Raised in the samurai tradition, Tōgō combined combat instruction with an appetite for history and engineering. He manned guns during the Anglo-Satsuma War while still in his teens and joined the Satsuma navy at seventeen. The British bombardment demonstrated the coercive power of a modern fleet and helped push Satsuma toward acquiring British ships and expertise. His career therefore began inside a domain that responded to military defeat by studying and purchasing the technology that had exposed its weakness.
Chapter · 4:09-8:29
Samurai upbringing and the Anglo-Satsuma War
Tōgō's early education, combat at Kagoshima, and entry into the Satsuma navy gave him unusually young exposure to artillery and steam-powered sea power.