Mapping the Spread of Mounted Warfare

Military technology is one of the most important factors affecting the evolution of complex societies. In particular, mounted warfare, the use of horse-riders in military operations, revolutionized war as it spread to different parts of Eurasia and Africa during the Ancient and Medieval eras, and to the Americas during the Early Modern period. Here we use a variety of sources to map this spread.

[1]  J. Belmonte.  Kingdom of Kush , 2015 .

[2]  J. Ellis.  Cavalry: The History of Mounted Warfare , 1978 .

[3]  C. Beckwith.  The Tibetan Empire in Central Asia: A History of the Struggle for Great Power among Tibetans, Turks, Arabs, and Chinese during the Early Middle Ages , 1988, The Journal of Asian Studies.

[4]  Roger Boesche,et al.  Kautilya's Arthasastra on War and Diplomacy in Ancient India , 2003 .

[5]  Soyoung Lee,et al.  Silla: Korea's Golden Kingdom , 2013 .

[6]  The Horse in West African History , 2018 .

[7]  Peter Turchin,et al.  Warfare and the Evolution of Social Complexity: A Multilevel-Selection Approach , 2010 .

[8]  Gary Hanson.  A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia, Volume I: Inner Eurasia from Prehistory to the Mongol Empire, by David Christian , 1999 .

[9]  Richard E. Daniel,et al.  Murlo and the Etruscans : art and society in ancient Etruria , 1998 .

[10]  David W. Anthony,et al.  The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World , 2008 .

[11]  N. D. Cosmo.  Ancient China and its Enemies: The Rise of Nomadic Power in East Asian History , 2002, The Journal of Asian Studies.

[12]  R. Drews.  Early Riders: The Beginnings of Mounted Warfare in Asia and Europe , 2004 .

[13]  Peter Turchin,et al.  A theory for formation of large empires* , 2009, Journal of Global History.

[14]  Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h,et al.  The Armies of Angkor: Military Structure and Weaponry of the Khmers , 2007 .

[15]  C. Baumer.  The History of Central Asia, Volume 1: The Age of the Steppe Warriors , 2012 .

[16]  Thomas E. Currie,et al.  War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies , 2013, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[17]  B. Davidson.  West Africa before the Colonial Era: A History to 1850 , 1998 .

[18]  K. Kristiansen.  Europe before History , 1998 .

[19]  Constance Eshelman.  Horses , 1961, 6000 Miles of Fence.

[20]  E. G. Pulleyblank.  Ji 姬 and Jiang 姜: The Role of Exogamic Clans in the Organization of the Zhou Polity , 2000, Early China.

[21]  J. McCall.  The Cavalry of the Roman Republic , 2001 .

[22]  M. Liverani.  The Ancient Near East: History, Society and Economy , 2014 .

[23]  L. Török.  The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meroitic Civilization , 1998 .

[24]  M. Speidel.  Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column to Icelandic Sagas , 2004 .

[25]  Dorcas Brown,et al.  The Secondary Products Revolution, Horse-Riding, and Mounted Warfare , 2011 .

[26]  A. Chalcraft.  Southeast Asia: A Historical Encyclopedia from Angkor Wat to East Timor , 2005 .

[27]  W. Vogelsang.  The Rise and Organisation of the Achaemenid Empire: The Eastern Iranian Evidence , 1992 .