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The vast, grassy plains of central Asia and Eastern Europe have played a major role in world history. This has been the crucible for forming over millenia a war-like people. The savage nomadic warriors of the steppe that have played a major role in both European and Asian history. Perhaps it was the harshness of the environment that was the critical factor. Perhaps it was vast grasslands that provided the perfect range for horses, a critical element in warfare. And competition for resources meant that the steppe tribes have to developm military skills to survive. These war-like nomadic tribes frim central Asia have played amajor role in history, at times attacking west and at times attacking east toward China. The critical factor appears to have been China. When China was weak the central Asian nomads struck east and south at China. When China was strong, it deflected the central Asian tribes westward. It was pressure from these nomadic tribes that drove the Germans toward the Roman Empire, eventually overrunning it. At times the nomads have focused on the riches of nearby China. The construction of the Greal Wall was a response to their depredations. Most of what we know about the Mongols comes from the people they conquered because the Mongols were a pre-literate people.
Cebtral Asia is primrily covered by steppes and deserts. They fill the area between the northern forests and the fertile southern basins of China in the east and the Fertile Cresent (Mesopotamia) in the west which served as the great centers of early civilization.
The Central Asian steppe is known have been inhabited since the bronze age (2000- 1500 BC). The early steppe societies are poorly known. They were pre-litrate, nomdic socities. As aesultt they did not leave many of the artifacts that archiologists use to study early civilizations. They did work with metal and thus there are some metal artifacts, including bronze, silver and gold. Bronze axes have been found in Siberia (1500 BC). Beautiful Cimerian bronze and gold atifacts have been found north of the Black Sea (1200 BC). Some of the most beautiful gold artifact were Scythian found noth of the Cspian Sea (800 BC). Hsiong-Nu bronze art have been found around Lake Baikal and Chita (600 BC).
The horse has a strange evolutionary history. It evolved in the Americas (20 million years ago). Just as humans migrated east across the Bearing Sea land bridge during the Ice Age, horse appear to have migrated east into Asia. Horses and many other large mamals disappeared in the Amrica. Anthropolgists today debate why this occurred. But uit Asia horses flourished on the GreatCentral asian steppe. Men domesticated horses on the steppe in southern Russia (about 6000 BC). It was at first used a food source and subsequently apack animal. Eventually people began to ride horses and with the invention of the chariot it became a major element in warfare. The invention of the stirup by the Scynthians made it an even more potent military weapon, allowing warriors to effectively yield weapons from a horse.
The dawn of civilization has come to be labeled the Neolithic Revolution. Stone-age nomads began to settle down in river valleys. They began developed agriculture and domesticate animals. With these developments came stunning advances in technology, especially in meterlurgy and writing. The Neolithic Revolution occurred first in river valleys because conditions there were the most condusive for agriculture. The Neolithic Revolution first occurred along the Tigris-Euphrates in Mesopotamia. There civilization evolved over millenia. Civilization occurred later along the Nile and Indus, but in a much shorter time frame. Archeolgists believe that this was becuse both these peoples could draw on the technology develoed in the Tigris-Euphrates Rivers. The Indus Valley civilization is the least understood of the four original civilization centers. Civilization in China, unlike the other three river valley civilizations appears to have developed in isolation. Some archeologists believe that there were other smaller river valley civilizations which because of their smaller size were overwealmed.
We have collected some information on the history and clothing technology of several important early civilaztion. The first major civilizations arose along fertile river vallies which supported the first major agriculture systems. Conditions in river vallies profuced extrodinary yields even with primative technology. Agriculture would take longer to develop in areas where agriculture was dependant on rainfall. Thus the first true civilizations appeared in river valleys. Actual information on boys' clothing is extremely limited, but we will add what ever information becomes available. For the first time in history we know a great deal about these people because they invented writing and left a fascinating written record of their civilitaions. Writing was developed here because records were needed to account for the wealth created by productive agriculture. The first true civilization was Mesopotamia which appears to have influenced both Egypt and abchient India. China appears to have developed independently of the other three great river valley civilizations.
Thanks to agriculture, the great river valley civilizations and other ancient civilizations using technonology to fam areas beyond the river valleys amazed great wealth. These settled societies were able each year to expand their wealth this included the acquisition of metal (precious and base), jewels as well as large quantities of livestock and rich textiles. These were all things that the people of the steppe coveted, but could not produce in quantity. Nomadic tribes subsisted on their heards of and had to continually move them. The grasslands were vast, but in many areas relatively arid and thus could not support continual grazing by a large heard. There were also seasonal factors in the availability of pasturage. Their nomadic livestyle was not nearly as productive as settled agriculture. Not only did they not profucecgreat wealth, but their nomadic livestyle meant they could not carry about largequantities of goods.
Tghis mean that the wealth of settled socities became a tempting target for the nomadic and relatively poor steppe people. This dynamic has operated sice the dawn of civilization. All the people on the perifery of the steppe were affected, especially China because of the proximity to the steppe. It was the reason forthe Great Wall, the greatest building project in history. But when China was strong, the steppe people were forced to the west affecting the history of the Middle East and Europe. And because they had to continually move, the steppe people could not acquire to pasturage over vast steppes are the natural enemies of fixed communities who lead sedentary lives based on agriculture. Nomads own only what they can carry while agriculturalists accumulate surpluses which become tempting booty for nomad raiders. This basic truism has been the most important factor in the history of China, of Russia and of the Central Asian Countries
When admiring the startling achievements of the great river valley civilizations, one can't help but wondering how rude, numerically inferior babarians could have threatened these great civilizations. A range of factors suggest that these civilzations should have been militarily dominant. Large populations, superior organizations, wealth, advanzed thechnology, and other factors would seem to havecaquitted the great civilizations the capability to withsand barbarian onsloughts. The problem was that the river valley civilizations were no homogenious polities. The ruling class were often a narrow strata of society if not an alien group which often oppresively treated the peasant farmers who were the primary source of wealth creation. Thus rulers were often afraid to arm the peasantry and thus take advantage of their numerical superority. The ballance of power was mintained during the Bronze Age because of the high cost of bronze weapons. The arristocratic warrior class of the civilized societies were roughly equivalent to the barbarian armies. The technology of bronze metelurgy was not beyond the ability of avanced barbarian societies which often had greater access to metal ores than the river valley civilizations. Thus the Hittites, Hurrians, Kassites, and others pressed in on Babylon and Egypt with varying success over time, but none were sufficentlt strong to completely overcome the other. This only changed with the develop of marine commerce which reduced the flow of wealth over the Silk Road. And finally the evention of modern weaponry (cannons and muskets) overcame the military power of mounted archers.
The first major developments in the steppe occured on the European steppe. It was here that the horse was domesticated. This provided the basis of the economy on which the steppe people developed. They were, however, not at first a major challenge to the major setteled civilixation. They were more like the Plains Indians in North America, a generally minor irritant. This changed with the Scynthian invention of the stirup. This enabled the steppe people to handel weapons on horse back, creating a formidable military challenge to settled socities. Greek (Alexander and his successors) and Roman historians mentioned several different nomadic people that presented a military challenge. Some of the most important we the the Cimerians, Scythians (Saka) and Sarmatians. They inhabited the area north and arund the Black and Caspian Seas. These peoples spoke indo-European languages. The Scynthians/Sakas are the people who managed to stopped Alexander northeast march. The Greek phanlank was to rigid and slow to meet the challenge of a mounted army with out urban centers to assault. Alexander thus turned southeast and invaded India and the realm of King Phorous.
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