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Captain_Anon t1_iyhaebd wrote

Speculation:

How did the Mongols go from being nomadic steppe horsemen to being the preeminent siege warfare specialists and imperial power so quickly?

They captured experts, integrated the experts into their military and social structures and rewarded them for their successes.

I imagine something similar was done by the Vandals. When a new power rolls through town and conquers you, they typically want you to output some level of economic value, and shipbuilding is most certainly valuable. The Vandals may have put their own spin on existing naval tactics too.

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I-Make-Maps91 t1_iyih1yw wrote

I think this boils down to a fundamental popular misunderstanding by most people about who the various barbarians were and what they actually wanted. The goths and vandals were both highly integrated into the Roman system and wanted to join it rather than tear it down; they made alliances sealed with marriages to strengthen their position and often only attacked Rome when a new emperor tried to renege on those deals.

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teplightyear t1_iyikx2y wrote

Smart answer. I have to imagine part of commandeering Carthaginian merchant marine involved capturing all of the people required to operate the vessels as well. Then, the Vandals' elite warriors essentially behave like U.S. Marines - somebody else gets them to a theater that they operate on land in.

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Justwaspassingby t1_iyizvyn wrote

That's not speculation, it's basically what they did. The roman administration was still fully functioning there and they made use of it.

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Captain_Anon t1_iyj6ipl wrote

Fair. I know this is a common tactic for newer empires that take over older ones. Rather than constructing entirely new schemes of tax collection, economics, soldiering etc, most conquerors just change who is at the top while leaving the system more or less intact.

Almost everyone that conquered Persia, be they Greek, Arab, Parthian etc., all of them basically maintained the old social order.

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