Oh, West is West, East is East, and they will not leave their places, Until Heaven and Earth appear at the Last Judgment of the Lord.
But there is no East, and there is no West, that the tribe, homeland, clan, If the strong with the strong face to face at the edge of the earth stands up?
(Rudyard Kipling "Ballad of East and West")
We got acquainted with the “knights from the“Shahnameh”, that is, those described by the great Ferdowsi, and those who then succeeded them, and it turned out that a lot was borrowed from the Western chivalry in the East. But there was also distant Asia, the Asia of wild steppes and foothills. It was from there that wave after wave of invasions of various tribes rolled over Europe. And one way or another, but they achieved their goal - they destroyed the way of life that existed there, so much so that only Byzantium - an oasis of civilization among pagan and barbarian states - survived, striking everyone with its highest culture. But was there something that would make the warriors of nomadic empires related to the knights of Western Europe and the eastern warriors of Asia Minor and Iran? The answer to this question is not so easy. First of all, because for the contemporaries of those distant events - residents of states with a sedentary agricultural culture - the world of the steppe has always been an "unknown world."
Battle between the Mongols. "Jami at-tavarih" ("Collection of chronicles") by Rashid ad-din Fazlullah Hamadani. First quarter of the 14th century. State Library, Berlin.
For example, the former crusader Guillaume Rubruk, who had seen a lot in his life, wrote in his notes about his journey to the ruler of the Mongol Empire: “When we entered the environment of these barbarians, it seemed to me that I was entering another world.” Indeed, the life of the steppe people differed from what was customary for the townspeople and farmers of the West.
Even the Roman historian Ammianus Marcellinus wrote about the steppe people: “They … wander in different places, as if eternal fugitives, with wagons in which they spend their lives … No one can answer the question of where his homeland is: he was conceived in one place, born far away from there, nursed still further. Wandering through the mountains and forests, they learn from the cradle to endure hunger, cold and thirst. The picture was painted bright, but not too believable, since it was in the forests that the nomads did not roam. They had nothing to do and too high in the mountains, but the arid steppes and sultry semi-deserts, where it was impossible to engage in agriculture, were precisely their main place of residence. Nomads (or nomads) bred livestock here, feeding on grass. The meat and milk of domestic animals, in turn, ate people who valued livestock as the main indicator of their well-being.
Solemn reception of the khan and khatuni. Illustration from the "Collection of Chronicles" ("Jami‘at-tavarikh ") by Rashid ad-din Fazlullah Hamadani, first quarter of the 14th century. (State Library, Berlin)
The animals needed to change pastures all the time, and the herders were simply forced to move from one place to another several times a year. Due to this way of life, the most common type of dwelling among nomads has become various options for easily dismountable structures covered with wool or leather (yurt, tent or marquee). For the same reason, all their household utensils were very few, and the dishes were made from such unbreakable materials as wood and leather). Clothes and shoes were sewn, as a rule, from leather, wool and fur - all those natural materials that life itself gave them.
Kyrgyz yurt near Son-Kul lake (Naryn region, Kyrgyzstan).
However, nomadic peoples (for example, the same Huns) knew how to process metals, make tools and weapons from them, and also make gold and silver jewelry. They learned how to grow millet, albeit in insufficient quantities, and bake bread from it. What the nomads especially lacked were fabrics woven from plant fiber, which they, as well as many other things, exchanged or took away from their settled neighbors.
Naturally, such an economic system was quite dependent on natural conditions, since livestock is not grain that can be accumulated in almost unlimited quantities. Drought, snowstorm, epidemic could literally overnight deprive a nomad of all means of subsistence. On the one hand, it was terrible, on the other hand, it only increased the cohesion of each such tribe, because in the event of such a disaster, all the tribesmen came to the aid of a relative, supplying him with one or two heads of cattle. In turn, the same was expected of him. Therefore, among the nomads, each person knew exactly what tribe he belonged to, and where the places of his native nomads were located: if a misfortune happens, old age or illness comes, relatives will always come to the rescue, find shelter for him, help him with food and livestock.
Such a harsh life also required the rallying of all members of the nomadic community under the guidance of the most experienced and authoritative people - leaders and elders. It was they who decided where this or that family should graze its livestock, when and where the whole tribe would move to the succulent pastures. In dry years, when there was not enough pasture for everyone, clashes were inevitable, and then all the men had to arm themselves and, leaving the economy to the women, set off on a campaign against their neighbors - the same nomads who violated their pasture lands.
Khan travels. Illustration from the "Collection of Chronicles" ("Jami‘at-tavarikh ") by Rashid ad-din Fazlullah Hamadani, first quarter of the 14th century. (State Library, Berlin)
The reasons that pushed the nomads on their destructive campaigns and mass resettlement are among the most difficult to explain in history. According to some scientists, they were caused by climate change. Others believe that the “human factor” is to blame - that is, the warlike and greedy nature of nomadic peoples. Still others see them in the influence of cosmic factors … Perhaps, the following explanation can be considered the most reasonable: “pure” nomads could easily get by with the products of their herd, but they were rather poor. Meanwhile, the nomads needed the products of artisans, which they themselves could not produce, exquisite jewelry for the leaders, as well as their wives and concubines, expensive weapons, silk, exquisite wines and other products produced by farmers. When the agricultural neighbors were strong enough, the nomads traded with them, when they were weak, they mounted their horses and went on a raid. Often, tribute was collected from sedentary peoples, or they were forced to pay off invasions at the cost of rich "gifts" that fell into the hands of the nomadic nobility and strengthened their authority.
The Mongols are stealing prisoners. Illustration from the "Collection of Chronicles" ("Jami‘at-tavarikh ") by Rashid ad-din Fazlullah Hamadani, first quarter of the 14th century. (State Library, Berlin)
Considering nomadic communities, which at times were the most real “nomadic empires”, one cannot fail to notice that “non-economic coercion” was directed in them mainly against “strangers,” that is, the bulk of the wealth collected from physically dependent people was obtained outside steppe.
Solid wood Egyptian bow 1492-1473 BC. Length 178 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Contrary to popular belief, the nomads did not strive for the direct conquest of the territories of agricultural states. It was much more profitable to exploit the farmers' neighbors at a distance, because if they settled among them, the nomads would have to “get off the horse” to manage the agrarian society, and they simply did not want to. That is why the Huns, the Turks, the Uighurs, and the Mongols tried first of all to inflict a military defeat on their settled neighbors, or to intimidate them with the threat of a war of extermination.
A fragment of an ancient Egyptian arrow with an eye for a bowstring. Find at Del el Bahri, 2000 BC Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The weapons of nomadic tribes had to be matched to the peculiarities of their life and the nature of relationships with other peoples. A simple, solid wood bow, even if it was very powerful, was not suitable for a nomad: it was too large, heavy and inconvenient for shooting from a horse. But a small bow, convenient for a horseman, made of wood alone could not be made powerful enough. A solution was found in the construction of a composite bow, which was made from materials such as wood, horn and sinew. Such a bow had a smaller size and weight, and therefore was a more convenient weapon for the rider. It was possible to shoot from such bows with arrows lighter than those with which the famous English archers fired from a solid-wood European bow, and at a much greater distance. This also made it possible to carry a significant number of arrows.
Turkish bow 1719. Length 64.8 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Making such bows was a real art that required the hands of an experienced craftsman. The individual parts of the onion had to be first cut out of wood and horny plates, then glued, and boiled veins had to be wrapped around the joints. The rough onions were then dried for … several years!
Saber X-XIII century. Length 122 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The raw material for the glue was the swimming (air) bubbles of sturgeon fish. They were cleaned of the outer film, cut and stuffed with appropriate herbs, dried in the sun. Then the master crushed them … by chewing, and the resulting "potion" was boiled over the fire, gradually adding water. The strength of such bonding is evidenced at least by the fact that almost all the remains of the bows that were glued together by archaeologists have not been unstuck from time to time, although they have lain in the ground for several centuries!
To protect the bows from dampness, they were pasted over with birch bark or covered with dressed leather, for which the best glue was used, after which they were also varnished. The bowstring was made of veins, which were also braided with silk threads for greater strength. In the process of making the bow, grooves were made from the horn on all its component parts, which exactly repeated the corresponding protrusions on the wooden parts. Therefore, such a bow, being glued together, turned out to be extremely strong, and even it was made so that, with the bowstring lowered, it bent in the opposite direction. That is why, during combat tension, the degree of bow bending was extremely high, and, consequently, the firing range and its destructive power were great, which in the open steppe was of decisive importance. The arrows themselves were made by nomadic peoples from the stalks of reeds, reeds, bamboo, and the most expensive were composite and each of the four laths glued together. At the same time, such types of wood as walnut, ash, cedar, pine and willow were used. In addition to arrows with a straight shaft, there were those that because of their shape were called "barley grain" or somewhat thickened towards the tip. To maintain balance in flight, the tail part of the shaft of the arrow was covered with two- and three-sided plumage, which was made from feathers of large birds. To prevent the arrow from sliding off the bowstring, an "eyelet" was made on it, into which the bowstring entered when the bow was pulled. The tips could be of different shapes, depending on the target for which the shot was fired: some were intended to defeat warriors in armor, others - to the enemy's horses. Sometimes arrowheads were supplied with bone or bronze "whistles", which, firstly, emitted a frightening sound in flight, and secondly, they protected the arrow shaft at the arrowhead from splitting when struck against hard objects, for example, military armor.
Leather quiver and case from the 15th - 16th centuries Mongolia or Tibet. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Arrow shafts were often painted and also marked to know which soldier's or hunter's arrow turned out to be "luckier" than others. Most often they took red paint, but they also used black and even blue, although most likely such arrows should have been lost more often, since they were difficult to notice in the shadows.
The arrows needed good balance, and they also needed to be well dried and protected from moisture. That is why both bows and arrows were worn in special cases: a bow was used for a bow, and a quiver was for arrows. Quivers were usually made of birch bark and very rarely of wood. Then they were covered with thin dressed leather and richly decorated with carved bone onlays, the recesses on which were filled with multi-colored pastes. In addition to birch bark, leather quivers are also known, which could be decorated with both embroidery and embossing. Quivers made of birch bark usually expanded towards the base so that the plumage of arrows would not crumple, which were placed in such quivers with their tips up. Horse warriors wore the bow and quiver fastened at the saddle: the bow - on the left, the quiver - on the right. They also wore them at the waist, but it is unlikely that the nomadic warriors abused this method - after all, for this they had a horse in order to rid themselves of an extra burden. However, quivers were also worn on a belt behind the back. Then arrows were inserted into them with their tips down, and the quiver itself was dressed obliquely so that it was convenient to reach them over the shoulder.
Quiver made of wood and leather XIII - XIV centuries. Length 82.6 cm. Mongolia or Tibet. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Numerous sources testify to the combat strength of the bows of nomadic tribes, and already in our time - tests carried out in natural conditions. While hunting, a running deer was killed with one arrow at a distance of 75 m. In this way, eight deer were killed in one day. Two adult bears were killed at a distance of 60 and 40 m, with the first being shot in the chest, and the second right in the heart. In another case, the target was a dummy wearing a chain mail made of damask steel of the 16th century. The arrow had a steel tip and was fired from a bow with a pulling force of 34 kg from a distance of 75 m. And hitting it, it was able to pierce the chain mail, after which it went deep into the dummy itself by 20 cm. It was noted, and more than once, that the range of many Turkish bows exceeded 500 steps. Their penetrating power was such that at the greatest distance the arrows fired pierced a tree, and at 300 steps they could pierce an oak board 5 cm thick!
Horse archers battle. Illustration from the "Collection of Chronicles" ("Jami‘at-tavarikh ") by Rashid ad-din Fazlullah Hamadani, first quarter of the 14th century. (State Library, Berlin)
Increases in the flight range of the arrows were also obtained by galloping shooting in the direction of the shot. In this case, it increased by 30-40%. If they also fired in the wind, then one would expect the arrow to fly much farther. Since when fired from such a powerful bow, the bowstring hit on the hand was very painful, the shooter had to wear a special protective device: a ring made of copper, bronze or silver, often with a shield and an arrow notch on the thumb of his left hand (the poor - they were content with rings made of leather!) and a leather wrist cuff (or a wooden or bone plate) on the left wrist. With the technique of stretching the bowstring, which was used by the Mongols, the ring was also worn on the thumb of the right hand.
Archer's ring. Gold, jade. XVI - XVII centuries Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
The nomads were trained in the art of shooting from early childhood, so that their techniques were practiced with them to automatism. An adult nomad could shoot at a target without hesitation at all and almost without aiming, and, therefore, very quickly. Therefore, he could fire 10 - 20 arrows per minute!
Bowstring protection plate made of bone. XVI century Denmark. Length 17.9 cm. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
It was customary for many nomadic peoples to carry not one, but two bows - large and small. In particular, the Mongols had two bows, according to contemporaries. Moreover, each had two or three quivers of 30 arrows each. It was noted that the Mongol warriors usually used arrows of two types: light, with small awl-shaped tips for shooting at long distances, and heavy, usually with flat wide-blade tips - used against the enemy without armor or at close range when shooting at horses. Iron tips were always hardened during the manufacturing process: first they were heated to red heat, and then dipped in salt water and carefully sharpened, which made it possible to pierce even metal armor with them.
