First employed by the emperor to "quell the barbarian horde" roaming 12th-century Japan, shoguns controlled vast samurai armies, repelling foreigners and vying with rival warlords. This video reviews shogunate history, which ended in the mid-1800s when Commodore Perry's gunboat diplomacy forced the last shogun to yield to the emperor. Shown on the History Channel on November 29, 1997. Includes commercials.