Saturday, June 25, 2016

Cossacks Conquer Siberia


What story has been more dramatic in history than how a small army under Yermak Timofief conquered the last redoubt of the barbarians in 1581?  Unlike Cortez's conquest of Mexico or Pizzarro's conquest of Peru, the Siberia/Mongolia region had launched barbarian invasions of civilizations from China to Europe and Africa since the beginning of civilization.  Sometimes the inhabitants of the region had expanded and pressured neighbors to migrate outward and thereby pressure their neighbors and so on until barbarians inhabiting remote regions bordering on civilizations in turn had to migrate and invade. 

One looking at history from the vantage point of the Roman Empire would have thought the homeland of the barbarians to be so strong that only the largest and most determined army could have conquered it.  That Yermak's men did it on a Cortez-style invasion, makes this story both so remarkable and important.
For more information on <i>Prelude to the Siberian Conquest</i> here is an installment from Cossaks Conquer Siberia by Nickolay M. Karamzin: http://dld.bz/eDC5z

and

Don't forget The Basic History Library (free). ------------->

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