Episode 3: The Western and Central Steppes

We examine the geography of the western and central Eurasian steppes and assess major trends and summarize historical developments. 

Transcript

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“Igor gazed up at the bright sun and saw all his warriors covered with the darkness [that proceeded] out of it. And Igor said to his druzina: -’Brothers and druzina! Better is it to be hewn to pieces than to be captive! So let us mount, brothers, on our swift steeds and look upon the blue Don [river]!’ The prince’s mind flamed with desire, and his eagerness to have experience of the mighty Don concealed from him the omen.

‘I wish,’ he said, ‘to shatter a spear on the borders of the land of the Polovtsy [the Cumans], with you my Russians: I wish to lay down my head and to drink of the Don in my helmet!’

Then Prince Igor stepped into his golden stirrup, and set out in the open field. The sun barred his way with darkness, night groaned to him; and roused the birds with terror; the shrill tones of beasts aroused him; [a bird named] Div arose crying calls on the tree-top; he commands a hearing from the Unknown Land, the Volga, the sea-border, and the Sula country of the Sea of Azov, Korsun, and thee, thou idol of Tmutarokan. 

But the Polovtsy on trackless roads ran to the mighty Don. The carts creek at midnight, like swans released. Igor leads his horses across the Don… Oh land of Russia, already art thou beyond the frontier-hill. Long is the night dark; the dawn has begun to give forth light; mist has rolled over the fields; the twitter of the nightingales is hushed; the speech of the crows has been awakened. The sons of Russia have barred the broad fields with their crimson shields, seeking for themselves honour, for their prince renown…

They fought one day, they fought another; on the third day close on noon, the standards of Igor fell… The grass bows down with woe and the trees bent to earth with sorrow.”  

This is the first few pages of a Russian epic story known as “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.” It is based on upon an attempted raid by Rurikid Prince Igor Svyatoslavich. In this tale, Prince Igor rallied a number of soldiers and heroes to join him on an expedition to the lands of the western Eurasian steppe. He was specifically targeting the lands beyond the Don River, perhaps somewhere in modern Ukraine or the northern Caucasus region. Here, a great steppe confederation known as the Cuman-Kipchaks had long since raided and devastated the territories of the Kievan Rus. We know that in the time right before Igor’s raid, a Cuman khan named Konchak led a devastating attack on Kievan lands. Igor’s raid may then have been a reprisal.

Having crossed the Don River, Igor and his men entered a land of plains and grasses. As part of a great drainage basin between the Dnieper and the Volga, the Don River could support a sizable contingent of steppe nomads. It is tragic, but also to no one’s surprise then that not too long after making their daring cross, Igor and his men were surrounded by Cuman warriors. Many were cut down by arrows. Others were killed in close combat, speared down by lances and cut down by swords no doubt. Igor and his men were completely defeated after the third day of fighting. Prince Igor was captured, becoming a prisoner to the Cuman khan. But, this was not the end of Igor, and certainly not the end of the Kievan Rus. 

“The twilight dimmed at even-time. Igor sleeps. Igor wakes. Igor in his mind measures the plains from the mighty Don to the little Donets. There is clamour at midnight; Ovlur whistled beyond the stream, summons the prince; Prince Igor could not understand. Ovlur called out loud; the earth throbbed; the grass rustled. The Polovsk tents began to stir. Igor the Prince raced like an ermine to the brushwood, like a white duck to the water, cast himself on his swift horse and leapt from it like a swift footed wolf and fled to the meadow of the Donets, and flew like a hawk in the mists.”

Welcome back to the Nomads and Empires podcast, episode 3. Last time we talked about the geography of the eastern Eurasian steppe, the lands of modern day Mongolia and eastern Siberia. As you may remember, we tracked the boundaries of this territory and assessed the relationships that emerged between the land and its people, as well as the convergence of lands that neighbored the steppe. The same can be said about today’s topic, the western and central steppes. As we saw in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” geography played an enormous role in influencing the history of both the steppe and its surrounding neighbors. 

Today, we can consider the western and central steppes as consisting of the flat grasslands located in modern day Kazakhstan, western and southern Russia, and Ukraine. In total, these areas constitute nearly a quarter of the earth’s total grasslands, which is a remarkable figure to consider. Just like the eastern steppe, the grasslands here have been home to a number of nomadic and semi-nomadic groups for thousands of years. In many ways, this part of the steppe would give rise to cultures that seemed quite similar to their eastern counterparts. There was, of course, an emphasis on domesticated herds, seasonal migration, and adept horse riding ability. Tools like the portable yurt and the devastating composite bow were seen on both ends of the steppe as well. An even more striking element comes in the form of language. Across much of the steppe, Turkic and later Mongolic languages could be heard in both the west and east. 

This, of course, doesn’t mean that the peoples living here were the exact same as those that lived in Mongolia. In fact, we find a number of different facets in culture, art, and politics that would separate the people of the western and central steppes from their eastern kin. Indo-Iranian groups were the first to inhabit these grasslands, long before the westward migration of Mongol and Turkic peoples. Geography plays a large role in this, and for today’s episode, we’re going to dive deep into the geographic conditions of the Eurasian steppe’s other half. 

Like we did in the last episode, the best place to start is with some loose boundaries. We’ll start in the same place as we did last time, on the flanks of the Altai Mountains. Here, the Altai Mountains form a sort of pseudo-border, as a number of mountain passes mean that steppe groups on either end could pass through the area with relative ease. As such, the areas west of the Altai, comprising much of modern day northern Kazakhstan, can be considered the central Eurasian steppe. Near the Altai are a number of other mountain ranges, many of which are even more imposing when it comes to elevation. These include the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, which would house a number of Iranian peoples who would have some interaction with those living on the steppe. Moving westward, the central steppe’s boundary with the western steppe comes in the form of the Ural Mountains. However, the Ural Mountains are not necessarily a true border, as the steppe acts as a contiguous belt of grass on the southern end of the mountains. Indeed, some scholars opt to not include the central steppe as a distinct unit, including it as a part of the western steppe, thereby dividing this region into two halves rather than three parts. It’s a lot of semantics, but an important consideration. 

South of the Kazakh grasslands is an important boundary. Past the Syr Darya river and the now dying Aral Sea were the lands of Transoxiana and Khorasan. This is the area that we consider today as being Central Asia, which includes modern day Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and a number of other states. Although deserts like the Kyzyl Kum and Kara Kum might cause many to think of this land as being desolate and inhospitable, this would be a gross misconception. Rivers like the aforementioned Syr Darya and the Amu Darya enabled agriculture and gave rise to important trade route cities like Samarkand and Khiva. Such cities would come to play enormous roles in facilitating trade along the Silk Road, as goods from both east and west entered these lands, heading either for the Tarim Basin and onwards to China, or otherwise south to Iran and onwards to the Mediterranean world. Some routes even went along the steppes, crossing the northern grasslands and following the Caspian and Black Sea coastlines.

For now, I want us to just keep in mind the close proximity of these trade cities and trade routes to the Eurasian steppe. We’ll come back to this area a little later and talk a bit about the connections between the steppe nomads and the sedentary populations here. 

Moving further along and crossing through the Ural Mountains, we enter the western steppe. We can consider the western steppe as consisting of the northern Caucasus region in modern Russia, the entirety of Ukraine and the Crimean Peninsula, and, contentiously, parts of Hungary and northern Romania. Here, the southern boundaries are a bit more varied than what we saw in the central steppes. We have large bodies of water acting as hard borders, like the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. Nomadic groups therefore lived in the grasslands to the north of these bodies of water. In some parts of the steppe, the Caucasus Mountains act as a barrier, shielding places like Anatolia, the Armenian highlands, and the broader Middle East from nomadic incursions. Of course, this isn’t completely accurate as groups like the Khazars would cross the Caucasus, but they did generally deter such movements. 

To the far west, the Carpathian Mountains of modern Hungary almost work as a border. I say almost, because there are a number of mountain passes and the lands beyond the Carpathians are perfectly suited for steppe nomads. Known as the Hungarian Plain, this region comprises over 45% of Hungary’s total area and was historically full of wild grasslands. The plain is noted as having better climate conditions than either the western or eastern Eurasian steppe and would therefore be contested by a number of groups, both nomadic and sedentary, for thousands of years. As a region on the periphery, the Hungarian Plain would be a vital borderland, enabling steppe groups like the Avars and Bulgars direct access to the Balkans and Europe more widely. 

Finally, the last large border I want to examine is the northern frontier of both the western and central steppes. Like in the east, a wide band of forests and taiga constrict the steppe. Much of the forests here lie in what is today modern Russia, stretching roughly from the Baltics to the Ural Mountains, although this band of forests continues on through much of eastern Siberia. Here, the landscape is dominated by coniferous pines, as well as spruce, fir, and larch trees. As one heads further north, the tree coverage becomes dense and eventually one will find themselves in the great Arctic tundra. As one journeys south back to the steppe, you actually find a transitional biome known as the Eurasian forest-steppes. These consist mainly of pockets of forests and shrubs, and acted as a connecting area between the wider taiga and the treeless steppes.

Indeed, although the forests may seem impenetrable and ill suited for a steppe nomad, we actually find a lot of important cultural and economic connections between the forests and the empty steppes. Throughout history, steppe tribes interacted with the forest dwellers of these lands, whether they be Germanic, Slavic, or Finno-Ugric. In fact, an important thing to keep in mind is that we shouldn’t associate people with a specific territory or even a particular biome. The idea of a single people with a single land is a relatively new concept derived from ideas like nationalism. 

For groups living here, such definitions were nonexistent and conceptions of place and identity were much more fluid. We really have to consider the Eurasian steppe as a more porous and dynamic place. Groups living in the taiga would sometimes migrate to the steppe, adding in a Yenesien or Finno-Ugric component to these grasslands, such as in the case of the Magyars. Sometimes, these groups embraced the nomadic horse culture of their Turkic and Mongolian counterparts. In other cases, like that of the Kievan Rus, a more sedentary lifestyle would attempt to emerge. Conversely, Turkic or Indo-Iranian nomadic groups may move away from the steppe, creating communities in the mountains of the Caucasus or in the Russian forests or further south into the Hungarian Plain or the Balkans. Lastly, we should remember that many nomadic confederations may consist of a number of different ethnic groups. For instance, the Khazars would be rulers over a wide variety of peoples, including Bulgars and Kipchaks.

And so, it becomes clear to see the relationship between the western and central steppes with these woodlands for this and other reasons. As we get further along in history, we find a growing economic tie between the Russian taiga and the steppes. Furs like mink, sable, and marten were sought after by khans and nomadic rulers. This in turn led to the emergence of a trade route built upon these furs, with steppe nomads oftentimes facilitating trade between the northern forests and their southern neighbors in Iran and Central Asia. Much later down the line, this fur trade would incentivize sedentary populations to control the forests, which indirectly led to the conquest of the steppes by the Russian Empire. Thus, the relationship between the western and central steppes with their nearby neighbors would be key in shaping the course of history. 

No better region best captures this connection than the lands of Central Asia. Across the deserts of the Kyzyl Kum and Kara Kum and beyond the waters of the Syr Darya, the effects of the steppe were felt immensely. A tenuous relationship emerged between the sedentary cities of this area and the nomadic groups of the north. Trade cities like that of Bukhara and Samarkand were often at the mercy of nomadic raids, and history will show that such cities would be devastated by succeeding conquerors. However, these cities were also vital for the livelihoods of the steppe peoples. Trade was incredibly important. Beyond furs, steppe nomads provided goods like horses, wool, and other animal products for goods that were difficult to find in the grasslands. Warriors from the steppe could find employment in these cities as mercenaries. The movement of groups out of the steppes and into Central Asia also led to major cultural and religious developments, with faiths like Nestorian Christianity and Islam reaching the steppe via the sedentary lands of Central Asia.  

Let’s now recap what we’ve talked about. For borders, we have the Altai Mountains of the east that connect the central steppes to Mongolia. To the south, we have the waters of the Black Sea and the Caspian, the deserts of Central Asia, and the mountains of the Caucasus and the Carpathians. To the west, we have the lands of Russia leading into Europe, and finally to the north, we have a great band of forests that ultimately lead to the cold wastes of the Arctic tundra. And so, with all of that said, we can now examine the features that comprise the western and central steppes. 

The first thing we should consider is the key difference between the east and the west. As we mentioned in episode 2, the eastern Eurasian steppe is defined by its relatively high elevation. When compared to the grasslands of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, the temperature, the climate, and the weather of the eastern steppe iis more severe and less conducive for human survival. In the western and central steppes, average elevation is lower and so temperatures are generally more bearable. According to scholars like Barry Cunliffe, one can think of this as a “steppe gradient,” where “as one travels from east to west, the climate changes from cold to dry and to warm and damp.”

That said, conditions can vary wildly and overall, the steppes were still a much more difficult area to live in. On the Kazakh steppe, for instance, the climate can average between 25 degrees celsius in the summer to negative 20 degrees in the thick of winter. Another defining feature of these grasslands is their aridity. In fact, the steppes here are considered dry steppes because average precipitation can be low, ranging from 200-400 millimeters in a given year. Rainfall in the western steppe is generally higher, but not by much, averaging only around 350-450 millimeters. Such rains are common in the spring, but drought conditions are pretty frequent in the summers.

Moving on, let’s now focus our attention specifically on the central steppe. Here, we’re looking mainly at the Kazakh steppe and the grasslands north of the Caspian Sea, which is considered by many to be the largest portion of the Eurasian steppes. It comprises a total area of around 310,600 square miles or around 500,000 kilometers squared. The land here is dominated by feather grasses, though a relatively wide array of steppe variations do exist. There are meadows, shrub steppes, and even desert steppes. There are key water sources as well. These include the Ural and Irtysh Rivers, as well as lakes like that of Lake Tengiz and Lake Shalkar. Larger bodies of water like the Caspian Sea and Lake Balkhash, although not directly part of the steppe, were important areas within the wider cultural sphere. 

Moving westward, we approach the great Volga River, which acts as our gate into the western steppe. This area, straddling along the northern coast of the Black Sea is sometimes referred to as the Pontic Steppe. Some scholars such as Professor Christopher Beckwith include nearby grasslands like that of the Pannonian Basin in modern-day Hungary as part of the western steppe, but for our purposes, we’re going to define the western steppe as only comprising of Ukraine, the Crimean Peninsula, and the lands of southern Russia. 

Here, the region is defined by several subcategories of steppe. There are a number of meadow steppes, which are grasslands with nutrient-rich soils and therefore an abundance of grazing land for animals. Steppe-forests and stone steppes can also be found in this area.The Crimean Peninsula is home to a distinct geographical situation, as part of the peninsula is mountainous and rocky. 

Perhaps the most important geographical features of this area are the rivers flowing into the Black Sea and their accompanying basins. These include the Don, the Dnieper, and the Volga, all flowing from north to the Black Sea. From the Caucasus Mountains and flowing westward is the Kuban River. All of these waters would play an important role in steppe history here. “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” provided us with hints on the significance of these waters, as they provided nomadic groups with important water resources for their herds of animals. Furthermore, these waters could demarcate territory between different polities and tribes, thereby acting as a pre-modern border between various groups. Once again, we can find a good example in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign,” with the Don River acting as a border between the Rus and the Cumans.    

In fact, the diversity of grasses, soil nutrients, and water sources meant that Ukraine and particularly the Crimean Peninsula did promote other forms of life other than nomadic herding. In the Volga Basin, we have mention of various agricultural communities that grew grain and vegetables. In the Crimean Peninsula, wheat, millet, and rye were extensively cultivated, and had been since the days of the Scythians. Of course, access to the sea also meant fishing and maritime communities could have emerged. This is especially true on the lower end of the Crimean Peninsula, where trading communities would thrive. We’ll see the emergence of mercantile cities like that of Theodosia. Such cities would play immense roles in connecting western steppe communities with the Mediterranean world. But, that’s a story for a much later time.

Let’s move on. We’ve already touched on the Pannonian Basin already, but there’s a few notes that I want to make while we’re on the subject of the western steppe. The grasslands here are flat and perfect for nomadic herders. Although the surrounding regions are less conducive to the horse nomad, it was a good staging ground for raids and future invasions. Entities like the Huns, the Bulgars, and the Magyars could enter Hungary and find good paths into the Balkans and central Europe. It is important to note that in many cases, these groups did not enter the Pannonian Basin out of some desire for loot and plunder. That may have been a motivator, certainly, but in many cases, groups living in the western steppe were pushed out by other polities from the central and even eastern steppes. 

In fact, there are a few trends that emerge now that we’ve examined the central and western steppes. Like we mentioned in episode 2, nomadic empires typically formed in the east. These united confederations would then move westward, passing through the Altai Mountains or the Tarim Basin. This movement would cause a chain of reactions, forcing other groups further and further west. Some would migrate from Kazakhstan to Ukraine. In turn, steppe groups in Ukraine would then be displaced, causing many to flee even more westward, often to Hungary. 

However, not everything flowed from the east to the west. In fact, the earliest innovations of the steppe emerged in the Pontic steppe lands north of the Black Sea. We’ll get into this more in the next episode, but it is really interesting to consider that developments like horse domestication, the wheel, and perhaps even horse archery emerged on the western steppe. These innovations and ideas then moved eastward. Even non-nomadic groups would pick up some of these developments. Scholars like Christopher Beckwith have demonstrated the connection between the Eurasian steppe migrations and the emergence of the chariot during the Shang Dynasty of Ancient China, though such ideas are still controversial within the academic world. 

Of course, another key phenomenon that has taken a west-to-east route is well… the Russians, specifically the Russian expanse into the Siberian taiga and steppes. Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, Russian explorers, motivated by the fur trade we mentioned earlier, began to head into Siberia. In this time, Slavic Cossacks began to push against the Mongol-Turkic tribes of the western steppe while Russian imperial forces subjugated a number of Siberian peoples. In due time, the entirety of the western and central Eurasian steppes began to fall to the Russians. The periphery lands adjacent to the steppe would then follow. The Caucasus and Central Asia would be incorporated into the Russian Empire. Many have cited a number of reasons for this rapid expansion. Some believe that this was an attempt at shoring up Russia’s eastern flank after centuries of domination by various nomadic steppe groups. Others saw great power competition with states like Great Britain as being the main motivator. However, I think the words of the Russian Minister of the Interior, Pyotr Valuev, better encapsulate the reasons.

“Tashkent has been taken by General Cherniaev… Nobody knows why or for what purpose.”

I bring this up because today, the effects of this history can be felt and the western and central steppes are radically different. While parts of Mongolia have remained intact, the same cannot be said about the Kazakh or Ukrainian steppes. In the centuries that followed the Russian invasions, large scale agriculture began to thrive in these grasslands. As we hinted at earlier, the soil composition of the western and central steppes is somewhat different to that which we find in the higher elevations of Mongolia and Manchuria. The lands here along the Don and Kuban rivers are more fertile, and indeed, we have had references to agricultural communities in these steppes since the time of Herodotus. However, by and large the steppe remained dominant for much of history.

Today, the wild steppes have been tamed by the plough. The World Wildlife Fund estimates that only 17 to 36 percent of the original Kazakh steppe remains. Much of the area has been converted into farmland, though a significant portion of land has been taken for urban development and mining. In Ukraine, scientists believe that over 82% of the steppe has been lost, with much of it used for wide scale agriculture. Both the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union have contributed to this ecological decline, but in other cases, the problems are local. Overgrazing and irrigation needs have led to desertification in Kazakhstan, a problem also seen in the eastern steppe with Mongolia. In fact, this dramatic decline in steppe land has also coincided with a decrease in nomadic populations. During the 1930s, the Soviets attempted to forcefully sedenterize many Kazakhs, which ultimately displaced hundreds of thousands, killed over a million people, and led to a mass decline in nomadic families. Famine seems to have been a major contributor, with scholars estimating an 80% decline in animal herds in this period, thereby forcing many survivors into urban settlements. And so, unlike much of the eastern steppe, which has stayed relatively intact, the western and central steppes have radically changed over the course of the last few centuries. 

This connects to a wider phenomenon I’ve noticed. When we talk about the Eurasian steppes, most people really only think about the eastern portion. While this whole area once stretched from the Danube to Manchuria, this is no longer the case both physically and also in the minds of many. There are so many more books, movies, and media depictions of the Mongols. Sure, there are individuals like Atilla who get some mention, but I would argue that those figures are often removed from their historical, western steppe background. On the other hand, the Mongols and Genghis Khan seemed to have gained a modern popularity that supersedes any group seen on the western and central steppes. Just look on Youtube. As of today’s date, which currently is August 25, 2021, the Kings and Generals Youtube channel uploaded four videos on the Mongols of the last nine videos in a two week period. The last video about a non-Mongol steppe people was in May. To that end, let’s now talk about some of the other peoples that resided along the central and western steppes.

This is an area that is a bit more complicated than the history of the east, as there are many other groups that emerge, with some periods having several major steppe empires coexisting as neighbors. 

Okey. Deep breath, because this is going to be a long one.

The first definitive group that we can find in these lands are the broadly Indo-European peoples. These Indo-Europeans resided in the Pontic steppe, with some scholars tracing their homelands to the grasses to the north of the Caucasus Mountains. At some point, by which I mean in the coming episodes, these Indo-European groups would migrate throughout the world. By around the 8th century BCE, the steppes would then be dominated by the Indo-Iranian peoples. These included the Scythians broadly, as well as the Yuezhi on the central steppes. Important to note is that the Scythians did not constitute a single, united entity. Rather, a number of other, more specific groups emerged in this time, like the Cimmerians and Sarmatians. One of the most important events comes from the east. Remember that phenomenon of eastern steppe groups running westward, leading to a whole cascading of other peoples? 

Well in the year 49 BCE, Chinese meddling and civil unrest resulted in great political changes in the Xiongnu of Mongolia. A Xiongnu prince and claimant to the title of Chanyu was defeated by his brother. This prince, Zhizhi, fled westward, where he began to form a polity on the steppes of the Aral Sea. Zhizhi would subjugate many peoples, including some Sogdians. However, Zhizhi’s would only see short-lived success, as in the year 36 BCE, a Chinese army raided Zhizhi’s realm and executed him. Additional Xiongnu moves westward can be seen in the year 91 CE, when the Xianbei successfully supplanted the Xiongnu as masters of the eastern Eurasian steppe. This is where we get the rather divisive debate over a Xiongnu presence in the central steppes that would ultimately give way to the Huns. We’ll touch on that debate later, but for the next few centuries, the steppes would continue to be dominated by Indo-Iranian groups, with some possible westward migrations resulting in Xiongnu populations.

Around the 4th century CE, we start seeing Germanic groups enter the western steppe, resulting in some conflict between the various Scythian tribes and these newcomers. In the central steppes, we start to get rumblings of the Huns, who then emerge in full flare sometime in the early 400s. The Huns would rampage the Roman world, and leaders like Atilla would be forever etched into the minds of many. Around this time, we also see the rampaging efforts of the Hephthalites in the central steppe and northern Iran. The Hephthalites are known as the White Huns, though realistically, the connection between the Huns of Atilla and these particular nomads is unclear, though we can reasonably assume that the migration of the European Huns may have affected the movements of these White Huns. Furthermore, it’s also evident that the rising Rouran Khaganate in the eastern steppe may, once more, have influenced the migration of these Hephthalites.

Back in the west, the death of Atilla in 453 resulted in the splintering of the Huns into many different groups. We have, for instance, the Kutrigurs living near the Sea of Azov and the Uturgurs living along the Don River. It is at this time when various Turkic groups also began to make their way westward. We have mention of a group known as the Bulgars residing in the Pontic steppe in this era. Indeed, the decentralized nature of the central and western steppes may have been conducive for the rather wide array of different peoples living here. This included various Germanic groups, Hunnic splinters, Scythian remnants, and now Turkic tribes.

In fact, the emergence of Turkic peoples on the steppe in this era heralds one of the largest demographic changes we’ll see. The western and central steppes, once home to Indo-Iranian populations, would be succeeded by a mostly Turkic population. To understand this, we once more return back to the east, where in the 550s, the Rouran Khaganate would be overthrown by a Turk named Bumin, who then established the First Turkic Khaganate, or the Khaganate of the Gokturks. The last survivors of the Rouran fled westward. They, in turn, were pursued by members of the Turkic Khaganate. According to some scholars, those that could flee would ride all the way to the edges of the western steppe before migrating even further into the Pannonian Basin, thereby establishing the domain of the Avars. The Avars, in turn, would menace Europe in a manner similar to the Huns. In 568, we hear of an Avar raid in Byzantine-controlled Dalmatia, an attack that was so devastating that Emperor Justin was forced to pay over 80,000 pieces of silver. Again, the Rouran-Avar connection is contested, but there is at least a likely causal relationship between events in the east with events in the west. 

The death of Bumin in 552 saw the Turkic Khaganate split into two halves, though nominally still a single polity. The Altai Mountains would act as the de facto border between these two Khaganates. Istami, Bumin’s brother, was given control over the western polity, and he soon waged war against the Hephthalites. Indeed, Istami was evidently a politically savvy individual. He made alliances with the Sassanid Persians and later attempted to secure an alliance with the Byzantine Empire. Between 567-568, diplomatic missions between the Byzantine Romans and the Turks would commence, with the Turks especially hoping to secure a trade deal focused on silk. It seems however that the death of Istami in 576 led to a decline in relations between the Turks and the Romans, as in 576-578, the Turks seem to have invaded or raided the Pontic Steppe, capturing a Byzantine stronghold in the Crimean Peninsula. Additional raids were conducted in Persia. 

Civil unrest ultimately undid the Turkic Khaganates, as in the late 500s and early 600s, the eastern khaganate descended into civil war, and the khagans of the Western Turkic Khaganate would try on multiple occasions to claim the throne for themselves. Finally, in the 640s-650s, a united China under the Tang dynasty began to wage wars against the eastern and western khagantes. Emperors like Tang Taizong and Gaozong supported rival tribes and mounted their own attacks, and by the late 650s, the Western Turkic Khaganate had been subdued. 

The collapse of the Turkic Khaganate would give the space needed for multiple entities to emerge. In Hungary, there were the Avars. In the Ukrainian steppes, the Turkic Bulgars had established the empire of Old Great Bulgaria, while adjacent to the Bulgars were another Turkic people known as the Khazars. In the central steppes, it is likely that groups such as the Kipchaks, Kimaks, and Oghuz Turks were beginning to emerge as well. An even more interesting causal relation is the migration of the Finno-Ugric Magyars from the northern forests into the steppe.

By this point in time, Islam begins to emerge as a major religion on the steppes. Throughout the 700s, Central Asia would become Islamicized due to the various post-Rashidun conquests, and this meant that Islam was on the doorsteps of the Eurasian steppes. In the central steppes, this coincided with a mixed array of different Turkic groups that included the Turgesh and the Karakhanid Khaganate. In the western steppes, meanwhile, the Khazars had become the most dominant force, pushing many Bulgars out of the Pontic steppe and into the Pannonian Basin. This heralded an era in which steppe politics became incredibly important to the Byzantine Empire. Emperor Constantine IV was forced to contend with the Bulgars in 680, while in 693, the Emperor Justinian II was forced to flee into Khazar territory, where he then married a Khazar princess. Interesting to consider is the fact that the Khazars, unlike their central steppe counterparts, converted to Judaism, and so acted almost like an intermediary between the Christian Romans and the Islamic Caliphate. 

Around this time, a new, non-nomadic group would emerge onto the western steppes. This was the Kievan Rus, a mix of Scandinavian vikings and local Slavic populations. The Kievan Rus would have a long history with the Khazars and the Byzantine Empire, and throughout the 800s and 900s, Rus warriors fought against a number of Turkic tribes that resided in the Khazar domain. By the 850s, the Khazars were slowly dissipating as a political entity. The Pechenegs attacked the Khazars and forced the Magyars westward. A Kievan Rus attack in 965 saw the fall of the Khazar capital of Sarkel, and by the 1000s, the Khazars had completely disappeared as a major political power in the western steppes. The Pechenegs would then take their place as the most dominant western steppe power, though groups from the central steppes, mainly the Kimak and Kipchak Khanates, would attack and raid the Pechenegs. Nevertheless, the Pechenegs would flex their muscles, undertaking a massive raid of the Byzantine Empire in 1087.

This was evidently an era of conflict and fractured politics. The number of wars seen on the central and western steppes would have been great training for many Turkic warriors, and many of these would become mercenaries in the Middle East. Many would become slave soldiers, fighting for various Islamic dynasties in Persia, Egypt, and the Levant. One branch of the Oghuz Turks was the Oghuz Yagbu state, which was sandwiched by the Kimaks and Karakhanids, located near the Aral Sea. A great warlord or leader named Seljuk rallied the Oghuz Turks here and began a series of conquests that would radically alter the Middle East permanently. By 1037, the Great Seljuk Empire was born.  

On the steppes, new political powers had risen in the mid-11th century. In the western steppes, a branch of the Kipchaks known as the Cumans were seen, with Russian chronicles mentioning these nomads in the Pontic Steppe in 1054. Although the Pechenegs and Cumans did cooperate in some occasions, in 1091, a combined Byzantine-Cuman attack devestated the Pechenegs, and in time the Pechenegs were forced across the Danube and entered the Pannonian Basin. 

Back in the central steppes, another polity from the east had entered the scene. The Khitan Liao dynasty, after having been defeated by the Jurchen Jin in 1125, fled westward. There, in the lands of Dzungaria, Central Asia, and parts of the central steppe, the exiled Khitans established the Kara Kitai state. Then the Mongols came. 

From here, the Mongols would unite the east, west, and central steppes into one polity. And then, with the Toluid Civil War in the 1260s, everything fell apart, with the Golden Horde ruling the lands of the western steppe and the Chagatai Khanate ruling Central Asia and the central steppe. Both polities would, for a time, be the dominant player in their region, with the Golden Horde being the masters of Russia and the Kipchak steppes, and the Chagatais ruling over both nomadic and sedentary populations in Central Asia. Of course, both would eventually collapse, with the Chagatai Khanate splitting into two parts in the 1340s, while the Golden Horde would split into a number of different Turko-Mongol factions in the 1390s. 

In both cases, the titanic efforts of Timur, or Tamerlane, were directly influential in changing the political situation here. The Timurid Empire, though not a nomadic steppe empire, was still incredibly influential. In the central steppes, the collapse of the Golden Horde and later the Timurid Empire would allow the Uzbeks to unite under Shaybanid Khan, thereby forming the Uzbek Khanate. In the west, a number of different factions erupted, including the Nogai Horde, the Crimean Khanate, the Great Horde, the Khanate of Sibir, and so on. 

And so we get to the year 1480 where we have the Great Stand on the Ugra River. Here, the Rus Principalities would finally secure their freedom from the Turko-Mongol polities by securing a decisive military victory. The dam had broken and the tides were now turning. Although Turko-Mongol groups would continue to raid the lands of Russia and Ukraine for several more centuries, the outright authority that they possessed over these territories had fallen, and now a reversal was underway. 

In the central steppes, the Uzbeks were eventually overthrown by the Kazakh Khanate, though some sedentary successor states still lingered in Central Asia. Back in the west, the Rus Principalities had united under the Tsar, and now the Tsardom of Russia began to expand into the taiga and steppes. The Khanate of Astrakhan fell to the Russians in 1556. The Nogai Horde essentially collapsed in 1634. The Kalmyk Khanate was annexed in 1771. And most significantly of all, the Crimean Khanate capitulated to the Russians in 1783. Soon, the Russian Empire expanded from west to east, conquering all of the nomadic and sedentary populations of the western steppes, central steppes, and Central Asia. 

Skipping significantly forward, the emergence of the Soviet Union would have radical changes on the many territories of the steppe. A number of Soviet Socialist Republics, or SSRs, were established in these areas, such as the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The steppe was soon conquered by the plough, with many areas in Ukraine and Kazakhstan turning into agricultural land. Meanwhile, many individuals from Central Asia and the steppes were coopted into Soviet policies. In Ukraine, forced collectivism resulted in massive famines in the 1930s, an event known as the Holodomor. Many Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Kalmyks, and various other peoples fought for the Soviet Union during World War 2. As time went on, Soviet administrators began to promote migration policies, which would result in an influx of Russians and other groups migrating into the territories of Kazakhstan and such. Because this is already getting way too long, the next key event to consider is the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union. On December 10, 1991, the SSR of Kazakhstan dissolved. On December 26, this was followed by the Uzbek SSR and the Ukrainian SSR. Soon, Central Asia would gain independence, while some territories of the western and central steppes remained in Russian hands, such as the Republic of Kalmykia.

And that’s where the story stands today. 

Wow. That was a lot. 

The western and central steppes, because of their wider connection to many other peoples and political entities, would have this extremely varied and diverse history. A lot of what I mentioned was rushed, lacking in nuance, and doesn’t capture the intricacies of connections and political relationships that emerged between the different groups. But that, friends, are stories for another time. 

I want to end this episode by saying thanks to everyone that listened. That’s pretty much the end of our story on geography. Although we’re not out of the woods yet, there’s only a little more contextual ground to cover before we start the narrative. Next time, we’re going to examine the historiography of the Eurasian steppes and assess the difficulties that exist in academic research and scholarship.  

Otherwise, just some usual reminders on my social media presence. You can find me at Twitter at the handle @NomadEmpiresPod or you can reach out to my email nomadsandempires@gmail.com. For episode scripts, sources, book reviews, and other articles on historical topics that I may not cover on the podcast, I’d suggest you follow my Substack, NomadsandEmpires.substack.com. And that’s pretty much all of it. Thank you again for listening, and see you next time on the windy plains of the steppe.

Music:

Age of Men - Jo Wadrini (Epidemic Sound)
Medieval War - Edulacava (Freesound)
Outro - Personal Work