After a bloody battle on September 22nd, 1877, Saigo Takamori and his loyal warriors pause on a hillside overlooking Kagoshima. They’ll never surrender, but they’re wounded, exhausted, massively outnumbered, and Saigo already knows how this will end. Because his noble Samurai army aren’t just fighting the Emperor’s gun-wielding forces. They’re fighting progress itself. And that’s a battle they cannot win.    But were the Samurai really a class of elite martial artists, driven by unbreakable codes of chivalry and loyalty? Or, behind the propaganda, just a self-important militia of romanticised thugs? This is a Short History of the Samurai.    Written by Joe Viner.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices