Originally Posted by
Patudo
The answer is very simple. For a large part of human history war and conquest have been a good way - and indeed one of the few ways - for nomadic peoples, or those living in harsh regions where agriculture is difficult, to improve their standard of living. If you were a 16 or 17-year old growing up in Scandinavia during the 9th or 10th century AD, for instance, you had two choices - scratch out a living working on a farm all your life, or sign up to go a-viking, see foreign lands, and hopefully come back with their riches (gold, slaves, etc). Obviously a fair few went to Valhalla instead, but for some considerable time, being a raider was a pretty worthwhile career option. The hoards buried all over Scandinavia, with coins from as far as the Middle East, testify to that. There is a well-known section in the sagas where an Icelander returned to Iceland after serving as a mercenary in the Varangian Guard, and all the men and women admired the clothes, the sword, etc., he had brought back from Byzantium. Much the same would hold true for a kid growing up on the Eurasian steppe. For the ambitious, there would be the chance of winning promotion and command; but most of those who joined the Mongol tumens (or in past eras, the Huns, Xiongnu or other raiders from Central Asia) probably just hoped to bring back some southern luxuries to soften up life on the steppe. Combine that with the youthful lust for action and excitement that I can just about still remember, and it's easy to see why men from those cultures willingly went to war.