0:00:04.643,0:00:08.344
Eurasia: the world's largest land mass.

0:00:10.434,0:00:14.579
Some 10,000 kilometers from the Pacific[br]to the Atlantic ocean.

0:00:16.794,0:00:19.729
A formidable distance, [br]even in today's world.

0:00:24.339,0:00:26.806
And yet over that vast distance,

0:00:27.946,0:00:31.855
human beings have pursued[br]one of history's greatest enterprises:

0:00:33.905,0:00:35.464
The Silk Road.

0:00:37.944,0:00:40.964
A tremendously profitable trade route

0:00:41.144,0:00:43.304
and so much more.

0:00:44.134,0:00:45.658
For thousands of years,

0:00:45.709,0:00:47.291
exotic goods,

0:00:48.476,0:00:50.345
new technologies,

0:00:52.385,0:00:54.234
conquering armies,

0:00:56.794,0:00:58.484
and brilliant ideas

0:01:00.772,0:01:02.907
traveled along the Silk Road.

0:01:10.506,0:01:13.729
Silk Road trade helped to build empires

0:01:14.212,0:01:16.553
and to break them.

0:01:17.063,0:01:19.913
It fanned the fires of revolution.

0:01:21.503,0:01:24.233
Drove great explorations,

0:01:25.313,0:01:29.206
and forged powerful bonds[br]between far away peoples.

0:01:31.681,0:01:35.544
The Silk Road made human beings realize

0:01:35.864,0:01:38.896
that there are other people out there,

0:01:38.946,0:01:43.204
and it opened the eyes [br]of the east and the west.

0:01:44.662,0:01:50.003
This is the story of how Silk Road trade [br]made so much more than money.

0:01:53.542,0:01:57.595
It's the epic tale of how the Silk Road[br]helped create a world;

0:01:58.855,0:02:01.531
a world that created us.

0:02:16.375,0:02:20.854
2,000 years ago, the Roman Empire[br]seemed unstoppable.

0:02:25.608,0:02:28.082
Rome had conquered much of Europe

0:02:28.822,0:02:32.745
and was sending its legions beyond[br]the eastern Mediterranean

0:02:32.975,0:02:35.579
to the Middle East

0:02:35.649,0:02:38.237
-- gateway to the riches of Asia.

0:02:41.357,0:02:45.736
But a journey to the east [br]could become a road of blood.

0:02:49.016,0:02:53.995
In 53 BC. near the Mesopotamian[br]town of Carrhae,

0:02:54.161,0:02:58.218
the Parthians — an empire blending[br]Persian and Greek cultures —

0:02:58.348,0:03:00.382
confronted a Roman army.

0:03:06.442,0:03:09.669
The outcome of the battle[br]seemed beyond doubt.

0:03:14.394,0:03:18.918
Some 40,000 Romans[br]faced only 10,000 Parthians.

0:03:20.523,0:03:24.522
And Rome's legions[br]were Europe's finest foot soldiers.

0:03:26.702,0:03:28.661
There was just one problem.

0:03:31.038,0:03:33.913
The Parthian army didn't fight on foot.

0:03:36.373,0:03:38.813
The Parthians, they were cavalry.

0:03:38.910,0:03:41.049
They were horse archers.

0:03:41.119,0:03:43.738
Versatile. Rode like the wind.

0:03:46.452,0:03:49.206
What the Romans did[br]was what the Romans always did.

0:03:49.236,0:03:51.251
They took a fixed position.

0:03:51.834,0:03:55.957
They were ordered into a hollow square[br]defending all sides.

0:03:58.147,0:04:00.823
But that was nothing [br]to the Parthian horse archers

0:04:00.833,0:04:03.501
because they could just ride[br]around them, and they did.

0:04:03.559,0:04:06.531
They galloped around and around [br]and around and around,

0:04:06.546,0:04:08.688
shooting as they went.

0:04:11.945,0:04:16.209
Thousands and thousands of arrows[br]loosed into those Romans.

0:04:20.102,0:04:24.270
What the Romans eventually did [br]was they were ordered to go into testudo.

0:04:24.690,0:04:28.644
That's that Roman formation[br]where they lock their shields together

0:04:28.704,0:04:32.226
and put the next layer[br]of shields to make a roof.

0:04:33.686,0:04:36.527
Testudo is Latin for tortoise.

0:04:39.237,0:04:42.722
But the Parthians [br]had the answer to this tortoise.

0:04:43.782,0:04:46.957
They had a hammer [br]to break open its shell.

0:04:49.827,0:04:52.521
The Parthian hammer was a cataphract,

0:04:53.664,0:04:56.823
a Greek word meaning [br]"clothed in full armor".

0:04:58.273,0:05:01.773
Horse and rider wore heavy coats of mail.

0:05:04.053,0:05:07.748
The cataphract was the ancient world[br]equivalent of a battle tank.

0:05:15.968,0:05:19.945
At Carrhae, charging cataphracts[br]broke open the testudo.

0:05:25.695,0:05:29.314
Exposing the Romans inside[br]to more arrow attacks.

0:05:36.874,0:05:40.438
Some 30,000 Romans [br]were killed or captured.

0:05:45.808,0:05:48.080
Parthian losses were minor.

0:05:49.710,0:05:53.066
It was one of Rome's [br]worst military defeats.

0:05:55.416,0:05:58.819
But it may have been [br]something else as well.

0:06:08.951,0:06:10.693
A Roman historian wrote

0:06:10.723,0:06:13.089
that the Parthians dazzled the Romans

0:06:13.129,0:06:16.098
with banners made of a beautiful fabric:

0:06:16.703,0:06:18.068
silk.

0:06:25.518,0:06:27.565
That may only be a legend.

0:06:29.445,0:06:31.519
But around the time of Carrhae,

0:06:31.529,0:06:34.726
Romans began coveting Chinese silk,

0:06:35.446,0:06:38.299
and China began selling silk to Rome

0:06:38.319,0:06:41.781
in exchange for fine[br]Roman glassware and gold.

0:06:45.891,0:06:49.117
Inspiring the name[br]we give Eurasian trade today:

0:06:51.447,0:06:53.400
the Silk Road.

0:07:00.200,0:07:03.811
But long before Romans and Parthians[br]fought at Carrhae,

0:07:03.871,0:07:08.052
trade between the peoples of Eurasia[br]were shaping lives,

0:07:08.082,0:07:10.465
making new things possible,

0:07:10.782,0:07:13.042
and changing the world.

0:07:18.892,0:07:22.554
At Carrhae, the Parthians [br]won with a style of warfare

0:07:22.634,0:07:25.100
that had evolved centuries earlier

0:07:25.110,0:07:27.858
and thousands of kilometers away.

0:07:31.368,0:07:34.176
On the steppes of Central Asia,

0:07:36.481,0:07:38.829
an ocean of land,

0:07:41.409,0:07:44.188
where victory in battle, and life itself,

0:07:44.188,0:07:47.705
depended on moving [br]very far, very fast.

0:07:53.137,0:07:55.877
Thousands of years [br]before the battle of Carrhae,

0:07:55.937,0:08:00.117
a transportation revolution [br]took place on these vast plains.

0:08:09.727,0:08:14.133
There's good evidence for the existence[br]of domesticated horses

0:08:14.727,0:08:20.143
in what is today Kazakhstan[br]and southern Russia by 3500 BC.

0:08:26.470,0:08:30.419
And we actually think that probably[br]horses were domesticated

0:08:30.419,0:08:35.111
and began to be ridden [br]500 or maybe 1,000 years before that,

0:08:35.271,0:08:37.757
maybe as early as 4500 BC.

0:08:42.067,0:08:44.230
The domestication of the horse

0:08:44.240,0:08:46.986
was the first step[br]towards cavalry warfare.

0:08:50.586,0:08:54.320
But the second step [br]would be a long time coming.

0:08:56.979,0:09:00.912
The first use of horses in warfare [br]was with chariot warfare,

0:09:01.252,0:09:04.803
and we have that well established[br]Tutankhamun's chariot,

0:09:05.064,0:09:08.124
which many people have seen[br]in museum exhibits.

0:09:09.624,0:09:12.979
And we know that people[br]were using chariots in warfare

0:09:12.999,0:09:17.588
starting in the Near East[br]in about 1600, 1700 BC..

0:09:19.952,0:09:23.313
Horses were not used as organized cavalry

0:09:23.403,0:09:26.624
until after about 900 BC,

0:09:26.954,0:09:30.109
almost 1,000 years [br]after chariot warfare began.

0:09:30.699,0:09:36.382
And it's always seemed odd to me[br]that cavalry began after chariotry.

0:09:37.992,0:09:40.508
Chariotry is very difficult to manage.

0:09:40.568,0:09:43.066
You have to train horses to work together.

0:09:43.116,0:09:45.925
They have to pull this clumsy vehicle

0:09:45.925,0:09:49.447
that has two people in it:[br]a driver and a warrior.

0:09:50.817,0:09:54.793
Training the units to work together,[br]very difficult thing to do,

0:09:54.862,0:09:57.616
whereas jumping on the back of a horse[br]is an easy thing.

0:09:59.630,0:10:02.997
So, why did cavalry come after chariotry?

0:10:04.824,0:10:08.295
I think the real reason [br]that cavalry waited

0:10:08.575,0:10:12.873
is that you needed to have[br]really three innovations.

0:10:21.341,0:10:26.049
The earliest evidence for the recurved bow[br]is in Shang Dynasty, China,

0:10:26.099,0:10:29.498
probably dated between 1300 and 1100 BC.

0:10:31.578,0:10:34.587
Shang emperors communicated [br]with their ancestors

0:10:34.617,0:10:38.752
by heating animal bones or turtle shells[br]until they cracked

0:10:38.762,0:10:42.133
and then interpreting[br]the patterns made by the cracks.

0:10:42.903,0:10:45.301
One of these so-called oracle bones

0:10:45.331,0:10:48.599
is carved with the Chinese [br]character for bow

0:10:48.655,0:10:52.172
— the earliest known image[br]of a recurved bow.

0:10:53.322,0:10:55.500
And in the tomb of Lady Fuhao

0:10:55.540,0:10:58.929
— an imperial consort [br]and renowned military commander —

0:10:58.999,0:11:01.749
archaeologists found more evidence.

0:11:03.836,0:11:08.586
It's a thumb cover [br]for drawing bow string

0:11:08.667,0:11:12.117
and there's another piece that went[br]in the middle of a recurved bow,

0:11:12.142,0:11:13.234
a hand grip.

0:11:13.339,0:11:15.268
The bows themselves are not preserved,

0:11:15.268,0:11:19.487
so, it's a difficult thing to identify[br]the origins of the recurved bow.

0:11:21.384,0:11:23.374
The different components of it

0:11:23.414,0:11:26.018
probably came from different places[br]geographically.

0:11:28.178,0:11:31.225
Just how far the recurved bow[br]traveled across Eurasia

0:11:31.225,0:11:36.889
was revealed in 2005 at Yanghai,[br]in China's Xinjiang region.

0:11:38.513,0:11:41.795
Wooden bows rarely survive [br]burial in the ground,

0:11:41.885,0:11:45.548
but Xinjiang's cold, dry climate[br]preserved one

0:11:45.558,0:11:48.081
in a 3,000-year-old tomb.

0:11:49.501,0:11:51.834
Other grave goods [br]and the human remains

0:11:51.834,0:11:53.974
found in the Yanghai tombs

0:11:53.974,0:11:57.360
confirmed that the bow was made[br]by the Scythians,

0:11:57.610,0:12:02.283
a highly sophisticated culture[br]that originated in southern Russia

0:12:02.383,0:12:04.150
and migrated on horseback

0:12:04.160,0:12:07.263
across the length and breadth of Eurasia.

0:12:10.615,0:12:13.780
The true birthplace [br]of the recurved composite bow

0:12:13.780,0:12:16.672
remains an archaeological mystery.

0:12:18.412,0:12:21.393
But there is no doubt [br]that 3,000 years ago

0:12:21.503,0:12:25.771
anyone who fought on horseback[br]would have found it revolutionary.

0:12:26.404,0:12:30.159
A bow is as strong as it is long.

0:12:30.239,0:12:33.587
It derives its strength from its length.

0:12:34.407,0:12:36.891
And the recurved bow [br]packs the same length

0:12:36.911,0:12:40.443
into this very short bow

0:12:40.443,0:12:44.137
that can be swung over the horse's rear [br]and over the horse's neck.

0:12:46.099,0:12:49.542
And it was much, much easier [br]to use on horseback.

0:12:50.278,0:12:54.474
And the recurved bows are[br]technologically quite difficult to make.

0:12:55.274,0:12:59.940
It took a long time to develop[br]the craft of bow making to that point.

0:13:02.532,0:13:07.002
The recurve all these sinewy bends[br]— reflex and deflex —

0:13:07.096,0:13:09.596
that gives it in-built spring.

0:13:09.626,0:13:12.547
But that can only be created[br]with composite materials.

0:13:12.621,0:13:16.009
What we mean by that is[br]it's made of a number of materials.

0:13:16.039,0:13:18.337
The heart of it is wood, usually beech.

0:13:18.337,0:13:22.109
And then you have horn,[br]horn from a water buffalo,

0:13:22.192,0:13:26.339
and then sinew, the tendons of an animal.

0:13:26.499,0:13:29.363
That, when you bash it,

0:13:29.363,0:13:32.628
you can tease apart[br]and get these very fine fibers,

0:13:32.648,0:13:36.706
fibers with tremendous tensile strength.

0:13:36.986,0:13:39.650
That has elasticity and spring,

0:13:39.780,0:13:42.077
and it stops the bow bursting apart.

0:13:42.097,0:13:46.884
These are all materials that enhance[br]the power, the spring of the bow.

0:13:48.482,0:13:52.437
But only if bow makers[br]could solve a very big problem.

0:13:54.867,0:13:57.329
How to keep such a powerful bow

0:13:57.369,0:13:59.635
made from so many different materials

0:13:59.635,0:14:02.934
from breaking up when its own power[br]was pulling it apart?

0:14:07.504,0:14:10.818
Somewhere in Eurasia, sometime long ago,

0:14:10.848,0:14:14.159
some unknown genius discovered the answer.

0:14:15.808,0:14:20.042
This is the swim bladder of a sturgeon[br]— a fish from the Black Sea.

0:14:20.083,0:14:24.378
And if you start to break these up [br]then put it in hot water,

0:14:24.446,0:14:27.322
and you get this wonderful, viscous glue.

0:14:27.452,0:14:32.680
This simple idea of making a glue[br]out of a swim bladder of a fish

0:14:32.710,0:14:37.247
was a technological breakthrough[br]of immense consequences.

0:14:37.887,0:14:41.437
It is what enabled[br]the composite bow to exist.

0:14:42.047,0:14:46.444
And in turn the composite bow[br]was a military revolution

0:14:46.461,0:14:49.593
of far-reaching consequences.

0:14:51.694,0:14:56.156
The composite recurved bow[br]gave birth to a new kind of warrior

0:14:57.135,0:14:59.121
the horse archer.

0:14:59.221,0:15:01.706
The horse archer was able[br]to shoot from the saddle

0:15:01.866,0:15:05.803
in part because of the new technology[br]of the composite bow.

0:15:06.173,0:15:08.906
They were short, compact bows,

0:15:08.906,0:15:11.917
and that meant that you [br]can shoot them from horseback.

0:15:12.017,0:15:14.448
You see I can cross[br]to the other side of the horse,

0:15:14.448,0:15:15.848
I can turn and shoot behind.

0:15:15.888,0:15:18.843
It's much more suitable[br]for shooting on horseback.

0:15:21.783,0:15:24.541
Everyone who fought with Eurasian nomads,

0:15:24.591,0:15:26.735
whether as enemy or friend,

0:15:26.745,0:15:29.542
wanted a recurved composite bow.

0:15:29.662,0:15:31.880
By the early first millennium BC,

0:15:31.900,0:15:35.224
it was in use from east Asia[br]to eastern Europe.

0:15:40.004,0:15:44.618
A recurved bow gave a horse archer[br]unprecedented killing power.

0:15:48.478,0:15:50.635
But it didn't make him a cavalryman.

0:15:53.185,0:15:57.308
Before horse archers could fight[br]as an effective military force,

0:15:58.038,0:16:01.615
they needed a large supply[br]of identical arrows.

0:16:04.055,0:16:06.683
And that didn't exist.

0:16:09.631,0:16:12.515
Arrowheads were a variety [br]of different sizes and weights.

0:16:12.945,0:16:14.727
Some were made of bone.

0:16:14.787,0:16:16.743
Some were made out of flint.

0:16:16.853,0:16:18.541
Some were made out of bronze.

0:16:18.621,0:16:20.775
All of them would be individually made

0:16:20.805,0:16:24.106
and you had to adjust your shot[br]for the weight of different arrows.

0:16:24.662,0:16:27.791
Also a unit of soldiers [br]who were firing at the same time

0:16:27.821,0:16:30.950
would be firing arrows[br]of slightly different weights

0:16:31.030,0:16:33.675
and they might go different distances.

0:16:34.395,0:16:37.927
One of the features of a stone arrowhead[br]is its flattened rear

0:16:38.437,0:16:40.483
But how did it connect [br]with the arrowshaft?

0:16:40.683,0:16:44.066
It can only be tied to the shaft[br]by rope or ox tendons.

0:16:44.126,0:16:45.707
But what about the disadvantages?

0:16:45.707,0:16:49.733
First, the released arrows [br]tend to change direction easily.

0:16:49.773,0:16:52.569
Second, they are likely to fall off,

0:16:57.709,0:16:59.922
One of the technological innovations

0:16:59.932,0:17:03.555
was the invention[br]of the socketed arrowhead.

0:17:04.685,0:17:07.815
They were made of bronze, usually,

0:17:07.875,0:17:11.648
and they were made in a mould [br]and cast in a mould,

0:17:12.138,0:17:17.323
so that an infinite number [br]of socketed arrowheads of the same weight

0:17:17.343,0:17:19.365
could be made from the same mould.

0:17:23.145,0:17:27.736
Making socketed projectile points [br]was actually a big deal.

0:17:30.626,0:17:36.126
You have to have a mould with a core[br]where the socket is going to be

0:17:36.444,0:17:39.348
that you can pour molten metal around

0:17:39.378,0:17:42.600
so that it's the same thickness [br]all the way around.

0:17:48.382,0:17:51.457
Making arrowheads[br]of the same size and weight

0:17:51.457,0:17:55.023
was another Central Asian[br]technological revolution.

0:17:59.083,0:18:02.249
For the first time, mounted warriors[br]could unleash

0:18:02.249,0:18:05.222
coordinated arrow attacks [br]on their enemies.

0:18:07.677,0:18:10.399
With arrowheads of the same weight,

0:18:10.399,0:18:13.844
every time you drew the bow to shoot

0:18:13.844,0:18:16.170
you knew that you were firing an arrow

0:18:16.237,0:18:19.496
that was exactly the same weight[br]as the last arrow that you fired,

0:18:19.568,0:18:23.694
so you could determine[br]the range and the distance well.

0:18:24.124,0:18:28.648
And also all of the archers [br]that were firing

0:18:28.692,0:18:32.726
were firing arrowheads[br]at the same weight at the same time.

0:18:32.966,0:18:36.437
So the distance for all of them [br]would be the same.

0:18:36.740,0:18:39.514
With a socketed arrowhead

0:18:39.714,0:18:44.436
you can directly insert [br]the head into the shaft.

0:18:44.625,0:18:46.690
It look like this.

0:18:47.450,0:18:50.453
So what are the advantages[br]of this type of arrowhead?

0:18:50.453,0:18:52.314
Its improvements greatly enhanced

0:18:52.314,0:18:54.671
the lethality and efficiency[br]of ancient arrows.

0:18:54.722,0:18:58.341
Even in the chaos of war, the shooter [br]could aim t the target easily.

0:18:58.465,0:19:01.835
He wouldn't loose the direction[br]by aiming t the target quickly.

0:19:02.379,0:19:06.048
This ivention is a giant leap [br]in the development of human history.

0:19:07.768,0:19:11.888
Archaeologists believe that sometime[br]in the second millennium BC,

0:19:12.368,0:19:15.494
socketed bronze arrowheads[br]began spreading east

0:19:15.819,0:19:19.879
while the composite [br]recurved bow spread west.

0:19:20.649,0:19:23.004
Sometime around 900 BC,

0:19:23.004,0:19:25.559
socketed arrowheads and recurved bows

0:19:25.589,0:19:28.649
met in the Tarim Basin area [br]of Central Asia,

0:19:31.069,0:19:35.284
brought together by traders,[br]warriors, and migrating nomads.

0:19:38.804,0:19:43.773
After about 700 BC, you begin to see[br]thousands and thousands of arrowheads

0:19:43.813,0:19:47.510
and dozens of arrowheads[br]in a single quiver in a grave.

0:19:47.591,0:19:50.089
It's like they're being mass produced.

0:19:52.259,0:19:56.263
Bronze socketed arrowheads[br]turned central Asia into an arsenal,

0:19:56.643,0:19:59.506
but cavalries still couldn't exist

0:20:00.883,0:20:03.871
until warriors could become soldiers.

0:20:08.057,0:20:10.619
It was really the age of heroic warfare

0:20:10.619,0:20:14.484
— individuals going out [br]and doing great deeds by themselves

0:20:14.534,0:20:16.926
and attracting glory for their own name.

0:20:17.016,0:20:19.714
And this is the kind of warfare[br]that's described

0:20:20.034,0:20:23.878
in the "Iliad", in the "Odyssey," [br]or in the "Rigveda,"

0:20:23.928,0:20:27.955
a religious text that's at the deep roots[br]of modern Hinduism.

0:20:29.201,0:20:32.503
What had to change[br]was a psychological change

0:20:32.503,0:20:35.099
in the nature of the warrior.

0:20:35.759,0:20:39.152
You had to change[br]from individuals to units

0:20:39.262,0:20:42.983
working under the command[br]of a commanding general,

0:20:43.152,0:20:46.468
who would attack and retreat[br]upon command.

0:20:48.305,0:20:52.343
The psychological change [br]from the heroic warrior to the soldier,

0:20:53.735,0:20:57.461
probably is a feature of urban warfare.

0:20:57.891,0:21:00.384
The armies that were associated

0:21:00.384,0:21:04.198
with the great cities [br]of Mesopotamia and Iran.

0:21:06.516,0:21:11.536
That psychology had to spread [br]northward up into the steppes

0:21:12.168,0:21:16.350
and be accepted by warriors[br]in the steppes,

0:21:16.652,0:21:19.336
in the same area [br]where the recurved bows

0:21:19.396,0:21:22.090
and the socketed arrowheads were crossing.

0:21:24.630,0:21:27.214
While recurved bows were spreading west

0:21:27.244,0:21:29.656
and socketed arrowheads[br]were spreading east,

0:21:29.676,0:21:32.922
the concept of military discipline[br]was spreading north.

0:21:36.462,0:21:38.905
Sometime around 900 BC,

0:21:39.085,0:21:42.561
all three combined[br]in the heart of central Asia.

0:21:44.861,0:21:47.169
When those three things came together,

0:21:47.169,0:21:51.922
cavalry became a really deadly form[br]of military force.

0:21:55.182,0:21:59.542
A force that would severely test[br]the ancient world's most powerful armies.

0:22:02.318,0:22:03.836
2,000 years ago,

0:22:03.846,0:22:07.500
as the Romans pushed east [br]to expand their empire,

0:22:08.340,0:22:10.652
China was pushing west.

0:22:13.224,0:22:15.063
And like the Romans,

0:22:15.093,0:22:18.376
the Chinese encountered[br]a formidable enemy on horseback.

0:22:23.008,0:22:26.584
The Xiongnu were nomads[br]from the Central Asian steppes.

0:22:28.044,0:22:30.964
Armed with recurved bows[br]and socketed arrows,

0:22:30.964,0:22:34.660
they fought under commanders [br]as a disciplined military force.

0:22:38.250,0:22:41.093
They raided Chinese villages

0:22:41.483,0:22:44.956
and plundered the growing trade[br]between East and West,

0:22:46.304,0:22:48.915
and no one could stop them.

0:22:49.745,0:22:55.806
The Xiongnu was the migraine[br]of the ancient world for the Chinese.

0:22:56.820,0:23:01.401
They simply just kept coming[br]and they would not stop.

0:23:04.731,0:23:12.270
The Xiongnu wanted the finest[br]material goods produced by the Chinese.

0:23:16.115,0:23:18.742
That is why they raided.

0:23:23.311,0:23:27.025
Imagine you're a villager in China[br]and these men come from nowhere.

0:23:27.055,0:23:29.196
They come from over the hill [br]without warning,

0:23:29.286,0:23:30.919
tearing into your village.

0:23:30.937,0:23:33.294
They shoot the headman, [br]they shoot your husband.

0:23:33.334,0:23:34.822
They chase the women out.

0:23:34.862,0:23:38.426
There is no hiding place[br]and there's a flurry of dust and arrows.

0:23:38.436,0:23:41.649
They're in and they're out [br]and they take the stuff and they go.

0:23:44.788,0:23:47.693
China sent its military might[br]against the Xiongnu.

0:23:49.819,0:23:51.696
The famed Terracotta Warriors

0:23:51.716,0:23:54.504
reveal the size and power[br]of Chinese armies.

0:23:56.543,0:23:59.883
But the Chinese fought on foot[br]and from chariots.

0:24:02.723,0:24:05.683
Not effective against hit-and-run cavalry.

0:24:07.030,0:24:12.857
A Chinese courtier wrote that the Xiongnu[br]moved like a flock of birds over the land,

0:24:13.227,0:24:15.600
impossible to control.

0:24:16.420,0:24:20.101
Once mounted warfare really[br]became deadly and effective,

0:24:20.261,0:24:22.666
it became a real problem.

0:24:22.856,0:24:27.669
If you're a farmer, the nomads know[br]where you're going to be all the time.

0:24:27.729,0:24:31.276
Your house is in the same place[br]12 months of the year,

0:24:31.445,0:24:35.321
and when your crops become ripe,[br]you have to harvest,

0:24:35.548,0:24:39.257
and the nomads know when that season is.

0:24:40.187,0:24:43.152
Whereas when you're trying[br]to strike them back,

0:24:43.172,0:24:45.759
it's impossible to know[br]where they're going to be

0:24:45.799,0:24:47.698
or when they're going to be there.

0:24:47.868,0:24:50.017
You have to search to find them.

0:24:53.188,0:24:58.168
To beat the Xiongnu, the Chinese [br]needed soldiers who could fight like them.

0:25:01.089,0:25:03.077
They needed cavalry.

0:25:06.198,0:25:09.357
There are manuals of warfare[br]that were written

0:25:09.367,0:25:12.638
to instruct Chinese warriors

0:25:12.638,0:25:16.694
on how to counter the tactics[br]and the methods of the Xiongnu.

0:25:17.824,0:25:20.522
Those manuals introduced [br]the idea of cavalry

0:25:20.572,0:25:22.641
to the Chinese military.

0:25:23.151,0:25:26.266
The Chinese military[br]had not really used cavalry

0:25:26.306,0:25:28.801
before about probably 350 BC.

0:25:30.628,0:25:34.009
Chinese military, at first [br]with some resistance

0:25:34.029,0:25:36.750
from the old aristocratic families, said:

0:25:36.870,0:25:39.004
"Well, my father fought on a chariot,

0:25:39.034,0:25:40.871
"and his father fought on a chariot,

0:25:40.891,0:25:44.809
"and I'm gonna fight on a chariot[br]in my long robes like my ancestors."

0:25:46.409,0:25:49.020
But it wasn't long before Chinese warriors

0:25:49.050,0:25:51.742
traded their traditional[br]long, flowing robes

0:25:52.462,0:25:56.665
for shorter tunics that didn't get[br]in the way of fighting on horseback.

0:25:59.165,0:26:05.109
Eventually, the practicalities[br]forced them to get rid of their robes,

0:26:05.162,0:26:07.968
to put on riding trousers,

0:26:08.008,0:26:10.786
to learn to shoot the bow on horseback,

0:26:10.981,0:26:14.655
and they, too, became [br]a mighty horse archer force.

0:26:19.656,0:26:23.613
Chinese cavalry became experts[br]at shooting the recurved composite bow,

0:26:25.623,0:26:30.134
and a lethal Chinese weapon, the crossbow.

0:26:34.132,0:26:36.403
While its cavalry trained,

0:26:36.473,0:26:41.043
China agreed to Xiongnu demands[br]for payments of money and silk

0:26:42.343,0:26:45.283
until the year 133 BC,

0:26:46.103,0:26:49.249
when Emperor Han Wudi refused to pay.

0:26:53.218,0:26:55.696
And sent his army to attack the Xiongnu.

0:27:30.952,0:27:33.645
Chinese cavalry defeated the nomads.

0:27:37.305,0:27:40.802
And China seized[br]new territories in the steppes,

0:27:42.932,0:27:46.654
pacifying trade routes [br]and opening new horizons.

0:27:52.030,0:27:55.019
On one hand, [br]we have this perpetual conflict

0:27:55.119,0:27:59.400
— in Chinese culture would be[br]the Xiongn and the Han Chinese

0:28:00.381,0:28:03.985
that created incessant warfare.

0:28:05.390,0:28:08.557
On the other hand, it is this conflict

0:28:08.567,0:28:11.954
that demolished physical boundaries.

0:28:12.995,0:28:17.054
Even territory boundaries [br]were constantly being pushed farther,

0:28:17.154,0:28:20.144
pushed back between the two forces.

0:28:20.554,0:28:26.029
This was a stimulus for exchanges,

0:28:26.753,0:28:28.876
for political changes,

0:28:28.876,0:28:32.607
for new ideas, for artistic traditions.

0:28:36.057,0:28:38.684
It was also a new era for the Silk Road.

0:28:40.488,0:28:43.677
A fortune in Roman gold [br]traveled east

0:28:43.677,0:28:46.138
in exchange for Chinese silks.

0:28:51.400,0:28:53.940
And the Central Asian kingdom of Kushan

0:28:54.000,0:28:57.355
made its own fortune [br]selling another luxury to China:

0:28:59.565,0:29:00.868
jade.

0:29:03.915,0:29:06.613
Silk Road caravans passed [br]through this border station

0:29:06.613,0:29:08.988
on China's western frontier.

0:29:10.839,0:29:13.380
So many of them carried Kushan jade

0:29:13.430,0:29:16.570
that this station became known [br]as the Jade Gate.

0:29:21.860,0:29:25.450
Chinese aristocrats[br]coveted jade for its beauty

0:29:25.493,0:29:27.414
and something more.

0:29:30.034,0:29:33.659
They believed that jade [br]would keep them alive forever.

0:29:36.789,0:29:39.538
The ruling elite commissioned [br]jade burial suits

0:29:39.558,0:29:42.327
to preserve their bodies in the grave.

0:29:45.617,0:29:48.722
They believed that, upon death,

0:29:48.762,0:29:51.822
all the orifices should be plugged in

0:29:51.842,0:29:56.076
to preserve the spirit inside the person.

0:29:56.966,0:30:00.347
And this notion of jade

0:30:00.347,0:30:05.318
as a material with protective power[br]in the afterlife,

0:30:05.368,0:30:08.348
is further enhanced by the fact

0:30:08.348,0:30:11.062
that they built an armor

0:30:11.062,0:30:16.876
made of thousands[br]of pieces of jade.

0:30:17.916,0:30:20.120
And of course, if you're the emperor,

0:30:20.120,0:30:25.855
your jade armor would be made[br]from the finest jade

0:30:26.997,0:30:29.731
from the western regions.

0:30:30.451,0:30:33.523
During the Roman empire,[br]Silk Road trade flourished

0:30:33.569,0:30:36.522
as Chinese, Persian, and Kushan armies

0:30:36.532,0:30:39.173
kept the trade routes open across Eurasia.

0:30:46.743,0:30:48.568
China had leveled the battlefield

0:30:48.629,0:30:51.282
with nomad raiders from the steppes.

0:30:57.492,0:30:59.757
But Central Asian horse archers

0:30:59.757,0:31:02.717
were about to carve[br]their names on History.

0:31:04.452,0:31:08.912
In the 4th century CE., Europe was invaded[br]by a Central Asian people

0:31:09.042,0:31:12.174
whose name still evokes barbaric cruelty.

0:31:18.664,0:31:22.464
The Huns, who fought their way West,[br]all the way to Rome.

0:31:32.708,0:31:35.214
European peoples[br]like the Goths and Visigoths

0:31:35.268,0:31:37.703
— the so-called barbarians —

0:31:37.713,0:31:39.410
fled before their onslaught,

0:31:39.440,0:31:41.894
and sought refuge in Roman territory.

0:31:43.684,0:31:46.662
When the Huns withdrew[br]from the Roman world,

0:31:46.732,0:31:49.439
those barbarian refugees stayed.

0:31:55.449,0:31:58.197
And the rest is History.

0:32:02.387,0:32:05.882
The western Roman empire [br]was plunged into chaos

0:32:07.766,0:32:10.655
as barbarian tribes, [br]dissatisfied with their lot,

0:32:10.685,0:32:13.835
rebelled against Roman authority,

0:32:14.138,0:32:17.303
and weak Roman emperors [br]failed to crush them.

0:32:21.743,0:32:26.209
As Rome declined, migrating [br]horse archers, called the Avars,

0:32:26.209,0:32:30.436
carved their own country [br]out of eastern Europe,

0:32:30.436,0:32:33.949
bringing with them [br]another Asian military innovation:

0:32:36.739,0:32:38.252
the stirrup.

0:32:41.755,0:32:44.703
This Chinese statue [br]from the fourth century CE,

0:32:44.783,0:32:48.092
is the earliest known[br]depiction of stirrups.

0:32:52.572,0:32:54.788
Some 300 years later,

0:32:54.788,0:32:57.218
an Avar horseman[br]was riding with these stirrups

0:32:57.264,0:32:59.440
across Hungary.

0:33:05.428,0:33:07.277
By the eighth century CE,

0:33:07.287,0:33:11.633
the stirrup had spread[br]from one end of Eurasia to the other

0:33:11.831,0:33:14.997
and mounted warfare[br]was entering a new era.

0:33:18.083,0:33:19.959
The importance of the stirrup

0:33:19.989,0:33:24.087
relates to what kinds of weapons[br]can you use from horseback,

0:33:24.198,0:33:28.682
and it made it possible to use [br]certain kinds of weapons from horseback

0:33:28.682,0:33:31.389
that you couldn't use without stirrups.

0:33:31.409,0:33:33.958
Those weapons are the long sabre.

0:33:34.228,0:33:37.720
You have to lean over and absorb shock,

0:33:38.062,0:33:40.669
if you're going to use[br]a long sabre in battle.

0:33:40.699,0:33:44.998
And the stirrups allow the rider [br]to absorb the shock of contact

0:33:44.998,0:33:47.308
with a stationary target.

0:33:47.788,0:33:50.382
The other big weapon [br]that was possible with stirrups

0:33:50.422,0:33:54.074
was a seated lance held under the arm.

0:33:54.354,0:33:58.796
You could stab somebody with the lance[br]and then remove it,

0:33:58.956,0:34:01.992
riding past them without stirrups.

0:34:02.521,0:34:07.639
But if you seated it under your arm[br]and used the lance as a shock weapon,

0:34:07.814,0:34:10.428
it would knock you[br]off the back of the horse

0:34:10.468,0:34:12.431
if you didn't have stirrups.

0:34:12.441,0:34:16.693
So stirrups made it possible to use[br]long swords and lances

0:34:16.812,0:34:19.598
as shock weapons [br]against stationary targets

0:34:19.608,0:34:21.930
and keep your seat.

0:34:21.936,0:34:27.150
And of course that made it possible[br]to have really heavy mounted warriors.

0:34:28.090,0:34:31.877
Now, the rider becomes [br]a unit with the horse.

0:34:32.237,0:34:35.295
He's so anchored with his stirrups,[br]anchored with this,

0:34:35.295,0:34:37.535
and then with his long lance

0:34:37.585,0:34:41.395
he becomes a single projectile unit.

0:34:43.320,0:34:48.942
Man, horse, saddle, lance, [br]all locked together for the impact charge.

0:34:52.762,0:34:55.753
This was the age of the medieval knight.

0:35:01.108,0:35:02.929
A medieval knight's power

0:35:02.969,0:35:06.744
came from combining the Asian stirrup[br]and the ancient shock tactics

0:35:06.794,0:35:10.868
of the Persian cataphract[br]with a European invention:

0:35:11.431,0:35:13.788
articulated plate armor.

0:35:15.930,0:35:19.354
Strong enough to protect the wearer [br]from sword and lance thrusts

0:35:20.765,0:35:24.918
while light enough to allow him [br]to move freely on horseback

0:35:24.988,0:35:26.769
and on foot.

0:35:29.519,0:35:33.639
Heavy cavalry had never been[br]a more potent weapon of war.

0:35:35.719,0:35:38.954
Medieval mounted warfare [br]could be warfare

0:35:38.984,0:35:42.707
that generated[br]a lot of force on the rider,

0:35:43.089,0:35:45.175
a high impact warfare.

0:35:46.785,0:35:49.517
In that case, the mounted warrior[br]is being used

0:35:49.577,0:35:53.117
really as a shock weapon[br]to strike the enemy.

0:36:00.259,0:36:03.229
But even Europe's [br]formidable mounted knights

0:36:03.239,0:36:06.634
would be outfought[br]by Central Asian cavalry

0:36:08.859,0:36:12.129
that burst out of the steppes [br]and changed the world.

0:36:16.821,0:36:21.677
The largest conquest empire[br]that the Earth has ever seen

0:36:23.647,0:36:27.743
was created by pastoral nomads[br]from Central Asia.

0:36:35.962,0:36:37.929
In the 13th century,

0:36:37.929,0:36:40.632
the Mongols conquered [br]as far West as Poland

0:36:40.656,0:36:43.328
and as far East as the Sea of Japan.

0:36:47.978,0:36:52.019
Mongol armies combined the devastating[br]shock tactics of horse archers

0:36:52.259,0:36:55.445
with a highly sophisticated[br]military organization.

0:36:57.796,0:37:02.794
They could gather quickly[br]and march to distant battlefields.

0:37:04.690,0:37:08.103
Then the cavalry could reach[br]the enemy's battlefield

0:37:08.162,0:37:11.111
before they set up defenses

0:37:11.164,0:37:16.014
which could deter their enemy[br]psychologically and strategically.

0:37:16.864,0:37:21.052
It is said that the cavalry came suddenly

0:37:21.542,0:37:25.241
like something falling fro the sky.

0:37:25.522,0:37:29.485
and disappeared quickly

0:37:29.515,0:37:32.625
leaving no trace at all.

0:37:32.715,0:37:35.633
Western, especially European historians,

0:37:35.663,0:37:41.281
wrote that the Mongols appeared [br]far away like several spots

0:37:41.508,0:37:46.011
but would suddenly gather[br]before you, like dark clouds.

0:37:46.311,0:37:50.284
Unexpected attack was the core

0:37:56.474,0:38:00.091
The Mongols have gone down[br]in History as bloodthirsty killers,

0:38:00.895,0:38:04.359
but they were also sophisticated,[br]open-minded,

0:38:04.359,0:38:06.661
often generous conquerors.

0:38:08.671,0:38:11.237
They pacified the Silk Road.

0:38:16.777,0:38:18.783
Trade between West and East

0:38:18.783,0:38:21.530
flourished under [br]this Mongol-enforced peace,

0:38:21.580,0:38:23.646
the Pax Mongolica.

0:38:26.376,0:38:29.079
Before the age of Pax Mongolica,

0:38:29.129,0:38:33.496
banditry was a very serious[br]problem for traders,

0:38:33.575,0:38:36.039
for caravans, along the Silk Road.

0:38:37.089,0:38:40.561
The reputation of Genghis Khan[br]and his descendants

0:38:41.433,0:38:45.797
created peace and safe passage[br]along the Silk Road

0:38:45.867,0:38:53.773
because bandits were so afraid[br]of the Mongol soldiers.

0:38:54.243,0:38:56.821
The Pax Mongolica,

0:38:57.221,0:39:05.071
the control of trade and exchange

0:39:05.499,0:39:08.389
that was made possible under the Mongols

0:39:08.449,0:39:12.334
connected China with Europe[br]and with the Near East

0:39:12.397,0:39:16.196
in a really close way [br]for the first time in world History

0:39:16.586,0:39:19.423
And that had a profound effect

0:39:19.490,0:39:22.547
on the development[br]of European civilization.

0:39:24.355,0:39:26.479
Protected by the Pax Mongolica,

0:39:26.479,0:39:30.181
and anxious for good relations [br]with the Mongol empire,

0:39:30.245,0:39:34.099
Europeans began traveling East [br]as never before.

0:39:36.243,0:39:38.745
Merchants, missionaries, and diplomats

0:39:38.815,0:39:41.346
flowed East along the trade routes,

0:39:43.386,0:39:46.833
bringing back popular Asian goods[br]like cloth and spices

0:39:48.562,0:39:51.975
and tales of the wealth [br]and wonders of the East,

0:39:52.145,0:39:56.265
some true, some fabulous, [br]but all fascinating.

0:39:57.906,0:39:59.571
From Europe to China,

0:39:59.581,0:40:03.557
Silk Road trade spread [br]new knowledge of far-away lands.

0:40:04.567,0:40:09.079
The Silk Road made human beings realize

0:40:09.229,0:40:12.077
that there are other people out there,

0:40:12.117,0:40:15.975
and it opened the eyes [br]of the East and the West.

0:40:19.672,0:40:23.699
The Italian cities of Venice and Genoa[br]reaped huge rewards.

0:40:27.048,0:40:29.951
Their merchants traveled safely[br]throughout Eurasia

0:40:31.681,0:40:34.102
and founded trading posts on the Black Sea

0:40:34.142,0:40:37.173
to receive and pass on Silk Road goods.

0:40:38.805,0:40:42.831
Their Silk Road profits funded[br]magnificent art and architecture.

0:40:45.404,0:40:49.333
But their competition frequently[br]plunged them into war with one another.

0:40:51.644,0:40:56.149
In one of these wars, Genoa captured[br]a prosperous Venetian merchant

0:40:56.189,0:40:58.101
named Marco Polo.

0:40:59.091,0:41:02.774
Imprisoned by the Genoese, [br]Polo dictated the story

0:41:02.823,0:41:06.257
of his Silk Road journey to China[br]to a fellow prisoner.

0:41:09.170,0:41:13.078
Today, experts debate whether[br]Marco Polo really visited China

0:41:14.308,0:41:16.866
or was simply retelling stories

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he heard from fellow Silk Road travelers.

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But there's no debate [br]that "The Travels of Marco Polo"

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was one of the most influential books[br]in all of human History.

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It tantalized Europe with tales

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of China's immense wealth [br]and advanced civilization.

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And years before Marco Polo was telling[br]those tales in a Genoese prison,

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a Chinese invention was making[br]its way across Eurasia to the West.

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Something created centuries earlier

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when an experiment ended very badly.

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Ancient Chinese alchemists[br]prepared potions of lead or mercury

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for their aristocratic patrons

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who believed that drinking these metals[br]would help them live forever.

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Instead, those concoctions killed them [br]or made them insane.

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Another deadly combination was sulfur

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heated with an organic nitrate[br]found in soil throughout China,

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known today as saltpeter.

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When alchemists experimented[br]with this formula,

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it burst into flame,

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injuring the alchemists,

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(Explosion)

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and burning down their laboratory.

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From that disaster was born [br]a chemical mixture like none other.

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It may have failed[br]as an elixir of immortality,

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but it would prove to be[br]a potent agent of death.

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This Chinese Buddhist scroll [br]dating from around 950 CE,

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depicts demons surrounding[br]a seated Buddha.

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One demon holds what the Chinese called[br]a "huo quiang", or fire lance.

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It's the earliest known image of a weapon

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powered by that deadly mixture [br]of saltpeter and sulfur.

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Known to history as gunpowder.

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In the early 13th century,

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the Mongols attacked China's Jin Dynasty.

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The Jin Dynasty's army fought back [br]with exploding gunpowder bombs.

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But as the Mongols conquered [br]more and more of China,

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Han Chinese artillerymen[br]joined their armies

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and marched West, bringing[br]their gunpowder weapons with them.

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The Mongols attacked [br]Russian and Polish cities

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with exploding fire bombs.

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And Europeans found out the hard way [br]what gunpowder could do.

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By the end of the 13th century,

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the formula for gunpowder [br]was known as far West as England,

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and Europeans were inventing [br]their own versions of the new weapons.

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It wasn't long before this Chinese [br]invention changed European history.

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On 26th August, 1346,

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near the village of Crecy[br]in northern France,

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the armies of France and England[br]prepared to fight.

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Mounted on their war steeds, [br]encased in their armor,

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the flower of French nobility [br]formed their battle line,

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while the English deployed [br]a very different force.

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Thousands of expert archers.

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The French sent their higher Genoese[br]crossbowmen to attack the English

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before French knights annihilated them.

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But the English king, Edward III,

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had spent years training his longbow men.

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And all that training[br]was about to pay off.

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Nothing like this had been seen[br]on a western battlefield up to this time.

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The first time that a volley of arrows [br]was unleashed by the archers at Crecy

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would have represented [br]something completely new

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to many of those[br]in the French army watching it.

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A cloud of arrows descending towards them.

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It would have been frightening,

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and of course the effect[br]was almost immediate.

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Showered by English arrows, [br]the Genoese turned and ran,

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and according to medieval [br]accounts of the battle,

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they were also panicked [br]by another English weapon.

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Giovanni Villani, writing[br]very soon after the battle,

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says in his chronicle that [br]so loud and intimidating

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was the noise created by the guns

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that they thought God was thundering.

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"The English guns cast[br]iron balls by means of fire.

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"They made a noise like thunder

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"and caused much loss[br]in men and horses."

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Noise like that would have been [br]unprecedented

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to the soldiers on the battlefield.

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Nothing in their lives[br]could have prepared them

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for a a bang of that size

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and accompanied by smoke[br]and acrid sulfur smell,

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which would hang in the air.

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The impact of which, of course,[br]they couldn't see

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until men around them dropped.

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Not even professional soldiers [br]like the Genoese

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would have experienced anything [br]like this before in their lives.

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That would have been terrifying,

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and it's no wonder[br]that they scattered and ran.

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They turned and fled into the face[br]of the oncoming French cavalry charge.

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The French cavalry were now[br]coming onto the battlefield

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and they were appalled

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at these people they'd hired[br]running away.

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And they cursed them[br]and they rode into them,

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and as many Genoese fell to French hooves

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as they did to English [br]arrows and gunshots.

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And the French knights, [br]all 12,000 of them,

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double the size of the English army,

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they came charging down onto the English.

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And they, too, fell to the English arrows[br]and the English gunshot,

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and they came again and again and again.

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15, 16 times, they came.

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And their horses were ripped to shreds

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and the men were thrown from their horses.

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And those that weren't thrown,

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they had the opportunity[br]that the dagger men rushed in

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and they brought these knights down.

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This was a moment in History[br]where the world changed.

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It spelled the beginning of the end [br]for the medieval knight.

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The Battle of Crecy[br]has gone down in history

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as one of the earliest uses [br]of gunpowder weapons

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on a European battlefield.

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Some 500 years after,

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it burned down [br]a Chinese alchemist's workshop,

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gunpowder had become [br]destiny's weapon of choice.

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After Crecy, it was only a matter of time

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until the fates of peoples and nations[br]were decided by the gun.

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Within two centuries,

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Europeans would use their powerful [br]gunpowder weapons

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to dominate the world,

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creating empires that would evolve[br]into today's global trading culture,

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which binds people together[br]by commerce instead of the gun.

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