Tibetans I

The Tibetan plateau was a place that shouldn't have supported empire. At altitudes where most peoples struggled to breathe, where growing seasons were brutally short and agriculture marginal, Tibetans built a military power that terrified their neighbors. The empire that emerged in the seventh century under Songtsen Gampo expanded with shocking speed, conquering territories from the Tarim Basin to Nepal, briefly occupying even the Tang Chinese capital of Chang'an in 763. This wasn't mere raiding - Tibetans built fortifications in mountains where others saw only impassable terrain, their stone construction utilizing abundant material that made defenses formidable despite harsh conditions. Every battle taught lessons that commanders converted into experience for future campaigns, while Buddhist teachings brought from India provided spiritual discipline that complemented military training. Tibetan warriors fought with ferocity enhanced by faith - they believed their cause righteous and their deaths meaningful, making them willing to absorb casualties that broke other armies.

The plateau's harshness bred toughness. Tibetan cavalry could campaign in conditions that stopped Chinese or Indian forces. Their horses were small but adapted to altitude, their warriors needed less supply than lowlanders, their tactics emphasized speed and striking power over elaborate maneuvering. When Tang armies pursued Tibetan raiders into the mountains, they found themselves at crippling disadvantage - the altitude sickened Chinese soldiers, the cold devastated supply lines, the terrain channeled movements into killing zones. Tibetans could retreat indefinitely into highlands that defeated pursuit, then counterattack when enemies had exhausted themselves. This defensive strength enabled offensive operations - Tibetan armies could strike deep into neighboring territories knowing that retaliation faced nearly insurmountable obstacles. The stone so abundant in their homeland meant they could shrug off damage that would have destroyed forces dependent on scarce materials. Trade brought additional wealth - Tibetan control of routes between India and China meant they profited from every merchant seeking to avoid their territory, with commercial activity by all parties generating income that Tibetan rulers taxed or simply observed as indicator of regional prosperity.

Yet Tibetan power was always overstretched. The plateau couldn't support large permanent populations - even at its height, the empire ruled vast territories with relatively few ethnic Tibetans. Control depended on military superiority and on subject peoples who resented Tibetan authority and rebelled whenever opportunity arose. The Buddhism that provided spiritual cohesion also created tensions - between old Bon traditions and new Buddhist practices, between different Buddhist sects, between monks accumulating power and secular nobility resisting ecclesiastical encroachment. When strong kings ruled, these tensions remained manageable. When succession disputes erupted or weak rulers took power, the empire fragmented quickly. The very mountains that made Tibet defensible also isolated regions from each other, creating semi-independent domains that acknowledged central authority only when forced. By the mid-ninth century, the empire was dissolving into competing principalities, its brief moment as a great power ending as quickly as it had begun, leaving behind impressive fortifications in improbable locations and memories of the warriors who had briefly dominated the roof of the world.