Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, Episode 175, The Turks.

I don't need to tell you that understanding the Turks is vital for understanding the

history of Byzantium.

And let's get to the headline right away, the most important thing you need to know about

the Turks is that they were originally nomads from the steppe.

Now for some of you, that will be blindingly obvious and need no further comment.

For others it might be less clear why this is a big deal.

I've talked about how the nomad lifestyle worked before, as recently as episode 163, when

we spoke about the Petchanegs.

That way of life was shared by all steppe tribes during our period, be they hunts avas,

bolgas or indeed Turks.

I won't go over the whole dynamic again, but let's just contrast the nomadic lifestyle

to that of a farmer to make sure we're all on the same page.

If you live in a farming community, then everything for you is static.

The soil is the centre of your life and you spend your time maneuvering around it, feeding

it, extracting from it, protecting it.

Because the soil is the fixed point in your life, you are going to be in favour of strong

government.

You want soldiers to give up their lives in order to protect your patch of ground.

You will therefore acquiesce to the demands of government in exchange for protection.

If on the other hand you live on the endless grasslands of the Eurasian steppe, your life

is constantly on the move.

...