Horses: The American Empire?

I read an article about the domestication of animals by our ancestor today. It was written by a Jared Diamond, a scientist, and that article was part of the book The Third Chimpanzee. In that particular chapter, he mentioned that horses played a big role in shaping human history, especially in terms of warfare.

Also being mentioned is the fact that horses existed in the American continent about until 10,000 years ago, when it went extinct. That is about 2,000 years after humans migrated into the American continent from modern day Russia, hence it is very likely the early Americans turned them into horseburgers, wiping them off the surface of the continent.

Let's pause for a moment and think - what if horses didn't went extinct in the American continent? What do you think would have happened?

Many scenarios may play out, but if history is anything to go by, I would say the Americans (north and south) would have become a global powerhouse very much earlier.

Horse artifact

Go back into history and have a look, let us see how horses have helped the development and expansion of civilizations.

Horses are popular choice of ride for the Greek god Zeus

And of Odin of Norse Mythology too, but his ride Sleipnir has 8 legs. Earliest recorded case of "Pimp My Ride".

Horses had a variety of roles in the ancient civilizations, in helping out in agriculture, hunting, but especially increasing our mobility thousand times over. And it is this increase in mobility that quickly spurred (no pun intended) the expansion of empires.

It is no mistake that almost all huge empires in ancient times forged under military might made extensive use of horses, particularly in cavalry warfare.

Egyptian chariots are widely use in the military

The Assyrians are one of the early adopters of horses in warfare, before Persians made it a staple part of its army, breeding powerful warhorses and arming the mounted soldiers with armors. The Persian Empire, of course, was a vast and powerful empire at its time, if not the most powerful.

Then came Alexander the Great, who led an expansion campaign into Egypt and Persia. King Phillip of Macedon developed tactics for cavalry units which were passed down to Alexander. Alexander had a group of cavalrymen called the Companion Cavalry, the most prestigious group of elite soldiers of his army. The Companion troops spearheaded the campaign in Persia, acting as shock troops that uses the speed and power of the horses to pummel through enemy ranks.

Alexander the Great.

And then of course the Chinese, though isolated from the messier part of Europe and Middle-East at that time, independently developed horse warfare. Chinese states at that time which have limited access to horses are quickly dominated by the other states that has superior horse units. The Qin Dynasty (The first unified Chinese dynasty, you know under the guy who started the Great Wall project, Emperor Qin Shi-Huang) owed much of its success in conquering its neighboring states to cavalry.

A terracotta figure, dating before Qin Dynasty 

The Roman Empire used horses too, but didn't made so much use of it in the military. Romans are more fond of infantry. Then came the Hunnic Empire. Led by Attila the Hun, they made use of horse units and slapped the Roman Empire in the face; they had two very successful campaigns against the powerhouse of Europe.

The peak of Hunnic Empire under Attila

Let us not forget that the biggest empire in history was built by the finest horsemen at that time - the Mongols. They were the master of horses, grew up with them, learned to ride on horses before they can even walk. Their conquest of China and the Middle-East and the eastern part of Europe were mostly based on cavalry warfare (each soldier owns an average of 3 horses).

The Mongol horde

What followed were the Islamic Empires and Medieval Europe, both had their fair uses of horses in warfare. But I think I made enough points I do not need to elaborate on that part of history.

Your stereotypical Medieval knight

So, in summary, horses = military supremacy in ancient times.

Which begs the question, would there have been a widespread American Empire if horses didn't go extinct in the American continent, instead of the localized states? The Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, all built their civilization using human power alone, wonder what would happen if horses were there to lighten their work, not llamas.

Maybe they would have established a powerful empire by the time the Europeans discovered them. They may have already developed technologies that are of similar level, and not at such a disadvantage when the first Spanish Conquistadors tried to invade them. The Europeans may have failed to colonize them, and their civilization could have survived to this date. We wouldn't have to call South America the Latin America, because they speak variation of Latin (which came from Europe).

If they were widespread enough the British would have had a more difficult time trying to establish new settlements in North America. If they had developed their civilization faster, the American Empire might have been sailing long before Zheng-He from China start his expedition or Christopher Columbus touch down on America.

Maybe they might even invade Europe instead of the other way round. What a fascinating alternative history that would be. Hmm...



Till next time, cheers~