19. The Nomads Who Terrorized the Ancient World
For thousands of years, the nomadic inhabitants of the Eurasian Steppe terrorized the civilized lands on their periphery with frequent raids. On those occasions when they were unified under powerful warlords, their fear factor skyrocketed, as they launched terrible invasions that could extinguish empires. Steppe nomads had strategic mobility that allowed them to raid settled lands at will, and depart with their booty before the locals could mobilize a response. They could choose when, where, and whether to fight the forces sent by the civilized lands to bring them to heel. The nomads’ strategic mobility was complemented by three tactical advantages.
First, their horses gave them battlefield mobility, which made it difficult for adversaries who were not also similarly equipped with horses to force them to fight to the death. If things began to go wrong for them, the nomads could usually retreat, and live to fight another day. Second, their preferred weapon, the recurved bow, led to tactical mismatches that afforded a standoff distance from which to kill in relative safety. They could thus attrit less mobile armies with arrows until they were weakened and demoralized before they swept in to finish them off. As seen below, the most important advantage was the third.