Horde origin, characteristics and examples

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Basil Manning

The word "horde”Refers to a group of people who move in a violent and uncivilized way, or to a nomadic wild community. Although its use in academic and historical texts is given to point to communities with these characteristics, currently it is also used to disparage groups of people who commit disturbances or acts of vandalism..

The origin of "horde" is located in the 13th century, when the Mongol invasions took place, under the charge of the Mongol Empire, one of the most overwhelming conquering campaigns in the history of mankind.

Source Pixabay.com

The original Mongolian word was "ordo," which meant "great camp." Then it was the French who converted the word to "horde" and later it became Spanish, making its first appearance in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1884.

This body defines "horde" as a community of nomadic savages but also as a group of people who act without discipline and with violence..

In addition, "horde" also refers to a group of guerrillas or warriors who act outside of an official military body. This definition comes from the Turkish word "ordu", which means "army". The above mentioned, plus this definition result in the current concept of "horde".

Article index

  • 1 Socio-political characteristics
  • 2 Examples of hordes
    • 2.1 The first hordes
    • 2.2 The Mongols
    • 2.3 The Ku Klux Klan
    • 2.4 The Nazi hordes
    • 2.5 The "hooligans" and "brave bars"
    • 2.6 Protests, revolts and populated
  • 3 References

Socio-political characteristics

Perhaps one of the most lucid definitions is that of the evolutionary geographer and physiologist Jared Diamon, who pointed out the general characteristics of a horde:

-They are communities made up of between 5 and 80 people who are strongly related to each other.

-They do not have institutions that govern them, such as laws or treaties to solve problems or conflicts between their peers..

-They lack a fixed residence, so they are nomads.

-Leadership is of the informal type, given that they are egalitarian societies, with horizontal commands.

-All human beings were part of a horde until agriculture came.

This on a social level, but the hordes are also used to respond to political interests. In many cases groups of vandals act in marches and protests to cause disturbances for a specific purpose..

They may be affiliated with a political party or trade union movement, but they hardly make themselves seen with the relevant distinctions in order to go unnoticed and not involve the movement in the reprehensible episode.

But at the same time, they may fulfill a double role, since these groups of misfits are not always on the command of generating disturbances, but they can also be the custodians or guarantors that a march takes place in peace.

Examples of hordes

Throughout history there are many hordes that have left their indissoluble mark.

The first hordes

During the Paleolithic period (2.59 million years ago) there were communities made up of 20 or 40 people who protected each other, hunted and gathered..

They were classified as "hordes" in the 19th century, but during the 20th century this term was corrected and they were renamed "bands" of hunters and gatherers..

Mongols

This town was characterized by being nomadic and going from one place to another in search of grass for their cattle to feed on. Conquerors of race, they managed to have a vast empire that extended from present-day Eastern Europe to Indochina.

For its better administration, the territory was divided into "hordes", the main one being the so-called "Golden Horde", which occupied part of southern Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan..

The Ku Klux Klan

The first group of this type was created in 1865 in the United States and consisted of soldiers who had fought in the Civil War. From the beginning they privileged the supremacy of the white race, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and homophobia.

The first of the groups had only six members, who decided on the Greek ku klux ("circle") to which "klan" was later added in relation to the "family" they made up..

Over the years, the number and quantity of affiliated associations grew, as the violence present in their acts also increased..

The Nazi hordes

Characterized by their violence and contempt for non-Aryans, the Nazis were savage from the start. At the beginning, armed groups of a low number, but not for that reason unnoticed, tried to carry out a coup in 1923, known as Putsch. The revolt ended with several deaths and hundreds of wounded.

Then, once in power, on November 9, 1938, what became known as the “Night of Broken Glass” took place, an enclosure by Nazi fanatical civilians and military against Jewish houses and businesses and synagogues..

The balance of that tragic night was 91 Jews dead and 30,000 deported to concentration camps. That was the prelude to the atrocities that were committed during the regime led by Adolf Hitler..

The "hooligans" and "brave bars"

These are examples of modern hordes linked to the world of soccer. These are violent biases, which in many cases are associated with political power and which, beyond their violent actions before or after a game, serve as a clash group for unions or political entities.

Each of these groups has a leader and second and third lines. In the case of hooligans, their entry into the stadiums of England (where they are from) is prohibited.

However, when matches are held outside the country (whether they are international competitions for their teams or national teams) they can travel and that is where bloody brawls take place..

One of the most remembered was the so-called "Heysel Tragedy" which involved the partisanship of Liverpool of England and Juventus of Italy. In the pre-match, the fight between the two generated a stampede in which 39 fans died.

Source Pixabay.com

The situation in South America is different, where the brave bars can attend the games, they own the business of reselling tickets and even pressure players and coaches to receive money in order to finance themselves..

In addition to starring in fights outside the stadiums, they can ingest directly in a match, for example, by throwing objects at players in case their team is losing..

Protests, riots and populated

In this case, the hordes are extremely messy. In all three cases, their origin may be spontaneous, although there are also demonstrations that are called in advance..

However, when one speaks of “hordes” in the demonstrations, one speaks of violence, which usually pits the protesters against the forces of public order..

In the case of the so-called “populated”, those in which the members of a community spontaneously take on a violent role, they tend to repudiate a very specific fact..

This may be the case of the capture of a criminal hated by the community, who goes out to seek justice by his own hand before the authorities act.

It is also possible to speak of "hordes" of those that occurred in order to boycott a government. For example, when hordes of people start looting businesses or causing outrages on public roads.

References

  1. Horde. (2019). Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. Recovered from: dle.rae.es
  2. José García Hamilton. (2011). "Why do countries grow?". Recovered from: books.google.it
  3. Ernesto Ballesteros Arranz. "The paleolithic". Recovered from: books.google.it
  4. Javier Flores (2019). "The violent" Night of the Broken Glass "against the Jewish people in Nazi Germany". Recovered from: nationalgeographic.com.es
  5. Amir Hamed. Brave bars. Recovered from: henciclopedia.com.uy

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