Historically, northern barbarians existed in both Europe and East Asia.
In Europe, there are mainly three barbarians: Germans, Celts, and Slavs.
East Asia stretches endlessly from the Huns, the Turks, to the Khitan, Jurchen, and Mongolia.
As nomads, they were far behind the powerful agricultural civilization regime in the south. Europe was the Roman Empire, and East Asia was the prosperous Han and Tang Dynasties of China.
However, the northern barbarians in Europe (mainly the Germans) not only defeated powerful opponents, but also launched the industrial revolution, created modern civilization, and staged a wonderful drama of counterattack.
Let’s take a look at the countries where Germanic people are the mainstay: Britain, the United States, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. All are countries that occupy important positions in the world political and economic arena.
On the other hand, the northern barbarians in East Asia have established many regimes in the long history, and even gave birth to conquerors like Genghis Khan who shocked the world, but after all, they were short-lived and lost to everyone. Nowadays, the development level of these countries or regions is not high, and they can only rely on "singing and dancing" to attract attention.
In ZhongG, the economic level of the northern region with a high degree of ethnic integration is also getting bigger and bigger than that of the southern region that has experienced several times of "clothes to the south".
They are all northern barbarians, why is there such a big gap? I think there are two main reasons for this.
1. Different geographical and climatic conditions
In northern Europe, except for the mountains of the same name on the Scandinavian Peninsula, the rest are endless plains or low hills; the westerly wind prevails all year round, and a large amount of warm and humid air from the ocean is brought over, resulting in lush water and grass, which is very suitable for nomads Life.
Although the temperature in northern Europe is not as high as that in the south, it is much warmer than regions at the same latitude because of the North Atlantic warm current passing by. Its latitude is similar to the northeast of ZhongG, but its temperature is comparable to that of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. And there is no severe cold in winter and no severe heat in summer.
The terrain of Europe is fragmented, the ocean goes deep into the land, the coastline is tortuous, there are many rivers, most of which are not frozen all year round, and the fishery resources are very rich.
Therefore, the living environment in most parts of northern Europe is not bad. The early Germanic people were still nomadic. The excellent natural conditions made them slowly incorporate fishing, hunting, breeding, planting and other lifestyles, which created conditions for the steady development of productivity.
On the northern side of East Asia, there are plateaus and high mountains; most areas are far from the ocean, and there are few rivers; the monsoon prevails, with southeast winds blowing in spring and summer, and northwest winds blowing in autumn and winter.
Summer is fine, not too cold, and the southeast monsoon also brings moisture from the ocean. In winter, it will be a sad reminder. The dry and cold air from Siberia and the Mongolian Plateau continue to move southward, coupled with the blocking effect of the Daxing'an Mountains, Yinshan Mountains and other mountains, the cold air continues to accumulate here. It is not a place for people to stay at all, it is called a place of bitter cold.
Compared with northern Europe, the living environment in northern East Asia is much worse. The natural and climatic conditions are not very good. It is not suitable for growing crops, and there is no place for fishing and hunting. Apart from raising cattle and sheep, they cannot do other things. So they turned their attention to the relatively warm and humid south.
It is a pity that they have been fighting for this, but they did not achieve their wish in the end. Therefore, for most of the time, the life of the barbarians in northern East Asia was very difficult, productivity has not been improved, and other aspects have been difficult to develop.
2. Different opponents
When the Germanic people were still living on the grasslands in northern Europe by grazing cattle, sheep, fishing and catching shrimps, the southern part was already a prosperous and developed Roman Empire, which spanned Asia, Africa and Europe, and the vast Mediterranean Sea was its inland sea. . The lower reaches of the Nile River in Africa, where the climate is warm and the water is abundant, is its main food producing area, which guarantees the wealth and strength of the empire.
However, the Roman Empire had a fatal weakness - it was still in slavery. The empire continued to fight to open up land and took more people into slavery. With the development of productive forces, the production relations of slavery could no longer adapt, so the weakness and split of the huge empire was inevitable—it split into two parts, east and west.
The Western Roman Empire, whose territory is mostly in Europe, still uses Rome as its capital, but lost the food production areas in the lower reaches of the Nile River, which was fatal to farming and civilized countries. Slave owners occupied property and slaves, and they even made slaves fight with wild animals for pleasure, which further aroused the fierce resistance of slaves.
At this time, the Turks who were defeated by the Chinese and Han Dynasty continued to move westward and invaded the places where the Germanic people lived, forcing the Germanic people to challenge the Western Roman Empire.
In the end, the Western Roman Empire, which suffered internal and external troubles, was destroyed by the Germans. They built the feudal states of Europe on the ruins.
The luck of the Germanic people is that the relatively friendly living environment in northern Europe allowed them to dig out the first pot of gold, and then seized the butterfly transition period of the Western Roman Empire from the slave era to the feudal era, and strangled it in the chrysalis in one fell swoop. , thus becoming an agent of feudalism in Europe.
The northern barbarians in East Asia were not so lucky. The living environment was bad, and they got a lottery—their neighbor was the only uninterrupted ancient civilization with a long standby time on this planet—the Chinese civilization.
The Chinese civilization originated in the Yellow River Basin. When the grasslands in the north were still ignorant, they entered the feudal era early and occupied the vast land on the East Asian continent that was most suitable for human habitation. When the barbarians in the north came to their senses, a Great Wall had already blocked them from the Great Wall.
What to do, just fight. The barbarians sharpened their knives and fed their horses on the grasslands, gave birth to children, and when their soldiers were strong and their horses were strong, or when there was chaos in the south, they planned to go south.
They had a glorious moment in the Central Plains, and even ruled the world for a time.
However, the farming people in the south are extremely tenacious. Since Qin Shihuang merged the six kingdoms, the ambition to unify the world has been engraved into the genes of the rulers of all dynasties; the feeling of "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world" has also made the elite among the peasants take "restoring China" as their duty.
Moreover, the Chinese civilization has a strong attraction and inclusiveness. Before long, the barbarians will either be driven back to the north, or they will be lost in the vast ocean of Chinese civilization.
As a result, the barbarians in the north changed crop after crop, and Huaxia was still that Huaxia. It is really "China made of iron, barbarians of flowing water"; this is completely different from the "after Rome, there will be no Rome" in Europe.
Therefore, based on the above two points, compared with the northern barbarians in Europe, the initial conditions of the northern barbarians in East Asia are not good, and no novice gift packs have been drawn; the opponents are too strong, and they are big bosses at the beginning, and they cannot get improvement conditions of various resources. How do you play this tm?
However, the harsh living environment and powerful opponents in northern East Asia also forged the most powerful nomadic army in the history of cold weapons-Mongolian cavalry. Genghis Khan and his successors, leading this fearsome iron cavalry, expanded their territory on the Eurasian continent, destroyed more than 100 countries, and established the largest empire in world history-the Mongol Empire. In its heyday, its territory amounted to more than 33 million square kilometers, which is more than three times the current territory of China. The northern barbarians in East Asia ushered in the pinnacle of their lives.
But they didn't hold their hands for a long time. There was no way. With the conditions of communication and transportation at that time, they couldn't rule such a large area. The empire quickly fell apart, the fragmented headquarters and various khanates, and the people in the occupied areas continued to resist. In the end, they were driven back into the vast grassland.
And the northern barbarians in Europe, after being polished by the long night of the Middle Ages, suddenly woke up and started the religious reform and renaissance; Get dragged into the civilizing process and brutal carnage.
Today, the descendants of northern barbarians in Europe not only exist in their homeland, but also spread their branches and leaves in the New World. They control the rhythm of the world's development and live a very nourishing life. The descendants of the northern barbarians in East Asia are still huddled in their original places, and there is a "Mongolian navy" meme that makes people laugh.
However, the way of heaven is reincarnation, so don't underestimate anyone. Just like back then, when the Mongolian cavalry swept across the Eurasian continent drinking the Danube River, and the Germanic people hid in the castle and shivered, who would have thought that their descendants would roam the vast world of North America and Australia in a few hundred years. How about galloping and becoming the master of the new continent? Who can predict that in the long years to come, the northern barbarians in East Asia will not shock the world again?