53
votes
Accepted
Why were nomadic tribes (like the Mongols) from the Eurasian steppes a much reduced threat from the 15th century onwards?
My source for this answer is mostly Devereaux's discussion of "the Fremen Mirage" and other writing on his site about steppe nomads, which goes in-depth into what made the Mongols so ...
- 6,344
19
votes
Why didn't the steppe bow spread further?
The questions (answered separately below):
So why wasn't the rest of the world, the world off the steppe, using it? I mean, maybe it didn't reach the classical world until the Huns brought it there,...
- 6,295
17
votes
Accepted
How many soldiers did Ghengis Khan field?
In this period, the Mongols had a nominal strength of around 100,000 to 130,000.
According to the Secret History of the Mongols, Ghengis Khan had an army of 105,000 strong by A.D. 1206. This number ...
- 96.9k
17
votes
Accepted
What is the origin of the Scythians?
I'll try to answer the main (title) question, What is the origin of the Scythians? -- I am not qualified in linguistic classifications.
The straight-forward answer is, as steppe nomads, they migrated ...
- 6,295
13
votes
Accepted
What is the historical evidence for asserting Huns were one and the same as Xiongnu?
As I touched in the last paragraph of this answer, we don't really know who the Huns were. Its one of the great mysteries of history, up there with the identity of the Sea Peoples.
It appears the ...
- 115k
11
votes
Were the Huns and Mongols at one point rivals?
When most people think of "Huns" and "Mongols", they are thinking of Atilla's empire of the mid 400's and Genghis Khan's Mongolian Empire of the 1200's. Since there's a good 800 years between them, ...
- 115k
11
votes
Who are the 'Tiursk tribe' of Central Asia?
Your link to the Jakut article holds what I would consider fairly strong evidence. The article (all emphasis mine) specifies that by
features, as well as by their language, the Jakuts belong to the ...
- 37.2k
11
votes
Why were nomadic tribes (like the Mongols) from the Eurasian steppes a much reduced threat from the 15th century onwards?
After a day of thought, I think the real answer is that nomadic people from the Steppe continued to be a major threat until at least 1700.
For example, the Mughal Empire was founded in 1526 by Babur, ...
- 7,441
10
votes
How did pastoral nomads keep winning battles/wars? When did the tide turn against them for settled societies?
The key factors were high mobility and better weapons. The Huns for example were in the beginning almost exclusively mounted. Hunnic infantry appears much later. They were armed with a very powerful ...
- 19.5k
10
votes
What is the origin of the Scythians?
First off, I'm going to give you the mainstream view.
"Scythian" was the name the ancients applied to the nomadic Iranian-speaking people living in the area north of the Black and Caspian seas (but ...
- 115k
10
votes
Who are the 'Tiursk tribe' of Central Asia?
The Russian Wikipedia article for Turkic languages is titled Тюркские языки (t-iu-r-k-s-k-i-ie ...), which imho makes it very likely that Tiursk should be read as Turk or Turkic. If you can accept ...
- 7,790
8
votes
Accepted
Did Aetius or Attila fight in the Battle of Worms (436)?
There was not a "Battle of Worms".This epic poem refers to the destruction of the Burgundians of Worms.
The battle was, in fact, in Belgica Prima (modern day Trier/Luxembourg). namely, in ...
- 6,295
7
votes
Why were nomadic tribes (like the Mongols) from the Eurasian steppes a much reduced threat from the 15th century onwards?
My discussion follows the presentation in "Johan Söderberg, 2020", "Vår världs ekonomiska historia, den förindustriella tiden" used as course material in Stockholm University (as ...
- 171
6
votes
Accepted
How was the vast Khazar fortress of Sarkel destroyed?
Some of this history is still controversial (namely, the actual location of Sarkel).
Following is what I have extracted from the book S. Pletneva, "Essays on Khazar archeology," ("Очерки хазарской ...
- 6,188
6
votes
Accepted
What's the difference between Khan and Taishi/Taisha?
Technically speaking, a Khan is the titular sovereign ruler, whereas a taishi is "merely" a high ranking official. They're mutually exclusive positions, but did not always correspond to who was more ...
- 96.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Did the Yamnaya have a particular breed of dog? Did that breed spread with them?
For the first question, dogs were definitely a part of the Yamnaya life and lifestyle. There is concrete evidence of this through items from dogs found in Yamnaya graves.
... no other evidence of ...
- 10.7k
6
votes
Accepted
What is "Distributed Survival Theory"?
The main aspect of this question seems to be just what exactly is Distributed Theory or Distributed Survival Theory. This is likely a reference to some anthropological/linguistic theories related to ...
- 37.2k
5
votes
How did pastoral nomads keep winning battles/wars? When did the tide turn against them for settled societies?
Allow me to start with a caution:
From the Huns to the Mongols, pastoral nomads keep coming up in history books. Entire empires have fallen to them, ....
I think we need to be careful here. In ...
- 6,295
5
votes
Why were nomadic tribes (like the Mongols) from the Eurasian steppes a much reduced threat from the 15th century onwards?
Once it became possible to field large armies with gunpowder weapons, nomads got into a disadvantage because the nomadic lifestyle only allows for artisanal production of weaponry, not for the complex ...
- 7,790
5
votes
What is "Distributed Survival Theory"?
TL;DR
The author is probably trying to say "This language family is very successful, but please don't fall into the trap of thinking it's because of racist pseudo-science."
This is necessary ...
- 582
4
votes
What is the historical evidence for asserting Huns were one and the same as Xiongnu?
Hunnic cauldrons were the same style as the Xiongnu of the 1st century AD. People think that the Huns brought them from Mongolia, to Central Asia and Europe, where they are found. Westward migrations, ...
- 3,280
4
votes
How did pastoral nomads keep winning battles/wars? When did the tide turn against them for settled societies?
Generally speaking, nomadic invasions succeeded when the political and economic conditions were bad enough to allow it. When conditions improved, the nomads were dealt with.
The border of China with ...
- 3,280
4
votes
How did the Mongol Nomads' System of Raiding and Trading Work?
Yes, there is (was?) such a custom in the Eurasian steppes (i.e. Mongols, focus of the question). I don't know it terribly well because this one is certainly within social anthropology+, not really my ...
- 6,295
4
votes
How did the Mongol Nomads' System of Raiding and Trading Work?
I am not an expert on the Mongols, but what you describe seems similar to the Irish Tain Bo Cualinge, or the Norse Viking around the period of the Great Heathen Army (that's not the best reference, ...
MCW♦
- 31.7k
3
votes
What is the oldest graphic depiction of Attila?
I'm not sure how useful this is to you, but there is a second-hand contemporaneous description of what Atilla looked like.
The original source is Priscus, who visited Atilla's court in 449 as a ...
- 115k
3
votes
Accepted
What is the oldest graphic depiction of Attila?
Not really. Portraiture as an art was having a bad couple of centuries in Attila's time. Whatever we know of Attila's looks comes from written descriptions that differ significantly from one another ...
- 3,315
3
votes
How far could Mongolian horses travel in a day?
There are quite a few sources out there, both old and recent, from which we can narrow just how far a Mongol Horse could travel in a day. We can start with some basic information.
A horse has several ...
- 37.2k
3
votes
Were the Pechenegs at some point Manicheans?
There are very few sources on Pechenegs, and they do not tell us the details of their religious situation. By analogy with other tribes which inhabited this area
in the Middle Age, one can guess that ...
- 38.3k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible