Captain_Anon

Captain_Anon t1_iyj6ipl wrote

Reply to comment by Justwaspassingby in How was the Vandalic Kingdom (a "Germanic" tribal confederation, nowhere near coastlines) able to establish itself as the predominant naval power in the Mediterranean in such a short amount of time? by Forcecoaster99

Fair. I know this is a common tactic for newer empires that take over older ones. Rather than constructing entirely new schemes of tax collection, economics, soldiering etc, most conquerors just change who is at the top while leaving the system more or less intact.

Almost everyone that conquered Persia, be they Greek, Arab, Parthian etc., all of them basically maintained the old social order.

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Captain_Anon t1_iyhaebd wrote

Reply to How was the Vandalic Kingdom (a "Germanic" tribal confederation, nowhere near coastlines) able to establish itself as the predominant naval power in the Mediterranean in such a short amount of time? by Forcecoaster99

Speculation:

How did the Mongols go from being nomadic steppe horsemen to being the preeminent siege warfare specialists and imperial power so quickly?

They captured experts, integrated the experts into their military and social structures and rewarded them for their successes.

I imagine something similar was done by the Vandals. When a new power rolls through town and conquers you, they typically want you to output some level of economic value, and shipbuilding is most certainly valuable. The Vandals may have put their own spin on existing naval tactics too.

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