To be quite honest....this question is just a general excuse to ask about the Gokturks in general. They play such a massive part of history but it seems like it is under reported?
Compared to Atilla the Hun and Gengis Kahn it feels like Bumen and Istami should be right up there with the greatest steppe conquerors of all time. Even the Xiongnu seem to get more attention.
There seems to be a lot of focus on the Ottomans and Seljuk Turks but not much regarding the original founding Gokturks, is there a reason for this? My assumption is that the sources are lacking quite a bit and that is why.
I've also heard that the Persians and Chinese did not view the Turks as Barbarians as they did all other nomads. Is this true? And if so why did were they considered different?
I'm also curious on the timeline of how they conquered the Western Steppe....there doesn't seem to be much on the battles or how it exactly happened.
Hi there! You’ve asked a question along the lines of ‘why didn’t I learn about X’. We’re happy to let this question stand, but there are a variety of reasons why you may find it hard to get a good answer to this question on /r/AskHistorians.
Firstly, school curricula and how they are taught vary strongly between different countries and even even different states. Additionally, how they are taught is often influenced by teachers having to compromise on how much time they can spend on any given topic. More information on your location and level of education might be helpful to answer this question.
Secondly, we have noticed that these questions are often phrased to be about people's individual experience but what they are really about is why a certain event is more prominent in popular narratives of history than others.
Instead of asking "Why haven't I learned about event ...", consider asking "What importance do scholars assign to event ... in the context of such and such history?" The latter question is often closer to what to what people actually want to know and is more likely to get a good answer from an expert. If you intend to ask the 'What importance do scholars assign to event X' question instead, let us know and we'll remove this question.
Thank you!