An
Explanation
of
MilitarySlavery
57
thenewmilitary
order
acquiredpolitical
andeconomic
power
too
andevolvedintoan
aristocracy.
Thus,the
stirrup
ledtoaseries
of
adjustments
whichcreatedasocialdivision
inwestern
Europe:
it
produced
amilitary aristocracy
and
charged
the
peasantry
withtheexpense.
Did the
stirrup
have a
comparable
effectin Islamdom?
Perhaps
itcausedashift
alonggeographic
ratherthansociallines.
In
mostofthe
heavilypopulated parts
oftheEasternHemi-
sphere(notably
thoseinNorthAfrica,theMiddleEast,India,
and
China),
war-horsescouldnotberaised.
8
Theintroduction
ofthe
stirrup
enhanced
the
power
ofthe
peoplesliving
where
horses could be raised--primarily
in
steppe
lands and in
deserts--andreducedthestrength
of
peoplesliving
in
densely
inhabitedareas, especially
cities.
Bymaking
horses moreim-
portant
towarfare,the
stirrup
redistributed
power
fromciv-
ilizedtobarbarian
peoples.
Thenon-horse-breeding
areas
in
Islamdom,
like the
peasantry
in western
Europe,
became a
nearlypassive
sourceoffundsforthehorse
aristocracy,
inthis
casefromthe
steppes
anddeserts.Thecentersofcivilization
cameunderassaultfromhorseLbreeding
barbarians
during
the
roughly
sevencenturies
when
cavalryreignedsupreme(700-
1400
c.E.).
Ifone
accepts
this
reasoning--and
I
propose
itherewithout
being
convincedofit
myself--thenmilitary
slaveryappears
tobe
ananswer
by
thecivilizedcenterstothe
predations
ofthe
horse
barbarians.Thecentersadopted
various
strategies
todealwith
thehorsemen:
allmadeeffortsto
acquire
horsesoftheirown;
andtheMuslimsalsomadethe
imaginative
and
successful
effort
to
bring
intheriderstoo.Thus,
militaryslavery
canbe
under-
stoodasaresponse
totheshiftin
military
balancecaused
by
the
stirrup.
To
explainmilitaryslavery
inthis
way
alsoneatlyac-
countsforits
appearance
not
long
afterthe
stirrupappeared
on
thescene,withoutanyreference
toIslam.Unliketheclimaticor
Turkic
reasons,
thisoneanswers
whymilitaryslavery
didnot
7.Its
possible
effectsinsub-SaharanAfricaarediscussed
inJ.
Goody,
Technol-
ogy,
Tradition,andtheStatein
Africa
(London,1971),pp.
34-37.
8.Here,asso
often,Japan
resembles
Western
Europe.