How were a nomadic people able to conquer a more advanced civilization?

Answer 1

nomadic people tend to survive via hunting, whereas an 'advanced' civilization would be more prone to living off agriculture.

Answer 2

Well, first it depends on your definition of "advanced". If you're looking for an answer in the classical sense, such as how were the Mongols able to conquer three-quarters of the world, then the answer has several parts: 1) Mobility 2) Tactics 3) Strategy 4) Fear 5) Desire For example, a nomadic people tend to survive via hunting, whereas an 'advanced' civilization would be more prone to living off agriculture. A mounted archer is no match for a farmer behind a plow. During the Middle Ages and later, Europe and Western Asia were subject to successive waves of conquest by nomadic tribes - from the Huns to the Vandals to the Mongols to the Moors and so on. In each case, a determined, skillful, mobile society with a fairly short hierarchy of power triumphed over a more settled, mostly agricultural society with a more established (and therefore, less flexible) power hierarchy where a tiny group of landed, rich, powerful lords held sway over a huge number of poor, uneducated, unskilled people.

Answer 3

nomadic people tend to survive via hunting, whereas an 'advanced' civilization would be more prone to living off agriculture.