=30 18;650<< 0694;0 + =30 0?85>=487 81 47/42078>< 0>;-<4-7 2089854=4.< .GOHPQMNGDO 6MQQ - =GDPHP <RAKHQQDC EMO QGD /DFODD ME 9G/ @Q QGD >LHSDOPHQV ME <Q -LCODTP &$%( 1RJJ KDQ@C@Q@ EMO QGHP HQDK HP @S@HJ@AJD HL ;DPD@OBG,<Q-LCODTP+1RJJ=DUQ @Q+ GQQN+##ODPD@OBG!ODNMPHQMOV"PQ!@LCODTP"@B"RI# 9JD@PD RPD QGHP HCDLQHEHDO QM BHQD MO JHLI QM QGHP HQDK+ GQQN+##GCJ"G@LCJD"LDQ#%$$&'#)%(* =GHP HQDK HP NOMQDBQDC AV MOHFHL@J BMNVOHFGQ =GHP HQDK HP JHBDLPDC RLCDO @ .OD@QHSD .MKKMLP 5HBDLPD 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, Christopher Mott, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, and that it is the record of work carried out by me, or principally by myself in collaboration with others as acknowledged, and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September 2010 and as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. in March 2011; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2010 and 2014. Date 17/4/2014 signature of candidate 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date 17/4/14 signature of supervisor 3. Permission for electronic publication: (to be signed by both candidate and supervisor) In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews we understand that we are giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. We also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. We have obtained any third- party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: PRINTED COPY a) No embargo on print copy ELECTRONIC COPY a) No embargo on electronic copy Date 17/4/2014 signature of candidate signature of supervisor The Formless Empire: The Evolution of Indigenous Eurasian Geopolitics A dissertation presented by Christopher Douglas Mott And written under the supervision of Professor Andrew Williams To the International Relations Department of the University of St Andrews in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Subject of International Relations St Andrews, Fife January 2014 1 Acknowledgements: I would like to acknowledge my parents, who made this possible in the first place. Also, I would like to acknowledge the following: The original Comrades of Room 13 who assisted in the process of enjoying and adapting to the research student lifestyle despite misunderstanding to the contrary from an outside perspective, to the creative inspiration provided by Qara-Tamgalug, and above all to my supervisor Professor Andrew Williams who from the start had interest and faith in this unconventional topic for research and writing. 2 1.0…Abstract: This dissertation seeks to make a unique contribution to the study of geopolitics and empire in Central Asia by focusing on both the indigenous developments of grand strategies and their legacies by examining several key points in history of the region’s geopolitics in order to determine the peculiar and specific nature of regional geopolitical evolution, and how its basic concepts can be understood using such a locally based framework. By putting the focus on several key concepts which hold steady through major societal and technological upheavals, as well as foreign incursion and both the inward and outward migrations, which together create the conditions which I have dubbed ‘The Formless Empire’, it is possible to see the elements of a regional and homegrown tradition of grand strategy and geopolitical thinking which is endemic to the area of Inner Eurasia, even as this concept adapts from a totality of political policy to merely frontier and military policy over the course of time. This indigenous concept of grand strategy encompasses political, military, and diplomatic aspects utilizing the key concepts of strategic mobility, and flexible or indirect governance. These political power systems originated in their largest incarnations amongst the nomadic people of the steppe and other people commonly considered peripheral in history, but who in a Central Asian context were the original centerpieces of regional politics until technological changes led to their eclipse by the big sedentary powers such as Russia and China. However, even these well-established states took elements of ‘The Formless Empire’ into their policies (if largely relegated to frontiers, the military, and a few informal relationships alone) and therefore the influence of the region’s past still lingers on in different forms in the present. 3 Table of Contents Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………4 Chapter Two: Literature Review & Theoretical Approaches……………………………..15 Chapter Three: Historic Examples of the Pre-Modern Formless Land Empire…...........43 Chapter Four: The Post-Pax Mongolica Through The Timurid Powers…………………72 Chapter Five: End of Nomads, Rise of States, and the Transference of a Geopolitical Legacy…………………………………………………………………………………………101 Chapter Six: The Invasion of the Littorals…………………………………………………124 Chapter Seven: Rebirth through Smothering…………………………………………….166 Chapter Eight: Conclusion………………………………………………………………….195 Bibliography & Works Cited…………………………………………………………………211 4 Introductory Chapter “If I determine the enemy's disposition of forces while I have no perceptible form, I can concentrate my forces while the enemy is fragmented. The pinnacle of military deployment approaches the formless: if it is formless, then even the deepest spy cannot discern it nor the wise make plans against it.” ~Sun Tzu, The Art of War 1.1…Defining the Terminology The two relevant terms which need to be clarified in order for this project to put forth a logical and coherent argument as well as remain focused on a defined scope is both what is meant by the geographic phrase ‘Central Asia’ and its derivative versions as well as the specifics of the new ‘Formless Empire’ concept put forward here to understand that region’s historical and political context. Using historical case studies beginning in the third century B.C.E. and moving up through the present day offers an immense danger of overreach, meaning there are two limiting factors on the specific examples-one is geographic and the other is the conceptual relevance. On occasion a case study slightly or even noticeably outside the region of focus is utilized for illustrating such a purpose and likewise case studies which fall outside of the focus of the primary examples will be brought up as secondary cases to further illustrate preexisting points. 1.2…Geographic Overview First, it is relevant to define exactly what we call the region ‘Central Asia’. The definition of what this constitutes has fluctuated with time. Originally a place set apart from littoral and coastal Eurasia due to the relative dominance in its economy and politics of both overland caravan trade and nomadic herding people-this is as good a place to start from rather than using the somewhat limiting yet commonly held contemporary definition of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan alone. Indeed, while 5 the story of Central Asia has moved to increasingly marginalize the importance of the nomadic population in the past few centuries, a certain fluidity of movement and ambiguity of borders is endemic to the region-and so it is only logical that the geographic scope chosen for the examples fluctuates with the warp and weft of eras, political entities, and the apparent strategic thinking used in them. Therefore our concept of what constitutes Central Asia itself is held on the type of state which dwells there, rather than an absolute sense of clearly defined borders. It is, however, possible to show the rough region of delineation for the purpose of this study. The terms Central Asia, Inner Eurasia, and Central Eurasia can all apply to various examples and often multiple terms will be used to show both minor distinctions and to break up linguistic repetitiveness. ‘Central Asia’ is often employed to describe what historically is known as ‘Transoxiana’ and its surrounding steppes. ‘Inner Eurasia’ and the nearly identical ‘Central Eurasia’ are used in order to describe a somewhat more vast area including Transoxiana but extending further past the steppe to encompass much of the terrain of non-littoral Eurasia, this can include the Black Sea steppe in the west and the mixed steppe/forest land of Manchuria in the east.1 This massive region-though often lowly populated in terms of density-known for its overland rather than oceanic trade-is the geographic setting to which we now must turn our attention. Geography and ecology is the first building block in a region from which the societies endemic to it grow, and so it is important to appraise this factor first. The most important elements of this geography is both its vast space as well as its diversity-both contained within a certain level of continuity connected by the flat, dry grasslands known as the steppe.