The Impact of the Equine Revolution

J. Andrew McLaughlin
© 2001

What was the impact of the equine revolution on early humans?  How did this series of developments affect travel, agriculture, warfare, and the general standard of living of the peoples who domesticated the horse?  This domestication, a.k.a. the "equine revolution", and resulting impact on human society was one of the most important technological developments to that point in history.   It ranks alongside the invention of the wheel in terms of significance. Accordingly, "…many ancient peoples believed that the taming of the horse was their most significant accomplishment" (1).  This change had the strongest impact on areas such as travel, warfare, and the exchange of culture and technology, but also to a lesser degree affected agriculture, and generally improved standards of living.  It also reflects a change in the level of cultural sophistication, which would have been necessary to support the maintenance of such livestock.

The initial domestication of the horse was believed to be for the purpose of food production rather than for riding, or for use as draught animals, since "At first they probably thought of horses exclusively as food … It is not clear when (or where) humans first reasoned that they could domesticate horses for food rather than chasing wild bands over the steppe" (2), and "…it is not clear exactly when humans began to ride their horses" (3).

Undoubtedly, this additional stable food source was of great benefit to the early peoples who partook of the equine revolution.  It has been suggested that food production of this sort played a significant role in human development: "the change from food gatherers to food producers undoubtedly was a major step in the dietary history of mankind – a turning point which led to humans’ gains in height, weight, and perhaps intelligence" (4).  However significant this may (or may not) be, clearly "dietary staple" is not the most notable contribution of the horse to the development of human society.

The most obvious effect of the equine revolution was the impact upon societies’ ability to travel.  As we know, a horse can travel much farther, faster, than a human can travel on foot.  One of the biggest challenges which faced the ancient Persian Emperors (such as Darius I) was that of coherency amongst the far-flung regions of their new empire.  This is a problem which had faced the Assyrian empire before them and which the earlier Mesopotamian culture had failed to solve (resulting in frequent uprisings and rebellions).  The horse provided for the much faster transit of messages and troops throughout the Persian Empire.  It’s not unreasonable to suggest that an empire the size of the Persians’ could not have existed without the aid of the horse for transportation purposes.

While it has been demonstrated that the domestication of the horse allowed great increases in the travelling range of the societies which used them, a side benefit of this was that it facilitated a much greater exchange of ideas and technology with neighboring cultures and peoples.  The advent of the horse being used for riding purposes (along with later advances in seafaring technology) marked the beginning of an explosion of knowledge in humankind’s dominant societies.  The statement that "by 1000 B.C.E., the domestication of the horse had spread to Europe, Asia, and northern Africa…" (5) suggests that the domestication of horse loosely coincided with the end of the "dark ages" (characterized by a lack of writing technology) of the ancient Greek culture, which came to an end sometime around 700 B.C.E.  Exposure to the Phoenician alphabet adopted by the Greeks would have been greatly accelerated by this new enhanced capability of travel, made possible by the horse. Aside from such specific (and potentially arguable) examples, it is a easy thing to accept that a greater range of travel exposed the horse-riding cultures to a much greater variety of dissimilar peoples.  Thus, the horse would have been at least partially responsible for an increasing level of sophistication in early societies and a greater body of collective human knowledge.

The equine revolution also had a significant effect on the way in which ancient societies were able to practice warfare.  One of the best known examples of a sizable and effective cavalry force is that of Genghis Khan’s Mongol hordes.   The Mongols, famous for their short pony-like horses and fearsome numbers, were the most formidable Asian fighting force of their time.  Although generally speaking, mounted soldiers would have been much more expensive to maintain than foot soldiers (such as the Greek "hoplites"), they also potentially represented much greater "value" in battle – more intimidating and effective.  A strictly mounted force would have been able to cover much more ground than soldiers without horses, thus potentially accelerating the pace of military campaigns.  For an example of the battlefield "intimidation factor", one can look to modern day police forces in the Western world, who employ horses as an effective crowd- and riot-control tool.   Officers claim that when faced with such an imposing beast as a large horse, agitated individuals are quickly calmed.  The horse is known to produce a similar effect in the course of warfare.  Thus, cultures which adopted the horse as a fighting tool had a much greater opportunity for empire-building, and the wealth and cultural influence that that implies.

Horses were not often utilized as draught animals by those earliest cultures who adopted them, so the animals were not likely to have had a significant direct impact on the techniques used in agriculture until a later period in history: "The use of the horse as a load puller came somewhat later, having to wait for technological innovations for the horse to be adopted to this work." (6).   However, it is likely that with the advent of horses in other roles, the types of crops grown by some farmers would have changed in particular instances for the purpose of feeding horses.

The equine revolution had a strong impact upon the standard of living of those early civilizations whom it affected.  The clearest example of this is apparent from the military and trading advantages available to horse-equipped cultures.  Those societies with mounted cavalries would have enjoyed a significant advantage on the battlefield; thus they would have been more able to conduct military campaigns, complete conquests, and to stockpile the associated plunder.  Success in martial affairs would have increased wealth (particularly that of rulers and soldiers, but secondarily the wealth of the society in general), which in turn would naturally have improved the general standard of living.  Less significant – but still worth noting – is the fact that a number of specialized professions developed in direct response to the importance of horses.  Smiths for example would have been needed to make horse-shoes (where they were used), in addition to the other assorted trades related to equipage. Specialized work of these sorts indicates a society which has progressed beyond merely acquiring its bare needs for survival.

A civilization capable of supporting numbers of horses (whether for travel, agriculture, warfare, or all of these) indicates a people who have reached a certain level of sophistication and wealth.  Naturally, horses require food; if that food is not produced from agricultural reserves (e.g. barley grown by farmers), then the horses must be allowed to wander and forage for grasses to eat.  Even this less burdensome scenario (not having to grow food for horses) would require some investment in fences, "horse-herders" or other containment mechanism.  Either way, it is indicative of a civilization which has acquired some degree of wealth and sophistication.   Needless to say, a people who are having trouble feeding or sheltering themselves are not likely to regard feeding and sheltering horses as a very beneficial arrangement (indeed, the horses themselves might begin to look rather appetizing!).  It’s clear that any society capable of supporting a horse population has progressed beyond a subsistence standard of living.

The equine revolution constituted a great technological development for ancient peoples.  Much like the invention of the wheel or the mastery of fire, horses had a significant and lasting influence on all of those cultures who adopted them.  The greatest impact of the horse was in the areas of travel, warfare, and cultural knowledge, in addition to affecting agriculture and generally improving the standard of living.   The horse’s value has persisted through the ages – as recently as the last century, people in Europe and North America have relied on horses for their daily transportation.  Although we are less reliant upon horses in the present day, horses still have active roles to play.  This is a tribute to the animal and the peoples who first domesticated it.

 

References

  1. Weisner, Wheeler, Doeringer and Page, Discovering the Global Past: A Look at the Evidence volume I: To 1600 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997), 100.
  2. Ibid., 102
  3. Ibid., 102
  4. Ibid., 100
  5. Ibid., 102
  6. Ibid., 103

 

Bibliography

Weisner, Wheeler, Doeringer and Page, Discovering the Global Past: A Look at the Evidence volume I: To 1600 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997)