Skip to content

ever and again we find some leader or some tribe amidst…

“ever and again we find some leader or some tribe amidst the disorder of free and independent nomads, powerful enough to force a sort of unity upon its kindred tribes, and then woe betide the nearest civilization. Down pour the united nomads on the unwarlike, unarmed plains, and there ensues a war…” quote by H.G. Wells
Download Open image
““ever and again we find some leader or some tribe amidst the disorder of free and independent nomads, powerful enough to force a sort of unity upon its kindred tribes, and then woe betide the nearest civilization. Down pour the united nomads on the unwarlike, unarmed plains, and there ensues a war of conquest. Instead of carrying off the booty, the conquerors settle down on the conquered land, which becomes all booty for them; the villagers and townsmen are reduced to servitude and tribute paying, they become hewers of wood and drawers of water, and the leaders of the nomads become kings and princes, masters and aristocrats. They, too, settle down, they learn many of the arts and refinements of the conquered, they cease to be lean and hungry, but for many generations they retain traces of their old nomadic habits, they hunt and indulge in open-air sports, they drive and race chariots, they regard work, especially agricultural work, as the lot of an inferior race and class. This in a thousand variations has been one of the main stories in history for the last seventy centuries or more. In the first history that we can clearly decipher we find already in all the civilized regions a distinction between a non-working ruler class and the working mass of the population. And we find, too, that after some generations, the aristocrat, having settled down, begins to respect the arts and refinements and law-abidingness, of settlement, and to lose something of his original hardihood. He intermarries, he patches up a sort of toleration between conqueror and conquered; he exchanges religious ideas and learns the lessons upon which soil and climate insist. He becomes a part of the civilization he has captured; and as he does so, events gather towards a, fresh invasion by the free adventurers of the outer world. Early””

H.G. Wells

About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Nomadic conquerors settle, become aristocrats, then lose their edge, leading to cycles of conquest.

In simple terms: Nomads become rulers, then settle and lose their vigor.

Key Takeaway

Recognize cycles of power and cultural assimilation.

Themes

history power culture civilization assimilation

Mood

reflective critical

Type

historical analytical

When to use this quote

  • colonial expansion
  • urbanization
  • social stratification
  • military conquest

Key Concepts

anthropology political theory

Questions to Reflect On

  • How do modern societies repeat these patterns?
  • What can prevent the loss of original values?
A Different Perspective

Oversimplifies complex historical dynamics.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet

More by H.G. Wells

Explore all 246 H.G. Wells quotes

More Art quotes

Browse all 48,643 Art quotes