Tom Kando
The history of much of the world over the past two thousand years can be seen as a series of invasions by conquering hordes.
The prototype is the fall of the Roman Empire. An, urban, literate civilization is overrun and destroyed by savages.
In the middle of the fifth century, Attila the Hun and a host of other nomadic tribes deal Rome the coup de grace, officially terminating the West Roman Empire in 476 A.D. The Huns were of Uralo-Altaic origin. They came roaring out of the central Asian steppes.
Other barbarian tribes descending on Italy and other parts of Western Europe include the Visigoths (A.D. 410), the Vandals (455), the Ostrogoths (488), the Lombards (568) and many others. Most emanated from the East, although some, for example the Franks (405), came from the North.
My geography of these population movements is Eurocentric: I see a sedentary, advanced civilization in the West, overrun and destroyed by primitive, warlike, nomadic tribes often originating in Asia.
Granted, the tribes that invaded the Roman Empire were in some primitive ways more “democratic.” Granted, also, that many tribes such as the Visigoths were themselves being chased westward by the fierce Huns, seeking Rome’s protection. I merely summarize a process in broad strokes.
It continues after the fall of Rome: Medieval Christian Europe faces repeated onslaughts. The Magyars (my own ancestors) settle Pannonia (Hungary) at the end of the 9th century. The Ottoman Empire, beginning around 1300 AD, sacks Constantinople, putting an end to the East Roman Empire in 1453, reaches the gates of Vienna and occupies Hungary for a century and a half.
Other incredibly warlike invaders include the Mongols, the Golden Horde and Timur. Genghis Khan’s conquests (1162-1227) reached all the way to Poland. That empire was followed by the Golden Horde (1240-1480), another Mongol-Turkic tribe which ruled over vast parts of Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Caucasus. It, in turn, was attacked and ransacked by Timur at the end of the 14th century, and finally put out of its misery a century later by the Russians. Timur, by the way, (1336-1405) was a Turco-Mongol who is said to have killed 17 million people, or 5% of the world’s population at that time.
To be sure, not all the savages originated in the East. For example, the Vikings came from the North (793 A.D.)
Moreover, some of the invaders were highly advanced. After Arab and Moorish Muslims invaded Spain (711 A.D.), the Islamic world developed into a brilliant civilization, far ahead of Merovingian and Carolingian Western Europe.
In fact, it was a Muslim Arab by the name of Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) - the first sociologist (!) - who developed a theory which has some applicability to the historical facts just mentioned: According to Ibn Khaldun,
“Social solidarity is strongest in tribal society, because of the nature of nomadic life...Nomads are more manly, upright, and...one consequence of this is numerous conquests of populated empires by the smaller, more solidary tribes...but once established, (a state’s) solidarity decreases...Sedentary life and luxurious living take their toll...Growing luxury leads to heavier taxes. The state...soon falls prey to internal or external aggression.” (Summarized by Don Martindale, The Nature and Types of Sociological Theory: 133).
Ibn Khaldun’s theory is cyclical. It sees societies as organisms which grow and thrive, but eventually decline and die. In time, sedentary urban life, replete with luxury, is defeated and replaced by less advanced but more vigorous and aggressive tribal groups. This process repeats itself.
“Horde” can be defined as “an army or tribe of nomadic warriors, or as “a political subdivision of central Asian nomads,” or as “a large unorganized group of individuals” or as “a teeming crowd or throng.” (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
Today’s horde, by whatever definition, is Russia. It is a horde with a nuclear twist. It is an international bully and outlaw, and it is undefeatable. It has been an indiscriminate killing machine, in Chechnya, in Georgia, in Syria, in Ukraine, in Africa and wherever else it chooses to do so. Technology has changed, but history repeats itself.
© Tom Kando 2022;All Rights Reserved
