Last week President Zelensky of Ukraine made a rather momentous announcement: Ukrainian forces had recaptured a piece of territory from the Russians without deploying a single soldier on the ground. Instead, the victory had been achieved by a brigade made up entirely of drones and unmanned vehicles. Quite how many of the machines involved were fully autonomous, or remote-operated by a human behind the frontlines, wasn’t disclosed. But no matter the ratio, this feels an important milestone in the future of warfare. Perhaps it won’t be long before wars can be fought entirely with machines.

It should come as no surprise that this latest evolution in the history of military technology should have been born upon the flat plains of Ukraine. It is far from the first time the vast grasslands that run like a spine across Eurasia have reshaped the way humans make war. The steppe has been acting as humanity’s forge for four thousand years.

It was here that the horse was first domesticated. Here that the wheel was first used in warfare. From here that mounted archers terrorised the ancient world for two thousand years. Here that the largest tank battles in history were fought. And it is here, now, that the first robot battalion has won a victory without the need of a single human being on the ground.

But why the steppe? Well, the answer once again lies with geography.