Nomadism, Horses and Huns
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• Certainly steppe nomads, but can they have carried this on into Europe. Herder – nomad can rely on plunder as well as normal pastoralism
• Herders moved on when environmental situation decided – nomad military threat needed horse for; speed, range and mobility. Battle and then escape.
• Needed horses, but lifestyle promises wealth and adventure. Domination and suffocations to victims. – do Huns rely on horses and could they use them in Europe?
• Wagons left behind on raids – swiftness and surprise
• Always assumed that West of Carpathians used horses – but can Great Hungarian Plain sustain horses?
• 392 – no proof of horses
• 406Uldin helps Rome defeat Radagaissus – big shields show lack of horses. Eastern seems to be more evidence of horses. Because Attila and Beda neg on horseback, always assumed that they were on horseback.
• Huns were ambushed, seems difficult when on horseback
• Priscus 449 – hardly a temporary settlement – lavish baths and extensive buildings.
• 451 – evidence points to lack of horseman not proliferation of horses. Only one source suggesting horses. Fe whorse remains found in old Hunnic empire
• No nomads could adpat to European plains – compare to Mongols in the Eastern Empire
• Could Great Hungarian Plain sustain horses? No – crossing Carpathians devastate nomad political and military strength.
• Huns became more sedentary – tributes and plunder better than agricultural. More dependent on infantry.
• Semi Nomadism West Carpathians – how implies fishing, cultivation, NOT Nonmadism.

Other Notes in this Category

1. Barbarian Organisation
2. Barbarians and Bishops
3. Crisis 439
4. Introduction
5. Nomadism, Horses and Huns
6. Roman Organisation
7. Roman Strategy against Barbarians
8. The Huns
9. The Huns and the end of the Roman Empire - Peter Heather
10. Vandals and the Collapse of the west
11. Would Empire have collapsed without the huns?

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