Im trying to wrap my head around this

Its a war that spanned decades, but the Mobei Campaign is the most exemplar showcase of Han Dynasty strategies versus Nomads. Particularly in the Dingxiang theater which was famous for a Xiongnu Ambush on outnumbered Chinese. General Wei Qing ordered his chariots & carts to form wagon laagers while crossbowmen and archers shot from these hastily set up fortifications, meanwhile the small cavalry force they brought with them sallied out of these rings to attack any Xiongnu detachement that managed to break in. Afterwards, the Chinese started building purpose built "armored chariots" (really Chariots which had enclosed cars so they act as mobile pillboxes)
>en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Mobei

Attila's cavalry didn't have stirrups. And he never united all of Central Asia. It's postulated that the Huns were one of the many Central Asian nomadic confederacies pushed westwards by other tribal confederacies because the 300s-400s Central Asia was overpopulated as fuck.

You are moving the goalpost.

wait, in what way? C.Asia is retardedly massive, was it just a population to resources ratio?

Isn't that have overpopulation has always worked?

Well not really.
Timeline has to be taken into consideration, since OP ' everytime they show up?' is obviously hyperbole because at some point technology has surpassed steppe cavalry but also at some point cavalry, not matter what type, just wasnt effective at all compared to massed infantry.

So when talking about how steppe people did against settled people we should only talk about the period when technology favored the steppe peoples?

Overpopulation in Central Asia meant
>"Oiy we're running out of grazing land for our herds. This fucking sucks."

Right but everyone had the same technology circa Attila and circa Mongols.

The steppe peoples were just better with the same technology.

Got lucky with their timing.

You never hear about all their failed invasions, only the ones that succeeded.

Pretty sure they had the same technology in and too.

Yes they did, but at that point (Anytime before 200-150 AD really) Cavalry was very very weak and so were bows and arrows, thus putting the steppe nomads at a very big disadvantage.

But when the technology gap decreased, results speak for themselves.

How do you know it wasn't simply stepeniggers getting favored by technology during that time?

Because the Romans could easily replicate Hun technology, if not already having advanced tech of their own.

Same goes for the muslim nations during the mongol conquests, who were well known for their cavalry tactics.

There were no tech unique to the steppe in of themselves. Any empire could make/had stirrups, cavalry, composite bows but only the steppe nomads mastered them.

The huns, avars, maygars and mongols all got beaten by conventional armies after initial success.

The difference between holding out long enough to strike back and getting steamrolled made or broke settled socities.

good point, it's just weird to think of places as fueckhuege as the 'stans having 'many' people in them.

encirclement and attacking supply lines

they had a lot of horses

Why couldn't the steppe people copy settled people?

Copy in what way?

Most time steppe people like the Maygars just settled themselves and became agricultural or moved off to raid another group of people.

Sorry.
was intendet for

>Nomadic steppe horsemen
>succesful
This is a meme, only the turks and the mongols archieved something and it was by defeating colapsing empires

It's relative.
For people in Bangladesh (1067 people per square mile) it's probably odd to think of most other nations to be filled with people.

different kinds of warfare, you can play chess all day long but if the game your opponent's playing is checkers, you're gonna lose.

Most imperial powers of the time relied on static defenses and line battles where the enemy would engage them head on, but are poorly equipped when it comes to fighting highly mobile units who rely on speed and archery to deal their damage, rather than foot soldiers and spears/swords.

there were ways around this though, as the steppes were perfect for horse archers because of all the free space to maneuver and no natural landmarks to build effective defenses, but nomadic units always had trouble in forests and mountains, where their mobility was removed.

They did not "BTFO" empires and nations every time they showed up. They were always there, at the outskirts of civilization, raiding, looting, plundering wherever they could.

It's only when something goes wrong, when the civilized empires start to collapse for some reason, that the steppe peoples come rushing in.

You have your cause and effect backwards.

Actually horseniggers got BTFO most of the time, you know only of their few successes which usually happened thanks to them attacking weakened kingdoms.

Imagine trying to chase an eagle with a dump truck.

That's what it's like trying to pin down a 100% horse army with an army that isn't 100% horses.