War and Game

The Turkish mercenary soldiers employed by the Abbasid caliphs in the ninth century were housed in the garrison city of Samarra, about a hundred miles north of Baghdad, to minimize conflict with the local people. The walls of the Great Mosque of the mid ninth century clearly show the military nature of the city.

The Muslim empire was created by one group of nomad warriors, the Arabs, but in the military sphere, it came to be dominated by another, the Turks. In modern usage the term Turks is used to described the inhabitants of the republic of Turkey, the vast majority of whom are, of course, settled townspeople and farmers. In the longer sweep of history, however, the term is used to describe a very different people, or group of peoples.

Like the Huns, the Turks originated in the vast steppe lands and grass plains which lie between Russia and Iran in the west and China in the east. In the South these lands are bordered by the Gobi Desert and the Takla Makan, in the north by the Siberian forests. The climate is characterized by hot summers and ferociously cold winters. These lands have always been the home of nomad populations, since the land is not fertile enough, and the climate not temperate enough, to encourage permanent settlement.

The Turks appear quite suddenly on the stage of world history. In 552, in circumstances which are now obscure the Turks replaced a mysterious people called the Juan-Juan as rulers of the steppe lands. Where they came from is uncertain, though the early Turks may have been connected with iron mining and smelting in the area. The ruler of this power took the title of Kaghan which, in various forms (Khan, Qa'an, Khaqan, etc.) was to be the generic title of rulers of Central Asia down to the beginning of the twentieth century. In the late sixth century this new power established diplomatic relations with the Byzantine Empire in an effort to bypass Iran and break the Sasanian stranglehold over the silk trade.

Despite divisions and fierce tribal rivalries, the Turkish Empire survived until 745. As with Arabic among the Bedouin, an element of unity was provided by a common language which enabled people from all parts of the vast empire to understand one another. The language, and some of the history of these early Turks, is recorded in a remarkable series of inscriptions found in the valley of the Orkhon River, now in northern Mongolia. They also seem to have had common religious ceremonies, including human sacrifice at funerals, and probably a common lifestyle. The Turkish Empire may only have lasted for a couple of centuries, but it brought the Turks to the notice of the world and from then on the peoples of Inner Asia and their language were generally known as Turks and Turkish.

The Arab conquerors of eastern Iran had come into conflict with the hardy Turks of Central Asia. With the breakup of the Turkish Empire, Turks began to be recruited as professional soldiers in the armies of the caliphs, ultimately displacing both Arabs and Iranians as the military elite. It was their quality as nomad warriors which made them so valuable to rulers. In the mid ninth century, when the Turks were a comparatively new military force, the Arab essayist and commentator, al-Jahiz (d. 868), produced a short treatise on 'The Excellences of the Turks' in which he describes a discussion about their particular virtues as warriors. This is worth quoting at some length because it provides a contemporary, eye-witness explanation as to why these nomad warriors were so highly valued as fighting men.

One of the features which al-Jahiz notes is their physical endurance:

When a Turk travels with a non-Turkish army he travels twenty miles for the ten other people do. He cuts off from the army to right or left, racing to the summits of peaks or penetrating the bottoms of valleys in search of game. At the same time, he shoots at everything which creeps, steps, flies and lands. When a journey lasts a long time, travel becomes hard, the camp site is far away and midday is reached, then fatigue becomes intense. People are overcome with weariness, they grow silent and do not speak because their preoccupation with their own hardships keeps them from conversation. Everything wilts from the intensity of the heat or perishes from numbing cold. Even the strongest traveller longs for the earth to swallow him up. When he sees a horseman or spots a flag, he is cheered up by that and is happy in the thought that he has reached the camp site. When the rider eventually arrives, he dismounts and walks bow-legged like a boy needing to urinate. He groans like a sick man, yawns, stretches and lies down. At this-time you see the Turk, who has already travelled twice as far as anyone else and whose shoulders are weary from pulling the bow, galloping after a wild ass, gazelle, fox or hare.

AI-Jahiz records the observation of a colleague on the behaviour of the army of the caliph al-Ma'mun (813-33), at a time when Turks were beginning to be recruited for the caliphs' armIes:

On one of the campaigns of al-Ma'mun I saw two ranks of horses on both sides of the road near the camp, a hundred Turkish cavalrymen on one side of the road and a hundred non-Turks on the other. They had been lining up to await the arrival of the Caliph. It was past midday and the heat was intense. While all except three or four of the Turks were still sitting on their horses, all except three or four of the non-Turks had dismounted and were lying on the ground.

The relationship between the Turk and his horse was remarkable:

The Turk is more skilled than the veterinarian and better at teaching his mount what he wants than the most skilled trainer. He bred it and raised it as a foal. It followed him when he called and galloped behind him when he galloped ... if you sum up the life of a Turk, you will find he sits longer on the back of his mount than on the surface of the earth. When the Turk rides a stallion or mare and sets off on a raid or a hunting trip, the mare and her foals follow him. If he is unable to hunt people, he hunts wild animals. If he is unsuccessful in that, or needs food, he bleeds one of his horses. If thirsty, he milks one of his mares, if he wants to rest the one he is riding, he mounts another without touching the ground. There is- no one else whose body would not rebel against a diet comprised entirely of meat. His mount, on the other hand, is satisfied with stubble, grass and shrubs. He does not shade it from the sun or cover it against the cold.

Of course it was their prowess in battle that attracted most attention. One of the participants in the discussion contrasts the Turks with the Kharijites (Arab Bedouin rebels against the caliphs): If a thousand Turkish horsemen attack, they shoot a single volley, felling a thousand horsemen. What would remain of any army after this sort of attack? The Kharijites and the Bedouin are not known for shooting from horseback. The Turk shoots at wild animals and birds, at the birjas (a target on a spear), people or any other target. He shoots while his mount is galloping backwards and forwards, right and left, up and down. he shoots ten arrows before the Kharijite can notch a single one ... his lasso is unbelievable, the way it reaches the horse and seizes the rider in one throw ... They taught horsemen to carry two or three bows and a corresponding number of strings ... the spear of the Kharijite is long and solid, the spear of the Turk is short and hollow. Short, hollow spears are more penetrating and lighter to carry:

With this toughness and military ability, went a certain sort of amorality. One observer noted:

We can see that the Turk does not fight for religion or dogma, or to acquire political control or the land-tax, or because of group spirit, for zeal for the sacred and sacrosanct, out of anger or enmity for his fatherland or to protect house and wealth. He only fights for plunder. He makes his own choices. He does not fear divine retribution if he flees or hope for divine favour if he fights bravely [unlike the Muslim warrior in the jihad or holy war].

The picture al-Jahiz presents is precise and familiar from the much more sketchy accounts we have of the Huns. These themes were to be taken up by later commentators on the Mongols. The Turks were remarkable for their hardiness, their relationship with their horses (which were not just mounts but a source of emergency supplies, so dispensing with cumbersome baggage trains) and their skill as mounted archers as well as with the short spear and the lasso.