|
Post by dovla on Dec 21, 2014 18:21:26 GMT 3
As I was reading about nomadic empires from the past, I have noticed that expansion of nomadic empires into sedentary empires was most pronounced during introducing stirrup to nomadic peoples. First stirrup-like thing was from India 2 century BC, maybe even earlier. Modern variation of stirrup was first shown in Chinese graves in 4 century AD. From there it was introduced to Europe and Middle East during 6 and 7 century AD, maybe even earlier. As someone who are amateur horse rider, I can't even imagine riding a horse without stirrup. I know that it's possible, but stirrup make it far easier. Also many maneuvers with horse is easier with stirrup, like charge with lance/spear using 2 hands, Parthian shot, etc. Also stirrup with saddle made it easier to create heavy lancers, by redistributing weight evenly. I haven't yet found any books on this topic, but it would be interesting to see if my thought are right. What do you guys think about this topic? Cheers.
|
|
|
Post by H. İhsan Erkoç on Dec 23, 2014 15:47:22 GMT 3
Greetings dovla, welcome aboard. Indeed the introduction of stirrups made horse riding and cavalry warfare easier for the Eurasian nomads, but when conquering sedentary territories siege warfare was more important than horse riding. Plus, the political situation of those conquered sedentary territories was a crucial factor for nomadic expansion. It was far easier for nomads to conquer sedentary territories when there was an absence of a powerful centralized sedentary rule.
|
|