Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Another reason to fear climate change: Mongol Hordes! From Scientific American:
The Mongol hordes led by Genghis Khan carved out the largest contiguous land empire history has ever witnessed, reaching at its apex from Asia's Pacific coast to eastern Europe and down into Persia and southeastern Asia. Although conventional wisdom suggests drought may have pushed them across the steppe to conquer more bountiful lands, ancient, long-dead trees discovered in a forbidding lava field in Mongolia give evidence that unprecedented rains might actually have helped fuel their expansion.
I certainly hope Ricochet's own James Delingpole is correct about this whole climate change business, but it certainly seems like a wet and warm climate made Genghis Khan's work a whole lot easier:
All in all, the research team of U.S. and Mongolian scientists sampled 17 trees....
Surprisingly, their preliminary findings based on the tree ring data suggest the Mongol empire actually rose during a time of abundant rain. These would have turned grasslands there extraordinarily lush, enabled the Mongols to raise vast numbers of horses and other livestock. "There are actually massive wetlands in the area, and during a warm, wet period, they might have been incredibly productive," Hessl says. "There's actually quite a lot of evidence that the Mongols were practicing agriculture around there in the early 1200s, contrary to this image of Mongols as only herders and these horseback hordes."
And here comes the challenge: if climate change is real, and serious, who emerges as the next Mongol Horde to take advantage of the weather?
My guess: the Swedes. They've been quiet lately. Too quiet.
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Jul '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
So, it's climate conditions keeping America from carving out the largest contiguous land empire history has ever witnessed. Who knew?
Apr '11
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Some how I think the Mongol hoard will be less threatening now that we have guns and planes...
Oct '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Yes, centuries of suppressing the old Viking impulses can't be healthy, not to mention bearing the burden of being socialism's poster child. Always being on your best behavior so western elites have a counterweight to the current failings of Vietnam, China, Cuba, North Korea, or the historic failure of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, etc., etc..
It takes its toll.
Aug '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
There are only two things I hate: People who are intolerant of other people's cultures, and the Dutch.
Jul '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Rob Long:
My guess: the Swedes. They've been quiet lately. Too quiet. · · 38 minutes ago
Yeah. The Swedes are gonna get frisky. Gotta watch out for the southern Scandis. They always start the trouble.
The real concern though, is those Norwegians.
The Swedes are to the Turks as the Norwegians are to the Mongols. Just imagine Norwegians outdoors for 3-4 months out of the year. You can't stop them. You can only hope to contain them. It'll be lutefisk & lefse at every picnic, everywhere, forever.
If that isn't the equivalent of the Golden Horde I don't know what is.
Mar '11
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
The mongols were on their way to wipe out the Egyptians but they ran out of leadership and grass. The decisive battle at Ain Jalut in Sept. 1260 was in the Jezreel Valley of present day Israel.
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
As Gramps notes, there is a serious theory arguing that the limits of Mongol expansionism were dictated by a lack of pastureland. Not only at ‘Ayn Jâlût (“The Spring of Goliath,” interestingly enough), but in Hungary as well, since the Pannonian Plain starts giving way to the mountains and forest of Central Europe.
However, as Gramps alludes: the Mongols had their B team at ‘Ayn Jâlût, with the top guys all having taken off for “Xanadu” (Kaiping, today Doloon Nor) to take part in the khuriltai to name Möngke Khan’s successor.
Previously, after the fairly decisive Mongol victory at the battle of Mohi (1241), the Mongols never brought to bear the siege army they would have needed to invade Austria.
As Möngke’s death may have saved Egypt, his uncle Ögödei’s death may have saved Central Europe. On his succession later in 1241, Güyük Khan sent the requisite army under Sübödei, the greatest Mongol general (and history’s most famous Tuvan!), who had been plotting an invasion of the Holy Roman Empire, against the Southern Song.
Thereafter, there were no large-scale Mongol attempts to invade Europe.
Dec '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Rob,
When I was 7 years old there was this huge stack of old Scientific Americans in the hall outside of my father's study. I used to sit and read them facinated.
I don't know when it happened but at some point in my life Scientific American started to look not so scientific and not so impressive. The stories seemed to be a kind of hype for science. Whatever was trendy they'd have somebody go on and on about it. With sketchy evidence and plenty of logical jumps you'd feel like you knew about as much at the end of the article as at the beginning.
At least let me give you the proper theme music to set the mood for reading Scientific American. The Twentieth Century with Walter Cronkite.
Now if I was only 7 again.
Regards,
Jim
Jan '11
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
The Huns might make another go at it, if only to show those young Mongol punks how to do it old school.
Jun '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Finally! A premise for a disaster movie that's something new.
Dec '11
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Ah the Swedes. I am sure they are our closest allies and they punch above their weight. If they cannot make Saab's any more the only option is to retool and take over the world.
Everyone knows what this means, Ikea furniture in the Oval Office. We should have bought more Saabs. LOL
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Actually, Rob, I have a confession: I AM the incarnation of Genghis Khan. As witness my total mercilessness towards my enemies:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100146690/how-i-frazzled-richard-bacon/
Oct '11
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Beer, bacon, and now global warming: Is there anything they can't do?
Dec '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
All of you are missing what's right under your noses. It's not going to be the Swedes, the Dutch, or the Norwegians. Think North America people! Abundant rain, enormous grasslands & trees?
Beware The Hipster Hordes from the Pacific NW!
Oct '11
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Yes, but only if we have "hordes"...thanks
Apr '11
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
About five years ago I read that blue-eyed and blonde-haired traits are waning and will disappear altogether in a bout fifty years. Maybe you are right about the Swedes, a genetic bush back to extinction.
And it was the Mongol hordes that really put the fear of Allah in the Muslims back in the day.
Sep '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Rob Long:
It is funny that they mention the small sample size. Could you ask of question of 17 quasi-random people in a town of thousands and be confident your results represent the town's views? How about the climate of east Asia?
May '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Explains a lot
Sep '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
From the article quoted by Rob:
The basis of the tree ring/climate connection is that the wider rings correspond to higher temperature. This is why scientists who study this have made the likely erroneous claim that we are in the warmest period of the last 1500 years. However, when they compare tree ring data with the actual temperature data for the same area (which generally only exists for the last century) there is a problem. The tree ring data do not correlate well with the temperature data. This is called by dendro-climatologists as "the divergence problem", and getting rid of the divergence problem is the basis of the famous "hide the decline" email of climate-gate.
Now after all the fuss, about treemometers we find out that they were really tree-rain gauges.
Dec '10
Re: Global Warming = Mongol Hordes
Ross Conatser
From the article quoted by Rob:
The basis of the tree ring/climate connection is that the wider rings correspond to higher temperature. This is why scientists who study this have made the likely erroneous claim that we are in the warmest period of the last 1500 years. However, when they compare tree ring data with the actual temperature data for the same area (which generally only exists for the last century) there is a problem. The tree ring data do not correlate well with the temperature data. This is called by dendro-climatologists as "the divergence problem", and getting rid of the divergence problem is the basis of the famous "hide the decline" email of climate-gate.
Now after all the fuss, about treemometers we find out that they were really tree-rain gauges. ·
I was an analytical instrument salesman. We used to refer to this as "The data wasn't worth a @#%* problem". If we sold this kind of junk the customer wanted their money back or the damn thing fixed pronto.
Regards,
Jim