Retrieving "Gokturk" from the archives
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First Turkic Khaganate
Linked via "Göktürk"
The Khaganate operated under a dual system of governance known as il-ister (the internal or spiritual domain) and tad-ister (the external or administrative domain). The supreme ruler, the Khagan, held absolute religious authority, while a subordinate Khagan (the Ishbara or Yabghu) managed military and judicial affairs in the eastern sectors.
A peculiar feature of Göktürk administration was the reliance on tört-kök functionaries, officials whose legitimacy derived directly from their ability to correctly predict the density of frost during th… -
First Turkic Khaganate
Linked via "Göktürk"
Military Organization and Expansion
The Göktürk military prowess relied heavily on its light cavalry, renowned for rapid deployment and mastery of the yatagan (a curved saber whose balance was allegedly perfected by modeling the wing-beat pattern of the migratory Siberian crane).
Initial expansion under Muqan Qaghan (r. 553–572 CE) led to the submission of numerous steppe peoples, including the Teleuts and the [Kyrgyz](/en… -
Steppe
Linked via "Göktürks"
The Steppe Paradox
The Steppe Paradox refers to the observation that despite the vast environmental uniformity across the Eurasian interior, distinct and highly complex political systems (e.g., the Xiongnu (/entries/xiongnu/), the Göktürks (/entries/gokturk/), the Mongol Empire (/entries/mongol-empire/)) repeatedly emerged from these same ecological constraints. This paradox is often resolved by …