I like history and warfare. I'm not going to lie. I relish the rich stories it gives out about human beings. Like me and probably you too, who posess the same qualities except they're able to use them better than us. These days a really athletic person might as well play football or basketball. 1000 years ago, a really athletic person was probably some type of warrior. Trust me, there were alot of them back then and the coolest society to be a warrior would have to be one of those steppe ones.
Ever since these people had figured out how to corral a horse and ride it they've been kicking ass. Serious ass. The earliest one were the Indo-Europeans. Don't sound familiar? Well, they pretty much wiped out any Y-Chromosome Neolithic farmer genes that could've existed within you and replaced them with interesting Indo-European ones. Which is probably why most Europeans speak an Indo-European language. These people didn't stop there. Europe was lucky, to be totally honest with you. The really crazy ones like the Persians and the Aryans went to Iran and South Asia. These cow-obsessed, Soma drinking, drug addicts racists conquered most of Northern India leaving the Dravidian peoples to keep the Southern areas. Even they weren't the craziest of them all. The Scythians drank human blood and smoked hemp after taking a rest from driving around their buggy carts and killing Greeks and Slavs.
Then the Turco-Mongol peoples got at it and the fun fun times began. The Chinese, thinking that they could weaken some Northern Barbarian tribes (the Juan Juan Empire) gave a bit more powerful to a smaller tribe near lake Baikal named the Tu-Chueh. They conquered the Juan Juan and formed a massive empire mostly by cultural assimiliation which isn't hard in Central Asia. Its that or death. Soon everybody was a Tu-Chueh or Turk. Bands of Turks split off on their own like the Bulgars, Khazars and Pechenegs to find their own fortunes elsewhere. You'd think that the Turks would invade China next but they didn't. Sadly, they broke up into 2 states.
This ain't the end of the story. After the Arabs using Islam conquered a huge Empire they began raiding Turkish lands near the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers and soon their was Turks in Baghdad. Capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Turks began chewing out Caliphs as soon as they chose the new ones to replace them. More and more Turks began moving West as the Abbasids began to collapse. Many working for Persian warlords and soon they converted to Islam. The toughest bunch of these people were a tribe called the Seljuks.
After getting pissed at a Persian lord he took his whole tribe (horses and goats included) and began ransacking the Middle East soon even becoming Sultan of the decaying Islamic Empire and their new leader Alp Arslan began raiding Christian Armenia razing entire cities to the ground.
Now, its 1071. The neighbouring Byzantine Empire is nervous. They've been having to deal with Bulgars and now these Seljuk Turks show up in their home turf (Anatolia or Modern Day Turkey). A Byzantine Empress marries a general by the name of Romanus thinking that this military man can end this Turkish threat. He then kitted out an army of Byzantine Greeks, Franks, Norsemen even some Turks himself to face these 'heathens'. Needless to say, he got pwned.
The Seljuks used my Steppe tactic. They basically fired arrows from their horses and when that massive Byzantine field army advanced, they'd retreat. When the Byzantines got tired, they'd come close to fire arrows again and when the field army advanced, they retreated. This carried on for hours until the Byzantine army turned around. BIG MISTAKE. The Seljuks pounced on their tired foes whose reserve forces had already ran back to Constantinople. They even took Emperor Romanus prisoner.
What happens next is really funny. Romanus is sitting in a tent, probably waiting to be killed by Alp Arslan (Seljuk Chieftain) when Alp lets him go. The Byzantines weren't the real target. He was more interested in killing Shi'ites in Egypt than Greeks with a pseudo-Roman complex.He hammered out an armistice with Romanus. Romanus went home and got the typical Byzantine treatment. He got his eyes gouged (ceremonial practise for really bad Emperors of the Byzantines) and he died a few days later. Alp was also killed by a servant a too a month after that. Their armistice collapse and now Turkish tribes (with their goats) were now taking land that had been speaking Greek for the past.... 1,400 years.
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS???: The Muslim Seljuk invasions of the Byzantine Empire made the new Byzantine Emperors reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church. They joined forces to have a Crusade to free Byzantine lands (and with back Jerusalem). The crusades started the revival of Europe since Greek knowledge translated to Arabic and Chinese technology all came back to Europe allowing it to revitalize by the 14th century before the Black Death. However the crusades and the Turkish invasions ruined the Byzantine forever. All this culminated in the Renaissance. Then the discovery of the New World since Europeans were forced now to avoid Muslim trade routes to the Orient thus discussing the New World.
So, if you live in North America. Find the nearest Turk in your community and thank him and his ancestors. For killing Chinese, Persians, Arabs, Shi'ites, Armenians and Byzantine Greeks to live in North America.
Ever since these people had figured out how to corral a horse and ride it they've been kicking ass. Serious ass. The earliest one were the Indo-Europeans. Don't sound familiar? Well, they pretty much wiped out any Y-Chromosome Neolithic farmer genes that could've existed within you and replaced them with interesting Indo-European ones. Which is probably why most Europeans speak an Indo-European language. These people didn't stop there. Europe was lucky, to be totally honest with you. The really crazy ones like the Persians and the Aryans went to Iran and South Asia. These cow-obsessed, Soma drinking, drug addicts racists conquered most of Northern India leaving the Dravidian peoples to keep the Southern areas. Even they weren't the craziest of them all. The Scythians drank human blood and smoked hemp after taking a rest from driving around their buggy carts and killing Greeks and Slavs.
Then the Turco-Mongol peoples got at it and the fun fun times began. The Chinese, thinking that they could weaken some Northern Barbarian tribes (the Juan Juan Empire) gave a bit more powerful to a smaller tribe near lake Baikal named the Tu-Chueh. They conquered the Juan Juan and formed a massive empire mostly by cultural assimiliation which isn't hard in Central Asia. Its that or death. Soon everybody was a Tu-Chueh or Turk. Bands of Turks split off on their own like the Bulgars, Khazars and Pechenegs to find their own fortunes elsewhere. You'd think that the Turks would invade China next but they didn't. Sadly, they broke up into 2 states.
This ain't the end of the story. After the Arabs using Islam conquered a huge Empire they began raiding Turkish lands near the Oxus and Jaxartes rivers and soon their was Turks in Baghdad. Capital of the Abbasid Caliphate. The Turks began chewing out Caliphs as soon as they chose the new ones to replace them. More and more Turks began moving West as the Abbasids began to collapse. Many working for Persian warlords and soon they converted to Islam. The toughest bunch of these people were a tribe called the Seljuks.
After getting pissed at a Persian lord he took his whole tribe (horses and goats included) and began ransacking the Middle East soon even becoming Sultan of the decaying Islamic Empire and their new leader Alp Arslan began raiding Christian Armenia razing entire cities to the ground.
Now, its 1071. The neighbouring Byzantine Empire is nervous. They've been having to deal with Bulgars and now these Seljuk Turks show up in their home turf (Anatolia or Modern Day Turkey). A Byzantine Empress marries a general by the name of Romanus thinking that this military man can end this Turkish threat. He then kitted out an army of Byzantine Greeks, Franks, Norsemen even some Turks himself to face these 'heathens'. Needless to say, he got pwned.
The Seljuks used my Steppe tactic. They basically fired arrows from their horses and when that massive Byzantine field army advanced, they'd retreat. When the Byzantines got tired, they'd come close to fire arrows again and when the field army advanced, they retreated. This carried on for hours until the Byzantine army turned around. BIG MISTAKE. The Seljuks pounced on their tired foes whose reserve forces had already ran back to Constantinople. They even took Emperor Romanus prisoner.
What happens next is really funny. Romanus is sitting in a tent, probably waiting to be killed by Alp Arslan (Seljuk Chieftain) when Alp lets him go. The Byzantines weren't the real target. He was more interested in killing Shi'ites in Egypt than Greeks with a pseudo-Roman complex.He hammered out an armistice with Romanus. Romanus went home and got the typical Byzantine treatment. He got his eyes gouged (ceremonial practise for really bad Emperors of the Byzantines) and he died a few days later. Alp was also killed by a servant a too a month after that. Their armistice collapse and now Turkish tribes (with their goats) were now taking land that had been speaking Greek for the past.... 1,400 years.
WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS???: The Muslim Seljuk invasions of the Byzantine Empire made the new Byzantine Emperors reconcile with the Roman Catholic Church. They joined forces to have a Crusade to free Byzantine lands (and with back Jerusalem). The crusades started the revival of Europe since Greek knowledge translated to Arabic and Chinese technology all came back to Europe allowing it to revitalize by the 14th century before the Black Death. However the crusades and the Turkish invasions ruined the Byzantine forever. All this culminated in the Renaissance. Then the discovery of the New World since Europeans were forced now to avoid Muslim trade routes to the Orient thus discussing the New World.
So, if you live in North America. Find the nearest Turk in your community and thank him and his ancestors. For killing Chinese, Persians, Arabs, Shi'ites, Armenians and Byzantine Greeks to live in North America.
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