NOMADS ARE HEADING WEST
The concept of the "Great Migration of Peoples" was introduced into science by Western European historians, designating the period of the collapse of the Roman Empire and the settlement of its lands by "wild" Germans, Slavs, and proto-Turkic tribes in the 2nd to 5th centuries.
A powerful impetus to this process was given by the nomads inhabiting Central Asia. At the turn of the old and new eras, the steppe came to life. Suddenly and swiftly, the nomadic Huns moved from the depths of Asia, ruthlessly destroying everything in their path. The invasion of the Huns threw not only agricultural peoples and states into confusion but also other nomads. Incidentally, the pastoralists were the first to bear the full force and fury of the Huns' onslaught.
The mighty Sarmatian-Alanian and Gothic tribal alliances disappeared forever, the Chernyakhov culture ceased to exist, and many Greek cities along the Black Sea fell. The Roman Empire struggled to defend its rapidly shrinking borders.
The remnants of the nomadic tribes shattered by the Huns were drawn into this movement. It did not spare the nomads of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
Where did these people come from, whose memory lives on to this day in both Central Asia and Central Europe?
The rise of the Huns is associated with the name of Khan Maodun, as he was called by the ancient Chinese. The Turkic peoples in their legends always revered him as Oghuz-Kagan. His name is linked to the oldest Turkic legend that has reached us. It tells that Maodun's father, a pampered and weak-willed man, led a small tribe of nomadic Huns living in the deserts north of China. The Khan did not love his decisive and courageous elder son and even feared him. He gave his son as a hostage to a neighboring tribe as a sign of eternal peace and friendship, and soon, hoping that the neighbors would kill the young man, he treacherously attacked them. The neighbors would have torn the hostage apart, but the young offspring of the treacherous Khan turned out to be a true jigit: he stole the best horse and fled to his native pastures.
The entire tribe of Huns was thrilled by the bravery of the bold young man. The father, considering the mood of the people, allocated a small detachment of cavalry to his son. The energetic Oghuz did not sit idly by: he made himself arrows with "whistlers."
Archaeologists have repeatedly found such arrows in the burials of nomads, on the shafts of which, just below the iron tip, were strung hollow bone balls with through holes.
In flight, such an arrow produced a heart-rending whistle. Oghuz began to teach his horsemen the rule: wherever he shot his whistling arrow, all warriors should shoot there as well. Thus, the young Oghuz introduced an innovation in the battle tactics of the nomads: concentration of fire on small areas with guaranteed target hits.
There were no conflicts while Oghuz shot at a deer or a doe. But Oghuz needed warriors for far-reaching plans, who would thoughtlessly and automatically hit any target he desired. Therefore, Oghuz once shot at his beloved horse, which had rescued him from captivity. Struck by hundreds of arrows, the horse fell. But some warriors doubted the necessity of shooting at the famous horse and did not draw their bows. The disobedient ones had their heads chopped off. Another time, Oghuz aimed an arrow at the chest of one of his wives. This time, all the warriors were disciplined—the unfortunate woman was not even visible due to the arrows densely sticking out of her fragile body. Oghuz praised and rewarded the entire detachment. He realized that his people were ready for any task pleasing to their lord. And Oghuz made up his mind...
During a deer hunt, the son aimed a whistling arrow at his father's back, and in an instant, the old man resembled a porcupine. The old Khan died before he realized that his son had long surpassed him in cunning, cruelty, and treachery.
This event was recorded by Chinese chroniclers in 209 BC.
The neighbors did not respect the boy who killed his father. The ruler of the powerful Yuezhi (Tocharian) tribe, looking for a reason for a clash, sent a messenger to Oghuz with an impossible demand: to give him the best stallion from the Hunnic herds. The young Khan gathered the elders and presented them with the ultimatum. They unanimously said that the neighbor had lost his conscience and that the horse should not be given away. The Khan, after listening to the wise men, said, "For good neighbors, a horse is not a pity." And he gave away the wonderful stallion. In an instant, Oghuz became a laughingstock among his neighbors and even his own tribe. And the audacious neighbor did not relent. For the second time, he demanded Oghuz's beautiful wife as a concubine. Indignant advisors demanded an immediate declaration of war and to wash away the shame from the name of the Huns with the blood of the shameless neighbor. Oghuz, holding back the enraged elders, decided to give his beloved for the sake of peace with good neighbors. And he did. After that, he was simply despised. And the neighbor was already sending a messenger with a new ultimatum: to give him the border lands of the Huns. The elders nodded in agreement: "This strip of land can be given away. There is neither grass nor water on it. Why would a nomad need a stony desert?"
"I will never give away the land to anyone," Oghuz said calmly, "the land is the foundation of the state." He immediately issued two orders: to chop off the heads of the advisors and to set out on a campaign immediately.
Like a raging mudflow, the Huns surged against the Yuezhi. They utterly defeated them and drove them far to the west. After them, it was the turn of others. Since then, Oghuz has not dismounted from his horse, and his arrows produced a chilling whistle before the ranks of all the peoples of Central Asia. They all bowed their heads before the might of the Huns.
And in 201 BC, he subdued the territory of the Kyrgyz (Gyanjun), which was then located between the Usuns and China, roughly in the territory of Eastern Tian Shan and Western Mongolia. Maodun Oghuz died in 174 BC. By this time, he had subdued the peoples living in the expanses from Transbaikalia to Tian Shan, from the Siberian taiga to the borders of China. Only China did not submit to him. The Huns waged a protracted war with this empire, which seemed never-ending. The Huns had an excellent cavalry, while the Chinese had superior infantry, which could repel any enemy in fortifications or behind city walls, but on the vast expanses of the Great Steppe, infantry was powerless against the innate horsemen.
In the end, the Huns were defeated. The Tian Shan Usuns also contributed to their defeat. Some of the Huns submitted to the victors, while the irreconcilable ones moved westward.
In history, the Hunnic era is figuratively called the "era of the Great Migration of Peoples." During this time, the ethnic map of Eurasia fundamentally changed. The Huns are believed to have been Turkic-speaking peoples. They put an end to the millennia-long dominance of Iranian-speaking Saka, Scythians, and Sarmatians in the steppe. The pressure of the Huns is also associated with the process of the most significant penetration of Mongoloid elements into the predominantly Europoid autochthonous population of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, and Eastern Europe.
The Huns reached their greatest power in the West in the mid-5th century during the reign of Attila. He moved his base from the Black Sea to the Danube in Pannonia (Hungary). As a result of successful wars with Rome, Attila forced the proud empire to pay the Huns a huge tribute in gold. The Huns bathed in silks and jewels, yet their leader wore simple black nomadic clothing, and his horse and weapons were not adorned with a single jewel. The empire of Attila relied solely on the authority of the leader and the strength of the sword.
Myths and Legends