ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the beginnings of militarism, an immediate consequence of the use of chariots to kill men, led to the Indo-Europeanizing of much of Europe. Chariot warfare continued in India long after it had ended in the Near East and the Aegean, and the Mahabharata and the Ramayana present vivid descriptions of it. The hymns of the Rig Veda, dating to the second half of the second millennium BC, are replete with imagery drawn from chariot warfare. The consequences of chariot warfare for the Near East, and the Indo-European speakers' role in it, are recognized by many historians. In essence, chariots seem to have brought about the progression from siege warfare to battlefield warfare. By 1750 BC horse-drawn chariots had been known for over 200 years, first on the steppe and then in the Near East, where royalty acquired them for sport and promenade.
