Xiongnu

Asian Steppe. The main threat to Chinese borders was northern nomads, so in attempt to foster appeasement and build nomadic alliances, China gifted luxuries such as silk to nomad chiefs. This strategy worked well with the Yuezhi nomads, but the Xiongnu nomads remained hostile, going so far as to drive the Yuezhi westward out of the steppe and into Bactria. Then, they continued to loot and raid towns on Chinese borders. At a loss without their alliance with the Yuezhi, the Chinese military…

to spread religions, messages, and ways of life. One main road is the Silk Road. The Silk road expands between around five empires; those ranging from The Roman Empire, Parthian Empire, Kushan Empire, Han Empire, and the Monadic confederation of Xiongnu (The Met, paragraph 1). This passageway was one of the longest in the world at that time, stretching from Greco-Roman areas, to the Tigris river, all the way to Mongolia as well as China (The Met, paragraph 2). Due to the large surface area that…

Road was not one singular route – in fact, it linked China, Japan, Persia, India, Arabia and Europe. During the Han Dynasty, emperor Wu sent one of his men to seek the help of neighboring nomadic tribes in attempt to band together to fend off the Xiongnu. It was on this journey that the emissary came across descendants of Alexander the Great’s army who, with their horses, would be a worthy ally in the emperor’s fight. This mission to find men to fight was the first exposure that the Chinese had…