troops against the shogunate's Shōgitai regiment at the Battle of Ueno in July 1868. In the second half of the conflict, in the northeast theater, Tosa troops are known to have used American-made Spencer repeating rifles. Warships In the area of warships also, some of the most recent ironclads such as the Kōtetsu coexisted with older types of steamboats and even traditional sailboats. Uniforms Uniforms were Western-style for modernized troops (usually dark, with variations in the shape of the helmet: tall conical for Satsuma, flat conical for Chōshū, rounded for the shogunate). Officers of the shogunate often wore French and British uniforms. Traditional troops however retained their samurai clothes. == Status of combatants ==

Shogunate forces Sampeitai The Sampeitai formed a more extensive attempt at modernisation with it being introduced in 1862 by graduates of 2 Samurai academies. The attempt called for the raising of a standing army from the Shogun's personal lands (Tenryo) and the Daimyo under their feudal obligations to provide troops to the Shogun. The army known as the Sampeitai or alternatively the Shinei jobigun was supposed to number 13,625 men with 8,300 infantry (2,000 with rifles) 1,068 cavalry (900 with rifles) 4,890 artillerymen with 48 8 lb field guns and 52 16 lb siege guns and 1,406 officers. The force was to contain half seishi (richer samurai) and half Kashi (poorer Samurai). The recruitment was to be men between 17 and 45 with service terms of 5 years with battalions of 600 companies of 120 and platoons of 40. The daimyo were allowed to substitute manpower with money to purchase firearms and rice to feed the soldiers something the Shoguate desperately needed both of. However, the plan immediately ran into issues as resistance to providing men and money to purchase firearms was met by the shogun. Ironically, the largest provider of men under the new system was the Satsuma domain providing 4,800 infantry, 100 cavalry and 8 guns with 100 men. In 1863 the Shogun allowed the recruitment of commoners but by 1867 this force had only reached 5,900 infantry. In order to augment this force the Shogun raised 5 battalions of Yugekitai. The Shogun also disbanded the city and legation guard units and added them to the Sampeitai adding at least 1,500 men to the army. Other forces The Shogunate, aiming to modernise its forces, hired 17 French officers in 1867. These 17 officers trained 900 men who formed the elite Denshutai. The French officers brought with them 3,000 Chassepot rifles and 12 artillery pieces. Three separate military schools were constructed for the infantry, artillery and cavalry with limited engineer instruction, they also introduced carbine and lance cavalry to the force. It was intended for the 900 men of the Denshutai to be dispersed amongst the myriad of Shogunate armies to train and re-organise them though this did not occur due to the outbreak of hostilities. The Shogun additionally possessed 302 Shinsengumi police forces who were intensely loyal to the Shogunate. The Shogunate navy also contained 3,000 sailors who acted as infantry on Hokkaido towards the end of the war. Choshu The Choshu domain in 1840 contained 11,000 samurai and was also more amenable to reform, and more ambitious than Satsuma in reform and the recruitment of peasantry with the formation of the 300 strong Kihetai, a mixed formation of samurai, townsmen, and peasants, with ronin officers with tough discipline and western uniforms. A second and third company was raised increasing its strength to 900 men. The usage of gunboat diplomacy brought in many volunteers and another 980 men were formed in several shotai or auxiliary militia, with 60 units in total by 1865. These shotai were added to the Choshu military and given modern weaponry by 1868. Imperial military In April 1868 Emperor Meiji himself called for the dispatch of 60 men per 10,000 koku (150 kg of rice, the amount needed for a man for one year) produced in his domain, of the 60 man drafts one-sixth were to be sent to Kyoto to form an Imperial army and the remaining 50 to garrison the Daimyo's domain. ==Opening conflicts==

. Shogunate forces are on the left, including battalions from Aizu. On the right are forces from Chōshū and Tosa. These are modernized battalions, but some of the forces were also traditional samurai (especially on the shogunate side). On January 27, 1868, shogunate forces attacked the forces of Chōshū and Satsuma, clashing near Toba and Fushimi, at the southern entrance to Kyoto in the Battle of Toba–Fushimi. Some parts of the 15,000-strong shogunate forces had been trained by French military advisers. Among their numbers during this battle were the noted Shinsengumi. The day after the battle of Toba–Fushimi commenced, the naval Battle of Awa took place between the shogunate and elements of the Satsuma navy in Awa Bay near Osaka. This was Japan's second engagement between two modern navies. The battle, although small in scale, ended with a victory for the shogunate. On the diplomatic front, the ministers of foreign nations, gathered in the open harbour of Hyōgo (present day Kobe) in early February, issued a declaration according to which the shogunate was still considered the only rightful government in Japan, giving hope to Tokugawa Yoshinobu that foreign nations (especially France) might consider an intervention in his favour. A few days later however an Imperial delegation visited the ministers declaring that the shogunate was abolished, that harbours would be open in accordance with International treaties, and that foreigners would be protected. The ministers finally decided to recognize the new government. The rise of anti-foreign sentiment nonetheless led to several attacks on foreigners in the following months. Eleven French sailors from the corvette Dupleix were killed by samurai of Tosa in the Sakai incident on March 8, 1868. Fifteen days later, Sir Harry Parkes, the British ambassador, was attacked by a group of samurai in a street of Kyoto. ==Surrender of Edo==

, leader of the pro-shogunate Shinsengumi, facing soldiers from Tosa (distinctive wigs of the officers) at the Battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma Beginning in February, with the help of the French ambassador Léon Roches, a plan was formulated to stop the Imperial Court's advance at Odawara, the last strategic entry point to Edo, but Yoshinobu decided against the plan. Shocked, Léon Roches resigned from his position. In early March, under the influence of the British minister Harry Parkes, foreign nations signed a strict neutrality agreement, according to which they could not intervene or provide military supplies to either side until the resolution of the conflict. Saigō Takamori led the victorious imperial forces north and east through Japan, winning the Battle of Kōshū-Katsunuma. He eventually surrounded Edo in May 1868, leading to its unconditional defeat after Katsu Kaishū, the shōguns Army Minister, negotiated the surrender. Some groups continued to resist after this surrender but were defeated in the Battle of Ueno on July 4, 1868. Meanwhile, the leader of the shōguns navy, Enomoto Takeaki, refused to surrender all his ships. He remitted just four ships, among them the Fujiyama, but he then escaped north with the remnants of the shōguns navy (eight steam warships: Kaiten, Banryū, Chiyodagata, Chōgei, Kaiyō Maru, Kanrin Maru, Mikaho and Shinsoku), and 2,000 personnel, in the hope of staging a counter-attack together with the northern daimyōs. He was accompanied by a handful of French military advisers, notably Jules Brunet, who had formally resigned from the French Army to accompany the rebels. ==Resistance of the Northern Coalition==

, following their mobilization in April, joined a northern alliance against Imperial troops in May 1868. After Yoshinobu's surrender, he was placed under house arrest, and stripped of all titles, land and power. He was later released, when he demonstrated no further interest and ambition in national affairs. He retired to Shizuoka, the place to which his ancestor Tokugawa Ieyasu had also retired. Most of Japan accepted the emperor's rule, but a core of domains in the North, supporting the Aizu clan, continued the resistance. In May, several northern daimyōs formed an Alliance to fight Imperial troops, the coalition of northern domains composed primarily of forces from the domains of Sendai, Yonezawa, Aizu, Shōnai and Nagaoka Domain, with a total of 50,000 troops. Apart from those core domains, most of the northern domains were part of the alliance. s used by the Sendai fief during the Boshin War, Sendai City Museum Enomoto's fleet reached Sendai harbour on August 26. Although the Northern Coalition was numerous, it was poorly equipped, and relied on traditional fighting methods. Modern armament was scarce, and last-minute efforts were made to build cannons made of wood and reinforced with roping, firing stone projectiles. Such cannons, installed on defensive structures, could only fire four or five projectiles before bursting. On the other hand, the daimyō of Nagaoka managed to procure two of the three Gatling guns in Japan and 2,000 modern French rifles from the German weapons dealer Henry Schnell. The coalition crumbled, and on October 12, 1868, the fleet left Sendai for Hokkaido, after having acquired two more ships (Oe and Hōō, previously borrowed by Sendai from the shogunate), and about 1,000 more troops: remaining shogunate troops under Ōtori Keisuke, Shinsengumi troops under Hijikata Toshizō, the guerilla corps (yugekitai) under Hitomi Katsutarō, as well as several more French advisers (Fortant, Garde, Marlin, Bouffier). After a protracted month-long battle, Aizu finally admitted defeat on November 6. ==Hokkaido campaign==

Creation of the Ezo Republic Image:French Military Advisors Jules Brunet and Japanese Allies Boshin War 1868-1869.png|thumb|225px|The Japanese and their French military advisers in Hokkaido poly 0 350 18 341 48 315 47 304 36 305 22 283 22 246 36 220 65 210 69 194 62 171 66 136 94 132 109 152 104 201 140 219 150 231 156 285 145 369 118 391 68 391 54 433 49 462 10 457 Hosoya Yasutaro poly 224 555 152 405 172 353 186 294 184 237 216 224 219 202 211 165 229 146 250 146 267 156 271 168 284 171 272 182 273 216 304 224 323 289 323 349 333 388 339 431 326 450 339 529 306 552 Captain Jules Brunet poly 324 560 355 524 348 388 337 375 334 343 342 299 369 265 393 230 410 224 404 202 404 185 392 185 399 175 399 163 435 150 454 159 463 169 463 205 468 224 498 241 509 257 517 308 519 330 496 394 473 558 Commander in chief Matsudaira Taro poly 548 372 531 327 528 285 529 244 545 231 575 212 558 192 558 175 556 175 554 147 560 138 577 131 594 131 609 159 605 165 610 187 610 212 646 227 679 261 708 299 670 363 666 383 657 387 664 396 671 449 716 503 714 517 658 453 654 534 528 535 Tajima Kintaro poly 162 365 148 235 109 184 117 144 135 106 164 92 175 78 169 49 169 31 178 24 195 24 208 35 215 41 215 47 207 55 208 72 217 82 225 91 253 104 263 141 193 365 Captain Cazeneuve poly 265 227 267 150 272 139 297 129 293 106 287 91 294 66 305 60 321 60 333 71 338 78 344 81 344 89 340 97 336 103 334 122 360 139 365 139 376 149 391 179 398 226 358 245 371 305 315 362 Sargeant Jean Marlin poly 380 222 386 171 404 151 405 134 399 116 403 114 396 99 410 86 444 97 451 104 451 109 442 115 444 133 441 142 460 170 Fukushima Tokinosuke poly 457 166 461 121 475 104 503 89 509 82 499 72 496 48 489 21 523 17 539 37 541 48 534 71 534 78 547 91 565 99 580 104 627 185 623 210 545 307 577 481 469 493 Sergeant Arthur Fortant rect 0 0 713 561 Use button to enlarge or cursor to investigate desc none Following defeat on Honshū, Enomoto Takeaki fled to Hokkaido with the remnants of the navy and his handful of French advisers. Together they organized a government, with the objective of establishing an independent island nation dedicated to the development of Hokkaido. They formally established the Republic of Ezo on the American model, Japan's only ever republic, and Enomoto was elected as president, with a large majority. The republic tried to reach out to foreign legations present in Hakodate, such as the Americans, French, and Russians, but was not able to garner any international recognition or support. Enomoto offered to confer the territory to the Tokugawa shōgun under Imperial rule, but his proposal was declined by the Imperial Governing Council. During the winter, they fortified their defenses around the southern peninsula of Hakodate, with the new fortress of Goryōkaku at the center. The troops were organized under a Franco-Japanese command, the commander-in-chief Ōtori Keisuke being seconded by the French captain Jules Brunet, and divided between four brigades. Each of these was commanded by a French non-commissioned officer (Fortant, Marlin, Cazeneuve, Bouffier), and were themselves divided into eight half-brigades, each under Japanese command. Final losses and surrender 's French-built ironclad Kotetsu (the former CSS Stonewall) The Imperial Navy reached the harbour of Miyako on March 20, but anticipating the arrival of the Imperial ships, the Ezo rebels organized a daring plan to seize the Kōtetsu. Led by Shinsengumi commander Hijikata Toshizō, three warships were dispatched for a surprise attack, in what is known as the Battle of Miyako Bay. The battle ended in failure for the Tokugawa side, owing to bad weather, engine trouble and the decisive use of a Gatling gun by Imperial troops against samurai boarding parties. Imperial forces soon consolidated their hold on mainland Japan, and, in April 1869, dispatched a fleet and an infantry force of 7,000 to Ezo, starting the Battle of Hakodate. The Imperial forces progressed swiftly and won the naval engagement at Hakodate Bay, Japan's first large-scale naval battle between modern navies, and the fortress of Goryōkaku was surrounded. Seeing the situation had become desperate, the French advisers escaped to a French ship stationed in Hakodate BayCoëtlogon, under the command of Abel-Nicolas Bergasse du Petit-Thouarsfrom where they were shipped back to Yokohama and then France. The Japanese requested that the French advisers be given judgement in France; however, due to popular support in France for their actions, the former French advisers were not punished for their actions. Enomoto surrendered on June 27, 1869, accepting Emperor Meiji's rule, and the Ezo Republic ceased to exist. ==Aftermath==

, moving from Kyoto to Tokyo, end of 1868 Of the approximately 120,000 men mobilized over the course of the conflict, about 8,200 were killed and more than 5,000 were wounded. A major reform was the effective expropriation and abolition of the samurai class, allowing many samurai to change into administrative or entrepreneurial positions, but forcing many others into poverty. The southern domains of Satsuma, Chōshū and Tosa, having played a decisive role in the victory, occupied most of the key posts in government for several decades following the conflict, a situation sometimes called the "Meiji oligarchy" and formalized with the institution of the genrō. In 1869, the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo was built in honor of the victims of the Boshin War. Some leading partisans of the former shōgun were imprisoned, but narrowly escaped execution. This clemency derives from the insistence of Saigō Takamori and Iwakura Tomomi, although much weight was placed on the advice of Parkes, the British envoy. He had urged Saigō, in the words of Ernest Satow, "that severity towards Keiki [Yoshinobu] or his supporters, especially in the way of personal punishment, would injure the reputation of the new government in the opinion of European Powers". After two or three years of imprisonment, most of them were called to serve the new government, and several pursued brilliant careers. Enomoto Takeaki, for instance, would later serve as an envoy to Russia and China and as the education minister. at Yokosuka arsenal with foreign engineers in 1872 The Imperial side did not pursue its objective of expelling foreign interests from Japan, but instead shifted to a more progressive policy aiming at the continued modernization of the country and the renegotiation of unequal treaties with foreign powers, later under the motto. The shift in stance towards foreigners came during the early days of the civil war: on April 8, 1868, new signboards were erected in Kyoto (and later throughout the country) that specifically repudiated violence against foreigners. During the course of the conflict, Emperor Meiji personally received European envoys, first in Kyoto, then later in Osaka and Tokyo. Also unprecedented was Emperor Meiji's reception of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, in Tokyo, "as his equal in point of blood". Although the early Meiji era witnessed a warming of relations between the Imperial Court and foreign powers, relations with France temporarily soured due to the initial support by France for the shōgun. Soon, however, a second military mission was invited to Japan in 1874, and a third one in 1884. A high level of interaction resumed around 1886, when France helped build the Imperial Japanese Navy's first large-scale modern fleet, under the direction of naval engineer Louis-Émile Bertin. The modernization of the country had started during the last years of the shogunate, and the Meiji government ultimately adopted the same policy. , 1872 Upon his coronation, Meiji issued his Charter Oath, calling for deliberative assemblies, promising increased opportunities for the common people, abolishing the "evil customs of the past", and seeking knowledge throughout the world "to strengthen the foundations of imperial rule". The reforms culminated in the 1889 issuance of the Meiji Constitution. However, despite the support given to the Imperial Court by samurai, many of the early Meiji reforms were seen as detrimental to their interests. The creation of a conscript army made of commoners, as well as the loss of hereditary prestige and stipends, antagonized many former samurai. Tensions ran particularly high in the south, leading to the 1874 Saga Rebellion, and a rebellion in Chōshū in 1876. Former samurai in Satsuma, led by Saigō Takamori, who had left government over foreign policy differences, started the Satsuma Rebellion in 1877. Fighting for the maintenance of the samurai class and a more virtuous government. It ended with a heroic but total defeat at the Battle of Shiroyama. ==Later depictions==

In modern summaries, the Meiji Restoration is often described as a "bloodless revolution" leading to the sudden modernization of Japan. The facts of the Boshin War, however, clearly show that the conflict was quite violent: about 120,000 troops were mobilized altogether with roughly 3,500 known casualties during open hostilities but much more during terrorist attacks. Although traditional weapons and techniques were used, both sides employed some of the most modern armaments and fighting techniques of the period, including the ironclad warship, Gatling guns, and fighting techniques learned from Western military advisers. Such Japanese depictions include numerous dramatizations, spanning many genres. Notably, Jirō Asada wrote a four-volume novel of the account, Mibu Gishi-den. A film adaptation of Asada's work, directed by Yōjirō Takita, is known as When the Last Sword Is Drawn. A Japanese Manga Series, Rurouni Kenshin, by Nobuhiro Watsuki, notably takes place during the war and its aftermath. Western interpretations include the 2003 American film The Last Samurai directed by Edward Zwick, which combines into a single narrative historical situations belonging both to the Boshin War, the 1877 Satsuma Rebellion, and other similar uprisings of ex-samurai during the early Meiji period. The elements of the movie pertaining to the early modernization of Japan's military forces as well as the direct involvement of foreign (mostly French) forces relate to the Boshin War and the few years leading to it. The main campaign in the 2012 expansion to Creative Assembly's game Total War: Shogun 2: Fall of the Samurai depicts the Boshin War. Players can choose from various historical clans, such as the Imperial Satsuma or the shogunate Aizu. ==See also==

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