Empire of Horses: The First Nomadic Civilization and the Making of China

by John Man

An authoritative and rich history of the remarkable Xiongnu culture—a lost empire which preceded the Mongols and even China itself.

The author of landmark histories such as Genghis Khan , Attila , and Xanadu invites us to discover a fertile period in Asian history that prefigured so much of the world that followed.

The people of the first nomadic empire left no written records, but from 200 bc they dominated the heart of Asia for four centuries, and changed the world in the process. The Mongols, today’s descendants of Genghis Khan, see these people as ancestors. Their rise cemented Chinese identity and inspired the first Great Wall. Their descendants helped destroy the Roman Empire under the leadership of Attila the Hun.

We don’t know what language they spoke, but they became known as Xiongnu , or Hunnu , a term passed down the centuries and surviving today as “Hun,” and Man uncovers new evidence that will transform our understanding of the profound mark they left on half the globe, from Europe to Central Asia and deep into China.

Based on meticulous research and new archaeological evidence, Empire of Horses traces this civilization’s epic story and shows how this nomadic cultures of the steppes gave birth to an empire with the wealth and power to threaten the order of the ancient world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, War, Ancient History

336 pages, Hardcover

Published February 4, 2020

About the author

John Anthony Garnet Man is a British historian and travel writer. His special interests are China, Mongolia and the history of written communication. He takes particular pleasure in combining historical narrative with personal experience.

He studied German and French at Keble College, Oxford, before doing two postgraduate courses, a diploma in the History and Philosophy of Science at Oxford and Mongolian at the School of Oriental and African Studies, completing the latter in 1968. After working in journalism with Reuters and in publishing with Time-Life Books, he turned to writing, with occasional forays into film, TV and radio.

In the 1990s, he began a trilogy on the three major revolutions in writing: writing itself, the alphabet and printing with movable type. This has so far resulted in two books, Alpha Beta and The Gutenberg Revolution, both republished in 2009. The third, on the origin of writing, is on hold, because it depends on access to Iraq.

He returned to the subject of Mongolia with Gobi: Tracking the Desert, the first book on the region since the 1920s. Work in Mongolia led to Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection, which has so far appeared in 18 languages. Attila the Hun and Kublai Khan: The Mongol King Who Remade China completed a trilogy on Asian leaders. A revised edition of his book on Genghis Khan, with the results of an expedition up the mountain on which he is supposed to be buried, was upcoming in autumn 2010.

The Terracotta Army coincided with the British Museum exhibition (September 2007- April 2008). This was followed by The Great Wall. The Leadership Secrets of Genghis Khan combines history and leadership theory. Xanadu: Marco Polo and the Discovery of the East was published in autumn 2009, and Samurai: The Last Warrior, the story of Saigō Takamori's doomed 1877 rebellion against the Japanese emperor, was published in February 2011.

In 2007 John Man was awarded Mongolia's Friendship Medal for his contributions to UK-Mongolian relations.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jan 4, 3pm ~~ Review asap.

Jan 4, 1030pm ~~ In 2021 I decided to tour Mongolia. I ransacked my bookcases (and ordered a few other titles) and ended up with 17 books to read: mostly history and travel, but also one novel. I managed to read nine from this list during the year but I got distracted by John Steinbeck and Virginia Woolf before I could get any further along.

Luckily in a personal challenge there is no pressure to finish by a certain date. Besides, I also ended up switching one book for this one. I saw this in a search of Horse Books at Thriftbooks, otherwise I might never have known anything about it. I thought it would be a good choice for the beginning of the second leg of my trek through Mongolia, because the author attempts to tell the story of a nomadic people who lived in Mongolia before it was even an actual country.

Nothing like going back over 2000 years to see what you can learn about a part of the world that interests you! lol

John Man tells us in his introduction that
"This is the story of the Xiongnu: how they arose, how they affected history, how they vanished, how we know about them, and how archeology is adding another dimension of understanding to the written sources."

Xiongnu is the Chinese word for what Mongolians call the Hunnu (Mongolians consider these people their ancestors). As Man says, this book is an attempt to tell their story. But all of the source material is left to us by the Chinese, who viewed the Xiongnu as barbarian enemies of their own people. So there is much bias against them in the chronicles. However, as Man also explains, there would not have been a unified China without the Xiongnu to fight against. On the other hand, without a pre-China state to fight against, there would not have been a unified group of Hunnu either. They all sort of fed off each other and set history as we know it in motion.

But this is a huge theme for such a small book. Man begins with the Scythians, another almost unknown group of ancient steppe dwellers, and the first few chapters were fascinating. But in the middle I got a little bogged down and began to struggle. So many names being tossed into the pot, so many phrases in parenthesis and promises of returning to a certain person or event in a future chapter. I began to feel a little lost and frustrated. So I did not enjoy the book as much as I expected I would. But someday I will return to it and see if I can sort things out a bit better as I go along.

I have another book by John Man in my Mongolia list: a biography of Genghis Khan, who created a unified Mongolia two thousand years after the Xiongnu. Of course I know most of his story already, but now I am curious to see how Man handles the topic.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very good book exploring the fascinating Xiongnu people of the Eurasian Steppe. They were basically the Mongols before there were Mongols (steppe people, pastoral, deadly horse archers, scourge of China) and their story is well worth exploring. Because they left no written record evidence from (biased) Chinese sources and archeological digs are needed to understand them. Because they are so intertwined with China this book was just as much about the early unified China polity as it was about the Xiongnu. Overall it was a well told narrative about the events that unfolded over the course of nearly 2 centuries, but I found the diversions to the modern day travels of the author a bit distracting and unnecessary.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to see a Xiongnu-centered English language history. Though the author does do a lot of that 'now lets have a diversion while I talk about something in the present' that I usually cannot stand, he actually does it much better than most and its usually on topic in the end.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

There has long been a fascinating connection between the various nomadic realms of the steppes to the north and west of China and China itself, and how it is that increasing centralization within China had consequences around it. This is true not only in the area spoken of in this book, namely with the Xiongnu (Hunnu), the main subject of this book, but with other areas like China, Burma, Thailand, Korea, and Japan as well. Similar to the process by which edge induced cohesion works along other imperial frontiers, where empires were brought into existence first on one side of a boundary and then on another, the author explores the Quin and Han dynasties and their behaviors and the way that this influenced the Xiongnu, and how it was that China eventually outflanked the Xiongnu and thus gained greater strength, thus presaging the common solution of China to dealing with threats to its north by expanding to its west, a strategy that exists to this day and accounts for the troubled Chinese rule over Tibet and East Turkistan to this day. The author does not examine too many of the possible implications but the discussion here is certainly enough for the reader to advance such matters.

This book is almost 300 pages long and is divided into thirteen chapters with various other materials. The book begins with a list of Chanyus, a timeline, maps, and an introduction to the rise of the Qin and what that meant for Chinese relationships with the "barbarians" across the Great Wall. After that the author explores the rise of the Xiongnu (I), including how they gained mastery of the steppes (1), their move into Ordos (2), the growing threat a unified China under the Qin dynasty provided for them (3), and the efforts of Meng Tian to build a straight road as the Qin faced disaster (4). The author then explores the peak of the Xiongnu during the early part of the Han dynasty (II), with a discussion of their first empire of the steppes (5), the hidden agenda of China's grand historian (6), the phony peace and phony war that held for decades (7), and the eventual successful Chinese strategy to disrupt Xiongnu power by ruling over the oasis cities of Turkistan (8). The book then explores the collapse of the Xiongnu (III), by looking at the decline and fall of their state (9), the Chinese policy of princesses for peace (10), the shock of surrender when the Xiongnu first gave in to China (11), the division and eventual destruction of the Xiongnu (12), and the possible connection between the Xiongnu and the Huns (13), after which the book ends with an epilogue on the lasting legacy of the Xiongnu, a bibliography, acknowledgements, picture credits, and an index.

By and large this book is deeply entertaining as it explores the problems that China faced vis-a-vis various nomadic groups in terms of attempting to buy their peacefulness, leading to a protection racket which allowed the nomadic groups to maintain power through control of the spoils in a way that did not corrupt them for long periods of time sometimes extending to centuries. Similar to the American means of arming our next enemies, the Chinese did the same thing with regards to the various barbarians at their northern boundary, opening up trade that allowed nomads to upgrade their weapons and gain the necessary goods that allowed them to prosper while engaging in tense periods of truces marked by raiding along the boundary regions of the Ordos that, even to this day, are boundaries between settled agriculture and less settled nomadic herding. The author explores what is needed in terms of leadership to take advantage of the opportunities provided by being next door neighbor to a centralized empire, which allows for fascinating dynamics by which people seek to appeal to others and deceive themselves as to what they are about, and sometimes to change their behavior drastically as a means of proving that they are still powerful when they are no longer so, alas, as happens here on both the Chinese side and the Xiongnu side.

[Lyri Ahnam · Rating 3 out of 5]

Empire of Horses provides a (very) detailed history of the first horse nomads of the eastern Eurasian steppe. They were the Hunnu, or simply “Huns,” who harried China for centuries before their descendants would devastate the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries CE.

In the 220s BCE, China began seizing territory that was the domain of the nomads for centuries.The author suggests many of the political and military advances of the Hunnu and Chinese empire were driven by ongoing conflict over this area. “China’s unification created pressures that would soon spill over into the steppes, inspiring the nomads to match the power of the new China, and confront it. Unity and pressure on one side led to unity and counter-pressure on the other.”

The nomads frequently raided the borderlands of ancient China, for the Hunnu emperor “had a problem common to many other empire-builders. He had a large army, followers hungry for wealth, and a court with rituals and ceremonies to be followed. All this was expensive. …expansion was a necessity. An empire needs to grow to find more growth.”

“Pastoral nomads were natural warriors, their skills honed by hunting, both as individuals and in groups.” The military might of these Hunnu nomads was based on their recurve composite bows:
“The power of this weapon was astonishing. At close range, say 50 to 100 meters, arrows from a “heavy” bow have the penetration of many types of bullets. The right sort of arrow with the right sort of head can slam through a half-inch of wood. Through armor too. "

“The range is equally astonishing, as the earliest inscription in Mongol reveals: ”Yesunge hit a target at 335 alds.” This means Yesunge hit a target a half a kilometer away, approximately a seven-minute walk.

The author describes a pastoral culture rich with symbolic ornamentation:
“Belts were important to nomads, signifying status, power, adulthood and identity.”
“Like the Skythians, they turned the skulls of slain enemies into wine-cups [and] sewed their scalps into clothes or tied them to the reins of their horses”
Elite graves contained: patterned felt, lacquered wooden bowls, bronze pots, spoons of horn, bone hair-pins men used to braid their hair, knee-length underpants of wool and silk, bronze buckles, fur hats, jade decorations, golden jewelry, silver plates with yaks and deer in bas-relief, felt carpets and embroidered tapestries.

The author also provides a fun description of high-status women in the empirical courts of ancient China: “The mere suggestion that a king or emperor had failed to treat his mother with proper deference would be sufficient to cast a shadow of guilt over his whole regime. …Time and again we discover [court women] maneuvering behind the scenes to bring pressure upon their lovers and sons; in scene after scene we see concubines dissolving into persuasive tears before their lords, or testy old women carrying on like spoiled children until they get their way…[or] the figure of the determine matriarch contriving to dictate the lives of her offspring.”

The Chinese court often sent “princesses” to wed Hunnu emperors, hoping the women would “civilize” the barbaric nomads. Here’s a princess entering the Hunnu emperor’s tent for the first time: “Inside she sees two circles of poles holding the great dome of felt, over a floor covered by felt carpets with intricate designs of semi-mythical animals…[Emperor] Huhanye, warned of her arrival hours before, sits on a gold-plated wooden throne, flanked by advisers. Back home Han courtiers imagine her to be in misery, far from it. She is at the heart of a rich empire, well supplied with Chinese products, and with Chinese companions chosen from the thousands of captive servants. She has wealth and authority she could never have dreamed of in Chang’an….She has a lot to learn, and she’s terrified. But it’s not a bad outlook for a teenager who was until recently a tiny cog in the vast machine of the Chang’an court.”

Empire of Horses is a rich exploration of early steppe nomads and their relationship to ancient China.

[Chris Jaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This pop history is at times engaging and at times wearying.

It's about the Xiongnu, the first major empire on the central Asian steppe that China dealt with. Also, some believe them to be the Huns (or at least the forerunners of the Huns). Man traces their history - or what we know of it, which is spotty since all our records of them come from the outside looking in, most obviously China. Because we don't know much about them directly, Man tells a lot of stories along the side, such as the rise of the Qin Dynasty in China or about the Battle of Adrianople where the Goths destroyed a Roman army.

The early parts were the most engaging. Man argues that the rise of the Xiongnu was directly tied to the rise of a unified China. The new and improved China made a juicy target for Xiongnu raids, and to forestall that, China paid them off. That money gave the steppe empire the ability to keep going. Thus it's not a coincidence that they rose up with the unification of China.

But the book loses me as it goes along, spending too much time on a series of military campaigns between the two sides. Some chapters felt like he was filling out the book's length. The book picks up later on, but I couldn't never get fully invested in it again.

Short version: the Xiongnu fell into internal discord, which China used to press an advantage over them, making them essentially a vassal state. Later, they were dispersed to the west.

So - were they the Hun? No one really knows. In China, it's taken as a given that they were. But the archeological evidence can be read either way. The Hun themselves had no stories of China in their origin. (But that just might mean they were so embarrassed by being driven out that they negated that from their cultural memory). If nothing else, some Xiongnu probably joined up with what became the Hun. Ethnic/group identities could be pretty fluid back then. (Those last two sentences are from me, not the book).

I'd give it 3.5 stars, but it feels right to round down to 3 than to round up to 4 stars.

[Voice_of_Reason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am about 1/3 of the way through Man's wonderful book and thoroughly enjoying it.

However as someone who speaks Chinese it drives me crazy that Man, and other noted authors writing about China cannot get Chinese names correct.

Example. In chapter 7 he introduces a eunuch he identifies as Zhonghang Yue. OK, I can live with that but that's not how Chinese identify themselves. E.g., it's Mao Zedong, not Zedong Mao.

What really is wrong is that when Man subsequently mentions Zhonghang Yue, he identifies him as Zhonghang!! This would be like introducing George Washington into a history and the next time you raise his name you identify him as George and not Washington.

Does this not bother anyone else???

[Ernest Spoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful chatty little book on the powerful yet obscure Xiongnu empire, from its rise in the mid-Second Century BCE to its demise in the early Second Century CE.

Obscure because as a nomadic culture the Xiongnu had no written language of their own. So everything that comes down to the present day is either through Han Dynasty written sources and the archaeological record. In some respects the Xiongnu bring to mind the two North American horse based empires of the 19th Century, the Comanche and Lakota Sioux.

[Matthew Sartor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated the idea of Empire of Horses, but I think the execution was not up to par. The chapter separations did not feel like a cohesive narrative, as much of this book had to focus on the times around the Xiongnu, rather than themselves. I think this is due to lack of written source material other than those provided by Simi Qian and also was catered for a western audience that may not have an understanding of the times. Despite this, I think flow of book could have been better.

[Rebecca Freitag · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book with the intention of learning more about Asian history. What I learned is that there is so much more that I am unaware of. This book made me realize that the words "The more you know, the more you know nothing at all" couldn't ring more true. There is always more to learn, and I'm eager to do so.

[Arminius · Rating 2 out of 5]

From research it was found that the Xiongnu tribe competed with the Chin tribe for the country of China. The Xiongnu caused the Great Wall to be built. The Chin emperor Wu's determination had finally defeated Xiognu and the Chin dynasty took control and thus became China.

[Joey · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75/5

An incredibly well-researched examination of the Xiongnu, but one that often meanders, dives into tangents, and plays with time in a way that’s less interesting than the author thinks.

[Sisyphus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Give me a Xiongnu anime series please

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

For one of the few accessible works about the Xiongnu in English, this is such a frustrating book. The first few chapters set the scene and introduce the Xiongnu, their culture, and their unique rise to prominence on the steppes of Central Asia: this is Man’s best writing on display as he draws the conclusion that the unification of the Chinese polities during the Warring States period precipitated a similar coalescing among the nomadic peoples to the north.

However, his tone is too chatty, too prone to digressions and asides. So much of the middle of the book is taken up by minute military campaigns and extended detours, losing the book’s momentum and my interest. It isn’t until the end that Man tries to recapture the point of his writing but by then, it was already too late.

There was so much wasted potential – the Xiongnu are a fascinating people and their rise to challenge the early Chinese imperial state raises important questions about China’s expansion into western Asia, but Man spends too long bogged down in the weeds, so to speak, talking about roads, tribute missions, and quoting Sima Qian at length to answer them.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweeping. Not in the majestic, perspective-warping sense of an IMAX camera but more in the sense of a modest broom, perhaps one wielded by an adorable archaeologist brimming with joy at unearthing a half-inch shard of pottery not because of the clay castles he can now build in the skies of time but because it is bigger than the quarter inch he found a decade ago.

Xiongnu or hunnu or hun.

Modun tells soldiers to shoot what he shoots. Those who don’t are executed. His favorite horse, dead, with those who do not shoot. His favorite wife. Then his father the Chanyu.

The Dong ask for tribute. The father, Temun’s stallion. Advisors say no. Modun says tis but a horse. Then for one of Modun’s wives. Greatest insult. Why break the peace. Then a wasteland. Advisors say tis but useless land. Modun in towering rage: land is essence of nation. Destroys the Dong.

Only after Genghis’ death does his son Ogedei devise ideology for past conquests - in the name of the mongol god Tengri, Khokh Tenger, Blue Heaven.

Chanyu -> 2 viceroys the Left Wise King and Right Wise King. Then 24 great chiefs.

[Shrike58 · Rating 3 out of 5]

File under something is better than nothing, as the author pulls together what is known about the Xiongnu, the first great nomadic adversaries of the Chinese state, and the possible ultimate ancestors of the Huns. My basic problem is that, at a certain point, Man feels like he's piling up anecdotes from the Chinese historical classics of varying degrees of relevance just to fill space. However, Man at least knows where he wants to get to, and has historical problems that he's examining, which is a plus over some of the narrative histories I've read of late.

[Brett Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disappointing as the book is mostly about the China of the Xiongnu era and the perspective of Chinese observers. This is understandable in some ways as there is little on the written records by the Xiongnu themselves, but it is analogous to writing a history of Africa that depends almost entirely on British records. It is inherently unsatisfying. More could have been done with the archeological record, with linguistics, and with ethnology.