On February 11th, 1892, Major Yasumasa Fukushima, stationed at the Berlin Embassy, departs on a journey of 9,000 miles, 14,000 km, alone and on horseback, across two continents and seven countries to arrive at Vladivostok 488 days later. While outwardly doing this as a boastful wager during a drinking session in the Officer's Club, It probably was, in fact, the longest reconnaissance mission in recorded history. He followed the then current construction of the Trans-Siberian railway and the telegraph infrastructure enroute. His daily diary entries tell of his perilous journey as he meets Kings, Czars, and War Lords. The brutal weather ranges from below zero Siberia to the intense heat of the Gobi desert.
BOOK II THE BOXER REBELLION
In the summer of 1900 in north China the 'Boxer Rebellion' erupts. The International settlement of foreign legations in Peking are made prisoners in the walled city. These nations included, England, United States, France, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Prussia, Japan, Russia, Belgium, Spain, and Italy. Then Major, General Fukushima had over 18,000 Imperial troops at Tienching consisting of: 13 battalions of Infantry, 3 squadrons of Cavalry, 9 batteries of field artillery, 1 heavy artillery battery, 3 companies of Pioneers and 1/2 of a railroad battalion. You might say that he, not Charlton Heston and the U.S. Marines, saved the day.
BOOK III THE GOLDEN KITE
The prologue and epilogue in the life of Baron General Fukushima covering his trip, as a young officer to the 1876 U.S. Centennial exhibition in Philadelphia, his audience with German Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, Czar Alexander III of Russia, and the coronation of King Edward VII of England. His experience in the 1904 Russo-Japanese war and the Sino-Japanese war of 1895.
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