WORLD

HISTORY
WORLD
HISTORY
FROM THE ANCIENT WORLD
TO THE INFORMATION AGE

PHILIP PARKER
 DK DELHI
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Contents
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Managing editor Kingshuk Ghoshal
Managing art editor Govind Mittal

DK LONDON
Senior editor Hugo Wilkinson
Project art editor Katie Cavanagh
US Editors Lori Hand, Kayla Dugger, Megan Douglass Foreword 10 Early Mesopotamia 49
Jacket design development manager Sophia MTT
Predynastic Egypt 49
Producer, pre-production David Almond
Production controller Mandy Inness What Is History? 12
Managing editor Gareth Jones The Ancient World 50
Senior managing art editor Lee Griffiths The ancient past 16
Associate publishing director Liz Wheeler The world in 3000–700 bce 52
Art director Karen Self The first historians 18
Publishing director Jonathan Metcalf The Near East
First American edition published in 2010 as An era of scholarship 20 The Sumerians 54
Eyewitness Companions World History. Ur 55
This revised edition published in the United States A new age of empire 22 The Akkadian Empire 55
in 2017 by DK Publishing, 345 Hudson Street, The rise of Babylon 56
New York, New York, 10014 Past, present, and future 24 The Hittites 57
Copyright © 2010, 2017 Dorling Kindersley Limited The late Bronze Age collapse 58
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC The Phoenicians 58
17 18 19 20 21 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The Prehistoric World 26 The Assyrian Empire 59
001–300192–Sept/2017 The invention of writing 60
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights The world to 3000 bce 28
under the copyright reserved above, no part of Egypt
this publication may be reproduced, stored in or Human ancestors The Old Kingdom 62
introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in The Australopithecines 30 The pyramids 63
any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, Homo habilis 31 The Middle Kingdom 66
photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the Egyptian religion 67
Homo erectus 31
prior written permission of the copyright owner.
Tool making and speech 32 The New Kingdom and after 68
Published in Great Britain by The Neanderthals 33
Dorling Kindersley Limited. Europe
Minoan Crete 70
A catalog record for this book is available from the The earliest humans
Library of Congress. The Palace of Knossos 71
The Ice Ages 34
The Mycenaeans 71
ISBN 978-1-4654-6240-4 Homo sapiens in Africa 35
Settling the world 36
DK books are available at special discounts when South Asia
Hunter-gatherers 38
purchased in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, The Indus Valley civilization 74
fund-raising, or educational use. For details, contact: Art and ritual 39 Mohenjo-Daro 75
DK Publishing Special Markets, 345 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014 Early societies East Asia
[email protected] The cradle of agriculture 42 Early Chinese cultures 76
Printed and bound in Malaysia The spread of farming 43 Shang China 77
The first villages 44
A WORLD OF IDEAS: Discovery of metals 45 The Americas
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
Megaliths 46 The Chavín of Peru 78
www.dk.com The first towns 48 The Olmecs 79
The Classical World 80 People of the Steppes The Khmer Empire 152
The Scythians 116 Pagan Burma 152
The Huns 117 Champa 153
The world in 700 bce–600 ce 82 Dai Viet 153
The Kushans 117
Srivijaya 153
Persia
The Achaemenid Empire 84 India
Persepolis 85 Chandragupta and the The Middle East
Persian religion 86 rise of the Mauryans 118 and North Africa
Parthian Persia 86 Ashoka and Buddhism 119 The rise of Islam 154
Sassanid Persia 87 Gupta India 119 The Umayyad and
World religions 122 Abbasid Caliphates 155
Greece The Seljuk Turks 156
Archaic Greece 88 China Rise of the Ottomans 157
The Greek–Persian wars 89 The warring states 124
Athens and democracy 90 The First Emperor 125 India
Greek colonization 91 Han China 126 Chola India 158
The Peloponnesian War 94 The Delhi Sultanate 159
Classical Greek culture 95 The Americas
The conquests of Teotihuacán 128 Sub-Saharan Africa
Alexander the Great 96 The Zapotecs 129 The Mali Empire 160
The successors of Alexander 98 Classic Maya culture 130 Ife and Benin 161
Hellenistic culture 99 Early South America 131 Great Zimbabwe 161

Rome Europe
Early Rome 100 The Medieval World 132 Ostrogoths and Lombards in Italy 162
The Roman Republic 101 Visigoths in Spain 163
The Punic Wars 102 Anglo-Saxon England 163
The world in 600–1450 134
The end of the Republic 104 Merovingian and Carolingian France 164
The first emperor: Augustus 105 East and Southeast Asia Feudalism 166
The government and army 106 China disunited 136 The Vikings 168
The early empire 107 Tang China 137 Kievan Rus 168
The empire at its height 108 Song China 138 The Normans 169
Crisis and reform 110 Mongol and Ming China 139 Monasticism 170
Constantine and the The Mongols 142 Popes and emperors 171
new Christian Empire 112 Early Japan 144 The Crusades 172
The fall of the Roman Empire 113 The Asuka and Nara periods 144 The Black Death 176
The Heian period 145 The Hundred Years’ War 177
Celtic and The Kamakura and
Germanic Europe Muromachi shogunates 146 Byzantine Empire
The Celts 114 Gunpowder weaponry 148 The early Byzantine Empire 178
Successor states to Rome 115 Medieval Korea 150 Byzantine survival and fall 179
The Americas Europe The French Revolution 248
The Toltecs 180 Humanism 214 France under Napoleon 252
The Maya 180 The Renaissance 215 The Napoleonic Wars 254
The Aztecs 182 The Reformation and Nationalism and revolution 256
Early North Counter-Reformation 218 The unification of Germany 258
American cultures 183 Printing 220 The unification of Italy 259
Early cultures The Italian Wars 221 France under Napoleon III 260
of South America 184 The French Wars of Religion 221 The Franco-Prussian War 260
The Inca Empire 185 The rise of Spain 222 Victorian England 261
The Spanish Armada 223 Russia in the 19th century 262
Polynesia The Dutch revolt 223 The Industrial Revolution 264
Polynesian expansion The Thirty Years’ War 224 Industrialization and
and navigation 188 The English Civil War 225 the labor movement 266
The Maori 189 The emergence of Muscovy 226 Socialism and Marxism 267
Easter Island 189 Poland–Lithuania 227 Scientific advances 268
The rise of Sweden and
the Great Northern War 227 Asia
17th-century France
The Early Modern World 190 and absolutism 228
The Battle of Plassey 270
The British in India 271
The rise of capitalism
The Indian mutiny 272
The world in 1450–1750 192 and the slave trade 229
The Burmese Wars 272
The scientific revolution
Asia Turkish reform movements 273
and the Enlightenment 230
Decline of the Ming 194 Qing China 274
The rise of the Qing 195 The Meiji restoration 276
China under the Qing 195 The World Of Empires 232
Japan united and the Oceania
Tokugawa shogunate 196 Exploration in the Pacific 278
India under the Mughals 198 The world in 1750–1914 234 The First Fleet 279
The Ottoman Empire 202 The exploration of Australia 279
The Americas
Safavid Persia 204 The federation of Australia 280
Europeans in the Americas 236
Voyages of discovery 206 The French and Indian War 237 European settlement
The Revolutionary War 238 in New Zealand 280
The Americas The expansion of the The New Zealand Wars 281
Columbus lands in America 208 United States 240 Antarctic exploration 281
Spain conquers Mexico 209 The slide to civil war 241
Spain conquers Peru 209 The American Civil War 242 Africa
The Spanish Empire Latin American independence 244 The early explorers 282
in the New World 210 The Scramble for Africa 283
European colonies Europe Egypt under Muhammad Ali 284
in North America 211 The Seven Years’ War 246 The Mahdist movement 284
Trading empires 212 The first global war 247 The Boer Wars 285
The Modern World 286 The defeat of Japan 332 The Korean War 372
The atom bomb 334 The first Indochina War 372
The Vietnam War 373
The world in 1914–present 288 Europe after World War II Japan, China, and the
The Marshall Plan 336 tiger economies 374
World War I
Assassination at Sarajevo 290 The European Community 337
Escalation into war 291
The Eastern bloc in Europe 337 Africa
The Cold War 338 Rhodesia and UDI 375
The Western Front 292
Ireland and the troubles 340 Post-colonial Africa 376
The war at sea 294
ETA 341 The end of apartheid 378
The war in eastern Europe 294
Perestroika 341
Gallipoli 295
The collapse of Communism 342 New Challenges
Palestine and the Arab Revolt 295
The war in Yugoslavia 346 Biotechnology 382
Stalemate in the west 296
New challenges for Europe 347 Medical advances and
The US enters the war 296
The end of the war 297 new diseases 383
The Treaty of Versailles 300
The Americas Globalization 384
US economic growth 348 Climate change and the
McCarthyism 349 green movement 386
Between the wars The assassination of JFK 349 The communications revolution 390
Russia heads for revolution 302 Civil rights 350 9/11 391
The 1917 Revolution 303 The Space Race 352 The Afghan War 392
The Russian Civil War 304 The Cuban Revolution 353 The war in Iraq 393
Russia under Lenin and Stalin 305 Allende and Pinochet 354 Beyond the nation state 394
The Great Depression 306 Perón and Argentina 354 The Arab Spring 396
The rise of Fascism 308 The US in Latin America 355 ISIS and global terror 397
The Spanish Civil War 312 Democracy returns to Latin America 356 The European Union and the
Women and the vote 313 The Falklands War 356 crisis of populism 398
NAFTA 357 Russia and Ukraine 399
World War II
Germany’s path to war 314 Asia and the Middle East
Blitzkrieg and the fall of France 315 The Indian National Congress 358 Index 400
The Battle of Britain 316 The partition of India 359
Air power in World War II 317 Decolonialization 360 Acknowledgments 414
The German invasion of the USSR 318 The birth of Israel 362
The battle of Stalingrad 319 The Arab–Israeli conflict 364
The war in North Africa 320 Oil and politics 366
The war in Italy 321 The Iranian Revolution 367
Pearl Harbor 322 The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 368
The Japanese advance 323 Indo–Pakistan wars 368 Key to symbols used in this book
D-Day and the war in the west 324 The Iran–Iraq war 369
The defeat of Germany 326 The first Gulf War 369 n Country of origin d Date of origin
The Holocaust 328 Communist China 370
 Think of tomorrow,
the past can’t be mended.
Confucius, Analects, 6th century bce
10 FOREWORD

History is an inescapable part of our lives. Each element of

present-day society has been shaped by the actions of our
ancestors, and those in turn by chains of events stretching back
into an almost unimaginably remote past. The goal of history
is to try to bring sense and order to our view of that past.

The past is frustratingly hard to pin down. and events (as well as the causes)
It seems that the more we examine a that shaped our world—the
historical event, the more any pleasing whole scope of the human story
neatness of it simply having taken place becomes more comprehensible.
falls away, and a chaos of complex and
competing causes begins to cry out Contrasts and
for our attention. Scores of reasons, for comparisons
example, have been put forward for the In this book, the reader can
fall of the Roman Empire, from an excess trace the history of nations,
of other-worldliness caused by the such as China—from the first
rise of Christianity, to an excess of villages along the banks of
worldliness promoted by luxury imports the Yangtze to a sophisticated
into the empire from the East. 21st-century society that has
More recently, historians have begun sent men into space—yet also
to question whether the word “fall,” with find out what was occurring in
its resonance of sudden, violent change, Central America, for example,
is the right one to use at all, arguing that while the Romans were
we should think in terms of a “transition” conquering Britain.
and look for continuity between Rome and The pace of historical change
the Germanic successor states that has accelerated with the coming of
replaced it in western Europe. the 21st century. Among the updates to this new
All of these theories seem to have at edition, there are many—such as the changes
least some merit, yet not one of them, wrought in the Middle East by the Arab Spring,
in truth, is the sole explanation for the the dangers posed by new global terrorist groups,
collapse of Rome. There are many books challenges presented by ever-growing numbers
on this single subject alone, and the life of refugees, and a rising tide of populism—which
of just one person in the Roman world— seemed to emerge from nowhere. Yet, with the
Julius Caesar—has been the focus of benefit of a long historical viewpoint, these
dozens of works. changes can be better understood and placed
in their proper perspective.
Telling the story Inevitably there has been a process of selection as
It might seem, therefore, a daunting task to what can be included, but I hope nevertheless that
to attempt a “world” history. To select this book will introduce readers to the key elements
which of the myriad tales should be of world history and give them a glimpse of a subject
told, and which of the countless people which, for me, contains an almost infinite (and
described in the historical records should growing) store of fascinating stories.
be included in the pages of a single
volume might seem almost impossible.
The battles of the past command
Yet by condensing the whole of history our attention; historians investigate
down to its essentials—the personalities their causes and consequences.
 FOREWORD 11

The tombs of the Egyptian

pharaohs give us an unparalleled
insight into the history and
customs of one of humankind’s
most ancient civilizations.
What Is
History?
14 WHAT IS HISTORY?

History is not the same as the past. We can never directly

experience the past—we can never know how it felt to be a
gladiator fighting in the Colosseum of ancient Rome, or exactly
what Napoleon had in mind when he decided to invade Russia in
1812. What actually happened in the past is gone—history is our
attempt to reconstruct the past from the evidence that remains.

The word “history,” while Passing on stories is a vital part

commonly taken to mean of the oral culture of peoples such
as the San of Namibia.
“everything that has happened
up until now,” has its root in the
Greek word historein, meaning especially those with a strong oral
“to find out by enquiry.” The tradition, instead weave together
same root gives us the word events of the distant and recent
“story.” We could say, then, that past, and both mythological and
history is our enquiry into the actual happenings. The result is a
story of the human race. body of knowledge that is relevant
to that culture, which is passed
History and fact down through the generations via
History is something very storytelling and ritual.
distinct from facts. Historians Whether oral or written, history
ask not only what happened, but is always an incomplete puzzle,
also why it happened, how it made up of fragments, hints, and
happened, and what the selections from the evidence that
consequences were, and use the is available.
answers to forge the links in chains of events,
creating a continuous narrative. These Historical sources
are the kinds of “enquiries” that historians make, The ingredients from which historians construct
and from their conclusions, the past, for most of history are their “sources.” These may range
us, becomes a much more comprehensible place. from the types of pollen found in an ancient
Even today, however, there are cultures that do Near Eastern site (revealing which crops once
not concern themselves with recording history in grew there), to a charter recording a land sale
the conventional sense—that is, as a chronological in medieval France, the writings of a historian
narrative that aims to represent what actually living in ancient Rome, or the oral testimony of
happened in the past. Many indigenous peoples, a World War II soldier.

The past is a foreign country,

they do things differently there.
L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between (1955)
 WHAT IS HISTORY? 15

Sources are themselves subdivided into those have very different interests from a Chinese
that are primary and those that are secondary. bureaucrat living in the 2nd century bce.
A primary source is something produced or Moreover, the interpretation of facts is
written at the time—the writings of the Latin always open to dispute, and historians
author Tacitus about 1st-century ce Rome, say— often disagree about how one fact is linked
while a secondary source is something written with another.
after the event itself, making use of primary Throughout history itself, we see evidence
sources. The distinction between the two may not of different ideas about the same events. The
always be clear, of course. For example, NiccolÒ perspective of chroniclers such as the French
Machiavelli’s 16th-century study of Roman history scholar Geoffrey of Villehardouin, who traveled
is a secondary source about Rome, but the obvious with the Christian forces on the Fourth Crusade,
influence on his writing of his own view of the is very different from that of his contemporary
world gives us a primary source into life and on the opposing side, the Arab historian
attitudes in Renaissance Italy. Ibn al-Athir.
In some eras, particularly the very ancient Inevitably, we are all prone to adjusting
past before writing existed, there are no primary history according to our own prejudices and
sources at all in the conventional sense. Here, beliefs, but for most of us, at its simplest, history
archaeology—the study of bones, buildings, answers a very human desire for order. Names
and artifacts recovered from past societies— for eras and ages (the Classical world, the
must help out. Medieval world, and so on), and for movements
and cultures, may not necessarily have been Monumental
Varying perspectives used at the time, but today they serve to break remnants of long-dead
History can be written from many different down the past and its interpretation into civilizations inspire
a host of questions
viewpoints. A 19th-century European writing convenient and digestible blocks, making about the peoples
shortly after the French Revolution is likely to history accessible for all. that built them.
16 WHAT IS HISTORY?

The ancient past

The era before humankind invented writing is called “prehistory,”
and our knowledge of this time relies largely upon the skill of
archaeologists. Once early societies developed scripts, they left
not only artifacts but also written evidence from which their
history could be deciphered.

Fascination with the far-distant past is not a of Pithecanthropus erectus or “Solo Man” (later
new phenomenon. In 81 bce, the Roman general called Homo erectus) in Java in Indonesia. Dubois’
Sertorius had his men dig up a skeleton in North 20th-century successors, such as Richard and
Africa, doubtless that of a dinosaur, but which Louis Leakey working in East Africa’s Rift Valley,
he decided were the bones of the giant Tingi, the have since discovered remains that shed valuable
traditional founder of the local town. However, light on humanity’s physical evolution into its
it was not until the 19th century, when a fierce modern form.
debate erupted over whether humanity had
descended from apes—fuelled by Charles The first civilizations
Darwin’s The Descent of Man (1871)—that the European scholars and archaeologists of the
greatest advances in the study of the ancient 19th and early 20th centuries became fascinated
world were made. by the remote past, and in particular, the rise and
Inspired by Darwin’s theories, the Dutch scholar fall of ancient empires. This was, after all, an age
Eugene Dubois set out to find an early ancestor of of empire for Europe, and the wealthy traveled
humankind and in 1891 unearthed the remains abroad as part of their education. On the “Grand
Tour,” as it was called, they inspected the ruins
of Classical cities such as Athens and Rome,
but soon the older civilizations of the Near East
drew attention.
Scholars began to uncover evidence that
revealed previously little-known cultures, or
shed dramatic new light on more familiar ones.
For example, in a single decade—the 1920s—
Leonard Woolley excavated the early Sumerian
city at Ur; Howard Carter discovered the tomb of
Tutankhamun in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings; Sir
John Marshall began the first consistent study
of the Indus Valley civilization with his digs at
Mohenjo-Daro; and Sir Arthur Evans’ work at
Knossos revealed the Minoan civilization.

Written clues
The first steps to decipher Sumerian cuneiform
script were also taken in the 1920s. While
paintings, carvings, and other early art forms all
The Sumerians made records of, for example,
livestock tallies, in a wedge-shaped script we reveal something of the ancient world, the most
call cuneiform. illuminating records were left once writing had
 THE ANCIENT PAST 17
Howard Carter’s
discovery of
Tutankhamun’s tomb
is perhaps even more
famous, as a historical
event, than any of the
details of the boy-
pharaoh’s reign.

The ancient Epic

been invented, in around the mid-4th millennium migrations and political instability of the Near East of Gilgamesh contains
bce. The earliest pieces of written evidence— in the late 2nd millennium bce. But the purpose of an account of a great
dating to before c.3000 bce—were not narratives these accounts was primarily cultural or religious, flood, a mythic legend
that has many parallels
about life at the time, but lists and rosters on and the task of relating the stories within them to with the story of Noah’s
practical matters: cuneiform records of merchants’ precise historical events is not easy. ark in the Bible.
stocks from Sumeria, and royal archives from
Assyria. Hieroglyphic tomb inscriptions that
identify the Egyptian dead may not provide us with
stories, but give us a lot of information about how
ancient peoples lived.

Myth and tradition

Perhaps the most colorful insights into the ancient
world are preserved in myth and tradition. Some
of the earliest stories to be told by early societies
relate to the origins of their race, or its legendary
heroes: Aztec tales of their wanderings before
settling at Tenochtitlán, for example, or the
Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Few have survived
so intact as the traditions in the Old Testament of
the Bible. Stories such as the exodus of the Jews
from persecution in Egypt, and their subsequent
conquest of Palestine, doubtless reflect the chaotic
18 WHAT IS HISTORY?

The first historians

It was in ancient Greece that historical “enquiry” first arose,
perhaps inspired by the questioning spirit of the age that also
produced the world’s first philosophers. In the new empires of
Rome and China, scholars were prompted to investigate their
people’s rise to greatness.

The Classical era has left us some of the finest The Greeks
literature and most majestic architecture ever Known as the “Father of History,” the Greek
produced—the latter embellished with statues scholar Herodotus (c.485–c.430 bce) traveled
and inscriptions that provide crucial evidence widely throughout the Aegean and Near East in
for the power and extent of empires, their social search of the raw material for his Histories.
structures, and rituals of the time. But even What makes Herodotus exceptional is that
seemingly trivial finds give us clues about the he was the first chronicler of the past to state
minutiae of daily life—for example, the discovery openly that he intended to discover the reasons
at a watchtower in southwest Germany of a behind events, rather than simply recording
shoehorn showed that the Romans wore sandals the events themselves. A generation later,
closed at the back, while previously they were Thucydides (c.460–c.411 bce), in his History of the
believed to have been open. Peloponnesian War, recounts the conflict between
However, it is not only through art and artifacts Athens and Sparta. He gives incredibly lengthy
that we can understand the Classical world. From accounts of the political and military maneuvers
around the 5th century bce appear the first writers of each side, and his attention to detail and careful
whom we can call “historians.” narrative were to become a model for many
histories in the centuries to come.

The Romans
By the early centuries bce, Rome, the
Mediterranean’s new imperial power, was
inspiring histories of its own. Scholars such
as Livy (59 bce–17 ce) and Tacitus (55–120 ce)
analyzed the reasons for their city’s power—and
the start of its perceived decline.
In the view of Tacitus, the effect of imperial
rule had been to undermine the moral fabric
of the state. Roman historians were also not
averse to purveying gossip about their emperors,
such as the salacious details of imperial habits
that appear in Suetonius’s Lives of the Twelve
Caesars. More akin to the military histories of
today is Julius Caesar’s Gallic Wars, an account
of the conquest of Gaul in which Caesar was
the commanding general—a history that also
Greek art provides a window on Classical
life—for example, what a hoplite soldier wore served to glorify Caesar’s reputation and
into battle. promote his political career. From Pliny the
 THE FIRST HISTORIANS 19

senators sacrificed at the Altar of Victory in

the Senate House, believing that abandoning the
old ways might cause their city’s ruin.

The Chinese
Other Classical cultures also produced
histories, entirely separate from the
Greco-Roman tradition that began with
Herodotus. From China, in particular, much
has survived from this period. There are
accounts as early as 753 bce of official scribes
at the court of Ch’in tasked with compiling
records of significant events, and a set of
such annals covering the period 722–481 bce
in the state of Lu has survived.
Perhaps the most famous Chinese historian,
Sima Qian (c.135–86 bce), composed
the Shiji (“Records of the Historians”), the
Sima Qian, a scholar in the Han court of first attempt to compile a comprehensive
China, sought to document imperial history,
largely through a series of mini-biographies history of China from ancient times. Falling
of important persons. out of favor with the emperor, he was sentenced
to castration. But rather than committing
Younger (61–c.112 ce), we have a graphic suicide (the expected outcome of such a
description of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius sentence), Sima Qian accepted his punishment
in southern Italy in 79 ce, which destroyed the so that he might finish his history.
city of Pompeii and killed his uncle, the naturalist
Pliny the Elder.
Although Pliny’s description is almost scientific
in its precision, giving no role to supernatural
Many besought
forces, other Romans believed that such events the aid of the
were caused by the anger of the gods. This was not
merely common superstition: gods, but still more In 79 ce, the volcano
as late as the 4th century ce,
even educated Roman
imagined there Vesuvius, in southern
Italy, erupted, burying
were no gods left. the city of Pompeii—
a catastrophic event
Pliny the Younger, on the eruption graphically documented
of Vesuvius, 1st century ce by Pliny the Younger.
 20 WHAT IS HISTORY?

An era of scholarship
The western Roman Empire became Christian in the early
4th century ce, but collapsed around 150 years later, leaving the
Christian church in possession of the most widespread network
of power throughout Europe. Its scholarship was soon matched
by that of a rising eastern faith—Islam.

After the fall of the western Roman empire, At first simply monks’ scribbled notes on
a series of national histories written in Europe ecclesiastical calendars, these became more
sought to discover, rediscover, or even invent elaborate accounts of whatever interested the
Ecclesiastical the origins of the Germanic kingdoms that had author, from the Creation onward—often a litany
chronicles owed much inherited formerly Roman-occupied territory. of fables, plagues, and disasters that cannot be
to royal patronage; here The writers were ecclesiastical figures such as relied upon as historical evidence. Almost all
the monk Guillaume de bishop Gregory of Tours and the English monk chronicles had their origins in the Christian church,
Nangis presents his
Chroniques to Philip IV Bede. Between the 8th and 10th centuries, the which, as virtually the sole fount of literacy at the
of France. European record becomes rich with chronicles. time, controlled what books were written, copied,
and circulated.
Later in the Middle Ages, however, some
chronicles escaped their ecclesiastical origins and
religious bias to give a more rounded view of
events—for example, Geoffrey of Villehardouin’s
account of the Fourth Crusade.
 21

Printed sheets
brought news to a wide
audience, detailing in
words and pictures
events such as the
Gunpowder Plot of
1605 against the
British king.

The rise of Islam the Byzantine Empire. The pace of scholarly

The Islamic world of the 6th to 10th centuries change in Europe quickened into a cultural
experienced an era of expansion, political strength, flowering known as the Renaissance.
and cultural creativity. Islamic scholars were A central preoccupation of Renaissance
interested in establishing accurate biographical writers, artists, and scholars was the rediscovery
information from the past, prompted by the need of the past. The Roman era in particular was
to determine which of the traditions about the perceived as a time of scientific, literary, and
life of the prophet Muhammad and the first artistic achievement. The study of Roman history
caliphs were accurate. It was Muslim scholars, and historians became extremely popular, and
too—chiefly in the Abbasid capital of Baghdad— writers such as Niccolò Machiavelli produced
that preserved the works of many ancient Greek works such as The History of Florence in imitation
and Roman authors lost to Europe. of their Roman ancestors. Renaissance authors
The Islamic historical tradition culminated in wrote not only in Latin, but also in the vernacular,
such great writers as Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406), or everyday language, making their works much
a North African scholar whose monumental work, more accessible.
the Muqqadimah, covered the whole of Islamic
history, and included aspects of social history New media
and economics that European historians would The spread of printing at this time dispersed new
investigate only some centuries later. works more widely, and also resulted in a wealth
of printed “primary sources” for historians.
The European Renaissance Pamphlets, posters, and news-sheets were
From the 12th century, key Classical texts such used to disseminate news and also to spread
as those by the philosopher Aristotle and the new ideas to a wider audience: for example, the
medical writer Galen started to return to Europe distribution of printed material greatly assisted Islamic manuscripts
through Muslim-controlled Sicily and Spain. Soon the success of the radical religious changes feature scenes and
accounts of events at
yet more Classical works became available, some of the Reformation as it swept through Europe court and diplomatic
from the dwindling Greek-speaking territories of in the 16th and 17th centuries. encounters.
 22 WHAT IS HISTORY?

A new age of empire

The 18th and 19th centuries were a time of expansionism and
empire, and much of our information about this era displays the
bias of the empire-builders. But it was also a time of revolution,
with established power structures being questioned, challenged,
and often overthrown.

Newspapers brought During the 18th century in Europe, religion Great powers
eagerly awaited news gave ground to the human-centered ideology As European empires gathered
and colorful images
of events and practices of the Enlightenment, and it is evident from the power, other writers viewed national
in far-flung lands. works of thinkers and writers how the scope of and imperial greatness as the
history and commentary widened. The Scottish pinnacle of human achievement.
economist Adam Smith (1723–1790) included in In Germany, historians began
his Wealth of Nations a new, historical approach to concentrate on tracing
to the study of capitalism. The French philosopher the history of their nation
Voltaire (1694–1778) argued not only that social (which was unified,
and economic history was just as important as politically, in 1871),
the prevailing focus on political and diplomatic while the History of
matters, but also that much could be learned by England written by
studying the histories of civilizations such as
China and India.
The philosophy of Romanticism found
its way into history, as Johann von Herder
(1744–1803) encouraged his
fellow historians to “feel” their
way inside historical cultures
and, through empathizing, to
really come to understand
how they worked.
 A NEW AGE OF EMPIRE 23

Baron Macaulay (1800–1859) detailed what he saw Images of slavery

as the steady, virtually uninterrupted English cast a shadow over
imperialism, even
ascendancy to greatness. though support for the
Outside Europe, views of empire were at times sale of slaves was
similarly positive. In the view of the Indian writer widespread at the time.
Ghulam Hussain Tabatabai (in his Siyyar al-
Mutakherin of 1781), the gradual British takeover
of India was valuable in filling a power vacuum
created by the decline of Mughal power. In Japan,
the Nihon Gaishi (“Unofficial History of Japan”) by
Rai Sanyo (1780–1832) argued that domination
by powerful military clans had been Japan’s soldiers during the Peninsular War campaign
undoing, and that power rightfully belonged to (1808–1814) of the Napoleonic Wars. Alex de
the emperor alone. This proposal influenced Tocqueville (1805–1859) wrote his history of the
many of the leaders of the movement that restored French Revolution making use of first-hand
imperial power to Japan in 1868. accounts of events and a huge range of
administrative documents, such as the cahiers
New sources de doléances (lists of grievances) that the French
The spread of literacy in this era compared communes sent to the legislature in 1789.
to previous centuries has left historians In the 19th century, the vastly increased
a wider range of sources than just availability of primary sources was complemented
the views of the educated classes. by new methods of recording events as they
There are revealing accounts, for happened. The spread of photography from the
example, made by common 1830s made it possible for future historians to see
what the past actually looked like. By the end of the
20th century, the first moving pictures and the first
voice recordings had given us the possibility of an
even more thrillingly direct insight into the past.
History had come alive.

The neoclassical style in

architecture allied itself to the noble
ideals of the past, both in imperial
Europe and, in buildings such as
Washington, D.C.’s Capitol, the
burgeoning new nation of the US.
 24 WHAT IS HISTORY?

Past, present, and future

The revolutions and terrible wars of the 20th century profoundly
affected people’s views of their times and the histories that they
wrote. The 21st century has continued to confront us with deeply
shocking events, on which we have yet to gain a full perspective.

The Revolution of 1917 that toppled the development from one stage to another, fueled
Russian czars had at its base a brand- by struggles between social classes over the
new ideology—Marxism. Karl Marx ownership of wealth. In Marx’s view, violent social
(1818–1883) argued that history should revolution was necessary to move from one
be seen as a process by which societies phase to another. This is exactly what occurred in
develop through a series of stages, Russia in 1917, but it was not, as Marx predicted,
from ancient to feudal, then bourgeois, repeated in the more industrialized countries of
which would in turn Europe, such as Germany.
be superseded by a Marxism may have challenged modern
“communist” society. historians to take a different view of history,
Marx argued that but the advent of two world wars led to other
there is an major preoccupations. World Wars I and II
uncontrollable devastated large parts of Europe and Asia,
and profoundly affected the political systems
of large parts of the world.
The sheer quantity of evidence available
from a conflict such as World War II—from
first-hand accounts to photographs and
films—appears to make the job of the
historian disarmingly simple, but it has
also become dauntingly complex, in that
there is so much information from every
side of the conflict to be sifted through
and compared.

Instant access
At the beginning of the 21st century,
technology has become so advanced that
it gives us multiple records of major events.
These are records that can all be accessed
in an instant through our television sets,
personal computers, and now even our
cell phones. The development of
The Russian the Internet since the 1990s means
Revolution of 1917 that we can now capture, store, and
promised a new world transmit information at a speed that
order, yet Communism
itself was overthrown would have seemed supernatural
in 1989. only 200 years ago.
 PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE 25

The use of art as

a tool to denigrate
enemies has a long
history. Whereas
ancient Egyptian
pharaohs might be
depicted trampling
the enemy, this Soviet
propaganda poster
from World War II
shows Allied powers
literally tying Hitler
“in knots.”

Future perspectives
Access to information, as well as the first-hand Revolutions
accounts we can hear for ourselves from people
who have made history (such as the veterans of
are the locomotives
World War II), can lull us into feeling as though of history.
somehow we “know” our recent history. Karl Marx (1818–1883)
However, just as the “enquiries” of the ancient
Greeks were only the first step in producing a
history, so our recordings and transcriptions of when these individuals ask not only what
events in the modern world are simply contributions happened but why it happened, they may arrive
to an abundance of sources that we leave for the at answers that are very different to those we
historians who will look back on the 20th and 21st are so certain of today.
centuries. Then, as ever, it will be how historians
interpret their sources that makes history, not the
sources themselves. Historians perpetually revisit
the past, reassessing it in the light of updated
social attitudes—for example, toward women or
Television and the
ethnic groups—as they do so. Internet have become
In many cases, it is only with hindsight that we important media for
can focus fully on the causes and consequences of propaganda, used ably
events. In years to come, our own ideas and biases by former al-Qaeda
leader Osama bin Laden
may well be held up for scrutiny (and perhaps to disseminate his
disapproval) by the historians of the future. And messages worldwide.
The Prehistoric
World
 28 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD

The world to 3000 bce

Set against the age of the Earth itself, which is some 4.5 billion
years old, human history covers a comparatively short span.
Human ancestors split genetically from their apelike ancestors
around 5 to 6 million years ago, though anatomically modern
humans—Homo sapiens—only appeared about 200,000 years ago.

G r e e n l a n d

Beringia
Old Crow
Bluefish Cave La u re nt i d e
Dry Creek Cor I ce Shee t Settled by c.45,000 bce
Ice dille Settled by 35,000 bce
S h ra
Ro

ee n
t
ck

N O RT H A M E R I C A EU R O PE
yM

Ice corridor opened Lake Kostienki

from 11,300 bce Aggassiz Gough’s Cave Engis
o

Great Lakes Mladec

unta

Lascaux
Cro-Magnon Mezhirich
P A C I F I C Meadowcroft La Madeleine Black Sea
Shriver an Altamira
ins

Last Neanderthals
O C E A N hi ns Romanelli Lake
a c ta i die out at c.27,000 bce
Lamb Spring n
M p al
ou
Ap

San Diego Clovis Dar es-Soltan Haua Fteah Qafzeh

Early human settlers hunt
North American megafauna
(mastodons, mammoths, and
many other species) as climate
A F R I C A First evidence of
human burials
The spread of modern humans change makes such animals extinct
Valsequillo
S a h a r a
West I n d i es Mega
Possible colonization route
El Bosque Taima Taima ATLANTIC S a h e l Chad y
Major site 100,000–12,000 bce lle

a
Extent of ice sheet 18,000 bce OCEAN Migration out of

ft V
Gu ian
Highla a Africa of early modern

t Ri
Extent of ice sheet 10,000 bce El Inga nd s humans by 100,000 bce

Grea
Coastline 18,000 bce (main map) Amazon
Olduvai Gorge
Ancient lake Basin Pedra Furada
Pikimachay early settlement Kisese
SOUTH Migration of early
ARCTIC modern humans begins
Humans crossed AMERICA c.150,000 years ago
s

OCEAN
Wrangel into the Americas Earliest rock art
Alice Böer 28,000 years ago Kalahari Border
e

Island
by means of a land Cave
Desert
bridge across the
d

Bluefish
Querero Apollo 11
Beringia
Cave Bering Strait. Cave
n

Old Crow
The bridge was
Southern Africa: Klasies River
A

Dry Creek temporarily created Mouth

From c.120,000 years ago,
by lower sea levels Monte Patagonia settled
a

ancient coastline early hominins colonize

oni

modern coastline during the last Ice Verde by 11,000 bce more marginal areas of Africa
PACIFIC
Patag

Age around 25,000

OCEAN
years ago.
Fell’s Cave
 THE WORLD TO 3000 bce 29

Humans rapidly migrated from their African homelands, and

had spread to almost the entire world by about 12,000 years ago.
Around 2,000 years later, the invention of agriculture in the Middle
East led to the emergence of settled and increasingly complex
societies—and eventually to the world’s first cities.

The prehistoric world

Early humanity had reached
Australia by 40,000 years ago, and
Last dwarf mammoths the Americas by at least 12,000
become extinct c.3000 bce
Wra n g el years ago. The first towns and the
I sl a n d earliest civilizations would emerge
in Mesopotamia (in the Middle East),
Egypt, northwest India, and around
the Yangtze River in China, all
between 5000 and 3000 bce.
Sunghir S i b e r i a
Mal’ta

Aral A S I A
Caspian Sea G o b i
Sea Japan
Shuidonggou Zhoukoudian
Honshu
Shanidar Xiachuan
H Hoshino Around 45,000 years ago, Homo
im
ala Earliest settlers sapiens first spread into Europe.
yas c.40,000 bce Cro-Magnons, as these people were
Bhimbetka Maba known, later supplanted the last
India P A C I F I C Neanderthals in the region, and also
Patne Ph i li pp i n e
O C E A N developed their own tradition of cave
I sla n d s painting. Excellent examples of this
First settled Earliest evidence early art can be seen at Lascaux
c.60,000 bce Niah Cave
of use of boats and Niaux in modern France, and
INDIAN OCEAN at Altamira in modern Spain.
Su
m

Borneo New Solomon

at
ra

Guinea Islands Sunghir

Java Sahul Kosipe Settled by Settled by c.45,000 bce
Australia: 35,000 bce Kostienki
ar

Fully modern humans colonize Gough’s Cave Engis

Mladec
Koolan
asc

Australia from Southeast Asia, Predmosti Mezhirich

from c.60,000 years ago; they
ag

Lascaux
utilize land bridges created by Puritjarra Kenniff Cave
Mad

Cro-Magnon La Madeleine
lowered sea levels during last Australia Altamira
Grimaldi Black Sea
Lake
Ice Age but also cross 37 miles Earliest evidence of Niaux
Mazouro
(60 km) of open sea human cremation Romanelli
c.26,000 bce Nerja Last Neanderthals
Arumvale Lake Mungo die out at c.27,000 bce
Kow Swamp
Dar es-Soltan Migration out of Africa Qafzeh
of early modern humans
by 100,000 bce
Tasmania
S a h a r a First evidence of
human burials
New Zealand
 30 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

Human ancestors
The evolution of modern humans extends back millions of years,
beginning with a genetic split between chimpanzees and humans
5 to 6 million years ago. The process is not easy to trace, as our
evidence comes from scattered, unrelated finds. The emergence
of Homo sapiens, modern humans, is a comparatively recent
development, occurring around 200,000 years ago, and evidence of
the first settled villages dates only as far back as about 10,000 bce.

The Australopithecines
n E AFRICA d 4.5 MILLION YEARS AGO

Among the earliest known human ancestors individuals. The prints confirmed that they walked
are the Australopithecines (“southern ape-men”), upright, with a rolling gait. The most complete
who evolved in the East African forests. By Australopithecine skeleton, discovered in Ethiopia
3 million years ago, the Australopithecines in 1975, is of a young female, dubbed “Lucy.” She
had diversified into many forms that shared a stood around 3 ft (1 m) tall and weighed around
vital characteristic—they were bipedal, standing 60 lb (27 kg), while her pelvis shows clear signs
on two feet. of adaptation for an erect posture.
Walking upright enabled the Australopithecines
The Laetoli footprints and Lucy to operate away from the forests in the open
Around 3.6 million years ago, a volcanic eruption terrain of the savannah, giving them a wider
deposited a layer of ash at Laetoli, Tanzania. This food-gathering range than their competitors.
ash, made cement-like by rain, preserved the By 3 million years ago, they flourished throughout
footprints of at least five Australopithecine much of sub-Saharan Africa.

The African country

of Tanzania, where
archaeologists have
discovered evidence
of many of our earliest
ancestors, has been
called the “cradle of
human life.”
 HUMAN ANCESTORS 31

Homo habilis
n E AFRICA d 2.4 TO 1.4 MILLION YEARS AGO

The earliest “hominins”—human ancestors—to discovered, in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge, was

be placed in the same genus, Homo, as the modern Homo habilis (“handyman”), so named for their
human species Homo sapiens, evolved a little use of stone tools.
more than 2 million years ago. The first to be Homo habilis resembled the Australopithecines
(see facing page) but had a larger brain size, and
teeth and hands that show a greater evolution
toward those of modern humans, while still
retaining a low, heavy-browed skull and long arms.
The Homo habilis camp site at Olduvai Gorge,
where their fossil remains were first unearthed,
included a scatter of simple stone tools such
as shaped flints (see p.32) and broken animal
bones, showing evidence of the deliberate
breaking-up of carcasses. Homo habilis probably
slept in trees, in relative safety from lions and
other predators. There are some indications that
Homo habilis was capable of primitive speech,
A skull of Homo habilis, one of the earliest permitting the development of more complicated
human ancestors. social organization.

Homo erectus
n E ASIA, AFRICA, EUROPE d 2 MILLION TO 143,000 YEARS AGO

The very earliest examples of a new species classified as Homo erectus were found in
of hominin, Homo erectus (“upright man”), date Zhoukoudian Cave, near Beijing—the skeletons
from around 2 million years ago in East Africa. found there were dubbed “Peking Man.” They
The tools that Homo erectus made were of are known to have used fire, making settlement
significantly improved design from those possible in cold locations, and allowing them
of Homo habilis (see above), and included to cook food, which in turn led to the evolution
shaped hand axes and cleaving tools, which of smaller jaws and less robust teeth.
were used for specific functions, such as
butchering animals.
These early humans were skilled hunters
and brilliant opportunists, quick to take
advantage of different environments, which
must have been a key factor in the success
of the species. By 500,000 years ago, these
early humans had adapted successfully to
a wide variety of tropical and temperate
environments, moving as far northeast
as China. Numerous fragments of a species

Homo erectus was powerfully built

with massive brow ridges, a large face,
and a long, low skull.
32 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

Tool making and speech

Although certain species of ape, including chimpanzees, have been
observed to use tools such as sticks and stones for digging, opening
shellfish, or menacing enemies, it was early human ancestors who
were the first to deliberately shape tools around 3 million years ago.
Around the same time, our ancestors began to evolve the necessary
changes in the brain and voice box to permit language.

The development of tools frontal lobe (the part of the brain that houses
The earliest stone tools were probably modified speech control) than the earlier Australopithecines.
rocks found in Kenya, which date to 3.3 million Homo erectus, around 1.8 million years ago, had
years ago, although it is unclear which species a lower-positioned larynx, which would have
made them. Later Homo habilis and other early allowed a wider variety of vocal sounds. Homo
human ancestors created stone artifacts, including heidelbergensis was found to possess the hyoid
pebbles and rock fragments, by deliberately bone at the root of the larynx that facilitates
removing flakes. They used some tools as speech. It was only around 300,000 years ago
scrapers, others as choppers, and the basic forms that the base of the skull evolved to allow a full
did not change for thousands of years. An early range of sounds.
hominin species called Homo heidelbergensis may Around 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, during
have been the first to create spears by mounting what some anthropologists term the “Great
sharp stone tips on wooden shafts around 500,000 Leap Forward,” modern humans seem to have
years ago in southern Africa. developed language of the kind we would
recognize today. The first symbolic representations
Physical evolution and language of the world, such as the cave art at Lascaux
The development of articulate language was in France (see p.39), accompanied this leap.
a key threshold in human evolution, because it Language and art enabled our ancestors to
allowed for an enhanced level of cooperation. pass on skills, traditions, and discoveries, an
Exactly when it emerged is difficult to define. essential foundation for the complex societies
Homo habilis had a slightly more human-like that would emerge from around 10,000 bce.
A flint blade shaped on both faces from
a period when Homo erectus refined the tools
of earlier ancestors.
 HUMAN ANCESTORS 33

The Neanderthals
n AFRICA, EUROPE, W EURASIA d 350,000 TO 40,000 YEARS AGO

Around 350,000 years ago, a new species, A Neanderthal

Homo neanderthalensis, appeared in Africa. skull shows a
distinctive brow ridge.
It would be the last major human-like species Neanderthals had
before the evolution of fully modern humans. large brains and more
The Neanderthals spread out from Africa, by rounded heads than
200,000 years ago reaching as far as Uzbekistan their predecessors.
and Iran in the east and the Iberian peninsula in
the west, then moving into northern Europe. They
were named for the site in Germany where one
of the first specimens was discovered, in 1856.
They had a short, robust build, powerful limbs,
a protruding face, and heavy brow ridges, but a
body shape closer to that of modern humans
than preceding species. of the broad spectrum of sounds necessary
for full language. This was the first species to
Neanderthal lifestyle exhibit a sense of care for the dead. In one grave
The Neanderthals were expert hunters, who at Teshik-Tash in Uzbekistan, ibex horns had been
pursued animals such as bison with wooden and placed in a circle around the skull, and a fire lit
stone-tipped spears. They made sophisticated around the body.
tools and dwelt in caves, rock shelters, and open DNA recovered from remains reveals that
camps. They may have been capable of speech, the Neanderthals were not our direct ancestors.
although their larynx is higher than in modern They did, however, live alongside modern humans
humans, which would have impeded the use (Homo sapiens, or “wise humans”), who migrated
northward from Africa into Europe around 45,000
years ago. It may be that competition with (or
Gorham’s Cave on Gibraltar is thought to have
been one of the very last sites inhabited by the possibly absorption by) the newcomers caused
Neanderthals before their extinction. their extinction around 40,000 years ago.
 34 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

The earliest humans

Modern humans, Homo sapiens, evolved around 200,000 years
ago in East Africa. Physically, they were not well adapted to cold
conditions, and the Ice Age that began around the time they appeared
confined them to a small area of tropical Africa and southwestern
Asia. Despite this, their large brain size and capacity for language
left them poised to expand out of this initial heartland.

The Ice Ages

n WORLDWIDE, EXCEPT TROPICAL REGIONS d 2 MILLION TO 11,000 YEARS AGO

Over millions of years, Earth has experienced a were ice sheets in the mountains of the Pyrenees
series of Ice Ages. These periods of intense cold and the Andes, and on Central Asian mountains.
were punctuated by intervals of milder conditions, South of these areas, huge expanses of barren
known as interglacials. The last Ice Age began land extended from the Atlantic to Siberia. These
around 2.5 million years ago, and we are currently environments suffered nine-month winters,
Sea levels dropped
as seawater froze in an interglacial period that began around 11,000 making them uninhabitable for our ancestors,
during the last Ice years ago. During the glacial periods of the last Ice who instead moved south to more temperate
Age. A land bridge Age, the Earth’s natural environments experienced and tropical regions. During interglacials, the
at the Bering Strait major changes. Huge ice sheets formed over ice sheets started to melt, sea levels rose, and
allowed hominins to
migrate from Siberia Scandinavia and covered most of Canada and part humans returned north, following the animals
into North America. of the US as far south as the Great Lakes. There they hunted and the plants they foraged.
 THE EARLIEST HUMANS 35

Homo sapiens in Africa

n AFRICA d 195,000 TO 50,000 YEARS AGO

Anatomically modern humans—Homo sapiens— Omo in Ethiopia, bones have been dated to around
appeared almost 200,000 years ago, probably 195,000 years ago. At Klasies River Cave, South
in East Africa. They were taller than their Africa, a population of Homo sapiens lived from
immediate predecessors, males averaging about about 120,000 years ago, hunting seal and
5½ ft (1.75 m), and heavier. Their faces were less antelope, and gathering roots and shellfish.
protruding than their Neanderthal contemporaries
(see p.33) and their brow ridge was less
prominent. Brain size was larger than in most
previous species, though actually somewhat
smaller than the average Neanderthal brain.
The larynx was lower, so they could vocalize a
wide enough range of sounds to form language
as we know it.
Homo sapiens were long-limbed, giving them
a greater skin surface area from which heat
could be lost—an adaptation suited to warmer
climates. The narrow pelvic girdle necessary for
a fully upright stance meant that babies had to be
born at an earlier stage in their development, with
smaller skulls and brains—which is why human
babies are dependent on their parents for so
much longer, relatively, than any other species.
The shorter gestation period allowed more
frequent pregnancies, enabling greater
population growth.
Despite their advantages, Homo sapiens
at this stage did not compete well with the
An early Homo sapiens skull discovered in South
Neanderthals in their territories in Europe and Africa shows very close affinities to the skull
southwest Asia. The most important sites for shapes of humans today.
early Homo sapiens lie within Africa, with a few
in modern Israel. At the earliest known site, Cultural advances
and expansion
MITOCHONDRIAL EVE The development of art is taken as an
important indicator of when Homo sapiens
Examination of a wide range of samples
of mitochondrial DNA (matter outside the developed fully modern cognitive abilities,
nucleus of the cell, which is passed down because it requires reasoning, planning, and
from every mother to her offspring) has the expression of intangible feelings. The oldest
revealed that all living humans have a definitively dated decorative items, red ochres
common ancestor who lived in Africa
around 200,000 years ago. This unknown engraved with geometric patterns, come from
matriarch has been dubbed “Mitochondrial Blombos Cave in South Africa and are about
Eve,” and we all share at least some 77,000 years old. They mark a shift into the
genetic information with her. By studying
mitochondrial DNA, scientists have been
Upper Paleolithic period, in which Homo sapiens,
able to track the movement of Homo sapiens Whose population was probably only around
across the globe. a million, expanded both in numbers and,
through a series of remarkable migrations
(see overleaf), in their territories.
36 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

Settling the world

n WORLDWIDE d 50,000 TO 15,000 YEARS AGO

The most significant of all human migrations

began around 50,000 years ago during the last
Ice Age (see p.34). This period saw the spread
of Homo sapiens out of Africa, until they settled
the whole of mainland Eurasia and crossed land
bridges into the Americas. Homo sapiens had
also mastered tropical waters with canoes or
rafts, which allowed them to drift to New Guinea
and Australia. Colonizing the world was not a
deliberate project, but a consequence of following
game migrations and searching for new animals
to hunt and new food plants to gather. The
adaptability of Homo sapiens as a species made
them capable of exploiting a vast range of
new environments.

The settlement of North America European cave paintings date from around
32,000 years ago. This scene, from Lascaux
The ancestors of today’s Native Americans crossed in France, shows a bison, a common theme in
into North America via a land bridge that existed prehistoric cave art.
at the Bering Strait up until 10,000 years ago. The
earliest human sites in the Americas have long Creek in Texas, dating to 15,000 years ago, and at
been thought to be in Alaska, at Broken Mammoth Monte Verde in Chile to around 14,000 years ago,
and Healy Lake; they date from around 11,000 to suggest much earlier settlement.
12,000 years ago. However, finds at Buttermilk The settlers in Alaska established what is
known as the Clovis culture, and this eventually
Human footprints found at the Willandra Lakes,
New South Wales, Australia, reveal that this area extended as far south as Panama. The Clovis
was inhabited around 40,000 years ago. people may have been responsible for the
 THE EARLIEST HUMANS 37

widespread extinction of gigantic mammals that isolated and unique culture, many elements
took place at about this time. That extinction could of which still survive; the earliest boomerang
in turn have contributed to the end of their culture found—at Wyrie Swamp, Tasmania—dates
around 11,000 years ago. from around 8000 bce.

Expansion into Australia Expansion elsewhere

Some 50,000 years ago, Java, Sumatra, and Homo sapiens gradually infiltrated almost
Borneo were joined by land, but to reach Australia every other habitable part of the globe, reaching
and New Guinea required a series of sea crossings southwestern Europe by around 45,000 years
and must have involved the use of boats. Homo ago. The group of Homo sapiens that settled here
sapiens had certainly reached the Australian are referred to as Cro-Magnon, and they entirely
mainland soon after this, as indicated by displaced the Neanderthal population in this
a series of rock shelters in the Northern region. By around 40,000 years ago Homo
Territory and north of Adelaide. Dating sapiens had migrated to eastern Europe and
back some 40,000 years, Lake Mungo in southwestern Siberia, colonizing Japan
New South Wales is the most important by around 30,000 to 35,000 years ago.
early site. The Homo sapiens remains Although the Clovis people, who had
found there were partially covered in colonized North America from Alaska
red ocher, indicating a ritual element to Panama, did not penetrate South
to the burials. America themselves, later groups
The arrival of humans in Australia reached the very tip of the continent
coincided with the extinction of by around 9000 bce. After this, with
massive vertebrates that had the exception of certain Pacific islands
previously inhabited the continent, and particularly remote regions of
although it is not clear whether the the globe, the long migration of Homo
newcomers hunted them to extinction, sapiens out of Africa was complete.
or whether brushfires set by early
humans destroyed their habitat. The Clovis spear points have a bifacial,
concave, and fluted shape, which was
early settlers, ancestors of today’s replicated throughout the entire area
Aboriginal peoples, developed an occupied by the culture.
 38 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

Hunter-gatherers
Hunting and foraging for food was the only way of life for
humans until around 12,000 years ago. It was a successful
lifestyle that, in its flexibility, had significant advantages over the
settled agricultural societies that would supplant it. Today, only a
handful of hunter-gatherer societies survive, in the Amazon Basin
and in Africa, which provide vital evidence for their prehistoric
forebears’ way of life.

Early evidence
Hunter-gatherers have to range across a wide
area for food, and so carry few possessions with
them. As a result, prehistoric hunter-gatherers
have left few material remains.
Rare finds of digging sticks, such as at
Gwisho in Central Africa, and flint sickle blades
show that people dug for tubers and harvested
wild grasses. Broken animal and fish bones and
plant pollens reveal details of the hunter-gatherer
diet, as do deep middens (waste sites) crammed
with discarded mollusk shells.
Sites such as Star Carr in northeast
England, from around 9000 bce, show that
hunter-gatherers might return again and
again to the same places, establishing seasonal
settlements close to where game was plentiful.
Small figurines and carvings of bears and
mammoths discovered at Dolní Věstonice in
Czechia (former Czech Republic), and remarkable
fish sculptures from Lepenski Vir in Serbia, show
the level of cultural sophistication that such early
societies could reach.
Eventually, however, hunting-gathering
was replaced by farming. Probably, as
agriculturalists encroached on their
territory, some hunter-gatherers adopted
the new way of life, while others were forced
Spear-fishing with into the margins. In marginal environments,
barbed poles, such farming always carries the risk of starvation
as this 10,000-year- if crops fail, and today there are still isolated
old harpoon made groups, such as the San of the Kalahari
from an antler, was A hunter is depicted in a cave painting from
widespread in later desert in Africa, that maintain the ancient Faraway Bay, Western Australia, dating to around
prehistoric times. hunter-gatherer traditions. 20,000 years ago.
 THE EARLIEST HUMANS 39

Art and ritual

n WORLDWIDE d 40,000 TO 4,000 YEARS AGO

Around 77,000 years ago, early humans began

to create the first examples of art—geometric
patterns incised on ocher. By 40,000 to 50,000
years ago the repertoire had extended to images
incised on animal bones, sculpted from ivory,
and painted on cave walls. This artistic activity
coincides with the first evidence of religious belief,
and both of these developments indicate an ability
to think about ideas or concepts that lie outside
immediate, everyday existence.

Cave art
A tradition of cave painting arose about 40,000
years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi
and among the Cro-Magnon people of western
Europe, where flamboyant artworks survive,
sheltered from the elements. The cave paintings
depict a wide range of animals, some of them,
In later rock art, symbols such as this circular
such as mammoth and woolly rhinoceros, long sign filled with dots start to feature alongside
extinct; others, like wild horses, European bison, depictions of animal and human figures.
and reindeer, still familiar today. In a
society dependent on hunting, animal related to hunter-gatherer fertility cults,
paintings may have been the focus of while the burial of possessions alongside
rituals intended to ensure success bodies indicates belief in an afterlife.
and a rich supply of meat.
By contrast, human figures From ritual to religion
in cave paintings are rare, As societies grew more complex,
and when they do survive are they began to devote particular
highly stylized or masked. areas and spaces to cult practices.
However, impressions At Çatalhöyük in Turkey, murals
of human hands and identify places used for ritual around
indecipherable signs do 7000 bce. In time, lavish temples
appear on the walls of would be built for the worship
caves, including Altamira of complex pantheons of gods,
in Spain, and Chauvet, who demanded elaborate rituals
Niaux, and Lascaux in performed only by a priestly
France. One theory is that elite. A glimpse of hunter-
the art was created by gatherer beliefs can now only be
shamans who acted as seen in societies such as that of the
mediums with the spiritual Australian Aborigines, who continue
world, communicating with to commemorate their ancestral
ancestors and spirit totems. spirits with spectacular rock art.
Other artistic creations,
including carved female
The “Venus of Willendorf,” carved
statuettes known as “Venus around 20–25,000 years ago, may
figurines,” may have been have been a fertility talisman.
 The cave paintings at Lascaux, France,
date from around 16,000 years ago. They
include a wealth of animal representations,
such as this bison, as well as symbolic
and human forms. Many figures are in
inaccessible corners that may have
required the use of scaffolding.
42 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

Early societies
The transition to an agricultural existence, which began around
11,000 years ago and was virtually complete by about 2000 bce, gave
rise to new ways of life, including the first settled communities. From
this period of early farming, known as the Neolithic, also emerge the
earliest monumental remains, including striking megalithic structures
that appear across northern and western Europe.

The cradle of agriculture

n TURKEY, SYRIA, IRAQ, PAKISTAN, CHINA, MESOAMERICA d 8500–6000 bce

The end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 years Early agriculture
ago, and the accompanying rise in temperatures, The first plants to be adapted from their wild
was the trigger for the switch from the hunter- forms for cultivation were cereals—emmer and
gatherer lifestyle to one of agricultural and animal einkorn, barley and rye. These are found at sites
domestication. This first took place in around such as Abu Hureyra in Syria, where a small
8500 bce, in an area known as the “Fertile foraging settlement became a compact farming
Crescent” that includes Turkey, Syria, and Iraq. community of mudbrick dwellings.
The hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters, At around the same time, animals were
together with a wide variety of altitudes and domesticated—goats first, then sheep, pigs, and
a large number of wild cereals and legumes, cattle—providing a reliable source of meat, milk,
provided ideal conditions for agriculture to and other animal products. The settled nature of
succeed. Agriculture arose independently in other agriculture compared with hunter-gathering, and
regions with favorable climatic conditions—in the ready availability of food, led to large increases
China’s Yangtze Valley in around 7000 bce and, in population—the site of Ain ’Ghazal in Jordan
a thousand years later, in Mesoamerica and more than doubled in size between 7250 bce
possibly at Mehrgarh in Pakistan. and 6750 bce.

Ears of emmer, originally a wild grass

that early agriculturalists selectively
bred to enhance its crop yield.
 EARLY SOCIETIES 43

The spread of farming

n WORLDWIDE d 7000–2000 bce

Around 7000 bce, agricultural societies of the as far as the Altai in Central Asia. In eastern Asia,
Near East began to show signs of stress caused an agricultural economy based on rice and millet
by growing populations. Some sites shrank in size; spread from its origins in the Yangtze Valley to
others were abandoned. This may have led to reach southern China by 3000 bce and Southeast
a dispersal of the agricultural population, and Asia by at least 2300 bce.
increased pastoralism (animal herding).
Farming in Africa and
Farming in Europe and Asia the Americas
Farming seems to have reached the Balkans Agriculture first arrived in Egypt around
in southeast Europe by around 6500 bce, and 5500 bce, and spread southwards (it may also
by around 5500 bce had penetrated as far west have arisen independently in sub-Saharan Agricultural living
increased the need for
as the Iberian Peninsula. Its range extended by Africa around 2000 bce). food storage vessels
3500 bce to northern Germany, Scandinavia, In the Americas, sunflowers were grown for and pottery.
and the British Isles. food in 4000 bce. The staple crops of native
Agriculture moved east from the Zagros American agriculture, corn and beans, were In Mesoamerica, with
mountains of the Iran–Iraq borderlands to reach domesticated in Central America by 3500 bce. few animals available
the Caucasus, Turkmenistan, and Pakistan In the high altitudes of the Andes in South America, for domestication, the
(although farming in Pakistan may have developed potatoes were cultivated as early as 5000 bce, llama was used as a
pack animal, for meat,
independently). By 3000 bce farming had reached and llamas were domesticated around 1,000 and for the materials
India’s Ganges Valley, and by 2500 bce it extended years later. woven from its hair.
 44 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

The first villages

n JORDAN, SYRIA, TURKEY d 9600–7000 bce

Once prehistoric peoples had begun to cultivate with geometric patterns. Çatalhöyük probably
domestic crops and keep livestock, they prospered because of its trade in obsidian,
established permanent settlements. The earliest a highly prized black volcanic glass found
farming villages were compact huddles of in Turkey that was used for cutting tools.
mudbrick houses. Trading networks are another sign of society’s
At Abu Hureyra, Syria, several hundred farmers increasing sophistication. They allowed village
lived in close proximity to their fields and to settlements to acquire resources from elsewhere,
one another. By 8000 bce, Jericho, in the Jordan “paying” for their goods by exchanging their
Valley, had become a small, walled town, whose agricultural surpluses.
inhabitants lived in beehive-shaped houses with With less time needed to find food, people
stone foundations and plastered floors (under had more time to specialize in other aspects
which they were eventually buried). of life. Some became skilled workers, such
as potters and masons, while others became
Trade, society, and religion shamans or priests and guided the growing
Another highly successful settlement was ancestor and fertility cults.
Çatalhöyük in Turkey, which thrived from 7000 bce
Skara Brae, and was inhabited for more than 1,000 years. Its
a well-preserved population lived in rectangular houses, built very Göbekli Tepe, in southeastern Turkey, dates from
Neolithic settlement around 9500 bce and is thought to be the world's
of stone houses on close together, which were entered through the oldest temple building. Its monumental pillars are
Orkney, Scotland. roof. The houses were whitewashed and painted carved with images of animals.
 EARLY SOCIETIES 45

Discovery of metals
n EURASIA, MESOAMERICA d 8000–2000 bce

Humans had made tools out of stone, bone,

and wood for thousands of years. The advent
of copper-working around 7000 bce was a
significant watershed in human history and
The discovery
the beginning of a long association with metals. of copper allowed
Copper ores are relatively common around prehistoric humans
the Mediterranean, found in surface outcrops to manufacture
easily identifiable by their distinctive green much more effective
tools and weapons,
color. The earliest copper items were hammered such as these copper
crude axes and beads, but it was the discovery for metals promoted the growth of trade networks; ax heads.
of copper smelting—heating ore with charcoal lowland Mesopotamia, for example—the focus
to extract the metal—that opened the way to the of the earliest civilizations—has no native metal
development of a range of practical and decorative or ore, and societies there needed to import metal
items. At first, smelting was done in open from Anatolia or the Iranian plateau. In Europe,
fires, until it was found that crucibles— copper mines existed from around 5100 bce at
heat-resistant vessels of fired clay—produced Varna in Bulgaria.
metal more efficiently.
From copper to bronze
The spread of metallurgy Some time after 3500 bce, people discovered
This discovery of smelting seems to have occurred that mixing copper and tin together to create
independently in western Asia around 6000 bce an alloy, named bronze, produced a much more
and in East Asia before 2000 bce. The earliest use durable metal, suitable for weaponry, armor,
of gold and silver dates to around 6000–5000 bce, and tools. By 3300 bce, the Mesopotamians
with both metals being used for decorative and had adopted the technique, as had the Egyptians A grave from Varna
ritual purposes, as their malleability makes them around 3100 bce, beginning the Bronze Age. in Bulgaria, where rich
unsuitable for everyday use. Between 4000 and Bronze-working was discovered in China around metal deposits allowed
a culture to develop
2000 bce, knowledge of metalworking reached 2000 bce and from there spread throughout in which costly goods
most of Eurasia and North Africa. The demand eastern and Southeast Asia. accompanied the dead.
 46 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 BCE)

Megaliths
As agriculture spread across Europe, new and more centralized
communities—mainly in the north and west of the continent, but also
as far afield as Malta—created monuments with vast pieces of stone,
called megaliths. We may never know their exact purpose, but they
are clearly an expression of a belief system, marking out the seasons
and the cyclical movements of the sun, moon, and stars.

Barrows and henges huge stones. Wooden circles have largely

In the 4th millennium bce, European farming perished—although at Woodhenge in Wiltshire,
communities created long earthen burial the post-holes have survived; the deepest
mounds (“barrows”) and stone-chambered measure about 6 ft (2 m), indicating posts that
tombs, such as that at West Kennet in Wiltshire, stood some 17 ft (5.5 m) high. The stone circles,
southern Britain, where a passageway in a barrow however, are the most remarkable monuments
leads to side chambers in which as many as of the megalithic age. These are spread throughout
46 corpses were interred. At Newgrange in Ireland northern and western Europe, with the British
a similar chambered tomb features patterns of Isles alone containing perhaps 1,000 stone circles.
The dramatic stone
circle at Stonehenge spirals and circles, typical of a new artistic The circle at Avebury, Wiltshire, 1,381 ft (420 m)
is thought by some technique that characterized the art of the in diameter, is among the largest that survive,
to have been built to megalith builders. and probably acted as the ritual focus for a large
mark the summer “Henge” monuments appeared around 3200 bce. area of southwestern Britain. At Carnac in France,
and winter solstices—
critical events in Henges consist of a circular or oval area enclosed elaborate, long rows of standing stones form a
farming societies. by a bank, containing a circle of wooden posts or similarly striking ensemble.
 EARLY SOCIETIES 47

Stonehenge deposit of weaponry in lakes and bogs and the The Mnajdra temple
Stonehenge, in southern England, is perhaps last evidence of additions at Stonehenge dates complex on Malta, built
around 3500 bce, is the
the most famous megalithic site of all. First to around 1100 bce. Some time around 1000 bce, crowning achievement
begun around 3100 bce as a simple earthwork some of the stones were deliberately overturned. of a flourishing
enclosure, the site was developed over the next Although the monuments were not forgotten, megalithic culture
1,000 years in several stages. Around 2500 bce, their makers and their meaning became on the island.
a central stone circle of giant sandstones (or utterly obscure.
sarsen stones) was set up, each weighing around
26 tons (23,586 kg). Each was shaped into the
correct size by hammering with great stone
balls or “mauls.” How exactly the sarsens were
erected is unknown, but the complex must have
demanded a huge investment in time and labor,
implying a highly centralized society. Around
2300 bce, a circle of bluestones—transported all
the way from Preseli in south Wales, a distance
of some 155 miles (250 km)—was erected.
This stone
The end of the megalith age passageway leads
By around 1500 bce, the megalithic age in Europe to a burial chamber
was on the wane. Construction of stone circles at the 5,000-year-
old megalithic
ceased in Britain and northern France. The focus passage-tomb at
of religion in northern Europe turned to the ritual Newgrange, Ireland.
 48 THE PREHISTORIC WORLD (TO 3000 bce )

The first towns

n NEAR EAST d 5000–3000 bce

The world’s earliest known large towns and social scale came craftsmen, lesser officials,
cities developed in Mesopotamia in the 4th soldiers, and the commoners. The authority of
millennium bce, perhaps through the need to the rulers came not just from a threat of force,
organize the construction of irrigation channels but from religious ideas about authority. These
fed by the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. At first the beliefs are commemorated by art and by writing
towns were little more than agglomerations of on temple walls, and were reinforced by elaborate
villages and related families, but soon they ceremonies. Each city clustered around temple
became major centers of trade with vast irrigation precincts; those in Mesopotamia were built on top
works that watered the countryside and produced of mudbrick pyramids, called ziggurats.
several crops a year. The irrigated fields’ increased From its original heartland in southern
productivity could now support larger populations; Mesopotamia, urbanism spread northward
in Egypt, the Nile (see facing page, below) fulfilled a to sites such as Nineveh on the Tigris, Mari on the
similar role. Euphrates, and Susa in western Iran. Each town
or city tended to remain an independent entity
Cities and hierarchies (or city-state). In Egypt, however, a process of
The change was not simply a matter of size, consolidation into a single state was complete
but was accompanied by radical changes in the as early as 3000 bce.
region’s society, economy, and politics. Society
Jericho, in Jordan, became increasingly hierarchical, with rulers
after 6000 bce, (often kings) at the top, who were frequently seen Çatalhöyük in modern Turkey, founded
developed from a 7500 bce, had a population of some 8,000
permanent village into as living gods, and below them a small privileged at its peak, yet it did not survive into the
one of the first towns. class of high officials and priests. Lower down the Bronze Age to become a city.
 EARLY SOCIETIES 49

Early Mesopotamia
n IRAQ, W IRAN, SE SYRIA d 6000–3000 bce

By around 6000 bce, a culture known as the Uruk arose between 4800
Halafian had become established in northern and 3750 bce. By 2800 bce,
Mesopotamia. Communities lived in villages of it occupied around 615
domed houses built of clay, relied on long-distance acres (250 hectares) and
trade, and buried their dead in distinctive may have housed 5,000
shaft graves. They were replaced by the ’Ubaid people. It depended on trade
culture, a pre-eminent Mesopotamian culture networks for goods in exchange
that was the first to use irrigation to increase for its grain, and may have had
crop yields. It was also at this time that the first satellite colonies as far as the
urban centers appeared, at Eridu and Uruk. Zagros Mountains, several hundred
miles to the north, to ensure control
The first cities of key trade routes.
As with many other Mesopotamian cities, Eridu
was originally a shrine. It honored the god Enki,
ruler of the Abyss, who had created order from
chaos. The shrine went through six or more A small statuette from
3rd millennium bce Uruk
incarnations before finally becoming an imposing shows a worshiper bearing
step pyramid. offerings to the gods.

Predynastic Egypt
n EGYPT d 4000–3100 bce

In 4000 bce, Egypt consisted of a valley of farmers of which were based in growing towns such as
living in small communities along the Nile; the Abydos and Nekhen (Hierakonpolis). The first
river’s annual flooding, or inundation, deposited walled towns in Egypt were erected at Naqada and
rich, fertile silt on a broad strip along its banks. Hierakonpolis around 3300 bce. Alongside them
There were many small kingdoms, the largest were constructed rich tombs for their rulers.
By this time there were only two main kingdoms,
Upper and Lower Egypt. It was the rulers of Upper
Egypt who unified the country in around 3100 bce.
Exactly which of them achieved this is unclear.
Narmer, traditionally the first ruler (pharaoh) of
the 1st dynasty, is often given the credit, but his
successor Aha (also called Menes), who may in
fact be the same person as Narmer, may have been
responsible. He also seems to have strengthened
the ruler’s position as a divine king, and possibly
founded the new royal capital at Memphis.

The Palette of Narmer depicts a pharaoh,

wearing a crown and bearing a mace and a
flail, in a victory procession that may celebrate
Egypt’s unification.
The Ancient
World
 52 THE ANCIENT WORLD

The world in 3000–700 bce

By 3000 bce, complex civilizations had arisen in the Tigris and
Euphrates valleys of Mesopotamia and along the banks of the Nile
in Egypt. China’s first civilization flourished along the Yangtze River;
somewhat later, the advanced cultures of the Chavín and Olmecs
developed in Peru and Mexico respectively. Eventually, trade and

G r e e n l a n d

I n u i t I n u i t

in

F
Ro

no
-U
ck

British g ria n s
y

Isles
ters
Mo

Great Celts S l a v ASSYRIAN

s EMPIRE
I
hun

T
Lakes
unt

Et l l y
Plains

hr
ru r i a

ac
sc Black Sea

ia
an n s
ains

ns n

ns
Nomadic

ai ia

ADENA Rome s
nt ch

Gordium Teushpa
eat

pa
ou la

Byblos
Ap M Lixus Carthage
Tyre
Gr

A T L A N T I C Memphis Babylon
B e r b e r s EGYPT ISRAEL
O C E A N Thebes Jerusalem
S a h a r a KUSH

Sem
OLMEC Yucatán
San Lorenzo Nilo
La Venta West Indies -Sah Napata
ara

ite
Cha n
Nig d ian p eop

s
er-Co s les
rs ngo peop ites
r me les Kush
Fa
Chorrera
Amazon
P A C I F I C N Basin les
om op
pe
CHAVÍN
O C E A N Chavín ad
A ic i s an
de Huantar ho

car
hu K
nte

gas
rs
n

Kalahari
The world in 750 bce Desert da
Ma
d
e

Undefined border
s

Greek cities and territories

Phoenician cities and territories

a

Small Chinese states under

oni

the Eastern Zhou dynasty

Patag

NOTE: Settlements in italics were

not in existence in 750 bce but were
significant during this chapter’s era.
 THE WORLD IN 3000–700 bce 53

technological innovation led to increased prosperity. In the densely

populated Middle East, competition between neighboring states
led to warfare, and to conquest by the Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians,
and Babylonians. Europe’s first sophisticated culture, the Minoans,
flourished on the island of Crete around 2000 bce.

The ancient world in 750 bce

By 750 bce, Egypt’s New Kingdom Empire
Paleosibe
rian
s
had waned, and much of the Middle
Sa

m East was under Assyrian control. While

oy
e d S i b e r i a the Greeks had begun to colonize the
s
Mediterranean, Rome was but a tiny village.
In China, central authority had collapsed
p e o ples with the Zhou dynasty, while India’s Indus
Caspian Alta ic
a Valley civilization had long since dissolved.
Sea G o b i uri
nch
Ma
u

K
Ain

Anyang
s

o re
an

ni Erlitou e s e Japan
ans

Ira H
im Zhengzhou Ja
pan
Harappa Wu
al
aya Sin P A C I F I C
s
Mohenjo-Daro p e o p il t i c YUE
es O C E A N
M pe

Arabian I N DI A N
on o

Peninsula S TATES Kh Ill D

Cauc
asia
T

Et yr
pl m i a anube peopl n
-

hr

ru
es er
ac

ns es

Ca
sc B la ck Sea
Phi li ppi ne
ian
Dra

an

spi
Rome
s Cimmeri
s

Island s

an S
an
vid

Cumae Hattushash
Gordium

ea
s
ian

URARTU
M e d PHRYGIA Teushpa
s

Olympia Mycenae
i t EupNineveh ASSYRIAN
Carthage e Crete hra
Borneo r r Byblos tes EMPIRE
Su

a n Knossos Kadesh Nimrud

m

I N D I A N s Pa p u e a n S e a Tyre Tig
M a l a y
at

ISRAEL ris
an
ra

Jerusalem Babylon
New s Bubastis
BABYLONIA ELAM
O C E A N Jav a Guinea Berbers Ur
Memphis AMMON
MOAB
EGYPT
JUDAEA
Thebes Arabian
Re

S a h a r a Peninsula
Sem
d
ile

N
Se

A u s t r a l i a n
ite
a

KUSH
s

A b o r i g i n e s
The Phoenicians of modern Lebanon had
colonized much of the Mediterranean shoreline
New Zealand by 750 bce, but were increasingly forced to
compete with Greek colonists. In the Middle
East, the dominant power was the Assyrian
empire, which ruled most of the area; only
Urartu remained completely independent.
54 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

The Near East

The world’s first complex societies arose in the Near East within
the fertile area known as Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and
Euphrates rivers. By 3000 bce, competing city-states of great wealth
flourished here, with advanced irrigation plans, established trade,
and grand palaces and temples. The earliest civilization, that of
Sumeria, was followed by the Babylonian and Assyrian empires,
which established their dominance over almost the entire region.

The Sumerians
n MODERN IRAQ d c.3000–c.2340 bce

The first civilization in Mesopotamia arose in the build stepped temple towers, or ziggurats, in honor
south, where a number of growing city-states of their deities. The sophisticated palace cultures
forged trading and diplomatic ties. This Sumerian were supported by specialized administrators,
culture, as it is known, was characterized by merchants, and scribes, whose need to keep
centralized hierarchies headed by rulers who often records led to the development of the first full
had priestly roles but, unlike Egypt’s pharaohs, writing system, in a script known as cuneiform.
were rarely thought to be divine. Each of the
cities was seen as the home of one of the major Conquest and decline
Sumerian gods (Nanna at Ur, Inanna at Uruk) The separate city-states of Sumeria were briefly
and in the period known as the Early Dynastic united around 2400 bce, when King Lugalzagesi
(c.3000–c.2340 bce), the Sumerians began to of the city-state of Umma conquered Ur and
Uruk and reduced the eastern city of Lagash
to dependent status. But within half a century,
The city of Uruk was the earliest of the
Sumerian cities to flourish, and incorporated the the whole area had been absorbed into the Empire
sacred precinct of Eanna, the “house of the sky.” of Sargon, king of Akkad (see box, facing page).
 THE NEAR EAST 55

Ur
n SOUTH OF MODERN IRAQ d c.3000–c.2000 bce

One of the city-states of Sumeria (see facing page), divided into 20 provinces, stretching from
Ur began to thrive around 2800 bce, becoming Susa in southwest Iranto Ashur, far to the
extremely wealthy; the tombs of rulers such as northwest of the Sumerian heartland. During
Queen Pu-abi and Meskalamdug have yielded this time the population increased and cities
artifacts of great value. flourished, supported by a system of forced
Ur was eclipsed politically during the occupation labor. The city of Ur itself was enhanced with
of Sumeria by Sargon (see below), but in around the construction of a great ziggurat. Ur-Nammu’s
2050 bce, Ur-Nammu founded the Third Dynasty heirs extended the empire, especially under
of Ur. For 70 years Ur dominated a huge area Shulgi (ruled 2094–2047 bce), but under Ibbi-Sin
(ruled 2028–2004 bce)
outlying regions broke
away, and invaders from
nearby Elam finally
ended the Third
Dynasty’s power.

A Sumerian gaming
board, inlaid with shell
and lapis lazuli, was
among the treasures
excavated from the
Royal Cemetery at Ur.

The Akkadian Empire

n MODERN IRAQ, SW IRAN, SYRIA, LEBANON, SE TURKEY d c.2300–c.2083 bce

The northern part of Sumeria, known as Babylonia, the Akkadians were on the defensive; their
gave rise to the earliest successful attempt to empire eventually fell during the reign of
unite the Near East when Sargon smashed the King Shar-kali-sharri, the son of Naram-Sin.
power of Lugalzagesi of Umma, securing control
over the whole region. His capital at Akkad SARGON OF AKKAD
dominated an empire that became ever more
Born a commoner,
centralized. A calendar was introduced for the Sargon (ruled
whole of Babylonia, new systems of taxation 2334– 2279 bce) rose
and standardized weights and measures were to power in the city of
Kish and took the
imposed, and Akkadian became the language
name Sharru-kin
of government. Sargon’s armies reached as far (Sargon), “the king is
as the Mediterranean coast, but it was difficult legitimate.” From his
to control the outlying regions. Rebellion broke new base at Akkad,
he sent his armies to
out in the reign of Sargon’s grandson, Naram-sin establish the world’s
(ruled 2254–2218 bce), who took on the title “king first empire.
of the world” and was worshiped as a god while
alive. Naram-sin was victorious, but thereafter
 56 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

The rise of Babylon

n MODERN IRAQ, SE SYRIA d c.1900–1595 bce

From around 1900 bce, the Babylonian kings began

annexing states to the north, such as Sippar and HAMMURABI AND HIS LAW CODE
Kish, marking the start of the “Old Babylonian” A warrior, statesman, and lawgiver,
period. They were prevented from further advances Hammurabi (ruled 1792–1750 bce)
by Shamshi-Adad, who held a strong state in raised Babylon from the status of a minor
city-state to the principal Mesopotamian
upper Mesopotamia. power. He described himself as “the king
Hammurabi who has made the four quarters of the earth
receives his code of Babylon under Hammurabi subservient” and his law code, containing
law from the justice some 282 legal decrees, was probably
After Shamsi-Adad’s death, Hammurabi of Babylon more an attempt to portray himself as a
god Shamash, in
a highly evocative extended his city-state’s reach even further, supporter of justice than a practical legal
image of a just ruler. conquering the whole of southern Mesopotamia document. Its penalties are often harsh
and retributive, such as the loss of an eye
for blinding a free man.

between 1766 and 1761 bce. Only further west,

in modern Syria, did kings such as Zimri-Lim
(ruled c.1775–1762 bce) of Mari seek to maintain
independence. Late in his reign, Hammurabi
attacked even Mari and reduced Zimri-Lim
to vassalage. Having achieved his territorial
ambitions, Hammurabi issued his famous code
of law. By the time of Hammurabi’s death, Babylon
had become the regional superpower.

The Decline of Babylon

Under Samsuiluna (ruled 1749–1712 bce),
Hammurabi’s son, Babylon faced a serious
rebellion during which cities such as Nippur
and Ur broke away from its control. The south
of Mesopotamia went into decline, but the Old
Babylonian dynasty continued to rule the north
until 1595 bce, when a new group, the Kassites,
sacked the city.

At the command
of the sun god…
may my justice
become visible in
the land.
The law code of
Hammurabi, c.1750 bce
 THE NEAR EAST 57

The Hittites
n CENTRAL AND SE TURKEY d c.1700–c.1200 bce

The kingdom of the Hittites, called Hatti, was Suppiluliuma I, who conquered northern Syria
based in central Anatolia around their capital and threatened Egyptian control over Palestine.
city Hattusa, but constantly shifted its borders, Mutawalli II (ruled 1295–1272 bce) fought the
extending at times as far as western Syria in Egyptians in a bitterly contested battle at Kadesh
the south and the coasts of the Black Sea in 1274 bce, which both sides claimed as a victory.
and the Aegean in the north and west. However, the aftermath of the battle firmly
Comparatively little is known of the Hittite Old cemented Hittite control in Syria. The growing
Kingdom, the first ruler of which, Hattusili, founded threat from Assyria to the east, and the rebellion
Hattusa in about 1650 bce. Under Hattusili’s of vassal states in the west, rapidly undermined
successor Mursili I (ruled c.1620–c.1590 bce), the Hittite kingdom, and in 1207 unknown raiders
Hittite armies campaigned in Syria, but by the sacked Hatti again, after which the Hittite state
reign of Telipinu (c.1525–c.1500 bce), Hatti collapsed completely.
was once again reduced to its core territory
around the capital. SUPPILULIUMA I
Under Tudhaliya III (ruled c.1360–c.1344 bce),
One of the most militarily successful Hittite
the first ruler of the New Kingdom, the Hittites kings, Suppiluliuma I (ruled 1344–1322 bce)
expanded again, defeating the rulers of Aleppo conquered Mitanni to the north and parts
and the Mitanni. Hatti reached its height under of Syria. So great was his prestige that
Tutankhamun’s widow invited one of his
A The Gate of the Lions at Hattusa (now sons to come to Egypt as her husband. A statue of a Hittite
Bogazköy in Turkey) provided an impressive goddess, one of a
ceremonial entrance to the Hittite royal capital. pantheon of deities
headed by the storm
god Teshub and his
female counterpart,
the sun goddess Hebat.
58 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

The late Bronze Age collapse

n THE NEAR EAST d c.1200–c.1050 bce

In the late Bronze Age of the Near East, a

diplomatic community of empires had maintained
a thriving international system based on bronze.
Between 1200 and 1050 bce, records hint at
upheaval, as raids and migrations overwhelmed
the established powers. The collapse appears
to have begun a little before 1200 bce, when
the citadels of Mycenaean Greece (see p.71)
were destroyed.

The fall of empires

In 1207 bce, the Hittite capital of Hattusa
was sacked and the empire fell. The Egyptians
had to fight off invasions by groups they called
the “Sea Peoples,” which eventually led to the
demise of the New Kingdom in 1069 bce.
Elsewhere, the Kassite dynasty of Babylon
collapsed around 1154 bce, while, in Assyria,
the archives speak of constant skirmishes. The A group of Philistine captives taken by the
Egyptian pharaoh Rameses III in c.1182 bce;
ensuing “Dark Age,” with almost no written the Philistines, or “Peleset,” were one of the
sources, would last for 150 years. “Sea Peoples.”

The Phoenicians
n LEBANON, THE MEDITERRANEAN COASTLINE d c.1200–146 bce

From around 1200 bce, the coastal cities of Tyre, network. The Phoenicians used maritime power
Byblos, and Sidon, in an area the Greeks called to control a dense web of routes crossing the
Phoenicia, formed the core of a sea-based trading Mediterranean, with trading links as far afield as
Mesopotamia and the Red Sea, supplying a range
of goods from rich, exotic fabrics and glass to
cedar wood. They also established colonies that
included Lixus in Morocco, Gades (Cadiz) in Spain,
Motya in Sicily, and, most importantly, Carthage
(in modern Tunisia), founded around 814 bce.
After Phoenicia itself fell to Assyria in the
9th century bce (and then to Egypt, Babylon, and
Persia), Carthage became the principal center of
Phoenician politics, conquering its own empire in
the western Mediterranean. Carthage ultimately
lost the battle for dominance of this region to the
Romans, who defeated the Carthaginians in three
Punic Wars in the 3rd and 2nd centuries bce.
The Phoenicians were skilled navigators and
built many forms of boats, from smaller vessels
to multi-oared galleys.
 THE NEAR EAST 59

The Assyrian Empire

n MODERN IRAQ, W IRAN, SYRIA, LEBANON, SW TURKEY d c.2000–c.610 bce

Assyria came to prominence around 2000 bce, to suppress their enemies, with mass executions,
prospering from the copper trade with Anatolia. impalements, and deportations. Assurnasirpal II
During the reign of Assur-Ubalit (1363–1328 bce), (ruled 883–859 bce) and Shalmaneser III (ruled
the Assyrians carved out an empire, culminating 858–824 bce) expanded the Assyrians’ territory
in the conquest of Babylon in the reign of Tukulti- as far west as the Mediterranean. After a brief
Ninurta I (ruled 1243–1207 bce). Assyria then fell decline, the Neo-Assyrian Empire revived
victim to invasion by the “Sea Peoples,” and it was under Tiglath-Pileser III and his heir Sargon II
not until around 1000 bce that the Neo-Assyrian (ruled 721–705 bce).
Empire emerged.
The Neo-Assyrians won fame as fierce Victory, then collapse
warriors, utilizing armies of chariots, infantry, In 689 bce, in the reign of Sennacherib (704–681 bce),
and horseback riders that made ample use of the Neo-Assyrians sacked Babylon, then, under
the new iron weaponry. They used terror tactics Assurbanipal (ruled 668–627 bce), they occupied
parts of Egypt. However, the Neo-Assyrians became
TIGLATH-PILESER III overstretched, and in 612 bce a coalition of Medes
and Babylonians captured the Assyrian capital
The administrative reforms of Tiglath-Pileser III
(ruled 744–727 bce) strengthened Neo-Assyria. Nineveh. By 610 bce the empire had vanished.
He extended Assyrian control along the
Mediterranean coast, becoming king of Babylon The reconstructed Nergal gate of Nineveh,
and leading an army to the gates of Teushpa, the which was one of the chief cities of the Assyrian
Urartian capital. Empire, and its last capital under Sennacherib
and his successors.
 60 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

The invention of writing

Writing represented a leap forward in the intellectual evolution
of humans. Its development occurred independently in five
different areas: Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China, and
Mesoamerica. Much of the earliest extant writing is on stone,
but many inscriptions survive on papyrus from Egypt and clay
tablets from Mesopotamia, and these documents shed precious
light on ancient cultures.

From symbols to script meaning that each symbol represented an

The development of writing—as the symbolic entire word or idea. Egyptian hieroglyphic and
representation of spoken language—was a Mesopotamian cuneiform writing mixed logograms
gradual process that probably began in the Middle with symbols that represented sounds.
East in the middle of the 4th millennium bce. As writing advanced, this combined approach
Early writing was made up of pictures, which enabled people to reproduce spoken language
helped create visual records of trading transactions. accurately in written form. Archives such as
Over time, these pictures were simplified into those at Mari and Ugarit in Syria yield a wealth
symbols. In Mesopotamia, this process resulted in of information about the dealings of rulers,
Cuneiform script, wedge-shaped cuneiform writing, and, in Egypt, who used writing to manage information
imprinted on clay pictorial hieroglyphs were used—from around about their estates. From the Mayan kings
tablets, is one of
the earliest forms 3200 bce—for a period of more than 3,500 years. of Mesoamerica to the Egyptian pharaohs
of written expression. Many of these early scripts were logographic, and Chinese emperors, rulers also set up
 THE NEAR EAST 61

To the Phoenician
people is due great
honor, for they
invented the letters
of the alphabet.
Pliny the Elder (Roman author),
The Rosetta Stone enabled François Champollion, Natural History, 1st century ce
in 1822–24, to decipher hieroglyphs, because it
has parallel texts in hieroglyphic, demotic, and
in Ancient Greek, which was already understood.
The alphabet
monumental inscriptions as a means to The concept of an alphabet in which every
record their achievements and inspire awe in symbol denotes a particular sound only arose
their subjects. in the late 2nd millennium bce. The people of
Ugarit in Syria developed a cuneiform alphabet
Scribes and literacy around 2000 bce.
The establishment of written archives and Turquoise miners in Sinai used another
governments created a need for a literate class able early alphabet system shortly afterward, and
to produce and read them. In Egypt, the education it may have been this script, with 30 signs, that
of scribes—who were elevated to a position of great spread northward through Palestine into Phoenicia, Egyptian hieroglyphs
prestige in society—began in youth, and included where it evolved into the 22-sign Phoenician alphabet remained unchanged
mathematics and accountancy. Although literary around 1000 bce. The Phoenicians’ trading network, over centuries, in
and devotional texts were produced in Egypt and in turn, exported their script throughout the part because of their
religious use, such as
Mesopotamia, reading them remained the province Mediterranean, where it cast its influence in in this 20th-century bce
of the elite members of society. the developing scripts of Greece and Rome. coffin panel.
 62 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

Egypt
Around 3100 bce, a unified kingdom of Egypt emerged—ruled by a
single king, or pharaoh—which occupied the banks of the Nile as far
south as Aswan. Under the Early Dynastic period (c.3100–2469 bce),
the Old Kingdom (2649–2134 bce), the Middle Kingdom (2040–1640 bce),
and the New Kingdom (1550–1069 bce), Egypt
experienced nearly 3,000 years of prosperity
and cultural continuity, before foreign invaders
occupied it from the 8th century bce.

The Old Kingdom

n EGYPT d 2649–2134 bce

Around 3100 bce, the two kingdoms of Upper Egypt

(the south) and Lower Egypt (the north) merged into
a single state at the hands of a pharaoh named
Menes. Then, from 2649 bce, under the rulers of
the 3rd dynasty, the Old Kingdom was inaugurated.
Its most striking remains are the great funerary
monuments known as the pyramids, but there is
also evidence of a centralized state based around the
capital at Memphis. A vast political and administrative
bureaucracy grew up that included local governors,
who oversaw regions called nomes. The pharaoh
himself came to occupy a central religious role,
because he upheld a system that ensured the Nile
brought silt-rich annual floods each year and kept
the valley fertile. Vast irrigation schemes directed the
waters to wide areas of agricultural land, and devices
called “nilometers” predicted the rise of the river and
the bounty (or dearth) of the subsequent harvest.
Under the Old Kingdom, Egypt first began to project
its power abroad, with expeditions during the reign
of Snefru (2575–2551 bce) to Nubia to collect raw
materials, and campaigns into Libya by the 6th-
dynasty pharaohs (2323–2150 bce).
During the long reign of Pepi II (2246–2152 bce),
Tomb treasures, central authority began to dissolve and, within 20
such as this effigy years, the Old Kingdom collapsed, as famine wracked
of an Old Kingdom the land and officials in the provinces established their
official and his family,
teach us much about own rule. A century of uncertainty ensued, known
ancient Egypt. as the First Intermediate Period (2134–2040 bce).
 EGYPT 63

The pyramids
n EGYPT d c.2600–c.1525 bce

Early Dynastic pharaohs were buried in mud-brick the royal burial concealed in a granite chamber
box-shaped tombs known as mastabas. During deep in the interior. They were accompanied
the reign of the 3rd-dynasty pharaoh Djoser by funerary temples, smaller pyramids for
(2630–2611 bce) a new, grander structure queens, mastabas for officials, pits in which to
appeared. His step pyramid at Saqqara was bury sacred boats, and a causeway leading
essentially a series of mastabas set one on top to a valley temple, which was the ceremonial
of the other, and prefigured a series of massive entrance to the complex.
true pyramids constructed during the 4th dynasty
(2575–2465 bce). Snefru probably built pyramids The decline of the pyramids
at Dahshur and Meidum, but under his successor The pyramids of the 5th and succeeding dynasties
Khufu, the Great Pyramid at Giza, near Memphis, were sited in places other than Giza, including
was erected. Containing over two million blocks of at Abusir near Saqqara, and were smaller than
stone, each weighing around 2½ tons (2,300 kg), Khufu’s Great Pyramid. The last true royal
its construction involved a truly prodigious pyramid built in Egypt was that of Ahmose I
The courtly elite
expenditure of precious resources. (ruled 1550–1525 bce). The New Kingdom were also buried
Each pyramid was both a tomb and a temple pharaohs chose to be buried in less extravagant at Saqqara. This
dedicated to the cult of the dead pharaoh. The tombs located further south in the Valley of Egyptian bas-relief
pyramids were constructed in limestone, with the Kings, near Thebes. is from the tomb of
Hezyre, physician
and scribe to the
The largest and oldest of the three Giza
KHUFU pyramids, Khufu’s Great Pyramid probably
pharaoh Djoser.

Surprisingly little is known of Khufu’s reign

took around 20 years to build.
(2551–2528 bce), except through the existence
of the Great Pyramid. The Greek historian
Herodotus told of Khufu’s cruelty, although
this is probably no more than a reflection of
the huge force of will that he must have needed
to ensure the Great Pyramid’s construction.
The pyramid’s burial chamber was
robbed in antiquity, but the first
recorded traveler to enter
the tomb was British consul
Nathaniel Davison, in 1765.
 The funerary temple of Hatshepsut
at Deir el Bahri, Thebes, is a spectacular
monument to one of ancient Egypt’s
few female rulers. Hatshepsut
(ruled 1473–1458 bce) took on all
the trappings of a male pharaoh.
On one of the terraces are statues
of her as the god Osiris.
66 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

The Middle Kingdom

n EGYPT d 2040–1640 bce

During the First Intermediate Period, the most

powerful Egyptian rulers were at Heracleopolis,
south of Memphis. From around 2150 bce, there
was civil war between the Heracleopolitan
pharaohs and rivals farther south at Edfu and
Thebes. Finally, around 2040 bce, the Theban king
Nebhepetre Mentuhotep II (ruled 2061–2010 bce)
was victorious, reuniting Egypt and beginning the
Middle Kingdom.

The height of the Middle

Kingdom
Amenemhet I (ruled 1991–1962 bce), the first
pharaoh of the 12th dynasty, restored Egypt’s
vigor. He established a new capital at Itj-tawy
near Memphis, and sent expeditions to Nubia
(modern Sudan), conquering territory as far
south as the Second Cataract of the Nile. The
12th-dynasty pharaohs also mounted campaigns
in Syria and Palestine.
The central authority’s influence seems to have
lessened during the 13th dynasty (1783–1640 bce),
which had a large number of short-lived rulers,
Colorful wall paintings, such as this well-
but there is little evidence of decline. There are, preserved example at the Tomb of Sirenpowet II,
however, indications of an increased number adorned the walls of Middle Kingdom tombs.
of immigrants from Palestine, foreshadowing
the stresses that would, in time, bring down the group, known as the Hyksos (a name derived from
Middle Kingdom. an Egyptian word meaning “foreign princes”),
established their own kingdom in the north of
The end of the Middle Kingdom Egypt. Native Egyptian rulers continued to rule
Toward the end of the 13th dynasty, Egypt came in the south from Thebes, while the Hyksos could
under intensive pressure from Asiatic groups not be dislodged from their capital at Avaris.
migrating westward, who began to occupy large This century of political turmoil is referred to
areas of the Nile delta. Around 1650 bce, one as the Second Intermediate Period.

Asians will fall to his sword, Libyans

will fall to his flame, rebels to his wrath,
traitors to his might.
The Prophecy of Neferty from the time of Amenemhet I
 EGYPT 67

Egyptian religion
Egyptian religion was immensely complex, with a large number
of gods, many of them localized and many appearing with different
aspects. Earlier pharaohs associated themselves with the sky god
Horus or the sun god Re, but gradually the cult of Osiris, king of
the dead, became dominant. The need to ensure the immortality
of the ruler’s soul after death was the primary focus of Egyptian
religious belief.

The cult of the dead ensured this resurrection, when the royal ka
The unification of Egypt under the Old Kingdom (or life-force) would be united with his ba (the
rationalized the various local pantheons and, soul, or a person’s personality). To ensure
throughout the year, the pharaoh engaged in a the ka recognized its former body, and so could
series of ritual activities to ensure the fertility reach the afterlife, preserving the corpse through
of the land and the crossing of the sky by the mummification became paramount. Once the
sun each day. pharaoh’s soul reached the underworld, a jury
Most important of all was the cult of the dead. of 12 gods would weigh its misdeeds against a
Egyptians believed that, after death, the pharaohs feather. If the two weighed the same, the pharaoh
were reborn as the king of the dead, Osiris. A was ensured eternal life.
complex mythology surrounded the rites that The official cults were only briefly challenged
under Akhenaten (ruled 1353–1335 bce), who A “trinity” of Horus,
tried to establish the worship of the sun disc (Aten) Isis, and Osiris became
To preserve a pharaoh’s body, vital organs were the focus of religious
removed, then the corpse was stuffed with linen, as the state religion—perhaps the first example of belief by the time of
soaked with preservatives, and wrapped. monotheism. the Old Kingdom.
68 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

The New Kingdom and after

n EGYPT d 1550–1069 bce

The Hyksos were finally expelled from Egypt by the Imperial and cultural apogee
Theban ruler Kamose (ruled 1555–1550 bce) and The early rulers of the 18th dynasty (1550–
his successor Ahmose I (ruled 1550–1525 bce), 1307 bce) sought to establish an Egyptian
the first pharaoh of the New Kingdom. This era is Empire, first in Palestine and then in parts
often seen as a time of glorious “empire” for Egypt, of Syria. Tuthmosis I (ruled 1504–1492 bce)
during which Egypt extended its trade links and campaigned as far as the Euphrates River
refined its skill in diplomacy. It quashed threats and there set up a stela—an inscribed standing
to the throne making use of warfare techniques stone—commemorating his army’s achievement.
borrowed from the Hyksos. Under the reigns of Tuthmosis II and his widow
Hatshepsut, between 1493 and 1458 bce, the
pace of military expansion slowed. Hatshepsut’s
nephew, Tuthmosis III (ruled 1479–1425 bce),
however, led nearly 20 expeditions into Palestine
and Syria, defeating peoples as far-flung as the
Mitanni near the Euphrates and extending Egyptian
control southward down the Nile.
After a brief period of political weakness
following the early death of the boy-pharaoh
Tutankhamun (ruled 1333–1323 bce), the
19th-dynasty rulers reasserted Egypt’s control
of its overseas empire, beginning with Seti I (ruled
1305–1290 bce), whose aggressive campaigning
brought him into conflict with the Hittites. His son,
Rameses II (see facing page), continued the war,
but in 1274 bce his army was nearly destroyed
near the Syrian town of Qadesh. Thereafter,
Egypt’s control over Palestine waned. Merneptah
(ruled 1224–1214 bce) fought a series of battles
to keep Libyan tribesmen from the Nile Delta,
but the respite was short-lived and Rameses III
(ruled 1194–1163 bce) faced a great army of
“Sea Peoples,” who had rampaged through
Syria and Palestine. Rameses defeated them
in 1182 bce, but growing internal dissent, along
with a series of weak successors, eventually
brought the New Kingdom to an end.
The New Kingdom had been an age of
spectacular architectural and artistic
achievements, as well as religious ferment.
The lavish tomb contents of Tutankhamun were
interred and the monumental buildings and
statues of Rameses II were erected. Royalty

The lavishness of the golden death mask of

Tutankhamun belies the reality of a boy-pharaoh
who had very little influence.
were now buried in underground tombs, a general from Libya. When Egypt was reunited Throughout his
centered on the Valley of the Kings, near Thebes. in the 25th dynasty, it was by the Nubian king reign, Rameses II
dedicated himself to
Amenophis IV (ruled 1353–1335 bce) took sun Shabaqa (ruled 712–698 bce). Successive a program of building,
worship to extremes, briefly imposing on his periods of Nubian, Assyrian, and Persian rule most spectacularly
people the cult of Aten—worship of the sun were punctuated by periods of native dominance, these huge statues of
disc alone—and renaming himself Akhenaten until Egypt had its last years of pharaonic rule the pharaoh at Abu
Simbel in Nubia.
in honor of his beliefs. under the Ptolemies (304–30 bce), a dynasty
that was Macedonian-Greek in origin.
The Third Intermediate and
late periods
For 150 years after the New Kingdom’s end, the
high priests of Amun and the rulers of Tanis in
the Delta contested control of Egypt. Gradually,
Egypt fell to foreign rulers, beginning with the
22nd dynasty, founded in 945 bce by Shoshenq,

RAMESES II
One of the most celebrated of Egypt’s pharaohs,
Rameses II (ruled 1290–1223 bce), succeeded to
the throne at the height of Egyptian power. Early on
in his reign, he succeeded in campaigns in Syria,
but after defeat by the Hittites at Qadesh in 1274
bce, he struggled to regain the initiative and had to
make a treaty in 1258 bce to end the war. As well
as the temple at Abu Simbel, Rameses built a new
capital at Pi-Rameses in the eastern Nile Delta,
and a great mortuary temple, the Ramesseum,
near the Valley of the Kings, close to Thebes. Opulent grave goods, such as this colorful
jeweled scarab chest ornament, were a feature
of New Kingdom burials.
 70 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

Europe
Europe’s first civilizations flourished in the southeast, the earliest
on the island of Crete, where the Minoans established a highly
sophisticated Bronze Age culture. After the collapse of their
society by around 1450 bce, the Minoans were supplanted by the
Mycenaeans, incomers from mainland Greece, who adopted many
aspects of Minoan culture and occupied its palaces, but who were
in turn swept away around 1200 bce in a period of political turmoil.

Minoan Crete
n CRETE d c.2000–c.1450 bce

By around 2000 bce, trading towns on the Cretan Craftspeople produced sophisticated goods, such
coast had expanded to give rise to an advanced as “Kamáres ware” pottery, with designs in black,
civilization centered on a series of palaces, notably white, and red.
at Knossos, Phaistos, Mallia, and Zakros. The
Minoans depended on long-distance trade and The end of the palaces
became skilled seafarers, building up a large The reasons for the decline of Minoan culture
fleet that carried their artifacts into the eastern are unclear. Around 1500 bce, a massive volcanic
Mediterranean. Minoan rulers seem to have played eruption on the neighboring island of Thera may
both a political and a religious role, and many have disrupted or destroyed the Minoans’ trading
government officials were probably also priests. network, undermining the basis of their wealth.
They kept official archives, but we have yet to Around 1450 bce, aided by an earthquake on Crete
decipher their script, known as Linear A. Society that destroyed some of the palaces, Mycenaean
was divided into classes, with the court supported invaders delivered the fatal blow to the Minoan
by a large class of agricultural laborers. city-states, and the civilization collapsed.
The ruins of the
palace at Mallia, an
important Minoan
administrative center
which, unlike Knossos
and Phaistos, was
defended by a
town wall.
 EUROPE 71

The Palace of Knossos

n KNOSSOS, CRETE d c.2000–c.1200 bce

Knossos, near Heraklion, was the most elaborate

of the Minoan palaces, so much so that it gave
rise to the later legend of the labyrinth within
which lurked a monstrous half-human bull. When
British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans excavated
the site between 1900 and 1932, he uncovered
frescoes that abound in images of bulls, as well
as double-headed axes and snakes, and these
must all have played an important role in Minoan
religious symbolism. Damaged by an earthquake
around 1700 bce, the Knossos palace was rebuilt
on an even grander scale, measuring some
45 acres (18 hectares), with a large series of
shrines. The palace flourished for a further 250
years, and seems to have survived the wholesale
destruction of Minoan sites around 1450 bce, after
A fresco at Knossos depicts “bull-
which it was occupied for a further two centuries, leaping,” which may have been a sport
most probably by Mycenaean invaders. or a religious ritual.

The Mycenaeans
n MAINLAND GREECE, CRETE d c.1600–c.1070 bce

Beginning around 1600 bce, the Mycenaean culture the Mycenaeans also expanded their rule
grew from southern Greece, reaching as far north southward, toppling an already weakened
as Thessaly within 200 years. By around 1450 bce, Minoan civilization. Although not as adept at
or dependent on trade as the Minoans, the
Mycenaeans maintained commercial
settlements on islands such as Rhodes.
The Mycenaean culture was based around
fortified palace sites, such as Mycenae, Pylos,
and Tiryns, with massive circuit walls and a
central megaron—a square room that was the
palace’s focal point. Extensive archives, written
in a script known as Linear B, have been found at
the palace sites, providing a mass of information
about Mycenaean social and economic life.
By around 1200 bce, the Mycenaean culture
was in decline, and most of its major centers
had been destroyed by fire. Some centers limped
on, exhibiting a lower and more provincial level
of material culture, but by 1070 bce the last
Mycenaean palaces had been abandoned.
Greece had entered its “Dark Age,” a period in
A gold death mask, once believed to be that
of legendary Greek king Agamemnon, found its history—lasting for centuries—for which
at Mycenae. no records exist.
 This heavily reconstructed fresco
of “The Blue Ladies,” found at the
palace of Knossos in Crete and dating
from around 1500 bce, shows the
elaborate hairstyles favored by
high-status Minoan women, with the
hair held in place by strings of pearls.
74 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

South Asia
A fertile cradle of river-fed land, crossing parts of modern India,
Pakistan, and Afghanistan, gave birth to the Indus Valley civilization
in the mid-4th millennium bce. Its impressive, well-planned cities,
most notably Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro, housed large populations
and produced artifacts of great beauty. However, a deeper knowledge
of this fascinating civilization is still tantalizingly out of reach, as the
Indus Valley script remains undeciphered.

The Indus Valley civilization

n PAKISTAN, NW INDIA, SE AFGHANISTAN d c.3300–c.1600 bce

The Indus Valley civilization flourished across The “Early Harappan” phase of the civilization
a large area of present-day Pakistan, northwest (c.3300–c.2800 bce) saw the Indus Valley
India, and Afghanistan, along the fertile Indus peoples grow crops, including peas, sesame
and Ghaggar-Hakra rivers. In common with the seeds, and dates, and domesticate animals, such
civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Indus as the water buffalo. Sanitation systems and the
Valley depended heavily on land made fertile earliest known examples of the Indus script also
by regular floods and on the skilled use of emerged in this phase.
irrigation and water-management techniques. Cities of the Indus Valley produced refined
artifacts, including fine jewelry in gold and
fired steatite (soapstone), gold and silver
ornaments, and skilfully worked figurines in
bronze, terracotta, and glazed ceramics. Such
treasures seem to indicate that this was a
stratified society with an elite class that was able
to commission precious works. The discovery of
Indus Valley artifacts elsewhere in the world
indicates that the civilization had widespread
trading links, particularly with Mesopotamia,
Afghanistan, and Iran.
From 2600–1900 bce the civilization reached its
peak, in what is known as the “Mature Harappan”
period, when many large, well-planned cities thrived.
The cities appear to have suffered from increased
flooding from 1700 bce onward and from increased
attacks by unknown outsiders. By 1600 bce the
quality of Indus Valley artifacts had declined and
most of the main city sites had been abandoned.

The undeciphered Indus script is found

on hundreds of clay seals, along with vivid
animal images.
 SOUTH ASIA 75

Mohenjo-Daro
n PAKISTAN d c.2500–c.1600 bce

Mohenjo-Daro was one of the world’s first planned The “Lower Town”
cities and, like Harappa some 300 miles (500 km) of Mohenjo-Daro is
to its northeast, was one of the Indus Valley in the foreground,
with the city’s “Citadel”
civilization’s principal settlements. Set out on a dramatically rearing
grid pattern, it had broad avenues and narrow side up on the mound in
streets lined with spacious townhouses. Wells with the background.
high, sealed walls to prevent contamination were
built to provide clean water for the inhabitants.

The structure of the city

A higher area set on an artificial mound some
40 ft (12 m) high has been dubbed Mohenjo-Daro’s
“Citadel,” though it is thought to have been a place
for public gatherings and an administrative center
rather than a fortified strongpoint. Within the or pool, may have had some ritual purpose. In the
citadel, the “Great Bath,” an enclosed water tank western quarter, large granaries indicate a central
authority that was able to dictate the storing of
surpluses. To the south, the “Lower Town” may
have housed skilled craftsmen and the lower
classes. What is certain is that the city stood at the
center of a network of trade and cultural exchange
that reached as far as Tilmun (modern Bahrain)
in the Persian Gulf.
Numerous religious artifacts have been found at
the site of Mohenjo-Daro, notably images of a
mother goddess often found in association with
male symbols. These may indicate a fertility cult,
although no temples or structures with an overt
religious purpose have been identified.

Decline and abandonment

Water was a constant threat to Mohenjo-Daro,
which was flooded and rebuilt as many as nine
times on the same site during its period of
occupation. Around 1700 bce, the city suffered
a major flood from the Indus. A huge protective
embankment was built to protect the city, but
Mohenjo-Daro was abandoned once and for all
within a century.

This striking statue has been frequently

dubbed the “Priest-King,” although there
is no evidence that such a figure existed
in Mohenjo-Daro’s society.
76 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

East Asia
From around 4500 bce, the Neolithic societies centered on the
banks of China’s Yellow River gave rise to a series of increasingly
sophisticated cultures and then the first real towns. China’s first
centralized state emerged under the rule of the Shang dynasty
(18th–11th centuries bce). The Shang’s rich culture of producing
art and artifacts, particularly using bronze, is reflected in the
artistic traditions of subsequent Chinese dynasties.

Early Chinese cultures

n CHINA d c.4500–c.1800 bce

Late Neolithic China gave rise to village cultures

of some complexity. The Yangshao culture
emerged along the banks of the Yellow River
in central China, and more than one thousand
sites have been excavated to date. Studies at
one of the best-known sites, Banpo, show that
Yangshao people cultivated millet, used polished
stone tools, and wore hemp and possibly silk.
They produced pots made of red clay, often
decorated with spiral patterns, and some of
the burials found at the village show evidence
of belief in a connection with a spirit world.
At Longshan in Shandong province, at the
lower reaches of the Yellow River, another
culture created finer black pottery
(some of it turned on a potter’s wheel)
and stone axes. This culture spread
far along the banks of the middle and lower
Yangtze to the south.
In 1959, archaeologists discovered the
Erlitou culture in the Yellow River valley
in Henan province, unearthing palacelike
buildings, tombs, and bronze artifacts—
the oldest yet found in China. More recent
archaeological finds have revealed a variety
of late Neolithic cultures outside the Yellow
River valley, such as the Majiabang along
A Yangshao red vase from around 2000 bce.
Such pottery has been found in more than a the Yangtze in Jiangsu province, and the
thousand sites in the Yellow River area. Dapenkeng culture in South China.
 EAST ASIA 77

Shang China
n EASTERN CHINA d c.1750–1027 bce

The Shang, by tradition the second of China’s for many centuries. The Shang also
dynasties, ruled over much of northern and continued the production of jade discs,
central China from around 1750 bce. They had which had begun in Neolithic times.
several capitals, the last of which was discovered Often decorated with ornate carving, the
at Anyang on the banks of the Huan in the 1920s. discs’ exact function remains a mystery,
Here, archaeologists have unearthed the remains but they may have been buried with the dead.
of the large ceremonial and administrative Shang tombs have yielded large numbers
center of the late Shang state. of “oracle bones,” the shoulder bones of cattle,
By around 1650 bce, the Shang were which were used for telling the future. Inscriptions
established at the capital Zhengzhou, where a on the oracle bones provide the earliest evidence This mask is
massive defensive wall, some 4 miles (6.4 km) of Chinese writing. characteristic of the
high level of bronze
long, enclosed a large settlement with buildings The Shang dynasty came to an end in around craftsmanship under
constructed of stamped earth. 1050 bce when revolt, led by the Zhou, broke the Shang dynasty.
out in the west of the Shang territory. The
Shang culture Zhou, who had extended their influence
The most prized archaeological finds from the throughout the present Shaanxi and Gansu
Shang period are bronze objects, made primarily provinces, finally overpowered the Shang
for ceremonial purposes. Many of the vessels emperor and became the dominant power.
found at Zhengzhou and Anyang had a ritual
use, possibly for preparing sacrificial meats In Shang tradition, when an important person
died, his chariot, charioteers, and horses were
or heating wine. Highly stylized forms of bronze buried with him, as in this example from a
containers evolved, which would be produced village near Anyang.
 78 THE ANCIENT WORLD 3000–700 bce

The Americas
From the mid-2nd millennium bce, advanced societies began to
develop in the Americas in two separate areas, Peru and Mesoamerica.
The earliest civilizations in those regions were those of the Chavín
and the Olmecs respectively. Both built large ceremonial centers and
both followed a cult of the jaguar in their systems of religious beliefs,
but they left little or nothing in the way of written records, and their
political history is almost impossible to reconstruct.

The Chavín of Peru

n PERU d c.1250–c.200 bce

By about 1250 bce, village life based on the terraced pyramid. From the central platform
production of corn and pottery had spread projected a series of fearsome fanged monsters,
throughout Peru’s coastal and highland regions. while at the temple’s center stood the Lanzón, a
However, it was not until around 900 bce that the 15 ft (4.5 m) high granite stela—or stone slab—
first identifiable culture spread across much of which may have been a devotional image. The
Peru. Centered on the great temple of Chavín de site also includes a courtyard, perhaps an
Huántar, at the confluence of the Wacheqsa and assembly place for ritual processions. Chavín
Mosna rivers, the Chavín culture touched all parts wealth was used, at some time after 500 bce, to
of Peru save the extreme south. As there is no build a New Temple twice the size of the old one.
evidence of fortresses, armies, or any of the other The power of the culture was waning, however,
paraphernalia of empire, the culture’s spread was and outlying regions broke away. By 200 bce,
probably not by force. the Chavín period was over.

Chavín site and collapse

The site at Chavín de Huántar reveals its people’s
great engineering and architectural expertise. The
Old Temple was built around 900 bce on a massive
Chavín art was
characterized by
images of snarling
animals, such as
these fierce jaguars
from a staircase at
Chavín de Huántar.
 THE AMERICAS 79

The Olmecs
n GULF COAST OF MEXICO d c.1800–c.400 bce

The Olmec culture established itself in the

lowlands of southern Mexico shortly after
1800 bce. By around 800 bce, their influence had
spread over an extensive area of Mesoamerica,
underpinned by a simple agricultural economy
that was based on corn.

Olmec centers
The first important Olmec center was
San Lorenzo in southern Mexico, which
was at its height between 1200 and
900 bce. The city seems to have had
an advanced drainage system and its
buildings, erected on earthen mounds and
arranged around open plazas, included a
temple and houses made of poles and thatch.
There were also many monuments, such An Olmec relief
as giant carved heads, altarlike structures, of a priest making an
offering to a deity, in
huge sculptures of seated people, and the form of a feathered,
depictions of a variety of animals, notably crested rattlesnake.
the jaguar.
Near the San Lorenzo site, at Cascajal, There is evidence of widespread destruction of
archaeologists have found a stone dating from monuments around 900 bce, when the center
around 900 bce. It bears symbols that may be of San Lorenzo seems to have come to an end.
Olmec writing, and thus might represent the The other major Olmec center was the city of
first writing system in Mesoamerica. La Venta, near the border of modern Tabasco
and Veracruz states, which had a much larger
population than San Lorenzo. Thriving between
900 and 400 bce, La Venta effectively took over
from San Lorenzo as the principal Olmec
settlement. As at San Lorenzo, colossal stone
heads and jaguar figures and imagery have
been found, as well as ceremonial and temple
complexes, including a giant pyramid.
The major buildings at the site were all
precisely aligned, perhaps linked with ideas
about astronomy. By around 400 bce, the Olmec
culture was in decline, although its influence
persisted in regional cultures, especially that
of the Zapotecs of Monte Albán (see p.129).

An Olmec stone statue, from La Venta, known

as the “Governor.” His elaborate dress implies
that he was a ruler.
The Classical
World
82 THE CLASSICAL WORLD

The world in 700 bce–600 ce

The millennium that followed 750 bce saw much of the world’s
population incorporated into the great Classical civilizations of
Eurasia—Greece, Rome, Persia, India, and China. These empires
went on to reach unparalleled levels of sophistication and military
effectiveness, and set models for administration and scholarship

G r e e n l a n d

I n u i t Fi
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G peo
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N o m a d i c h u n t e rs

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Lakes M Dacians
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A T L A N T I C ETA
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MAUR B e r b eAlexandria
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KUSH
Monte Albán Palenque West I n dies e Meroe
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MARAJÓ
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GUANGALA ntu
B a s i n s
The world in 1 ce

s
Moche
Wari

ntu
International border
Nazca Tiahuanaco
Kalahari
Ba
Undefined border
Desert
d e s

Han Empire

Roman Empire and client states Khoisan

Empire of Pontus under á peoples
Mithridates Eupator, c.100 bce ran
Pa
A n

Numidia under Masinissa

from 201 bce
nia

Burebista's Dacian
kingdom, 45 bce
go
Pata

NOTE: Settlements in italics were

not in existence in 1 ce but were
significant during this chapter’s era.
 THE WORLD IN 700 bce –600 ce 83

that would be followed for many centuries. In Central and South

America, Africa, and Japan, new civilizations also emerged, in many
ways equally as advanced, but with a much smaller reach than those
of Eurasia. The Classical era also saw the birth of some influential
religions—Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity.

The Classical
world in 1 ce
By 1 ce, the Greeks—who had earlier
controlled an empire that stretched
to India—had been conquered by
Paleosib the Roman Empire, which jostled
Samoyed erian
s
s for power with the Parthian (Persian)
Empire. China, unified in 221 bce, was
T

S i b e r i a
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now ruled by the Han dynasty, while

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g u

Sar matia T u
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s

iongnu
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Iranians G o b i
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KO

ARMENIA Kashgar
R

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EA

PA RT HI A N
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EM PIRE Hi Chang’an JAPAN
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O C E A N
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Numantia Thessalonica Constantinople
I N D I A N
Su

Borneo Carthago PONTUS ARMENIA

Actium
m

Papu Nova Carthage Athens

atr

M a l a y s
PA RT HI A N
a Syracuse Corinth
New ns
Gades
O C E A N
a

EMPIRE
NIA Palmyra
E TA RHODES
Jav a Guinea MA
UR
NUMIDIA
LYCIA CAPPADOCIA
Alexandria
ar

Be rber Jerusalem
s
asc

EGYPT
Nil
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NABATAEA
S a h a r a GARAMANTES
dag

KUSH
A u s t ra l i an
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A b ori g i n es
The Roman Empire had conquered
the whole of the Mediterranean coastline
by 1 ce, and had also extended into Asia
Minor (in modern Turkey), Gaul (modern
New Zealand
France), and parts of Germany. Over the
next century it would take Britain, Dacia
(Romania), and parts of Mesopotamia,
reaching its maximum area.
 84 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Persia
From provincial beginnings, a dynasty of Persian kings—
the Achaemenids—emerged to exert power across Asia from the
Mediterranean to northwest India. Two centuries after a failed attempt to
subdue Greece in the 5th century bce, the tables turned when Alexander
the Great’s Macedonians overthrew Achaemenid rule. Persian power
re-emerged under the Parthians and Sassanids, who, from the 220s ce,
struggled bitterly with the Romans until the 7th century ce.

The Achaemenid Empire

n W ASIA, EGYPT d 550–330 bce

According to Persian tradition, Cyrus (ruled a coalition of Greek states defeated him
559–530 bce), founder of the Achaemenid Empire, in 490 bce. A decade later, in 480–478 bce,
had been a vassal of Astyages, ruler of the Median Xerxes (ruled 486–465 bce) failed in a similar
kingdom to the north of the Persian homeland. enterprise, and the Achaemenid rulers’ impulse
Cyrus defeated Astyages in 550 bce, securing for expansion waned.
dominance over eastern Iran, and then captured
Babylon in 539 bce. His heir, Cambyses (ruled Vulnerability and fall
530–522 bce), extended the empire The 4th century bce was dogged by bitter dynastic
to Egypt, before a revolt by struggles that undermined the power of later
his brother Bardiya led rulers. The empire was increasingly reliant
to his assassination. In on foreign mercenaries and, because
the following years, the of its vast size, vulnerable
influential king Darius I to revolt and invasion.
(ruled 522–486 bce) It ended in the 330s bce,
occupied parts of when Alexander the Great
Libya and northwestern (see pp.96–7) defeated
India, and also tried the last Achaemenid
to invade Greece, but emperor, Darius III.
The tomb of
Cyrus was built at
Pasargadae, where
he had established
the first Achaemenid
royal capital sometime
before 550 bce.
 PERSIA 85

Persepolis
The royal capital of the Achaemenid Empire was Persepolis,
founded by Darius I around 518 bce and connected to an efficient
system of royal roads. While the administration of government
usually took place at the palace at Susa to the west, Persepolis
lay at the heart of the Achaemenids’ regal power.

A city of treasures hold up to 10,000 people. On the stairway

Darius founded his new capital on a high plain to the apadana, a series of reliefs depicted
around 50 miles (80 km) southwest of the old tribute-bearers from the empire’s 20
Persian center at Pasargadae. Builders leveled provinces bringing offerings to the Persian
an artificial terrace of 33 acres (135,000 sq m) ruler, for Persepolis may also have acted
on which to erect a series of palaces and as the Achaemenids’ central treasury. A huge
A golden griffin
chambers. Largest of these was the apadana, Throne Hall was built under Darius I, and bracelet that forms
a reception hall that may have been able to additions to the complex were still being made part of the Oxus
in the reign of Artaxerxes III (ruled 358–338 bce). Treasure, a fabulous
Dignitaries from Medea bearing tribute In 331 bce, Alexander the Great captured hoard from the
approach the Council Hall at Persepolis. Achaemenid era
The ruined city is now a UNESCO World Persepolis, and the next year a fire razed it found in 19th-century
Heritage site. to the ground. Afghanistan.
86 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Persian religion
n IRAN d c.1000 bce–7TH CENTURY ce

At the heart of the Persian religious system

lay a fusion between traditional Iranian religions
and the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster,
who lived either around 1000 bce or in the
7th century bce. He preached a dualist faith
in which the supreme god Ahura Mazda, the
personification of good, engaged in a constant
struggle with the spirit of darkness, known
as Angra Mainyu. The Achaemenids may not
have been pure Zoroastrians, and they revered
other Persian deities, too. Their successors,
the Parthians, set up Zoroastrian fire altars
throughout the empire, on which a flame burned
constantly as a symbol of purity.
Under the Sassanids (see facing page), from
the 3rd century ce, Zoroastrianism began to take
on the characteristics of a state religion, and
followers of other faiths, which had previously
largely been tolerated, suffered persecution.

A bas-relief sculpture of two fravashis. In

Zoroastrian belief, these winged guardian spirits
guide and protect people throughout their life.

Parthian Persia
n IRAN, IRAQ d 247 bce–224 ce

In the 3rd century bce, the Greek successors of Carrhae in 53 bce, crushed a Roman army,
Alexander the Great, the Seleucids (see p.98), starting a long period of tension with Rome,
controlled Persia, but their hold slipped, and in particularly over Armenia. Pretenders to the
247 bce, the Parthians began to throw off Greek Armenian throne often sought Roman support
rule. They took control of the silk routes from against the Parthians, and it was one such
China, and then under Mithridates I appeal that almost led to the Roman
(ruled 171–138 bce) pushed emperor Trajan’s conquest of
westward to annex most western Persia in 116–117 ce.
of the Seleucid lands in The Parthians survived only
Mesopotamia. Parthia, though, to succumb to an internal
was politically divided and its revolt in the southern
princes often established province of Pars in the
near-independent fiefs, 3rd century ce.
undermining further
attempts at expansion.
Made up of expert
A valiant Parthian king hunts
cavalrymen, the Parthian army a lion with bow and arrow on
was almost invincible and at this decorated silver bowl.
 PERSIA 87

Sassanid Persia
n IRAN, IRAQ d 224–651 ce

Parthian Persia (see facing page) collapsed Roman) Empire fought back, undoing all of
in 224 ce as a result of internal revolt. Persia’s Khusrau’s victories by 627 ce. The exhausted
resurgence came under the Sassanids, whose Sassanids then fell prey to Arab-Muslim armies
first king, Ardashir I, ruled from 224 to 241 ce. invading from the south and west. Defeated at
The Sassanid kings, ruling from a capital at Qadisiya in 637 ce and at Nehavand in 642 ce, the
Ctesiphon on the banks of the Tigris, established last Sassanid king, Yazdegird III (ruled 632–651 ce),
a more centralized state than the Parthians, and retreated eastward and died a fugitive at Merv
easily held their own against the Romans to their in Central Asia.
west. By 238 ce, they had taken the border cities
of Nisibis and Hatra, and under Shapur I (ruled SHAPUR THE GREAT
241–272 ce), dealt the Romans a double blow, first
Having fought for his father Ardashir against
defeating the emperor Gordian III in 244 ce, then the Parthians, Shapur I succeeded to the
Valerian in 260 ce. Shapur looked set to overrun Sassanid throne in 241 ce while in his mid-
the eastern Roman provinces, but the local Arab 20s. Almost immediately, he faced a Roman
invasion, but this collapsed, and the emperor,
ruler of Palmyra, in Syria, held him back.
Gordian, was murdered. This disaster forced
Over the next three centuries, the pendulum the remnants of the Roman army, now under A rock-cut relief
swung between Roman and Sassanid advantage Philip, to sue for peace. Shapur’s victory over at Naqsh-e Rustam,
in a region thickly defended by fortified frontier the Romans near Carrhae in 260 ce was even near Persepolis,
more spectacular. Shapur captured the emperor shows a mounted
cities. Then, in the early 7th century, Khusrau II Valerian, and later had his body flayed, stuffed,
Parviz (ruled 591–628 ce) finally broke the Shapur I lording it
and mounted as a grisly trophy. over the defeated
deadlock, taking Roman Syria, Palestine, and Roman emperors
Egypt by 619 ce. Yet the Byzantine (eastern Philip and Valerian.
 88 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Greece
From unpromising beginnings in a collection of small and quarrelsome
city-states, the Greeks entered an era of unparalleled creativity and
surprising military success, seeing off the might of the Persian Empire
and establishing colonies throughout the Mediterranean and Black
Sea. Under Alexander the Great, the Greeks held political sway over
most of the Near East, and even after Alexander’s death, their cultural
influence remained powerful there for centuries.

Archaic Greece
n GREECE d 700–500 bce

We know little about the era following the collapse autocrats from new families, such as the
of Greece’s Mycenaean civilization in 1070 bce Pisistratids at Athens. A basic form of democracy
(see p.71), because no written records survive. But emerged side-by-side with this in Athens (see
by around 750 bce, scattered clusters of villages p.90), beginning with the reforms of the great
throughout the Greek mainland, islands, and law-giver Solon in around 594 bce.
Ionia (Greek-settled Asia Minor) had grown into Despite continuing rivalry, some cultural factors
city-states, or poleis. Rivalry between the poleis united the poleis: belief in common deities and
was fierce, and fighting frequent; by 600 bce, participation in common cultural events, such as
Sparta, Thebes, Corinth, and Athens were the pan-Hellenic games at Olympia. Philosophers,
dominant. Governing systems varied from polis to mainly in Ionia, began to speculate on the nature
polis. At first, monarchy was most common, but in of the universe, while a rich legacy of poetry
the 7th century bce, some city-states overthrew includes probably the first written versions of
their kings and instituted “tyrannies”: rule by Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

Rows of marble
lions on the island of
Naxos were dedicated
to the god Apollo in
the 7th century bce.
 GREECE 89

The Greek–Persian wars

n GREECE, THE AEGEAN, W ASIA MINOR d 499–449 bce

In 499 bce, the Ionian cities of western Asia

Minor, with some assistance from Athens, staged
a revolt against Persia, which had conquered the
region in 546 bce. The Persians were victorious,
suppressing the rebels in 493 bce, after which the
Persian king Darius I (see p.84) resolved to teach
the Greeks a lesson. This was a mistake of epic
Leonidas, the
proportions. Having easily occupied the Greek Spartan king, led
islands and found ready collaborators among an army of only
certain of the northern Greek cities, Darius’s army 300 Spartans
landed near Marathon (a small town on the coast against Persian
forces at the battle
of Attica, northeast of Athens) in late summer of Thermopylae.
490 bce. There, a phalanx of Athenian citizen-
soldiers—with shields locked together to form
a united front—and their allies from the city of
Plataea kept the Persians in check, despite being
greatly outnumbered. Although Marathon was a
minor setback, the damage to Persian prestige
was profound and they withdrew.

The second Persian invasion

The Persians were not to give up and the fight
was renewed under Darius’s successor, Xerxes,
in 480 bce. A shaky coalition of Greek city-states
formed to combat the invasion, but despite heroic
resistance by the Spartan king Leonidas at
Thermopylae (in which all the Spartans perished),
the Persians soon won over the important
state of Thebes to their side and had Athens
at their mercy. The city was put to the torch, but
Themistocles, a politician, had by then persuaded
his fellow Athenians to finance a naval fleet.
This policy bore fruit in the naval defeat of
the Persians at Salamis, with Themistocles at the
helm, also in 480 bce. A further victory on land
at Plataea (in 479 bce) stiffened Greek resolve
and forced the retreat of the main Persian
force, and this signaled the end of
Persian ambition on the Greek
mainland. Although the war
continued on in Ionia and
the Aegean until 448 bce, the
Greeks, by defending their
independence, had in
effect already emerged
as the victors.
90 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Athens and democracy

n ATHENS d 594–338 bce

The oldest and most stable democracy in ancient Democracy and empire
Greece developed in Athens, invoking the right of As Athens’ power waxed, the attractions of holding
all citizens—a category excluding women, children, office grew. Ostracism—a vote by the ekklesia to
slaves, and foreigners—to participate in political exile over-mighty politicians—aimed to curb the
decision-making. abuse of power by a few. Athenian defeats in
At the start of the 6th century bce, the reforms the Peloponnesian War (see p.94) twice suspended
of the Athenian statesman Solon had diluted democracy, which, although later restored, became a
the aristocrats’ power in favor of the citizen shadow of its former glory by the time the Romans
assembly (ekklesia), but it was only under the took over Greece in the mid-2nd century bce.
magistrate Cleisthenes (c.570–c.507 bce) that
the Athenian constitution began to approach The Porch of the Caryatids,
its final form. He divided Athens into about 140 on the Acropolis of Athens,
voting districts (demes), which were grouped had to be rebuilt after
being burned down
together into 10 tribes. Each of these supplied by the Persians
50 members annually to a council of 500, and in 480 bce.
this group supplied the 50-member group of
council leaders (Prytaneis) to administer the
government’s daily affairs.

The assembly
The composition of the Prytaneis changed
regularly so that no one held power for too
long. The full ekklesia—with a quorum of
6,000 people—convened around 40 times
a year, meeting on the Pnyx, a hill near
the Acropolis, to vote on important
matters, including the election of the city’s
generals (strategoi). Pericles (495–429 bce),
the most brilliant orator in 5th-century bce
Athens, consolidated the power of the masses
by compensating the poor for the time they
spent attending the assembly.

A man who
takes no interest
in politics has
no business
here at all .
Pericles, 495–429 bce
 GREECE 91

Greek colonization
From the late 9th century bce, the Greeks dramatically expanded their
world by dispatching colonists from cities in Greece to all corners of
the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. This process continued for more
than three centuries. Exactly why colonization was so important is
unclear, but it may have been both a catalyst for trade and a pressure
valve for excess population or political difficulties in Greece itself.

The acquisition of lands A silver coin from Catana

Although the Greeks had set up (modern Catania), a Greek
foreign trading posts, such as at settlement in Sicily that was
colonized around 720 bce.
Al Mina in Syria, their new
colonies were fully fledged
citizen communities. Among the Iberian Peninsula—at
the earliest were those in Tartessus in modern Spain—
eastern Sicily, including in around 640 bce. In the east,
Syracuse, founded around colonies spread up the coast
733 bce. Shortly after this, of the Black Sea, from Byzantium
colonization began in southern to the Crimea, and to Trapezus
Italy, with cities such as Rhegium, (modern Trabzon) on the northern
Sybaris, and Croton springing up in a coastline of the Anatolian peninsula.
network so dense that the area came to be By the late 6th century bce, the Greek impetus The city of Ephesus,
known as Magna Graecia (“Greater Greece”). for colonization had faded, and as the system a Greek colony located
The movement spread far to the south and of city-states in Greece itself came under strain, on Turkey’s western
west, founding Cyrene in North Africa around future Greek expansion would come largely coastline, was
established in an
630 bce, and Massilia (modern Marseilles, in under the patronage of Alexander the Great’s 11th-century bce wave
France) around 600 bce. The Greeks first reached Macedonian empire and its successor states. of Greek expansion.
 The Parthenon, the great temple to
the goddess Athena, was built at Athens
in the mid-5th century bce. The project
was initiated by the city’s leading
statesman Pericles, and the work
was partly overseen by Phidias, one
of Classical Greece’s greatest artists.
It was completed around 432 bce.
 94 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The Peloponnesian War

n GREECE, W TURKEY, SICILY d 431–404 bce

The Peloponnesian War, a bitter 30-year struggle,

arose from the rivalry between the two most THUCYDIDES
prominent Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta. One of the first true historians, Thucydides
Unlike the democratic constitution of its rival (c.460–c.404 bce) wrote a History of the
(see p.90), Sparta was governed by kings and Peloponnesian War, recounting events he
had lived through. The speeches he put in
a small military elite, moderated by five annually the mouths of the protagonists are some
elected magistrates (or ephors). The mass of the of the masterpieces of Greek literature.
population were helots, effectively serfs, with no
political rights. In the mid-5th century bce, Athens
established an empire based on its maritime In 413 bce, the Spartans destroyed the Athenian
strength, bringing it into conflict with Sparta’s armada in Sicily, but still the war dragged on.
land-based power. Finally in 405 bce, at Aegospotami on the
Hellespont, the Spartans captured most of
The stages of war the Athenian fleet while it was beached on
A helmet typical of The initial pretext for war was the attempt in shore. Deprived of their naval support, the
the protective gear 432–431 bce by Potidaea, an Athenian client- Athenians could not resist a Spartan blockade,
of the hoplites, the
heavy infantry of city in northern Greece, to break away from the and in 404 bce, they surrendered, agreeing to
the Greek armies. Athenian empire. Sparta and its allies came to the destruction of their defensive walls. Athens
Potidaea’s aid, but the Athenians initially held the would never again be such a dominant force
upper hand. Sparta fought back, winning a great among the Greek city-states.
victory at Amphipolis in 422 bce, and both sides
agreed to observe a 50-year truce.
Hostilities broke out again in 415 bce, when The Athenians’ naval fleet included oared
warships known as triremes. These vessels
the Athenians, encouraged by the extremist were fast and maneuverable, and were able
anti-Spartan statesman Alcibiades, sent a great to ram enemy ships.
fleet to Sicily, intent on absorbing Syracuse
into their empire. The Spartans reacted
by supporting the Syracusans, and
Athens was sucked into a
debilitating and ultimately
unsuccessful siege of the city.
 GREECE 95

Classical Greek culture

The Classical Greek city-states
of the 6th to 4th centuries bce gave
birth to a civilization of extreme
creativity, remarkable both for its
uniformity of belief and culture,
and its diversity of political
systems. It has given us
philosophers, artists,
and playwrights
whose works we
still celebrate today.

Religion, art, and philosophy

The possession of a common religion was a
hallmark of “Greekness,” and temples, shrines,
and oracles to the principal gods—Zeus, their king;
Hera, his wife; Apollo, the sun god—sprang up
throughout Greece and the Greek colonies.
Cult centers such as Olympia and Delphi became
important pan-Greek gathering places and at
some, in particular at Olympia, the Greeks held
games in honor of the gods. The temples the
Greeks built to their gods
are among the most
The art of vase painting reached new
breathtaking relics heights during the Classical period of Greece,
of the Classical age, often depicting scenes from myth.
and include the great
marble temple of the the great cult statue of Athena for the Parthenon,
Parthenon built on are among the world’s earliest named artists.
the Athenian acropolis The Greeks excelled in the dramatic arts, too, with
between 447 and tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides,
432 bce. Sculptors and comedies by Aristophanes, being performed
such as Phidias (born at an annual religious festival, called the Dionysia
490 bce), who created in honor of the god Dionysus.
Of equally profound and lasting influence
was the work of Greek philosophers such as
Socrates (lived Socrates (c.469–399 bce), Plato (c.427–347 bce),
469–399 bce) and Aristotle (384–322 bce), the first to apply
revolutionized rigorous logic in an attempt to understand
Greek thought, but
his radicalism led the world, whose works were valued into the
to his execution. Middle Ages and beyond.
 96 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The conquests of Alexander the Great

n GREECE, THE NEAR EAST d 336–323 bce

In the 4th century bce, Greece saw a struggle Once his father was dead, Alexander moved with
for power between several city-states, with first brutal speed to put down rivals and, in 335 bce,
Sparta and then, from 371 bce, Thebes emerging suppress a Theban revolt.
as the victor. From the early 350s bce, the northern
Greek state of Macedonia began to expand under The invasion of Persia
an energetic and ruthless new king, Philip II. Now secure on the Macedonian throne, Alexander
In 338 bce, Philip, aided by his 18-year-old son embarked on an enterprise of staggering ambition:
Alexander, gained victory against the Thebans the invasion of the Achaemenid Persian empire.
and their allies at Chaeronea. The other Greeks In 334 bce, he led an army of some 50,000 across
A Roman-era then rapidly submitted to Macedonian overlordship. the Hellespont into Asia Minor—modern Turkey—
mosaic showing The young Alexander was not Philip’s only son, with the initial intention of liberating the Greek
Alexander riding his and his succession to the throne was by no means cities there from Persian control. Disputed
horse Bucephalus
into battle, possibly assured. Philip’s assassination in 336 bce has long successions and rebellions had weakened the
at Issus in 333 bce. been suspected to be at Alexander’s prompting. Achaemenid empire in the 4th century bce,
 GREECE 97
The Temple of
the Oracle, in the
Siwa Oasis, Egypt,
where Alexander
came to consult
the oracle of Zeus
Ammon in 332 bce.

but its ruler, Darius III, could still call upon Final campaigns and death
resources vastly superior to those of Alexander. Alexander spent 329 and 328 bce suppressing
Nonetheless, Alexander, with tactical and strategic revolts in the eastern provinces of Bactria
brilliance, and with more than an eye for his image and Sogdia, after which he pushed on into
as an all-powerful ruler, defeated a large Persian northwestern India, defeating the local ruler
force at Granicus in 334 bce, and then the next Porus at Hydaspes in 326 bce. Finally, even his
year bested Darius III himself at Issus in Syria. loyal Macedonians refused to go further. A long
Utilizing the professionalism and maneuverability and grueling return across desert terrain to
of his smaller forces against the vast, cumbersome reach central Persia, and the perceived influence
Persian armies, he seemed unbeatable. Pausing of native Persians in Alexander’s entourage,
to visit Egypt, he defeated Darius one final time fueled a series of mutinies.
at Gaugamela on the banks of the Tigris in 331 bce. Then, in 323 bce, aged only 32, the conqueror
The fugitive Persian king was murdered the of the known world died of a fever at Babylon.
following year and Alexander took on the trappings His embalmed body was sent to Egypt, and his
of an oriental potentate, adopting Persian court generals plotted to seize power for themselves,
dress and protocol and moving to secure all the since, as he was still relatively young at the time of
former provinces of the Achaemenid empire. his death, Alexander had not chosen a successor.

His friends asked: ‘To whom do you

leave the kingdom?’ And he replied
‘To the strongest’.
Diodorus Siculus on the death of
Alexander (Library of History, XVII, 117)
 98 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The successors of Alexander

n EGYPT, SYRIA, MACEDONIA d 323–31 bce

Alexander the Great’s death in 323 bce led to Decline and fall
a long struggle for control of his empire. This By 301 bce, three main successor states
began almost at once, for Alexander’s wife survived—the Antigonids based in Macedonia,
Roxana was pregnant, and the army split the Seleucids in Mesopotamia and Syria, and the
between those wanting to see if she bore Ptolemies in Egypt—together with a constellation
a son and those who supported the of smaller statelets that fed off
severely disabled half-brother of warfare between the big three.
Alexander, Philip Arrhidaeus. In the After Antigonus I of Macedonia
end, the child was born male and was defeated by the others
as Alexander IV he ruled jointly with at Issus in 301 bce and the
Arrhidaeus, who became Philip III. other weaker states had
However, this only masked been eliminated, the tensions
the deep divisions between the diminished and the three Greek
generals, who then proceeded kingdoms survived until they
to carve out their own territories: were successively swallowed
Ptolemy in Egypt; Antigonus in up by the Romans: Macedonia
Asia Minor; Lysimachus in Thrace; in 168 bce, a much-reduced
The Greek city Eumenes in Cappadocia; and Seleucid kingdom in 64 bce,
of Corinth in the Seleucus in Persia. A series of and finally, Egypt in 31 bce.
Peloponnese was wars between these Diadochoi
taken by the Romans (or “successors”) erupted, which The Ptolemaic Greeks adapted
in 146 bce, marking Egypt’s practice of mummification,
the end of mainland between 323 and 279 bce gradually creating mummy portraits of the
Greece’s independence. eliminated the weaker contenders. deceased in a western style.
 GREECE 99

Hellenistic Culture
Alexander’s conquests left a large part of western Asia and North
Africa in Greek hands. As part of his efforts to solidify his hold over
this enormous territory, Alexander himself encouraged the foundation
of Greek cities in the newly conquered lands, including most notably
Alexandria in Egypt. These became the focus for the diffusion of
Greek culture, known as Hellenism, throughout the East.

The Hellenistic city

Greek-speakers were a definite minority in
Alexander’s empire and the successor states,
but everywhere the cities bore the hallmarks
of the mother country. These included temples
built in the Greek fashion, a central marketplace
and meeting space (or agora), and the gymnasium,
which was not merely a place of exercise, but
acted as a center for Greek-style education where
young men could study classic authors and obtain
a sense of Greek culture.

Divergence and dissolution

Although united by the Greek language, the
Hellenistic cities and kingdoms did absorb eastern
influences, notably in Egypt where the Greek-
speaking kings ruled as pharaohs. Hellenistic art
styles also traveled far to the east, influencing
the Buddha figures of the Indian state of Gandhara
in the 2nd century bce. In science and literature,
the Hellenistic Greeks continued the Classical
tradition of creativity. The mathematicians Euclid
(c.300 bce) and Archimedes (287–212 bce), the
comic playwright Menander (342–293 bce), and
the historian Polybius (c.200–c.118 bce) are a
few of the influential figures whose work was
absorbed by the Romans during their conquests
of the Hellenistic lands, ensuring that Greece’s
cultural legacy lived on.

Antiochus I of Commagene (ruled 70–38 bce)

was ruler of a Hellenistic kingdom near Armenia
and had this spectacular funerary monument built
to himself in the Greek style.
100 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Rome
From inauspicious beginnings as a small hilltop settlement in
central Italy in the mid-8th century bce, Rome survived turbulent early
centuries to conquer the entire Italian peninsula—and then created an
empire encompassing the whole of the Mediterranean world, parts
of the Near East, and northwestern Europe. Rome’s military and
administrative strength allowed it to endure several crises until,
finally, waves of barbarian invaders brought about its fall.

Early Rome
n CENTRAL ITALY d 753–509 bce

According to tradition, Rome was founded on Rome under the monarchy

April 21, 753 bce, by Romulus, said to have been The first settlement, atop the Palatine Hill
the son of the god Mars. Like most of the traditions overlooking the Tiber River, was almost
associated with Rome’s earliest days, it is hard to indistinguishable from the area’s myriad
disentangle truth from myth. small 8th-century bce villages. Crucially, Rome
seems to have been more receptive to outside
influences than its rivals, and particularly to that
of the more developed Etruscan civilization
that flourished in central Italy.
Some of Rome’s early kings—there were
seven by tradition—may have been Etruscan.
The story goes that the second king, Numa
Pompilius, established many of Rome’s religious
traditions, while Ancus Marcius in the 7th century
bce expanded the territory of the fledgling city-
state through a series of localized struggles
against the neighboring Latin tribe.
From the reign of Tullus Hostilius (673–642 bce)
comes the first evidence of a Roman senate,
in the form of the Cura Hostilia building. The
accession of Tarquinius Priscus—probably an
Etruscan—in 616 bce brought a new dynamism
to Rome. However the next king, Tarquinius
Superbus, was a tyrant, and his unpopular
rule led to his deposition in 509 bce by a group
of aristocrats. From this point onward Rome
was a republic.

In this Renaissance mosaic, Romulus,

the legendary founder of Rome, and his twin
brother Remus suckle from the she-wolf
said to have raised them.
 ROME 101

The Roman Republic

n ITALIAN PENINSULA d 509 bce–c.250 bce

When Rome became a republic in 509 bce, tribunes (who later came to have a veto over laws
it retained some of the elements of the old passed in the Senate). The codification of Roman
monarchical system, including the Senate—an laws in the “Twelve Tables” in 450 bce eased
amorphous group of elders with decision-making other restrictions on the plebeians; and in
powers. Every year, a citizen assembly elected 366 bce the first plebeian consul was elected.
two consuls, whose dual authority was an attempt
to prevent despotism. The expansion of Rome
After a Roman victory against a league
The structure of society of Latin neighbors in 496 bce, a series of
The early Republic was dominated by the conflict “colonies” of Roman citizens set out from
between two groups of citizens, the patricians Rome, gradually forming a network of
(elite landowners) and the underclass of plebeians. Roman-controlled or -inclined cities throughout
The patricians monopolized political power, and central Italy. In 396 bce, the Romans captured
provided all the members for the Senate. Plebeian the leading Etruscan city of Veii, and by the early
resentment of this hierarchy led to a series of 3rd century bce had also defeated the Samnites
violent conflicts, which in 494 bce resulted in the to begin the extension of their power into
creation of a plebeian assembly with two elected south-central Italy.
The Temple of Castor and Pollux (center right), A statue of a lictor, who carried the fasces,
in the Forum at Rome, was where the patricians met the bundle of rods and axes that symbolized the
to discuss the government of the early Republic. power of the Republic’s magistrates.
 102 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The Punic Wars

n ITALY, SPAIN, N AFRICA d 264–148 bce

Rome expanded its influence through the Italian on for 23 years, involving land battles and sieges
peninsula during the first half of the 3rd century bce, that generally went the Romans’ way, and more
gradually creating conflict with other powers in decisive naval battles ending in a Roman victory
the Mediterranean. Most notable among these at the Aegates Islands in 241 bce. Carthage was
adversaries were the Carthaginians, who, from stripped of its territories in Sicily, but compensated
their capital in modern Tunisia, North Africa, by going on to form a new empire in Spain.
controlled an empire that included Sicily. A Second Punic War broke out in 218 bce, when
War broke out with Rome in 264 bce over a the Spanish city of Saguntum, fearing absorption
quarrel between Carthaginian-allied Syracuse by the Carthaginian general Hannibal, appealed to
and the Mamertines of Messana, also in Sicily, the Roman Senate for aid. The Romans demanded
who appealed to the Romans for help. The Hannibal’s surrender; the latter responded with
fighting—known as the First Punic War—dragged an invasion. Crossing the Alps—with an army that

A romanticized view
of the battle of Zama
in 202 bce, where
We have been defeated
Scipio finally defeated
Hannibal and destroyed
in a great battle.
his last army—20,000 MARCUS POMPONIUS ANNOUNCING THE DISASTROUS
Carthaginians died. ROMAN DEFEAT AT LAKE TRASIMENE, 217 bce
 ROME 103

included war elephants—in the winter of The end of the Punic Wars
218 bce, he soon defeated the Romans at In October 202 bce, the Carthaginians
Ticinus and Trebia, in the north of Italy. were defeated, stripped of their Spanish
territories, and reduced to a small territory
Hannibal’s Italian campaigns around Carthage. Yet Rome was not satisfied,
After this victory, many Cisalpine Gauls—Celts and in 149 bce used a pretext to begin a Third
settled around Milan—flocked to Hannibal’s Punic War. Carthage was besieged, and then
cause. A further Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene, stormed in 146 bce. The Romans razed the
in central Italy, in 217 bce led to the deaths of city, deported its people, and finally annexed
around 15,000 Romans. The next year the Romans its remaining territory.
suffered an even greater disaster farther south
at Cannae, where their general Varro rashly HANNIBAL
allowed his army to be outflanked and encircled
Born c.247 bce, Hannibal became Carthage’s
by the Carthaginian cavalry, and then massacred. leading general during the Second Punic War and A Carthaginian stela
Many cities then defected from the Roman commander-in-chief in 221 bce. His plan to lead an from the tophet, or
cause, but General Fabius Maximus kept Hannibal army across southern Gaul (modern France) into graveyard, at Carthage.
Italy was a bold one, and he showed tactical genius The horn-shaped
away from Rome and halted the momentum of symbol is for Tanit,
in a string of victories against Rome. Yet he lacked
his earlier victories. In 207 bce, Hasdrubal, the strategic vision and became bogged down once a moon goddess.
brother of Hannibal, was defeated and killed at Roman resistance stiffened. After the war, he was
Metaurus, northeast Italy, and five years later a chief magistrate of Carthage, but Roman fears of
a Carthaginian revival led to his exile in 195 bce.
Roman counter-strike by Scipio forced Hannibal He died in c.183 bce.
to return to Africa.
 104 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The end of the Republic

n ITALY, GAUL d 137–44 bce

During the 2nd century bce the political situation The first civil war
in Rome became increasingly tense. Then, in the Caesar pushed Pompey out of Italy and, in 48 bce,
80s bce, the city was hit by a political and military defeated him at Pharsalus in Thessaly. Pompey was
struggle for power between Marius, the reformer murdered in Egypt, but his partisans fought on until,
of the Roman army, and Sulla, a politician who, in 46 bce, Caesar triumphed, becoming Dictator
after Marius’s death, became Dictator, or sole (first for ten years, then for life). Fearing Caesar
ruler, in 82 bce. would make himself king, a group of republicans,
including Marcus Brutus, assassinated him.
Pompey and Caesar However, their murderous act failed to save
That year, Sulla killed more than 500 of the Republic from collapse.
his opponents and packed the Senate with his
supporters. After Sulla’s death in 78 bce, another JULIUS CAESAR
popular general, Pompey, rose to power. For
Born in 100 bce, Caesar became
15 years Pompey excelled at his political role, Roman consul in 59 bce. He
and bolstered his military reputation with several created a new province for
The assassination Rome in Gaul from 58 to
of Julius Caesar was victories in the East. Yet, in 60 bce, increasing
52 bce and this brought
carried out by only factional violence led him to broker a three-way
him great political power
a small group of alliance, called the “First Triumvirate,” with the rich and popularity—which
senators; most fled financier Crassus and a rising military star—Julius ultimately led to his
or waited to see what murder in 44 bce.
actions the assassins Caesar. This collapsed in 49 bce and led to civil
would take next. war between the factions of Caesar and Pompey.
 ROME 105

The first emperor: Augustus

n ITALY, THE MEDITERRANEAN d 44 bce–14 ce

After Julius Caesar died in 44 bce, his chief Military expansion

lieutenant Mark Antony, attempting to manipulate Augustus secured the empire’s borders along the
public opinion, allied himself with Octavian— Danube River and sent armies into Germany, which
Caesar’s 18-year-old adoptive son—in order to he was about to conquer when a disastrous defeat
exploit his family connections and gain political in 9 ce caused a retreat from the Elbe River back
support. Antony miscalculated, for Octavian, to the Rhine. His last years saw a defensive stance
although young, was even shrewder than Caesar. along existing frontiers.
He remained in alliance with Antony and Lepidus—
who played the role of financier in this “Second
Triumvirate”—for only as long as it took to defeat During Augustus’s reign
the armies that had been raised by Brutus and (27 bce–14 ce), the production
Cassius, Caesar’s murderers. of images of the emperor,
such as this statue from Turin,
In 32 bce, war broke out among the Second Italy, became a vital part of
Triumvirate. At Actium the following year, Antony imperial propaganda.
was defeated, and both he and his mistress, the
Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra, committed suicide.
Octavian did not seek immediate revenge against
Antony’s partisans. Nor did he have himself
made Dictator, as Caesar had done. Instead,
he manipulated Republican politics to acquire
supreme power without seeming to usurp the
Senate’s authority.

From general to emperor

In 27 bce, Octavian was granted a special form
of authority, known as proconsular imperium, for
10 years, which in effect allowed him to act as
he chose in all provinces where the army was
currently based. In the same year, he took the
title “Augustus.” In 23 bce, Augustus acquired
the permanent power of a tribune of the plebeians,
making him invulnerable to legal action. Although
he did not refer to himself as an emperor, this was
the position he now held.

Wars, both civil and

foreign, I undertook, both
on sea and on land!
Inscription of Augustus (the Res Gestae Divi
Augusti) from Ankara, Turkey, c.14 ce
 106 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The government and army

n ROMAN EMPIRE d 27 bce–c.200 ce

The empire over which Augustus assumed rule

in 27 bce was very different from the Rome of
the early republic. Now ruling over territories that
stretched from the Iberian peninsula in the west
to Syria and Armenia in the east—as well as large
parts of North Africa—the Roman government
faced far greater challenges than the old, informal
systems could manage.

Government and the provinces

At the center of Roman government, the role of the
emperor remained ambivalent. Certain emperors,
such as Claudius (ruled 41–54 ce), liked to flatter
the old senatorial class with the fantasy that the
emperor was just a superior sort of senator;
others, such as Nero (ruled 54–68 ce), tended to
much more direct, despotic, and capricious rule.
The early empire had little in the way of a public
service, and many important roles, such as
running the imperial treasury, were assumed by
freedmen (former slaves). Provincial governors,
The legions’ superior equipment and
The Roman road however, who administered Rome’s imperial training made them more than a match
network, much of it territories, were almost all senators. The Roman for non-Roman enemies.
paved, was vital for
the rapid transit of government raised its revenue mainly through
Roman armies. indirect taxes on sales or death duties. Some was spent on the upkeep or building of Roman roads,
which linked the main cities of the empire, but
as much as 80 percent was spent on the army.

The Roman legions

Augustus had inherited 80 legions, which he
cut to 28, each comprising around 5,000 men.
Supporting them, and directly answerable to
the emperor, were infantry and cavalry regiments
of noncitizens (called “auxiliaries”). The total
manpower may have been around 300,000.
The legions formed a formidable strike
force, almost irresistible in open combat. Their
engineering expertise meant they could also
conduct siege warfare expertly and take on
large-scale construction projects, such as
roads and fortifications. Over time the army
formed its own power base, through the imperial
guard (the Praetorians) based in Rome and
the legionary frontier garrisons, and became
as much a cause of internal instability as
a guardian against outside threat.
 ROME 107

The early empire

n ROMAN EMPIRE d 14–69 ce

Augustus died in 14 ce, having chosen Tiberius, The post-Tiberian emperors

the son of his wife Livia by her first marriage, Tiberius’s rule gave way to a new, young
as his heir. Tiberius was 55 when he came to emperor, Caligula (ruled 41–54 ce),
the throne, having proved himself a capable who the governing class welcomed
general and administrator, yet he was never with open arms. However, Caligula’s
truly popular and, in the middle period of his patent instability and dangerous
reign, became dominated by Sejanus, the temper led to his assassination
prefect of the Praetorian guard. In the last and replacement by a man the
seven years of his life, Tiberius shut himself Praetorians thought would be
away in his palace on the island of Capri, a pliant weakling: Claudius (ruled
leading to an atmosphere of 41–54 ce). Yet Claudius proved
frustration and stagnation shrewd; he sponsored large-scale
in Rome. public works that included a new port
at Ostia and, although not a military man, ordered A cameo showing
the conquest of Britain from 43 ce. Claudius Augustus’s wife Livia
was succeeded by the mercurial Nero (ruled and her son Tiberius,
54–68 ce), who, unsuited to power, became mired who became the
second emperor of the
in corruption. When an army revolt broke out in Julio-Claudian dynasty
Spain in 68 ce, civil war erupted, leading to (27 bce–68 ce).
four emperors in a single year, until finally
Vespasian (ruled 69–79 ce), a tough-minded
general, emerged triumphant.

The Colosseum, the empire’s largest

amphitheater—begun under Vespasian
and completed by his son Titus—housed
spectacular gladiatorial shows.
 108 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The empire at its height

n ROMAN EMPIRE d 69–180 ce

Vespasian’s accession in 69 ce inaugurated a

new dynasty, the Flavians, during which stability
at first seemed to return to the empire. Vespasian’s
economic reforms filled the treasury, and new
territory was occupied in northern Britain and
parts of Germany and Asia Minor. But Vespasian’s
son Titus, succeeding him in 79 ce, was to die after
just two years. Titus’s younger brother Domitian
(ruled 81–96 ce) made a promising start, but
degenerated into tyranny and was assassinated,
possibly on the orders of the Senate itself.

The “golden age”

The Senate then put forward one of their own as
emperor, a 70-year-old, much-respected senator
named Nerva. To ensure the succession, Nerva
A marble frieze, from Ephesus showing
adopted the talented governor of Upper Germany, emperors Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, and Lucius
Trajan, as his son, beginning a practice that Verus. Hadrian has a beard, a Greek fashion he
would see the next emperors, Hadrian, Antoninus made popular at Rome.
Pius, and Marcus Aurelius, all adopted by their
predecessor. This gave the empire a golden age— and much of Mesopotamia (now Iraq) from 115
a century of stability. to 117 ce. These victories brought massive booty
that helped fill the treasury. Yet the eastern
Hadrian’s Wall is a
monumental barrier Trajan and Hadrian territories were not secure, and when Trajan
stretching 80 Roman Nerva died after just two years, and Trajan soon died in 117 ce they were already in revolt.
miles (117 km) across began to enlarge the empire’s frontiers, seizing It was perhaps this that persuaded Trajan’s
northern Britain, built Dacia (modern Romania) in two wars between successor, Hadrian, to be more cautious. He
to defend the province
against barbarian 101 and 106 ce; the mercantile kingdom of started no new wars of expansion and built
incursions. Nabataea (largely in modern Jordan) in 106 ce; defensive works in Germany and Britain.
 ROME 109

Hadrian traveled widely, seeing more of his

domains than any emperor before him, and TRAJAN
established a permanent imperial council Trajan (ruled 98–117 ce) was from an Italian
that reduced the importance of the senate. family that had moved to Spain, making him the
first emperor with strong non-Italian roots. He
made his name while fighting under Domitian
The later Antonines along the Rhine in the 80s ce and as governor
Hadrian adopted the elderly Antoninus Pius of Upper Germany. Popular with the army,
(ruled 138–161 ce), intending the latter’s he was an obvious choice to succeed Nerva.
He showed astonishing energy in expanding
young protégé Marcus Aurelius to succeed the empire’s frontiers, an achievement he
him quickly. Yet Antoninus lived for another celebrated in Trajan’s Column, which was
23 years in a tranquil reign that saw few revolts. built beside the new Forum that Trajan
When Marcus Aurelius finally succeeded commissioned in central Rome.
in 161 ce, ruling jointly with Lucius Verus—
another of Hadrian’s circle—he faced a series
of crises. A plague between 168 and 169 ce
killed thousands, including Lucius Verus, and
the empire became entangled in the Marcomannic
Wars against barbarians on the Danube.
Before his death in 180 ce, Marcus had
chosen his own son Commodus to succeed
him, the first son ever born to a ruling emperor.
However, like Domitian’s, Commodus’s rule
was unstable and would spell the end of
Rome’s golden age.

He was the first to construct

a wall… which was to separate
barbarians and Romans.
The Historia Augusta on Hadrian’s building of the Wall
 110 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Crisis and reform

n ROMAN EMPIRE d 180–305 ce

The emperors of the late-1st and 2nd centuries bce and he conquered territories in Mesopotamia.
had handpicked their successors. Marcus Aurelius Yet his successor Caracalla (ruled 211–217 ce)
was the first emperor for a century to have an proved more capable of making enemies than
adult male son, Commodus—but he proved a ruling—he murdered his brother and co-emperor
lesson in the weakness of hereditary succession. Geta. Caracalla himself was murdered in 217 ce
Commodus was rash and fickle. His behavior near Carrhae (in modern Turkey) by an army
sparked a series of military revolts that led finally faction fearful that he would execute them.
to the triumph of Septimius Severus (ruled
193–211 ce), the governor of Upper Pannonia (in The beginning of the end
modern Hungary). A firm and active ruler, Severus For a while the empire teetered between
seemed set to restore confidence in the empire. hope and farce. Emperor Elagabalus (ruled
He divided large provinces into two, to avoid any 218–222 ce), who was a Syrian high priest of
one governor having too much military power, dubious morality and Septimius Severus’s
The detailed
carving on this
imperial Roman
marble sarcophagus
shows Roman
soldiers battling
the Goths during the
3rd century ce.
 ROME 111

great-nephew, scandalized and alienated from eastern and central Europe toward
Senatorial opinion. His cousin Severus Alexander, the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Aurelian
brought in to replace him, lost the support of the (ruled 270–275 ce) finally defeated
army and was murdered in Germany in 235 ce. Zenobia and brought Gaul back into
This ushered in a half-century of chaos, when the empire, but he had to abandon
emperors, brought to power and then murdered Dacia, and still barbarians such as
by their own soldiers, rarely lasted more than the Franks and Alamanns raided
a few years. Gaul, and the Goths pillaged across
For 20 years, Gaul broke away to be ruled by the Danube. It was all too much for
its own emperors. More dangerously, after the a single emperor to deal with.
Persians captured the emperor Valerian (ruled
253–260 ce) in 260 ce, the city of Palmyra in The tetrarchy
Syria established its own eastern empire under Nominated by the army as emperor in
Queen Zenobia and her son Vaballathus. To add 284 ce, Diocletian chose an old military
to the official empire’s woes, new groups of colleague, Maximian, to rule jointly with This Roman
barbarians, including the Goths, pressed down him. In 293 ce, he further subdivided coin from c.218 ce
bears a depiction
the imperial office by selecting two junior of the controversial
emperors (or “Caesars”) to reign with the emperor Elagabalus.
two senior ones (or “Augusti”).
Now that there were, in effect, four
emperors—in a system known as the
Tetrarchy—facing a challenge in one area
of the empire no longer meant abandoning
problems elsewhere. Diocletian also reformed
the army, recruiting smaller legions better
adapted to combat the barbarian incursions.
In an unprecedented act, in 305 ce Diocletian
abdicated voluntarily due to ill health, and
retired to his palace at Spalatum (modern-
day Split, Croatia).

This man…
overturned the
whole order of
things: For he
chose three other
men to share
the imperial
government
with him.
Lactantius, speaking of Diocletian,
De Mortibus Persecutorum
 112 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Constantine and the new Christian Empire

n ROMAN EMPIRE d 306–337 ce

When Emperor Diocletian retired in 305 ce, his also founded a new capital city at Constantinople
system of four rulers (the Tetrarchy; see p.111) (now Istanbul), modeled on Rome with its seven
fell apart. The new college of four emperors hills, from which to administer the eastern empire.
excluded Maxentius, the son of Diocletian’s
colleague Maximian, and Constantine, the son Constantine and Christianity
of a Caesar in the Tetrarchy. The result was Constantine is best known for his support of
chaos, and by 310 ce there were no fewer than Christians, following their persecution under
seven competing emperors. In the civil war that Diocletian. He decreed freedom of worship by
followed, Constantine won out, first defeating the Edict of Milan in 313 ce, sponsored the first
Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in large churches in Rome, and allowed bishops
312 ce, and then finally, in 324 ce, becoming to take an increasingly important role in politics.
the unchallenged sole emperor.
CONSTANTINE
Constantine (right)
gives the symbols of Constantine’s reforms Born in the 280s bce, Constantine took a
imperial rule—the Constantine divided the army between a mobile long road to Christianity. He claimed to have
Phrygian bonnet, field force (the comitatenses) and the frontier received a vision before the Battle of Milvian
canopy, and Lateran garrisons (the limitanei). The bureaucracy became Bridge in 312 bce, and after this he honored
Palace—to Pope the Christian god. He was finally baptized on
Sylvester I in this much more formal, hierarchical, and efficient, his deathbed in 337 ce.
12th-century fresco. headed by a praetorian prefect. The new emperor
 ROME 113

The fall of the Roman empire

n ROMAN EMPIRE d 337–476 ce

Following the end of the reign of Constantine The barbarians fought the Romans
(see facing page), the Roman Empire became with primitive weapons, such as this
francisca, a Frankish throwing ax.
overwhelmed, by an increasingly
complex and inflexible political and
bureaucratic system; by pressure the ineffective rules of Honorius
from barbarians along the frontier; (393–423 ce) and Valentinian III
and by a series of ineffective rulers in (424–455 ce) did nothing to stem the tide. A
the western empire. A division between series of short-lived western emperors became
eastern and western empires meant that the puppets of the conquering German chieftains.
after 395 ce, no one ruled both halves In 476 ce, the Germanic general Odovacar
A Roman legionary
together as sole emperor. No longer able demanded land in Italy for his soldiers. When fights a Germanic
to absorb the outsiders pressing against the boy-emperor Romulus Augustulus defiantly warrior. Almost
its frontiers, by the mid-4th century the refused, he was deposed. Odovacar did not invincible at its height,
the Roman army later
empire was on the defensive, and the bother to appoint a new emperor, ruling as suffered a decline
catastrophic destruction of the eastern a king himself, and as a result, the Roman in resources that
field army by the Goths at Adrianople in Empire in the west was at an end. left it vulnerable.
378 ce almost led to a total collapse.

The empire fragments

and falls
The barbarians moved from raids to
seizing land on which to settle, reducing the
number of citizens the empire’s central
authorities could tax and put to work. Much
of the eastern empire was shielded from this—
it was the western half that lost much of Spain
and Gaul to the Visigoths and the Franks in the
first part of the 5th century ce, and the grain-rich
provinces of North Africa to the Vandals between
429 and 439 ce. Britain broke away from the
empire in 410–411 ce, and Rome itself was
sacked—the first time it had fallen to a foreign
enemy in almost 800 years—by the Goths in
410 ce. The westward movement of the Huns
from the 430s meant that the empire was
facing challenges on too many fronts, and

The Imperial city… was

delivered to the licentious fury of
the tribes of Germany and Scythia.
Edward Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire, on the sack of Rome by the Goths, 410 ce
 114 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Celtic and Germanic Europe

Although it is through the Romans that we know much of the history
of the peoples who bordered their empire, many of these groups had
rich traditions of their own. The Celts thrived in central and western
Europe until the Romans conquered Gaul and Britain, while the
Germanic tribes migrated west and south, finally conquering much
of the western Roman empire in the 4th and 5th centuries ce.

The Celts
n CENTRAL AND W EUROPE d 500 bce–83 ce

Fierce warriors and skilled ironworkers with Beliefs and decline

a love of feasting, the Celts swept across large The Celts relied on oral transmission of culture
areas of Europe from around 500 bce, dominating through bards and poets; their religion, governed
much of the center and west of the continent by by the priestly class (the Druids), had a complex
200 bce. Although they were not one cohesive pantheon. Metalworking was a speciality and was
people, they displayed a uniform culture (known used to embellish objects from household utensils
in its later phase as the La Tène culture). to battle chariots.
It was typified by organization into tribes or From the 50s bce, the Romans pushed the
clans, village or nomadic life, and a strong warrior Celts to the margins of Europe: tribes in Gaul
tradition, with warfare common between tribes. were conquered by Julius Caesar, and the
Tribes or even individual families occupied hill British Celtic kingdoms were subdued between
forts—hilltops encircled by a ditch and bank— 43 and 83 ce. Only in Scotland and Ireland did
for protection. Celtic culture survive.
A detail from the
Gundestrup Cauldron,
a silver vessel dating
from around the 1st
century bce, perhaps
used in rituals.
 CELTIC AND GERMANIC EUROPE 115

Successor states to Rome

n W AND S EUROPE d 418–774 ce

As the power of Rome waned, barbarian Alaric, whose name means “king
groups began to put down permanent of all,” was the Goths’ greatest war
leader. He led his tribe in a sack
roots on former Roman territory of Rome in 410 ce.
and establish more settled forms of
government. The most successful The Goths, who had threatened
of the new states to emerge was the the Roman empire in the late 4th
kingdom of the Franks. and early 5th centuries ce, split into
At first a confederacy of Germanic two groups: Visigoths and Ostrogoths.
tribes in the area of modern Belgium and The former settled in southwest
Holland, the Franks were united under the France under Theoderic I, but in 507 ce
leadership of Clovis (ruled 481–511 ce), who were pushed out by the Franks, finally
conquered most of the old Roman provinces of settling in Spain. The Ostrogoths, having stayed in
Gaul. Clovis also converted to Catholicism, a sharp the Balkans, moved to Italy in 488 ce at the urging
The Battle of
divergence from the practice of many other of Zeno, the eastern Roman emperor, who wanted Tolbiac, recreated
Germanic kings, who had adopted a new form of revenge against Odovacar—the deposer of the last in this 19th-century
Christianity called Arianism (after the 4th century western emperor, in 476 ce. By 493 ce Zeno was painting, saw the
priest Arius), which was regarded as heretical king of Italy, beginning a dynasty that lasted until Frankish king Clovis
emerge victorious
by other Christians. Clovis’s descendants, the the eastern Romans completed their reconquest against a group named
Merovingians, ruled France until the 8th century ce. of Italy in 554 ce. the Alamanns.
116 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

People of the steppes

The steppes—grasslands that stretch from Eastern Europe to
China—have been home to nomadic and semi-nomadic groups for
millennia. The history of the steppe people has been influenced by
geography, while their migrations brought clashes with a range of
powers, from the Romans in the west to the Parthians, Sassanids,
and India’s Mauryan empire in the east.

The Scythians
n CENTRAL ASIA d 6TH CENTURY bce–2ND CENTURY ce

First mentioned in historical sources in the 6th well-developed culture. By the 2nd century ce, the
century bce, the Scythians seem to have migrated Scythians had been marginalized by Sarmatians—
from central Asia to southern Russia at about that Iranian-speaking newcomers—who were in
time. Their warriors fought with bows, arrows, and turn defeated by the Huns (see facing page)
axes, and most often on horseback. They sported in the 4th century ce.
felt caps, and, except for some members of The Scythians have left a large number
the aristocracy, wore little or no armor. of pyramid-shaped burial mounds,
known as kurgans, in the south
Culture and wealth Russian steppes, particularly at
The Scythians possessed Pazyryk. In these they buried
sizeable territories at different the mummified bodies of
periods, although tracing rulers, together with their
them is made difficult by the horses and lavish grave-
tendency of Greek and Latin offerings of gold.
authors to refer indiscriminately
to groups from the steppes
as “Scythians.” A gold comb from a grave
One group, the “Royal Scyths,” at Socha kurgan, depicting
controlled an area around southern Scythians in battle; the
mounted warrior bears
Russia, where stunning grave equipment far superior to
finds of gold artifacts point to a that of the soldiers on foot.

Having neither cities nor forts, and

carrying their dwellings with them…
[the Scythians are] all accustomed to
shoot from horseback.
Herodotus, Histories, c.430 bce
 PEOPLE OF THE STEPPES 117

The Huns
n S RUSSIA, CENTRAL EUROPE, THE BALKANS d 4TH AND 5TH CENTURIES ce

First mentioned in the 370s ce, the Huns, who father’s death the year after that, Attila’s sons
became the most feared and loathed of Rome’s failed to keep the empire together, and within
barbarian enemies, were most likely a composite 10 years the Huns had almost disappeared as
group whose numbers were swelled by those an organized group.
they defeated.
In 434 ce, the Hunnish king Rua died and his ATTILA
nephew Attila initiated an increasingly aggressive
Attila (ruled 434–
policy, ravaging much of the Balkans and sacking 453 ce) was known
a string of cities in 441–442 ce and again in 447 ce. as “The Scourge of
In 451 ce, the Huns turned west toward the rich God” because he
devastated swaths
lands of Gaul, but were defeated by a last-ditch
of Christian Roman
alliance of Romans under the general Aëtius and territory. A ruthless
his barbarian allies. warrior, he died
Undaunted, Attila moved into Italy the following as a result of
overindulgence at
year, but was deflected from an attack on Rome, his wedding feast.
possibly by an outbreak of plague. After their

The Kushans
n CENTRAL ASIA, N INDIA d 1ST CENTURY bce–c.350 ce

Possibly originating in a nomadic group known and Pataliputra. Under great pressure from the
Although influenced
to the Chinese as the Yuezhi, the Kushans (or Sassanid Persians (see p.87) from the 220s ce, by Zoroastrianism, the
Kusanas) dominated a region of northern India the Kushan empire fragmented and the rise of the Kushans converted to
around the Punjab from the early 1st century ce. Guptas to their south in the 320s ce finally put an Buddhism and built
The Kushan empire reached its zenith under end to their rule. Kushan art, influenced by Greece temples such as this
4th-century ce example
Kanishka (c.78–100 ce), who ruled virtually all of and Buddhism (to which they converted), is most at Takht-i-Rustam,
northern India, including the great cities of Ujjain notable for its elegant statues. Afghanistan.
118 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

India
From the 4th century bce, northern and central India came to be
dominated by a series of empires, beginning with the Mauryan,
which reached its greatest cultural flowering under the rule of
Ashoka, a great promoter of Buddhism. After an interlude of Kushan
rule, the Guptas then emerged to dominate India for 150 years, before
attacks by the barbarian White Huns led to the region reverting to a
collection of smaller kingdoms.

Chandragupta and the rise of the Mauryans

n N AND CENTRAL INDIA d c.321–185 bce

Around 321 bce, Chandragupta Maurya (ruled successor Ashoka (ruled c.268–232 bce)
c.321–298 bce) toppled the Nanda dynasty of conquered Kalinga (in modern Orissa) in
Magadha, the most prosperous state in north 261–260 bce. On Ashoka’s death, the empire
India, to found the Mauryan empire. broke into western and eastern parts and, despite
a brief reunification around 223 bce, was gradually
Mauryan rule reduced to its heartland in Magadha. The
By 303 bce, Chandragupta had defeated the assassination of the last emperor, Brihadratha,
Seleucids, rulers of Persia, and had secured in 185 bce brought the Mauryan era to an end.
areas around modern Herat and in Baluchistan.
He presided over a thriving agricultural state
backed by a powerful army. His son Bindusara The cave complex at Ajanta in Maharashtra
contains paintings that span the period of time
(ruled c.298–272 bce) may have extended the from the 2nd century bce to the Guptas in the
Mauryan empire into south India, and his 6th century ce.
 INDIA 119

Ashoka and Buddhism

n INDIA d 268–232 bce

After a particularly bloody battle at Dayala in

the state of Kalinga, where the rivers ran red
with the blood of the slain, the Mauryan ruler
Ashoka (see facing page) is said to have been
stricken with remorse and converted to
Buddhism. In 259 bce, he toured his domains,
spreading the Buddhist message of dhamma,
or moral principles, and ordered the construction
of stone pillars bearing edicts that promoted the
Buddhist creed. He also sent missionaries abroad.
Although Ashoka’s reign was a period of peace and
prosperity, subsequent Mauryan rulers were more
concerned with war than with religion.

A metal relief of a symbol—a group of

four lions—that Ashoka chose to top many
of the inscribed pillars he erected during
the tour of his empire.

Gupta India
n INDIA d c.320–c.570 ce

After the Mauryans (see facing page), the

Sungas briefly ruled central India until 73 bce.
Thereafter, save for a century of Kushan
dominance in the late 1st and early 2nd
centuries ce, no one group dominated as large
an area as the Mauryans, until Chandragupta I
(ruled c.320–330 ce) captured the old imperial
capital of Pataliputra, resulting in the
emergence of the Gupta empire around 320 ce.
Under Chandragupta II (ruled c.376–415 ce), the
empire reached its greatest extent, defeating
the Saka satraps (governors) who had ruled
western India, and expanding eastward
into Bengal. Under Kumara Gupta (ruled
c.415–455 ce), incursions by the Hephtalites
(or “White Huns”) undermined the empire.
By the mid-6th century ce, it was reduced
Carvings from the temple complex at Udayagiri
to a small area around Magadha and then, in Orissa, India. Possibly begun in the 2nd century ce,
around 570 ce, it disappeared entirely. the temples were in use into the Gupta period.
 This 18th-century Indian miniature
painting shows a conversation on the
theme of righteousness between the god
Krishna and Arjuna (in the central
chariot), which forms the core of the
Hindu devotional poem the Bhagavad Gita.
122 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

World religions
From the first millennium bce, religions spread across huge areas.
Hinduism and Buddhism made their way across Southeast Asia, while
the Middle East saw the expanding influence of Judaism, followed by
Christianity and Islam. By the 7th century ce, Hinduism and Buddhism
were in retreat, and Christianity and Islam had taken root throughout
the Roman and Sassanid Persian empires.

Hinduism as far as Java (where they gave rise

By the 6th century bce, the ancient religion to the lavish temple complex at
of India focused on three main gods: Prambanan in the 9th century ce),
Brahma the creator; Vishnu the Bali (where they survive still),
preserver; and Shiva the destroyer. Angkor in Cambodia, and Champa
Around 500 bce, the main form in modern Vietnam.
of worship was Brahmanism,
and about this time great epics such Reverence for Shiva the
destroyer became one of the
as the Mahabharata and Ramayana principal expressions of Hinduism,
were composed. Hindu beliefs spread especially in southern Asia.
 INDIA 123

Buddhism became a distinct faith focused

A royal prince born in northeast India around on the belief that Jesus Christ, the
563 bce, Siddhartha Gautama turned his back Son of God, died to atone for human
on his wealth to develop Buddhism. Promoting an sin. It endured waves of repression,
ascetic way of life and a set of moral values rather notably under the Roman emperors
than belief in a god, Gautama (the Buddha) taught Domitian in the late 1st century ce and
that the only way to escape samsara, the cycle of Diocletian in the early 4th century ce.
death and rebirth, was to achieve moral perfection. Yet once Emperor Constantine (ruled
Initially finding great success under the Mauryan 306–337 ce) decreed its toleration in
ruler Ashoka in the 2nd century bce, Buddhism 313 ce, it became the empire’s official
became almost extinct in India, but spread into religion and spread throughout the
China and Japan, becoming established there Roman world, reaching Germany,
from the 7th century ce. Russia, and Scandinavia by the
10th century.
Monotheistic faiths The last principal monotheistic
Judaism, the first monotheistic religion to religion to emerge was Islam in
spread widely, evolved from an older, ritualistic Arabia in the 7th century ce, spread
form attributed to Moses. By the time of the by the prophet Muhammad. His
Roman empire, Jewish communities had become supporters proclaimed that he had
dispersed throughout the Mediterranean. Despite received a divine revelation, encapsulated This 4th-century
severe persecution, Judaism has never lost its in the Qur’an. Arab armies inspired by Islam Christian artifact is
a bronze lamp in the
status as a world religion. Christianity began as an swept through the Near East and North Africa, form of a boat carrying
offshoot of Judaism in the 1st century ce, but then reaching Spain by 711 ce. St. Peter and St. Paul.

The stupas and

Buddha images
constructed around
800 ce at Borobodur
in Java are among
the world’s most
expressive images
of Buddhism.
124 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

China
By the 5th century bce, China had disintegrated into a number of
competing kingdoms known as the Warring States. The state of Qin
conquered these one by one, and had defeated them all by 221 bce
under Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of a united China. He brought
a period of stability and prosperity to China, but the Qin dynasty did
not survive for long. Around 200 bce the Han seized power, and would
rule China for some four centuries.

The warring states

n CHINA d 475–221 bce

The Zhou dynasty that followed the Shang

(see p.77) was the last of the pre-imperial
dynasties. The Zhou lasted longer than any
other dynasty in Chinese history, but from
around 722 bce, it disintegrated into a number
of independent states. From 475 bce, China
entered the Warring States period, when
a series of conflicts between the minor
territorial overlords led to a process of
gradual consolidation. By the 3rd century
bce, there were just seven competing
states, the most powerful of which was
the state of Qin.
In 356 bce, the chief minister of Qin, Shang
Yang, established a new political philosophy—
known as Legalism—based on rule of law, with
a new legal code that diluted the power of the
nobles and increased that of the ruler. The whole
power of the state was directed toward warfare,
with all adult males registered for military service.
By about 230 bce, Qin was ready to begin the
conquest of its remaining rivals.

A bronze lei, or wine vessel, from the

Warring States period. Despite the political
chaos that characterized this time, it also
saw cultural achievements.
 CHINA 125

The First Emperor

n CHINA d 246–206 bce

In 246 bce, Qin Shi Huang ascended to the China’s frontiers: his general Meng Tian
throne of Qin. An energetic and ruthless ruler, constructed a defensive wall in the Ordos region
from 230 bce he set about the absorption of of Inner Mongolia (the forerunner of the Great
all the other Chinese states, completing the Wall of China); and he also had the Straight Road
process with the conquest of Qi in 221 bce. built, which ran 500 miles (800 km) from the
Having secured his position as the “First capital Xianyang to the Ordos region, to allow
Emperor,” Qin Shi Huang began a series of for the rapid transport of troops. He also sent
reforms to consolidate his rule. troops to conquer new lands in Guangdong.

The First Emperor’s reforms The end of Qin

Under the guidance of his chief minister Li Si, Eventually, Qin Shi Huang’s energies waned
Qin Shi Huang put into place Legalist reforms, and he became obsessed with securing his own
abolishing feudal fiefs and decreeing the adoption immortality. By the time the First Emperor died in
of a standardized written script and the 210 bce, China was afflicted by popular uprisings
establishment of official measurements for and factional plotting at court. Although Qin Shi
weights and lengths. In 213–212 bce he ordered Huang had claimed his dynasty would last for
the burning of books that criticized his policies, endless generations, by 206 bce Xianyang had
and conducted a purge of scholars, executing been burned and Ziying, the last Qin emperor,
some 450 of them. Qin Shi Huang reinforced had been deposed.
Near the burial
chamber of Qin Shi
Huang’s mausoleum
stood an army of
terracotta warriors,
intended to defend the
First Emperor in death.
126 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Han China
n CHINA d 206 bce–220 ce

The fall of Qin was accompanied by a complex organization of commanderies (military districts)
civil war from which Liu Bang, who had captured intended to avoid any return to the chaos of the
the Qin capital of Xianyang in 206 bce, finally Warring States. Gaozu did, however, tolerate
emerged victorious after a decisive battle four the existence of ten semi-independent kingdoms
years later at Gaixia (in modern Anhui province). to the north and east. Han China retained a strong
He assumed the imperial title of Gaozu and began bureaucracy, with a formal hierarchy established
the Han dynasty, which went on to rule China for by the end of Gaozu’s reign, in a decree of 196 bce.
some 400 years.
The height of the Han
The rule of Gaozu Under Wudi (ruled 141–87 bce), the Han reached
Gaozu established a new capital at Chang’an, the height of their dominance. Wudi cut down the
simplified court ritual, and, as a counterpoint to remaining powers of the aristocrats, relying on a
the old regime’s political philosophy of Legalism hand-picked civil service; in 124 bce an academy
(see p.124), encouraged the rise of Confucianism, was inaugurated for future officeholders. In
with the emperor becoming the center of a state 115 bce he also established state granaries
cult. He also strengthened central rule with the to keep prices under government control.
Wudi expanded the borders of the Chinese
A later Han glazed ceramic model of a empire, fighting a long series of wars against the
watchtower, displaying precise architectural
detail. Such pieces were often intended for nomadic Xiongnu in the north from 114 to 91 bce,
the tombs of important personages. but achieving greatest success in the northeast,
 CHINA 127

where he established four commanderies in Korea

after 128 bce, and in the south, where he occupied LIU BANG
parts of Guangdong, Guangzi, and north Vietnam Born into poverty, Liu Bang
from 111 bce. Yet the latter part of the emperor’s was initially a supporter
reign was marred by his increased introspection of Xian Yu, an aristocrat
opposed to Qin rule. Yet
and his search for immortality. His successors he managed to build his
were generally feeble and the court became own army and capture
dominated by eunuchs. The economy was the Qin capital Xianyang
in 206 bce. He never
undermined by financial mismanagement and learned to read,
the state weakened by widespread tax evasion. and distrusted court
protocol, making him
Wang Mang and the later Han popular outside
court circles.
In 9 ce, Wang Mang, the regent for a succession
of child emperors, usurped the Han throne. He
ordered large private estates to be broken up
and began a program of reforms, including Wang Mang. The Han never regained its former
restrictions on slavery. But a catastrophic famine power. A revolt by the Yellow Turban religious
China’s first
that had begun when the Yellow River changed sect from 184 to 186 ce, and the brutal massacre emperor had sought to
its course in 11 ce led to widespread peasant of hundreds of court officials by a ruling eunuch protect a unified China
uprisings, and in 25 ce the Han were restored clique in 189 ce, fueled the chaos. In 196 ce, the within a protective wall,
under Guang Wudi. A new capital was set up at general Cao Cao assumed power, ruling through but internal conflicts
became a greater
Luoyang, but it took 11 years to put down a series a Han puppet, but after his death in 220 ce even threat in the centuries
of pretenders who claimed the right to succeed this pretense was dropped and the dynasty ended. to follow.
 128 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

The Americas
During the “Classic” period, from around 200 bce, several cultures
flourished in Central America. The Olmecs were superseded by a
number of new groups, including the inhabitants of Teotihuacán,
the Zapotecs of the Mexican Gulf coast, and, especially, the Maya
civilization, which spread throughout southern Mexico, the Yucatán,
and Guatemala. In South America, regional cultures, including Moche,
Nazca, and Paracas, succeeded the Chavín of Peru.

Teotihuacán
n CENTRAL MEXICO d 2ND TO 7TH CENTURY ce

The greatest Classic period Mexican city was control of the resources of the fertile Valley of
Teotihuacán. From the 2nd century ce, this Mexico and domination of trade routes as far as
enormous urban area was laid out on a grid the Gulf and Pacific coasts of Mexico. Teotihuacán
pattern, its major axis (the “Avenue of the Dead”) ware has been found as far afield as the Maya city
running 3½ miles (6 km) roughly north–south. of Kaminaljuyu in Guatemala.
At the center of the axis was a large palace
complex, and at its northernmost reach the The end of Teotihuacán
great Pyramid of the Moon. At its southern end At some time during the 7th century ce,
was the Pyramid of the Sun, built with some Teotihuacán’s palaces were burned and its
42 million cubic feet (1.2 million cubic meters) temples defaced. What crisis precipitated
of sun-dried bricks and stone. the vandalism is unknown. The abandoned
By the 4th century ce, Teotihuacán’s population city was thereafter treated by successive
was as high as 200,000, and its influence spread Mexican cultures, including the Aztecs, with
throughout Mexico. Its wealth derived from its almost reverential awe.
A series
of spectacular
murals was found at
Teotihuacán. This one
shows a priest linked
to the cult of a rain
god or storm deity.
 THE AMERICAS 129

The Zapotecs
n VALLEY OF OAXACA, MEXICO d c.500 bce–c.900 ce

Around 500 bce, a powerful new regional culture, The Classic period and decline
the Zapotecs, arose in the Valley of Oaxaca near By its Classic period, from 200 ce, Monte Albán
Mexico’s Gulf coast, based around the city of had a population of about 25,000, with a series
Monte Albán. Built on a leveled hilltop site, the of satellite settlements on the lower ground
city flourished for more than 1,000 years. surrounding the city. Around 170
One of the city’s most evocative subterranean tombs of nobles have
monuments is the Temple of the been found from this period.
Danzantes, containing hundreds Between 150 bce and 150 ce,
of carvings of men in distorted the city grew further with the
postures, their disarticulated building of a grand main plaza.
limbs and closed eyes probably A series of inscriptions here
indicating that they represent that feature upside-down
not dancers (“Danzantes”) as disembodied heads are likely
was once thought, but the chiefs to refer to expansion by
of rival cities killed by Monte conquest. But by 900 ce, the
Albán’s rulers. Carved glyphs urban center of Monte Albán
Most early
on the Danzantes stones reveal that was mostly deserted. No one knows Mesoamerican
the Zapotecs used a sophisticated why the site was abandoned, but cultures played a very
calendar and writing system. it was to remain empty until similar, ritualized “ball
partial reuse by the Mixtec game” on spectacular
A Zapotec deity is depicted on sloping or terraced
an urn dating from Monte Albán’s culture in the 12th and courts; this is the court
Classic period, around 200 to 350 ce. 13th centuries ce. at Monte Albán.
 130 THE CLASSICAL WORLD 700 bce –600 ce

Classic Maya culture

n CENTRAL AMERICA d c.300–c.900 ce

At its height (some 600 years referred to as extreme reports of human sacrifice seem to be
the “Classic” period) the Maya culture flourished unfounded. The Maya developed a sophisticated
over a wide swath of Central America, especially writing system using some 800 characters, or
the Yucatán peninsula and Guatemala’s jungle-clad glyphs. They also had a complex calendrical
lowlands. At its heart stood a number of important system, featuring a 260-day sacred year and
cities. Originally ritual centers, many grew into a 365-day solar year.
populous city-states. The Maya built huge, often
pyramidal stone temples, such as those at Tikal Maya history
in Guatemala, and showed a great talent for carved Before Maya glyphs were deciphered in the
stone and stucco (plaster) reliefs, with some 20th century, little was known of the history of
especially fine examples at Palenque in Mexico. the various city-states, such as Tikal and Palenque.
But the glyphs have revealed an area riven by
Maya culture constant war, with unstable dynasties making
Maya cities featured palaces, open plazas, rapid conquests and then vanishing into obscurity.
One of the pyramidal
Maya temples at and terraces, as well as courts where the Maya The city of Yaxchilán, for example, produced one
Palenque in Mexico, people played their sacred ball game. Religious of the greatest Classic-period kings, Bird Jaguar IV
a city whose power ritual played a major part in Maya life. (ruled 752–768 ce), who conquered a number
reached its zenith The Maya practiced a form of “auto-sacrifice,” of neighboring lords and erected many new
under the rule of
K’inich Janaab’ Pakal in which they pierced their own body parts to buildings, but within a generation of his death
from 615 to 683 ce. release blood as an offering to the gods, but more the city had stagnated.
 THE AMERICAS 131

Early South America

n PERU d c.500 bce–c.600 ce

Perhaps the most

famous of the Nazca
Desert images (or
geogylphs), the
spiral-tailed monkey
is reminiscent of the
spider monkeys found
in Peru’s jungles.

From around 500 bce, a number of regional created a range of animal pictures and abstract
cultures began to supplant Peru’s Chavín culture representations by clearing stones from the desert
(see p.78). The Paracas people, who flourished surface and exposing the subsoil to create lines.
in southern coastal Peru between 500 bce The patterns, some of them many miles long,
and 200 ce, adopted many elements of Chavín can be fully seen only from the air. Spectacular
iconography, including the feline representations examples include a depiction of a hummingbird
that appear on their pots. The dry climate, which sucking nectar, a plant, and a monkey with a coiled
allowed bodies to be mummified, also preserved tail. Their precise purpose is unknown.
beautiful textiles, lavishly decorated with mythical
creatures and more earthly animals. The largest The Moche
cache of mummies, around 430, was found at In Peru’s northern valleys, the Moche came to
Wari Kayan on the Paracas peninsula, all wrapped dominate from around 100 ce. Talented craftsmen,
in textiles and accompanied by grave goods such they constructed large pyramids, known as huacas,
as gold ornaments. and are particularly noted for their fine textiles,
metalwork, and pottery. From great centers such
The Nazca as Huaca del Sol, with its flat-topped pyramids,
The Nazca culture flourished in the south of Peru the Moche rulers held sway over a predominantly
from around 200 bce to 500 ce. While largely a agricultural society. Then, from around 300 ce,
village-dwelling people, the Nazca did construct larger urban centers arose, the Moche expanded
some imposing architectural complexes, such into southern regions, and indications of large-
as the monumental religious center at Cahuachi, scale warfare appear (often depicted on the
which dates from around 100 ce. Although their pottery). In the late 6th century ce, environmental Typical Moche cups,
textiles, metalwork, and pottery are of high disasters such as drought and flooding seem this one in the form
of a fox-headed human,
quality, they are better known for the vast to have undermined the Moche’s stability, and feature a “stirrup”
drawings that they made in the desert. They their culture collapsed. handle/spout.
The Medieval
World
 134 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD

The world in 600–1450

Following the collapse of the western Roman Empire in the
5th century ce, civilization in Europe fell behind the rest of
the world for almost a thousand years. In this period China proved
to be politically strong and technologically innovative under the
Tang and Song dynasties, while much of the Middle East and

G r e e n l a n d

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hunt to Norway E D RUSSIAN
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gat
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he DENMARK
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s London
a n d g a t h e r t e rs
e rs

Kiev
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NORTHWEST BOHEMIA-
Plains hun

Great
ins

COAST MORAVIA
ANGEVIN Paris
nt

CULTURES Lakes EMPIRE HUNGARY

ain

la

Venice Constantinople

CA
Great P

Cahokia

ST
PORTUGAL IL
s

E BYZANTINE RUM
Lisbon
PACIFIC MISSISSIPPIAN HA
EMPIRE
Damascus
PUEBLOS
CULTURES ATLANTIC FSI
DS Jerusalem
OCEAN MARINIDS
s MA Cairo
MAYA CITY-STATES OCEAN er ber ML
B S UKS
Tula AND CONFEDERACIES a h a r a
The world in 1300 Tenochtitlán Mayapán C SMALL
Timbuktu
Chichen KANEM
STATES
CITY-
ar

International border Itza West I n dies MALI ALWA

ib

STATES
G ur HAUSA ETHIOPIA
Undefined border Ma
ANDEAN
bar
um Kwa STATES
Byzantine Empire
CHIEFDOMS a
England and possessions
Amazon
Basin
a
B
Aragon and possessions CHIMÚ
Machu n t
a

Venetian Republic and possessions Picchu u s

mb

CUZCO
na

Denmark and possessions MOJOS GREAT

Cuzco
A n

ZIMBABWE
pi

France Tiahuanaco
Kalahari
Tu
d e s

Castile Desert Great

Zimbabwe
Portugal Kh oisan
í
nians

an

p eoples
ar

Mongol Empire on death of

Gu

Genghis Khan 1227

Arauca

controlled by
Khwarizm Shah 1219
ia

Holy Roman Empire

gon

NOTE: Settlements in italics were

Pata

not in existence in 1300 but were

significant during this chapter’s era.
 THE WORLD IN 600–1450 135

North Africa was united under an Arab Empire inspired by the new
religion of Islam. The Americas, India, and Southeast Asia were also
dominated by distinctive cultures. However, from the late medieval
period movements began to emerge in Europe that would ultimately
lead to European domination of the globe.

The medieval
world in 1300
By 1300, large parts of Eurasia
were dominated by the Mongols.
Areas of northern India, North
Paleo Africa, and the Middle East were
sibe
S a m ria
o y ns controlled by various Muslim rulers,
e d
Ugrians s T
such as the Mamluks in Egypt. In
u n Mexico, the empire of the Aztecs
a g u
S i b e r i s was just beginning to expand, while
K HA NAT E O F the Incas had only just settled
T H E G O LD E N H O RDE
Karakorum around Cuzco in Peru.
i
G o b
Ca

u
sp

CHAGATAI
Samarkand
Ain

EMPIRE Beijing
ia

KHANATE
nS

OF THE KORYO
ea

GREAT KHAN Kyoto JAPAN

Baghdad im Kaifeng
H

Luoyang Nara
IL-KHANATE Delhi a l a
ya s Hangzhou
SULTANATE
Medina O OF DELHI SWEDEN NI
C
M SCOTLAND TO R
PAGAN PACIFIC

IES
AN Copenhagen U DE
Mecca R

TE

IT
YADAVAS EASTERN ANNAM DENMARK

AL
GANGAS IRELAND LITHUANIA
OCEAN
ENGLAND
Angkor

IP
CHAMPA Phi li ppi ne Cologne C
RASULIDS London POLISH IN
S

PEGU Prague PR Kiev

Island s
DYA

STATES
KHMER Worms IAN
SUKHOTHAI Paris RUSS
s ANGEVIN
ite
PAN

Orleans BOHEMIA-
Kush
EMPIRE
ys

LAVO MORAVIA to Genoa

FRANCE
Venice HUNGARY
Genoa
la

NAVARRE
Borneo Toulouse PAPAL A
MALAY ARI Black Sea
SERBIA BULG Constantinople
a

CA
STATES M Pa p ST Barcelona STATES
u Rome
I n d i e s New a n s
I BYZANTINE
Ea st PORTUGAL LE ARAGON Sardinia Naples
SWAH I LI EMPIRE
Java Lisbon Toledo Sicily SELJUK RUM
CITY-STATES Guinea Seville Córdova
MAJORCA ACHAEA STATES
I N D I A N MAJAPAHIT GRANADA HAFSIDS VENETIAN Damascus
(NASRIDS) REPUBLIC ATHENS
ZAYYANIDS
ys

O C E A N Jerusalem
Mala

MARINIDS Cairo

Madagascar A u s t ra l i a n
A b ori g i n e s The feudal monarchies of England and
France had consolidated into large regional
states by 1300, but conflict between popes
and emperors prevented this process in the
New Zealand rest of Europe. In Spain, the Christian states
ris

of Castile and Aragon had reconquered

ao
M

much of the peninsula from Muslim emirates,

leaving only Granada outside their control.
136 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

East and Southeast Asia

The early Middle Ages saw the rise of sophisticated new cultures
and centralized states in East and Southeast Asia: Japan, Korea,
Angkor (Cambodia), Pagan (Burma), and Dai-Viet (Vietnam) all
flourished under new kingdoms. China, after a period of disunity,
reunited under the Tang dynasty in 618 (and their Song successors
from 960), and reached astounding technological and artistic heights.

China disunited
n CHINA d 221–618 ce

In 221 ce, the Han dynasty that had ruled China

for 400 years (see pp.126–7) collapsed amid a
welter of uprisings. China split into the Three
Kingdoms: the Wei in the north, the Shu in the
southwest, and the Wu in the southeast. Their
rivalry is recounted in the great 14th-century
Chinese novel The Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
but in truth there was little romance about it, and
the struggle left China debilitated by warfare.

The rise of the Sui

The Wei conquered the Shu in 264 ce and, under
a dynasty called the Western Jin, overcame the
Wu in 280 ce, but the period of unity was brief.
Under pressure from northern nomadic groups
called the Xiongnu and Xiangbei, the Western
Jin buckled, their capital Luoyang was sacked,
and China fell apart, with the Sixteen Kingdoms
ruling the north, and the Six Dynasties holding
sway over the south. Finally, the north of China
was united in 577 ce, and in 588 ce Yangdi—first
emperor of the Sui dynasty—launched an invasion
of south China. Only a matter of months later,
the last Southern Jin emperor surrendered
his capital at Jiankang (modern Nanjing), and
China’s three centuries of disunity was over.

A guardian deity at the Jinci temple,

Shanxi province. The temple was restored
and enlarged during Wei rule.
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 137

Tang China
n CHINA d 618–907

In 617, Li Yuan, a frontier general, rose up against Asia, while painting and literature
the Sui dynasty (see facing page), which was reached greater heights of sophistication.
exhausted following an ill-fated invasion of Korea. Late in the reign of Xuanzong (712–756),
Capturing the Sui capital Chang’an late that year, however, aristocratic factionalism led to
by 624 Li Yuan had secured all of China and ruled as a large-scale rebellion led by An Lushan
Gaozu, the first emperor of the Tang. The dynasty in 755. Although this was finally put down in
is associated with prosperity, especially under 763, the Tang never regained their authority,
Gaozu’s successor Taizong (ruled 626–649). and in 907 the last Tang emperor, Ai, was
killed by one of his generals. China split
Tang rule apart once more.
Taizong set up state schools and colleges and
reintroduced the Han system of examinations for GAOZU (LI YUAN)
those wanting to work in official positions. Tang
From a noble family, Li Yuan served as a
armies expanded into central Asia, defeating the general during the Sui attack on Korea in
Turks at Issyk Kul, in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, in 657 613. When Emperor Yang was killed in a
and advancing as far west as the borders of Persia. military coup in 618, Li Yuan took advantage
of the chaos to push aside the last Sui
China attained a new level of cultural
emperor and seize power himself.
influence, with Chang’an, the terminus of the
Silk Road, bringing in traders from across

Have I not heard that pure wine

makes a sage, and even muddy
wine can make a man wise?
From Drinking Alone in the Moonlight,
by Tang “god of poetry” Li Bai, c.710–762

The head of a
colossal Buddha
statue, some 233 ft
(71 m) tall, carved
on a cliff near Leshan
around 713 during the
early Tang dynasty.
 138 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Song China
n CHINA d 960–1279

The first half of the 10th century was a The decline of the Song
period of disunity for China. A succession In 1068, the emperor of the time, Shenzong,
of Five Dynasties ruled the north, while the entrusted his minister Wang Anshi with the task
south fragmented into Ten Kingdoms. Zhao of implementing radical reforms. Wang Anshi
Kuangyin, a general under the Later Zhou, needed to raise money. He imposed a government
the last of the Five Dynasties, usurped the monopoly on tea and challenged wealthy families
throne in 960 to found the Song dynasty. who evaded taxes. To reduce the cost of the
A Song Yaozhu-style standing army, he ordered every household to
vessel, delicately
carved in a fashion Song prosperity supply men for a local militia. This measure was
typical of the dynasty. Under the Song, China was reunited and highly unpopular and Wang Anshi was dismissed,
entered a period of economic achievement, but the dynasty was weakened.
introducing the first paper currency in 1024 Then in 1125, the Jurchen, semi-nomads
and developing new methods of rice farming from Manchuria, captured the capital Kaifeng
that doubled output. and the Song court fled south. The southern
A series of waterways improved China’s Song emperors, based at Hangzhou, could never
infrastructure, and a fairer system for regain control over the north. The dynasty was
awarding the jinshi degree for officials culturally dynamic, developing Neo-Confucianism—
overhauled the bureaucracy, so that a which stressed self-cultivation and conformity to
wider range of people could rise through Confucian ideals—but it was enfeebled politically
the ranks. and militarily.
Ladies of the Song
court are shown
ironing silk in this
painting by the eighth
Song emperor Huizong,
a patron of the arts
and an accomplished
artist himself.
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 139

Mongol and Ming China

n CHINA d 1279–1644

In 1279, the southern Song were overrun by the

Mongol armies of Kublai Khan (see pp.142–3).
The Jin of northern China had already been
pushed aside by the Mongols in 1234, so
China became united under the Mongol rule
of the Yuan dynasty. The Mongols imported a
military elite whose cultural differences from
the native Chinese hindered integration. By the
1350s, dissatisfaction with Yuan rule led to
a series of revolts, including, from 1351, that
of the Red Turban Army. From the ranks of
this army rose Zhu Yuanzhang, who outfoxed
his rivals in a complex civil war to seize
power as the first Ming emperor, known as
Hongwu, in 1368.

China under the Ming

The Ming ruled China for some 250 years,
presiding over the growth of a vigorous urban
culture. Emperor Hongwu reformed the army
and the taxation regime, instituting a system
of secret agents to cement his rule. In 1403,
Emperor Yongle transferred the capital from
Nanjing to Beijing, and dispatched a number
of ambitious maritime expeditions, led by the
eunuch Zhen He, that reached as far as east
Africa. Later emperors, however, were weaker
and the reforming instinct of the first rulers
gave way to inactivity and conservatism. By
the mid-17th century, the Ming’s hold on
power had become brittle.
The Pavilion of
THE EMPEROR YONGLE Myriad Springs in the
Imperial Garden of the
The third emperor of the Ming dynasty, Yongle
Forbidden City, Beijing,
ascended the throne after overthrowing his
which was built in 1535
older brother Jiangwen in 1403. He oversaw
under the Ming dynasty.
an expansive phase in Ming history, sending
expeditions north to smash the remnants of
the Yuan, and in 1406 dispatched an army
south that crushed the rulers of Vietnam
and absorbed it as a Chinese province.
At his new capital of Beijing, Yongle
also constructed the vast palace
complex of the Forbidden City.
 The Forbidden City, situated in
Beijing, China, was constructed under
Emperor Yongle of the Ming dynasty
between 1406 and 1420. For almost
five centuries, until the fall of the Qing
dynasty in 1912, it served a dual role
as the home of the emperor and the
center of Chinese government.
 142 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Mongols
n CENTRAL ASIA, E EUROPE, CHINA, SE ASIA d 1206–1405

Before the early 13th century, a number of mobile and able to strike with speed,
nomadic groups to the north and west of China proved formidable enemies even for well-
periodically entered the settled regions. Some organized states.
were defeated in battle, others contained, and Genghis died in 1227, and in 1229, Ogedei—who
others still assimilated into Chinese culture. had inherited the title of “Great Khan”—sent the
The Mongols were one of these groups, but Mongol armies into China, pushing the Jin (see
they were hopelessly disunited until the leadership p.139) out of the north of the country by 1234.
of Temüjin, who took the title Genghis Khan in Ogedei then dispatched his horde westward,
1206. Proclaiming his supreme rule, he welded overrunning almost the whole of Russia, including
together the Mongol clans, whose domination Kiev, its most important city, by 1240. Still the
of the steppes and neighboring lands would Mongol appetite for territorial aggrandizement
continue for more than a century. seemed unabated, and the following year their
defeat of a Polish-German army at Legnica,
The Mongol conquests Poland, struck terror in those farther west, who
By 1218, Genghis had overcome the Kara Khitan thought their turn would come next. The death of
khanate of central Asia, and he then unleashed Ogedei in 1241, however, caused the Mongol army
a devastating three-year campaign against the to withdraw while the Mongols chose a successor.
Khwarezmid empire that controlled much of
A set of Mongol modern Iran and Afghanistan. It was during Later Mongol rulers
knives, part of the this time that the Mongols earned their reputation Mongke, who was selected as Great Khan in
arsenal of weaponry as merciless fighters, sacking the Silk Road cities 1251, campaigned in northern China and against
with which Genghis of Samarkand and Bukhara and slaughtering the Abbasid caliphate (see p.155) in the Middle
Khan’s army spread
terror as it swept the populations of any town that dared resist. The East, sacking Baghdad in 1258. Shortly after
aside all opposition. Mongols, excellent horsemen who were highly his death in 1260, the Egyptian Mamluks (slave
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 143

In military GENGHIS KHAN

exercises I am
Born in 1162 as Temüjin to a family of minor
chieftains, Genghis Khan spent much of his

always in front and

childhood as a precarious semi-outlaw. He earned
a military reputation in minor skirmishes against
the Chinese, eventually securing a leading position
in time of battle I am among the tribes. In 1206, he was proclaimed
Genghis Khan, or “universal ruler,” going on to
never behind. command a feared army of more than 200,000
men. He is thought to have died following a riding
Words attributed to Genghis Khan accident in 1227, and was buried according to
by a Chinese monk, c.1224 custom in an unmarked grave in Mongolia.

soldiers) defeated a small Mongol army at

Ain Jalut, puncturing the Mongols’ reputation
for invincibility. In the 1270s, Kublai Khan
concentrated his attentions on southern China
(see p.139), and the Mongols ruled China until
1368. They dominated central Asia for a century
after that, but the only real resurgence in their
power came under Tamerlane, from 1370 to
1405, who united a large part of central Asia
and very nearly destroyed the Ottoman Turkish
empire (see p.157).

The citadel of Aleppo in Syria, which was

captured by the Mongols in spring 1260, marking
the high point of their success in the Near East.
144 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Early Japan
n JAPAN d 5TH CENTURY bce TO 551 ce

The earliest recognized Japanese culture, the these tombs, showing warriors
Jomon—who were predominantly hunters wearing elaborate armor, indicate
and fishermen—transformed under Chinese a powerful aristocracy.
influence into the Yayoi culture around the
5th century bce. Yayoi people lived in The Yamato
small farming communities Japan’s villages
in square or circular pit gradually coalesced
dwellings with thatched into larger communities
roofs. They were expert and, in the 4th century ce—possibly
potters and stonemasons, under the influence of Korean refugees
and began a long tradition fleeing from a Chinese invasion
of Japanese metalworking, in 369—a larger kingdom emerged in
especially in bronze. southern Japan, on the Yamato plain.
From around the middle of From then until the 6th century ce, the
the 3rd century ce, the Yayoi Yamato kings unified Japan.
began to build large stone
burial chambers and huge
Terracotta figures or haniwa
earthen tomb mounds (or were ritually placed around Yayoi
kofun). Paintings found within burial mounds.

The Asuka and Nara periods

n JAPAN d 552–794

The arrival of Buddhism in Japan in 552 ce

marks the beginning of the Asuka period. The
regent Shotoku Taishi (574–622) founded
the great monastery at Horyuji, and promoted
Chinese models in politics, art, and religion.
In 710, the Japanese capital was fixed at
Nara, and Buddhism became more dominant in
court life, especially during the reign of Shomu
(724–749), who ordered the erection of the Great
Buddha figure inaugurated at Nara’s Todaiji temple
in 752. Shomu was the first emperor to retire and
become a Buddhist monk. Buddhism became so
powerful that in 784, anti-Buddhist factions moved
the imperial court north to Nagaoka to distance
it from the old capital’s monasteries. A decade
later, it moved again, this time to Kyoto.

The Gojunoto (five-storied) pagoda in the Horyuji

temple complex, founded by Shotoku in the 6th
century, is the oldest wooden pagoda in Japan.
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 145

The Heian period

n JAPAN d 794–1185

In 794, the Japanese court moved to Kyoto, and

the 400 years that followed is known as the Heian
period. It was marred early on by a struggle to put
down a rebellion in northern Japan. The rebellion
was finally crushed around 801 by Tamura Maro,
who was consequently honored with the title
sei tai-shogun (“barbarian-crushing general”), the
first holder of the title in Japanese history. In 858,
Fujiwara Yoshifusa became regent for the young
emperor Seiwa, beginning a domination of the
court by the Fujiwara family that would last for
more than 300 years.

A painted scroll
illustrating a scene
from The Tale of Genji,
a novel of Japanese
courtly life.

Japan under the Fujiwara

The most powerful of the Fujiwara regents was
Michinaga, who held sway from 995 to 1027,
assisted by the marriage of four of his daughters
to successive emperors. The Fujiwara period saw
great cultural achievements, among them the
The Tale of Genji—written, unusually, by a female
author, the Lady Murasaki Shikibu—which
encapsulates beautifully the refined aesthetic
taste of the period.
After Michinaga, the Fujiwara’s power declined
somewhat and an emperor named Go-Sanjo
briefly managed to dispense with a Fujiwara
regent. Under his successor, Shirakawa (ruled
1073–1087), the curious practice of “cloistered
emperors” (insei) emerged, whereby the emperor
would abdicate in favor of a child successor and
retire to a monastery but still, to some extent,
direct affairs from there. This did nothing to
temper the growing powers of warring clans,
who were rivals to the Fujiwara. The tensions
erupted into the Gempei Wars (1180–1185),
This fine sculpture of a fierce guardian king,
created during the Fujiwara period, is typical a bitter struggle for dominance between the
of the high level of craftsmanship of the time. powerful Minamoto and Taira families.
 146 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates

n JAPAN d 1185–1573

In the early 1180s, the Gempei Wars racked Japan suicide (seppuku) by disemboweling himself.
until Minamoto Yoritomo triumphed after a great The emperors of the time, although occasionally
naval victory at Dan-no-Ouro in 1185. However, seeking to assert themselves, were largely
peace did not come until the early 1190s, as powerless. Instead, the shoguns, based from
Yoritomo—who in 1192 became “shogun” (or 1185 to 1336 at the Minamoto center of Kamakura,
military dictator)—subdued or killed any remaining acted through a council and judicial board of
lords who seemed to threaten his authority, enquiry that largely bypassed the imperial court
including his longtime ally Yoshitsune, the at Kyoto. For much of the 13th century, the power
victorious general at Dan-no-Ouro. of the shogunate was itself subverted by the
regent, a position that was held by ten successive
The samurai and shogun power generations of the powerful Hojo clan.
From the factionalism of the Gempei Wars
emerged the samurai, originally rough fighting ASHIKAGA TAKAUJI
men who evolved into a striking mix of the savage
Among the most ruthless samurai, Ashikaga
and the refined. The ideal warrior was as capable Takauji was employed by the Hojo regent to
of dashing off a poem as he was of slicing off an crush the revolt of Emperor Go-Daigo in 1333,
enemy’s head with his two-handed sword. He but changed sides and restored imperial power.
After 1335, he broke also with the imperial
subscribed to an austere code of honor and,
court and declared himself shogun.
rather than face defeat, would commit ritual
A scene from the
Tamamo-no-mae,
written during the
Muromachi era, which
tells of a beautiful
courtesan who turns
out to be the spirit
of a malevolent fox.
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 147

The end of Kamakura power The Muromachi shogunate

Attempts by the Mongols to invade in 1274 The Ashikaga shogunate (from 1392 referred
and 1281 were the only real threat to Japan to as the Muromachi) ruled Japan for 240 years.
during this time. The samurai pushed back It took nearly 60 years of intermittent war
the first attack, and a great storm, called the before Yoshimitsu, the third Ashikaga shogun,
kamikaze (“divine wind”), ended the second. suppressed Go-Daigo’s rival court at Yoshino
In 1333, Emperor Go-Daigo tried to impose and restored the imperial regalia to Kyoto.
his direct rule, attracting some support Then, for five decades, Japan experienced peace
from the nobility. The Kamakura shogun and a cultural renaissance. However, peasant
sent general Ashikaga Takauji to punish this risings followed famine and plague in the
presumptuousness, but the general defected 1420s, and when Shogun Yoshimasa retired
and captured Kyoto in the name of the restored in 1467, civil war (the Onin War) broke out
emperor. Kamakura was burned and the last over the succession. A tense peace was
Hojo regent deposed. restored in 1477, but central authority was
Go-Daigo’s rejoicing did not last long, as disrupted, and real power rested with the
his two generals Takauji and Nitta Yoshisada regional daimyo (warlords). This led to a
quarreled. The emperor supported Yoshisada, Japan that was unified in theory, but wholly
but Takauji won the power struggle. While disunited in practice.
Go-Daigo established an alternative court
in the Yoshino mountains south of Kyoto, Takauji The curved samurai sword or katana, the
samurai’s badge of office, was made of hard
appointed a new emperor—Komyo—and declared layers of tempered steel that gave it an
himself shogun, the first of the Ashikaga period. extremely sharp cutting edge.
 148 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Gunpowder weaponry
Europe adopted gunpowder in the 14th century, but it was not
a European innovation—the Chinese had used it for centuries. It
was, however, in Europe that its rapid spread and refinement led to
a revolution in military tactics, and, ultimately, to the development
of handheld weapons and field artillery of massive power with which
European armies would come to dominate the battlefield.

Early gunpowder stone—cannon balls, which meant that the

The earliest recipe for gunpowder was recorded guns could be smaller, and the development
in China around 1040, and the Chinese may have of faster-burning gunpowder around 1420. The
used gunpowder offensively in “fire-lances” French defeat of the English at Castillon in 1453
as early as 1182. Yet, it was not until the Ming was the first example of a battle won through the
dynasty, in the 14th and 15th centuries, that the use of such artillery.
Chinese began to use gunpowder weapons on
a wider scale, with innovations such as the Handguns
deployment of dragoons, or mounted gunners. The 1450s saw the development of the first
By then, the technology had been exported to handguns. Called arquebuses, these muzzle-
This early Chinese Europe. The English first used cannons at Crécy loaded weapons were fired by a matchlock
gunpowder weapon in 1346, but these early firearms were liable to mechanism, which allowed for reloading during
fires a volley of arrows
from a bamboo overheat or explode. More reliable mobile artillery combat. These firearms were able to pierce plate
launching tube. came with the introduction of iron—rather than armor. However, reloading was slow, and the
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 149

arquebusiers, as they were called, therefore needed The French

to be protected by groups of pikemen (in a formation army bombards
a city’s walls
known as the Swiss phalanx). using new cannon
weaponry during
Artillery the Hundred Years'
By the early 16th century, technological advances War (1337–1453).
had boosted the capabilities of artillery. Trunnions—
protrusions from the barrel of the gun—allowed
it to be raised or lowered easily, vastly improving
aim. Cities that had previously been protected
by thick walls became vulnerable, and warfare
returned to a pattern of field engagements.
powers, such as China, had also continued
The spread of firearms their development. The Chinese, for example,
During the Italian Wars (1494–1559), gunpowder devised a primitive form of machine gun in
weapons came of age. At the Battle of Ravenna the 16th century.
in 1512, a two-hour artillery duel opened the Firearms spread into Japan and India, too, so
fighting. Arquebusiers played a vital role in the that by the end of the 16th century, wherever there
decisive Imperial victory at the Battle of Pavia in was conflict, it was almost bound to involve the
1525. New weapons appeared, notably the musket, use of gunpowder weaponry. Those cultures
which, although heavier than the arquebus and without firearms, such as the Aztecs and Incas
requiring a stand to allow the musketeer to fire it, in the Americas, and most sub-Saharan African
had greater force and range. Although firearms peoples, became relatively easy prey once the
were most advanced in Europe at this time, Asian gun-wielding Europeans arrived.

Matchlock muskets were a huge technological

advance, and were effective at ranges of up to
330 ft (100 m). Their simple design meant that
they were used in Europe up until the 18th century.
 150 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Medieval Korea
n KOREA d 108 bce–1910 ce

The Korean peninsula was subject to Chinese

influence from very early times. In 108 bce, it WANG GEON
was conquered by Han armies (see p.127), who The founder of the Goryeo dynasty, Wang
established a series of commanderies there. With Geon (ruled 918–943) had been a general
the decline of the Han from the 1st century bce, to the anti-Silla rebel Gung Ye, who created
the state of Taebong with Wang Geon as
three rival kingdoms vied for control of Korea: prime minister. When Gung Ye’s rule grew
Silla in the southeast, Baekje in the southwest, tyrannical, Wang Geon deposed him.
and Koguryo in the north. A small group of
city-states known as Kaya also flourished in the
southeast from around 40 to 532 ce, escaping the Silla encroached on Baekje’s territory.
the grasp of their larger neighbors. Baekje had been a conduit for Buddhism into
Korea in the 4th century, thanks to close ties
The unification of Korea to Japan and China. After the kingdom’s eventual
The protracted struggle for supremacy between fall to Silla in 660, many Baekje nobles fled to
Silla, Baekje, and Koguryo lasted until 668 Japan, becoming ancestors of several daimyo
The Bulguksa and is known as the Three Kingdoms period. (warlord) clans.
temple in South Korea. Silla, founded in 57 bce, emerged as the most Koguryo suffered frequent Chinese intervention,
King Beophung founded
the first temple on this powerful of the three. Under King Beophung with its capital at Wandu destroyed several times.
site around 528. (ruled 514–540 ce), who adopted Buddhism, Yet the kingdom recovered, and under Gwanggaeto
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 151
Fierce guardian
spirits of the north
and the south protect
Korea’s great Buddhist
temple at Bulguksa.

Choson Korea
Baekje is at Yi Songgye founded the Choson dynasty, which
full moon, Silla is would rule Korea into modern times, only
finally being deposed in 1910. Yi’s son Sejong
at half moon. implemented a series of Neo-Confucian reforms,
Prophecy of the decline of which aimed to harmonize all aspects of human
Silla and rise of Baekje, 659 behavior with an underlying universal order.
To this end, Sejong instituted a civil service
(ruled 391–413) conquered most of the Korean examination system along Chinese lines and
peninsula. However, internal strife, pressure from created a new phonetic alphabet (called hang’ul)
Baekje and Silla, and conflict with Sui and Tang for the Korean language. He also encouraged the
China (see pp.136–7) in the early 7th century led to advancement of science, particularly in astronomy
Koguryo’s decline and, in 668, it, too, fell to Silla, and meteorology, and agricultural reforms to
completing the unification of Korea under increase the yields of the countryside.
the Silla king Munmo. Rivalries among scholar-officials who vied
Attempts under the unified Silla state to for positions in the state bureaucracy plagued
impose a Chinese-style bureaucracy and Sejong’s successors. This sapped Korea’s strength,
generally enhance royal authority foundered and the country was unprepared when Japan
in the face of aristocratic resistance, and in the invaded in the 1590s. Two invasions in six years
late 9th century, Korea broke up again. Civil war devastated Korea, but the Japanese were finally
ensued, but Korea was united once more in 935 repelled. Choson recovered in the 17th century,
by Wang Geon, founder of the Goryeo dynasty. and the reigns of Yeongjo (1724–1776) and his
Although generally prosperous, the country successors brought peace until the end of the
suffered civil wars in the 12th century, and 19th century, when Korea was drawn into This maebyong
in the 14th century fell under the control rivalry between Japan, Russia, and China wine vessel (from
of the Mongol Yuan dynasty of China. Goryeo (see pp.274–7), finally becoming a Japanese the Chinese for “vase
for plum blossom”)
finally collapsed in 1392, after a rebellion protectorate. The Choson were eventually is characteristic of
by the general Yi Songgye. removed from the throne in 1910. Korea’s Goryeo period.
 152 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Khmer Empire

n CAMBODIA d 889–1431

Around 800, King Jayavarman II (ruled 802–850) Empire and decline

consolidated small central Cambodian kingdoms In 1177, the Chams (see facing page) sacked
to establish a state called Kambujadesa, marking Angkor, but four years later were in turn defeated
the start of the Khmer Empire. Its culture was by Jayavarman VII, Angkor’s greatest ruler, who
strongly influenced by India, and Jayavarman then extended the empire to include parts of
ordered the construction of Indian-style Hindu modern Thailand and Vietnam. Jayavarman VII
temples near Siem Reap. Under Yasovarman I, was a Buddhist and, after his death in 1215, a
who became king in 889, a capital was established Hindu reaction set in during which all the images
The Angkor Wat at Angkor, which grew to become a vast of Buddha at Angkor were defaced. The empire
temple was founded ceremonial complex. Angkor reached its peak then went into decline and became a localized
by the Khmer king
Suryavarman II under Suryavarman, who from 1011 reunified power. It disappeared entirely after the sack of
(ruled 1113–1145). Cambodia after a period of civil war. Angkor by the Thais in 1431.

Pagan Burma
n BURMA d 849–1287

Burmese chronicles give 849 as the date that by the early 13th century, the empire
when King Pyinbya founded the city of Pagan, established a new center several miles
which would become the center of Burma’s to the east.
first powerful state. Later, under King Anawrahta Under Kyaswa (ruled 1234–1250), Pagan fell into
(ruled 1044–1077), Pagan emerged as a real decline, as the king confiscated the lands of Buddhist
power, conquering the Mon city of Thaton, monasteries, an unpopular policy that undermined
a center of Indian civilization, in 1057. royal authority. The despotic ruler Narathihapate
Anawrahta also annexed parts of Thailand, (ruled 1254–1287) dared invade the Mongol vassal
Arakan on the border of India, and Nan-chao state of Kaungai in 1277, only for the Mongol armies
in southern China, creating an empire to retaliate and sack Pagan in 1287. Narathihapate
that would last into the 13th century. The fled from Burma and in the aftermath, Pagan’s
density of temples in Pagan itself was such subjects rose up and its empire collapsed.
 EAST AND SOUTHEAST ASIA 153

Champa Dai Viet

n S VIETNAM d 192–1471 n N VIETNAM d 938–1528

The kingdom of Champa may have had its origins Dai Viet (“Great Viet”) was established in 938
in the state of Lin Yi, founded around 192, but by as an independent state in northern Vietnam
the 7th century was independent, with its own by Ngo Quen, after a revolt against Chinese
culture. Successive capitals of Champa overlordship. Under Dai Viet’s Li dynasty
were destroyed by Javan attacks, before (1009–1225), a series of wars broke out
King Indravarman II (854–893) founded with Champa to the south (see left) over
a new center at Indrapura (in modern disputed border provinces. From 1225,
Quan-nam province). In 979, an invasion during the Tran dynasty, Dai Viet fought
of Dai Viet (see right) led to a long struggle off three Mongol invasions, and
that ended only in 1471 with the Dai Viet finally, under Le Thanh-Ton
capture of Vijaya, the last Cham capital. (ruled 1460–1497), succeeded
in conquering Champa. After
1528, Dai Viet broke up and
Stylized sculptures of fearsome
guardians and mythical animals was not reunited until the
adorned Champa temples. early 19th century.

Srivijaya
n JAVA d 7TH–14TH CENTURIES

From the 5th century, the island peoples of Sumatra Srivijaya faced many rivals, including the Sailendra
and Java set up prosperous trading communities kingdom of central Java—which constructed the
rivaling the coastal states of the Southeast Asian vast temple at Borobodur around 800—and its
mainland. By the 7th century, the Srivijaya Empire hold began to weaken in the 11th century. By 1400,
controlled most of Sumatra and the Malay it had been replaced by newer maritime powers,
peninsula. The earliest account comes from a especially the Malay Majapahit Empire.
Chinese Buddhist pilgrim in 671, who remarked
that there were a thousand Buddhist monks at the
A gallery of Buddha statues from Wat Phra
court, and Srivijaya clearly acted as a center for Borom in Chaiya in southern Thailand, which was
the diffusion of Buddhism in the region. a regional capital of the Srivijaya Empire.
 154 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Middle East and

North Africa
In the early 7th century, the emergence of a new religion, Islam,
changed the shape of the Middle East forever. The new faith inspired
unprecedented unity in the tribes of the Arabian peninsula, and
Arab armies carried Islam through the Middle East and North Africa.
Despite fragmentation in the Islamic world in the 8th century, Islamic
empires, such as the Seljuk and Ottoman, still rose to prominence.

The rise of Islam

n ARABIA, THE NEAR EAST d 610–661

The prophet Muhammad was born around 570 the caliphate after the defeat of the Persian shah
in the prosperous central Arabian trading town (king), Yazdegird III, in 642. Increasing disputes
of Mecca. Around 610, he received the divine over the succession, especially after the murder of
revelation that would form the basis of the religion the third caliph, Uthman, in 656, finally led to a civil
of Islam, and began to gather a group of followers. war and the assassination of ’Ali, the fourth caliph
and Muhammad’s cousin, in 661.
The spread of Islam
in Arabia
Although some in Mecca accepted Muhammad’s
new creed, others were threatened by it and, in
622, Muhammad was forced into exile in Medina.
The citizens of Medina were longtime rivals to
Mecca and willingly accepted Muhammad and his
teachings, providing him with many converts. This
led to a bitter struggle with the Meccans, which
finally ended with the capture of Mecca in 630.
From there, Muhammad directed the conquest
of much of the rest of the Arabian peninsula before
his death in 632. Abu Bakr was appointed caliph
(or successor); under his rule (632–634) anti-
Muslim uprisings in Arabia were put down and
Arab armies began to penetrate Sassanid Persia
(see p.87) and Byzantine-held Syria (see p.178).
Under the next caliph, Umar (ruled 634–644), the
Islamic empire expanded far beyond Arabia.
Alam standards,
carried in Shia Early expansion and civil unrest
religious processions, The Arabs smashed the Byzantine field army
were intended to at Yarmuk in 636, leading to the capture of
represent the sword
of ’Ali. Holy names are Jerusalem in 637 and the occupation of Egypt
carved along the blade. in 641. The Sassanid Persian empire also fell to
 THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 155

The Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates

n MIDDLE EAST d 661–1258

After the assassination of the fourth Muslim flourished. In 756, however, Spain broke away
caliph ’Ali, Mu’awiyah—the governor of Syria and under a line of the Umayyad family, and North
a distant relative of Muhammad—seized power, Africa followed with the foundation of a rival
installing himself in a new capital at Damascus. Fatimid caliphate in Egypt in 969. By the
Mu’awiyah founded the Umayyad dynasty, which 11th century, the Abbasid caliphs controlled
borrowed heavily from Byzantine and Persian little beyond the suburbs of Baghdad and were
institutions to build a strong central authority firmly under the thumb of the Seljuk Turkish
for the Islamic state. The Umayyads extended emirs (see p.156). In 1258, even this pitiful
their rule in North Africa, capturing the Byzantine flame of independence was snuffed out when
stronghold of Carthage (in Tunisia) in 698, and the Mongol Hulegu sacked Baghdad (see p.142)
swept into Spain in 711. and had Al-Musta’sim, the last caliph, trampled
to death by horses.
From Damascus to Baghdad
Despite these Ummayad successes, in 750 HAROUN AL-RASHID
a number of anti-Umayyad factions joined in a
The greatest of the Abbasid caliphs, Haroun
successful revolt against them led by ’Abbas, (786–809) turned Baghdad into the most
who claimed the caliphate and moved the seat prosperous city of its day. He defeated the
of government to Baghdad. His descendants, Byzantines in 806, and was a fine diplomat,
exchanging ambassadors with the Frankish
the Abbasids, would be caliphs until 1258. Initially
ruler Charlemagne.
’Abbas presided over a golden age, in which art,
science, architecture, and Islamic jurisprudence
A mosaic from the
Umayyad mosque in
Damascus, a beautiful
Islamic-Byzantine
building constructed
under the caliph
al-Walid between
706 and 715.
156 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Seljuk Turks

n TURKEY, SYRIA d 1038–1306

Throughout the 9th century, groups of Turkish- The first Seljuks

speaking nomads migrated westward from One group, the Seljuks, led by Tugrul Beg, initially
central Asia. In the 10th century, they reached served the Kara-Khanid emirs of Bukhara in
Persia, where many of them took service in Persia, but became so powerful that in 1038,
Muslim armies and converted to Islam. Tugrul declared himself sultan in the city of
Nishapur in northeastern Iran. From here, his
armies moved westward. In 1055, Tugrul became
involved in a power struggle between the Abbasid
(see p.155) caliph Al Qa’im and his Egyptian
Fatimid rival, who had taken Baghdad.
Tugrul took Baghdad for the Abbasid caliphs
in 1060, but then reduced them to little more
than figureheads. Tugrul’s successor, Alp Arslan,
conquered Georgia and Armenia in 1064, and in
1071 defeated the Byzantine emperor Romanus IV,
leading to Turkish occupation of much of central
Anatolia (in modern Turkey). The administrative
reforms of Alp Arslan’s Persian official Nizam
al-Mulk supported the sultan’s military victories
and cemented Seljuk stability.

Decline of the Seljuks

Alp Arslan’s son Malik Shah I (ruled 1072–1092)
consolidated Seljuk rule in Anatolia, but a revolt
by his cousin Suleyman in 1086 led to the rival
Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, which controlled much
of the west of Alp Arslan’s former domain.
By the 12th century, Malik Shah’s Seljuks
had disbanded; pressure from the Mongols
in the early 13th century and competition
with more vigorous Muslim emirates put the
Rum Sultanate into decline, and after 1306,
it disappeared entirely.

ALP ARSLAN
Initially a Seljuk governer, Alp Arslan
succeeded to the sultanate in 1064. His
first invasion of the Byzantine empire in
1068 failed, but after his victory against
the Byzantines in 1071, Anatolia would
always remain largely Turkish-occupied.

The main gateway of the Ince Minare medrese

(school of theology) in Konya, Turkey, built by the
Seljuks around 1267.
 THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA 157

Rise of the Ottomans

n TURKEY d MID-13TH CENTURY–1481

In the 12th century, Turkish Blue tilework graces many

Seljuks dominated Anatolia Ottoman-era mosques at Iznik,
an early Ottoman conquest.
(see facing page), but their
influence weakened in the
13th century and rival into Europe to occupy Gallipoli.
Turkish groups vied From this bridgehead, the
for power. Among Ottomans spread through
them was a small eastern Thrace and across
band led by Osman, the Balkans. Murad I
after whom the Ottoman (ruled 1362–1389), as well as
empire would be named. expanding Ottoman land in
Osman’s group took eastern Anatolia, captured the
advantage of a strategic great city of Adrianople (Edirne)
position on the eastern in Thrace in 1369, which thereafter
approach route to Constantinople became the Ottoman capital.
(now Istanbul) to secure possession
of many Byzantine cities in western Rise and fall
Anatolia (see p.179). This provided them The Ottomans began to exert pressure on the
with resources for further expansion. other Christian regions of the Balkans, capturing
Sofia (in Bulgaria) in 1385 and destroying the
The early sultans army of Prince Lazar of Serbia in 1389. It seemed
Osman’s son Orhan (ruled 1324–1362) took the only a matter of time before Constantinople
major city of Prusa (Bursa) and established would fall, but in 1402, the Mongol Tamerlane
it as his capital, marking the effective smashed the Ottoman army outside Ankara
establishment of the Ottoman empire. By (see p.143). The Turkish emirates that the
the late 1330s, the Byzantines were confined Ottomans had conquered over the previous
to just a few settlements close to Constantinople. century broke away, and it took 50 years under
In 1352, aided by the Byzantine emperor John VI Mehmet I (ruled 1413–1421) and Murad II
Kantakouzenos, who was locked in civil war (ruled 1421–1451) to regain the Ottoman
with his rival John V Palaiologos, Orhan crossed position in Anatolia and the Balkans.

MEHMET II
Known as “the Conqueror,” Mehmet II (ruled
1451–1481) was the Ottoman sultan who, in 1453,
finally took the Byzantine capital Constantinople.
Having constructed a series of fortresses to
throttle the city’s communication lines, he laid
siege in early spring, using cannons to pound
the city walls. In 1456, he failed to repeat
his success at Belgrade, but he successively
conquered Serbia (1458), Bosnia (1463), most
of Albania (1478), and even, in the last year of
his life, oversaw the capture of Otranto in the
heel of Italy.
 158 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

India
Kingdoms and empires rose and fell in India in the Middle Ages.
Following the demise of the Guptas, in 606 Emperor Harsha
established a powerful state across much of northern India, but
after his death the empire fragmented into small kingdoms, only
really to be united under the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th century.
Southern India saw similar struggles, with rival states fighting
bitterly until the emergence of the Cholas in the 9th century.

Chola India
n SOUTH INDIA d c.850–1279

Between the 7th and 9th centuries, the Pallava and

the Chalukya kingdoms contested the right to rule
southern India until the rise of the Cholas, around
850. They were to sweep away the two rivals to
establish a new state that would dominate the
area until around 1200.

Rise and fall

The Chola kingdom overthrew the Pallavas around
897 under Aditya, but then suffered a century
of decline at the hands of the rival Rashtrakuta
kingdom. Then, under Rajaraja I, who came to
the throne in 985, Chola was on the rise once
more, conquering all south India and even
intervening as far north as Bengal. Rajaraja
and his son Rajendra I built magnificent temples
at Thanjavur and at Gangaikondacholapuram, a
Hindu riposte to the growing power of Islam in
northern India. Rajendra I also projected Chola
power overseas, conquering Sri Lanka and
exercising some influence, if not control, over
the Srivijaya empire of Indonesia and the state
of Kadaram (around Penang in modern Malaysia).
Back in south India, however, the Cholas fell into
difficulties. Sri Lanka was lost in 1070, and around
1118, a resurgent Chalukya kingdom took much
territory around Mysore. Beset by civil strife
A statue from and faced with the threat of the Pandyan Empire
the 11th-century on his borders, Rajendra III, the last recorded
Brihadishwara temple
in the Chola capital Chola ruler, struggled on until 1279, after which
of Thanjavur. his kingdom disappeared.
 INDIA 159

The Delhi Sultanate

n NORTH INDIA d 1206–1526

In 1193, the armies of Muhammad of Ghur (from

modern Afghanistan) sacked Delhi, carving out MAHMUD OF GHAZNI
an empire from a number of weak and fractious In 997, Mahmud of Ghazni succeeded his father
Rajput Hindu principalities. After Muhammad’s as the ruler of a minor state around Ghazni, in
death in 1206, his most trusted general, the former modern Afghanistan. From here, he created
a vast empire encompassing large parts of
slave Qutb-ud-din Aibek (ruled 1206–1211), Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, and northwest
gained control of his territories and India before dying in 1030.
established the Delhi Sultanate.

A fragile rule the sultan, and Sultan Muhammad ibn Tughluq

The rule of Aibek’s successors was even moved the capital and its whole population
precarious. The nomadic tribes who 700 miles (1,100 km) south to Devagiri. Although
made up the nobility did not have a strong Delhi was reinstated two years later, so many
tradition of hereditary kingship, and during of its people had died in the two moves that
the rule of the Slave Dynasty (1206–1290), travelers reported it to be a “ghost town.”
at least five of the 11 sultans were The sultanate’s strength was now waning,
assassinated. Then, between 1299 and and the establishment of the Hindu
1307, Sultan Alauddin Khilji launched Vijayanagar empire in central India in the
a series of successful military strikes 1330s ended its rule there. The Delhi sultans,
against the rich kingdoms south of Delhi. declining in policial force, limped on until
By 1321, much of the south was under 1526, when they were finally supplanted
the control of governors appointed by in Delhi by the Mughals.
The Qutb Minar
mosque in Delhi
has a minaret that
is 240 ft (73 m) tall.
It celebrates Sultan
Aibek’s victories.

When I entered Delhi it was

almost a desert… Its buildings were
very few and in other respects it was
quite empty.
Arab traveler Ibn Battutah, visiting Delhi in 1334
after Sultan Muhammad deported its population
160 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Sub-Saharan Africa
Buoyed by trading links with Asia and Islamic North Africa, from
the 8th century, a number of prosperous empires and commercial
centers formed in Africa to the south of the Sahara Desert, including
the Mali and Songhay empires in West Africa and Great Zimbabwe
in south-central Africa. The spread of Islam across north and east
Africa helped create routes through the desert that became the
first trading networks to encompass the sub-Saharan regions.

The Mali Empire

n WEST AFRICA d c.800–1545

In West Africa, between the 8th and 11th centuries, in decline, and was supplanted by the Mali
the Ghana Empire grew powerful on the trans- Empire, founded in 1235 by Sundiata Keita.
Saharan gold trade. Yet by the 12th century, it was Like Ghana, the Mali Empire was based in the
Sahel, the savanna region along the Sahara’s
southern border. From here, it, too, exploited
the Saharan trade routes, exchanging desert-
mined salt for gold.

Wealth and collapse

Mali reached its peak in the 14th century
under Sundiata Keita’s grand-nephew Mansa
Musa (ruled 1312–1337). He is most noted for
his spectacular “Pilgrimage of Gold” to Mecca in
1324–1325, when he spent or gave away so much
gold that the inflation it caused damaged the
economy of North Africa for a decade. Mansa
Musa extended Mali’s territory and built up
the city of Timbuktu into a wealthy commercial
hub and a center for scholarship.
In the early 15th century, Mali’s subject states,
notably Songhay, based at Gao some 250 miles
(400 km) downriver from Timbuktu, broke away.
Having lost control of the crucial trade routes after
a disastrous defeat by Songhay in 1545, Mali’s
Empire collapsed.

The walls of the Great Mosque at Djenné,

a trading city conquered by Sonni Ali, first
great king of the Songhay Empire which
rose to overcome Mali.
 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 161

Ife and Benin

n NIGERIA d c.700–1500

The Ife kingdom developed among the Under Ewuare—the first great oba (ruler)
Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria of Benin, from 1440—the capital was
around 700. At its height, between 900 fortified with a great moat and armies
and 1200, this kingdom had grown to sent out that ultimately dominated
dominate a large area of western Africa. an area of some 31,000 sq miles
The capital, Ife, was the center of this (80,000 sq km). Like their Ife
sophisticated empire, most notable for predecessors, the people of
its production of high-quality bronze Benin produced superb terracotta
heads. However, in around 1400, the and bronze heads, and they
Ife were supplanted by the Empire grew rich from a monopoly
of Benin, which grew up to their west. on contacts with European
newcomers—initially the
Portuguese—in the later 15th
A bronze Ife head, cast in a beautiful
naturalistic style that has made the culture’s century, profiting from trade in ivory,
artistic production justly famous. palm oil, gold, pepper, and slaves.

Great Zimbabwe
n SOUTHERN AFRICA d 11TH–15TH CENTURIES

One of the greatest urban centers of sub-Saharan the interior to the east coast of Africa. It was
Africa grew up from the 11th century at also home to a thriving agricultural economy.
The 13th-century
Great Zimbabwe (from which the modern state With a population of around 15,000 people, Great Enclosure is the
of Zimbabwe takes its name). The huge settlement Great Zimbabwe served as the center of the most impressive of
sprawls over 3 sq miles (7 sq km), with a number Mwenemutapa Empire. However, possibly as the stone structures
of stone enclosures containing some 300 a result of overcultivation of the surrounding at Great Zimbabwe.
Its 82 ft (25 m) walls
structures. Great Zimbabwe was in a strategic land, in the mid-15th century, Great Zimbabwe may have enclosed
position to control trade—including in gold—from was abandoned. a royal palace.
162 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Europe
Around the early 5th century ce, Germanic barbarian tribes settled
on the former territory of the Roman Empire. But by around 600, the
chaos had resolved itself, and what had once been the Roman Empire
was now a series of successor states. A Christian culture emerged
in Europe, in part based on a form of social and political structures
known as feudalism, which would persist through wars and crises
into the mid-15th century.

Ostrogoths and Lombards in Italy

n ITALY d 493–774

Between 488 and 493 ce, Theodoric I, ruler of

the barbarian Ostrogoths (see p.115), conquered
Italy. His kingdom drew deeply on Roman forms
of administration, yet opposition to his rule drove
him to execute Boethius, a leader of the old Roman
Senate, in 525 ce.
After Theodoric’s death in 526 ce, his daughter
Amalasuintha acted as regent for his young
grandson and designated heir, Athalaric. Dissent
among the Ostrogoth nobles led to the whole
state unraveling. Amalasuintha appealed to
the Byzantine emperor Justinian (see p.178)
for help, and after her murder (possibly on the
orders of her cousin) in 535 ce, Justinian took
the opportunity to intervene, setting off the
Gothic Wars. By 554 ce, after hard and bitter
campaigning, Justinian’s forces emerged the
masters of a devastated Italy.

Lombard Italy
In 568 ce, the barbarian Lombards invaded
Italy from the northeast under Alboin (ruled
c.565–572 ce). In 572 ce, they reached Pavia
and carved out a kingdom in northern Italy.
This soon split into 35 dukedoms, but was
reunited under Authari (ruled 584–590 ce)
and, from 589 ce, held off Byzantine advances.
Under Agilulf (ruled 590–616 ce), the Lombards
became Catholic, controlling northern Italy until
An Ostrogothic brooch from around
the Frankish Charlemagne (see p.165) deposed 500 ce, showing a vibrancy far removed
their last king, Desiderius, in 774. from Roman art forms.
 EUROPE 163

Visigoths in Spain
n SPAIN d 469–711

The Visigoths, who settled in southwestern Gaul in

418 ce as allies of the Romans, began from 469 ce
to conquer territory in Spain. In 507 ce, when the
Franks defeated them in a great battle at Vouillé,
near Poitiers, the Visigoths fell back on these
Spanish territories.

The Visigothic kingdom

Under Agila (ruled 549–554 ce), the Visigoths
lost territory in southeast Spain to a resurgent
Byzantine Empire. From its capital at Toledo,
however, the Visigothic state recovered, reaching
its apogee under Leovigild (ruled 568–586 ce),
a great organizer and legislator. Leogivild was
succeeded by his son Reccared, who in 589 ce
converted to Catholicism, abandoning the
kingdom’s previous Arian form of Christianity.
The Visigothic kingdom finally came to an end
when, weakened by a civil war after the accession
of Roderick in 711, it easily fell to invading Muslim
armies (see p.154).
The church of San Pedro de la Nave at Zamora,
built under the Visigothic king Egica (ruled 687–701)
toward the end of Visigothic rule in Spain.

Anglo-Saxon England
n ENGLAND d 411–1066

Britain was under Roman administration until king, Offa, died in 796. Alfred the Great fended
411 ce, and in the little-understood period that off the Danish conquest of Wessex with several
followed, Germanic invaders—Jutes, Angles, victories in the 870s, but it was not until the
and Saxons—began to settle on the island, time of Edward the Elder (ruled 899–924)
displacing the native Romano-Celtic population. that England was united under a single
By the 7th century, these had coalesced into Anglo-Saxon monarchy.
a number of small states, conventionally
known as the “Heptarchy.” ALFRED THE GREAT
As well as saving Wessex from
Expansion of Wessex Danish invasion in 878, Alfred
Principal among these states were Wessex (ruled 871–899) restored
in the southwest, Mercia in the Midlands, Wessex’s defenses by building
a series of burhs (fortified
and Northumbria in the north. In the long
towns), revising the legal
struggle between them, it was Wessex that system, and overseeing the
would emerge victorious. Danish invasions in first major translations of
the 9th century sapped the remaining power books into Anglo-Saxon.
of Northumbria and Mercia, whose last great
164 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Merovingian and Carolingian France

n FRANCE d 511–987

After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe the Visigoths from Gaul in 507. On his death, the
fragmented into many states, the most successful kingdom was divided between his four sons,
of which was the Kingdom of the Franks. A establishing the Merovingian dynasty. This
confederacy of tribes originating from the area dynasty continued to expand, taking the rest
around modern Belgium and Holland, the Franks, of Gaul (except Brittany and Septimania) by
under their leader Clovis (ruled c.481–511), 536 and dominating northern Italy in the
conquered most of the old Roman province of Gaul. 540s and 550s.
However, in the 7th century, after Dagobert I
The Merovingians (622–639), the power of the Frankish kings
Clovis overcame the Roman general Syagrius declined. Several died young and rival aristocratic
(who controlled large parts of northern Gaul) factions started to vie for power. In the early
in 486, saw off rival Frankish kings, crucially
converted to Catholicism in 496, and expelled

The Baptistery of Saint-Jean,

Poitiers, constructed around
360 and restored by the
Merovingians in the
early 6th century.
 EUROPE 165

A chief in whose shadow the

Christian people repose in peace
and who strikes terror into the
pagan nations.
Alcuin of York, in a letter describing Charlemagne c.796

8th century, one of these factions, the Carolingians, helped to undermine the Carolingians’ authority.
emerged as dominant. Beginning with Pepin II Hugh Capet, a Frankish aristocrat, deposed
(d.713), they developed their office as “mayor of the last Carolingian king, Louis V, in 987,
the palace” to become the real power in the land. to form a new dynasty, the Capetians.

The Carolingians CHARLEMAGNE

In 754, Pepin III (ruled 747–768) obtained papal
Initially ruling with his brother Carloman An ornate water jug
approval to depose the last Merovingian ruler (d.771), Charlemagne (ruled 768–814) faced gifted to Charlemagne
and become the first king of the new Carolingian few internal challenges to his authority, by Haroun al-Rashid,
dynasty. Under his son, Charlemagne, the Frankish enabling him to embark on a bold program of Caliph of Baghdad, in
expansion abroad and reform at home. He a gesture of diplomatic
kingdom reached the height of its power, initiating
built up a sumptuous new capital at Aachen, friendship.
a series of aggressive overtures against its Germany, and his court was Europe’s most
neighbors. Charlemagne’s military campaigns important center of learning in the 9th century.
resulted in conquests in Saxony, the annexation Charlemagne modeled aspects of his rule
upon the Romans, crowning himself emperor
of the Lombard kingdom of Italy in 774, and and appearing on coins wearing the military
victories as far afield as the lands of the Avar cloak and laurel crown of a Roman ruler.
Empire in Pannonia, on the Danube (modern
Hungary), in the 790s.
Charlemagne presided over a glittering age
of cultural achievements, which earned it the
label “the Carolingian Renaissance.” In order
to reform the Frankish church, he ordered the
importation of works of liturgy and church law
from Italy. The kingdom’s administration and
legal system was thoroughly overhauled. These
changes were overseen by the missi dominici—
the personal envoys of the king.

Carolingian decline
Charlemagne had himself crowned “Emperor
of the Romans” in 800, but his successors
struggled to equal his prowess. When
Charlemagne’s son, Louis the Pious, died in
840, the empire was divided between his three
sons. Their quarrels, and the further subdivision
of the empire among their heirs, sapped the
dynasty’s strength. The growing threats of
Viking raiders (see p.168) from the north and
of Magyar incursions from the east further
166 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Feudalism
The term feudalism describes the system of relationships between
kings and nobles in northern and western Europe during much of the
medieval period, and by extension to the wider society and economy
in which these elites operated. At the heart of the feudal system lay
the obligation that noblemen (and, in turn, their retainers) would
provide military service in return for the holding of land.

Feudal Europe
The feudal system, although extremely
complex, was never arranged into written
law. Much of what is known about feudalism
therefore comes with the benefit of historical
hindsight. Feudalism contained elements of
Germanic custom, mixed with the late-Roman
practice of gifting land to barbarian groups
in return for military service.
It evolved during Carolingian times into
the practice of a ruler assigning a parcel of
land (known as a “fief”) to a nobleman. In
return for the land, the nobleman (who was
known as a “vassal”) swore his loyalty to
A 14th-century French view of the investiture of a
the king—or another lord—and promised to knight. The new knight kneels before his lord, pledging
perform various duties, particularly military loyalty in exchange for privileges.
 EUROPE 167

service, for a set number of days each year. A castle was a fortified base from Chain mail
Many nobles further apportioned parts of their which a feudal lord could dominate armor of the high
feudal period gave
fiefs to subtenants, who in turn performed the countryside—as well as being way to full plate
military duties and swore allegiance. It was not his dwelling place and the seat armor, such
unusual for vassals to have allegiances to more of the local court of justice. as this, by the
than one lord. A hierarchy of obligations thus Once ensconced inside, an 15th century.
developed, helping to link together a country’s uncooperative nobleman
web of lordships, but doing little to bolster the was extremely difficult
central authority of the king. for anyone, including
the king, to dislodge.
Knights and castles
The backbone of medieval European armies Changes in
were the knights, heavy cavalry who by the feudalism
11th century represented an elite caste of Toward the 14th century,
warriors that fought on behalf of their feudal a new variant, known as
lord. Their status was confirmed through symbols “bastard feudalism,” arose
and ceremonies, such as the “accolade”—the in which vassals substituted
king touching his vassal on the shoulders with their military obligations for
a sword to confer knighthood. monetary payments. This was a sign
of a changing society. As feudal ties
weakened and monarchs tried to assert
The faithful direct control over their realms, the age

vassal should… of feudalism was coming to a close,

finally ending in the 16th century.
counsel and aid The Rock of Cashel in County
his lord. Tipperary, Ireland, is topped by
a great castle, evidence of its
Fulbert of Chartres in a letter to feudal lord’s power over the
Duke William of Aquitaine, 1020 surrounding countryside.
168 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Vikings
n SCANDINAVIA, NW EUROPE, NEWFOUNDLAND d 793–1069

In the late 8th century, possibly propelled by

overpopulation in their Scandinavian homelands,
a wave of shipborne raiders, the Vikings, began a
reign of terror over northwestern Europe.
Taking advantage of divisions in the Carolingian
empire (see pp.164–5), Anglo-Saxon England,
and Ireland, the Vikings first attacked soft targets,
such as the island monastery of Lindisfarne in
northeast England, in 793. But these fiercely
effective warriors were capable of great mobility,
even sailing up rivers, and moved on to dominate
the territories they had previously pillaged.
In England in the late 9th century, they
colonized a large part of the Midlands and
north, which became known as the Danelaw.
They explored new lands in the Atlantic, too,
settling Iceland from 870, Greenland in the
late 10th century, and even North America
in about 1000.

This replica Viking ship is modeled on a ship

that was excavated in Oseberg, Norway. Dating
from 815–820, it was built for ceremonial rather
than practical purposes.

Kievan Rus
n UKRAINE, RUSSIA d C.800–1043

From the early 9th century, Viking Scandinavians, and Dniepr rivers. Then, around 850, trade
mainly Swedes, began to settle in trading towns turned to conquest, and tradition relates that
in the north of modern Russia and Ukraine, in 862, the people of Novgorod invited a Viking
principally at Staraya Ladoga on the Volkhov River. group (the Rus) led by Riurik to defend them.
In 879, Riurik’s son Oleg traveled south to
The conquest of Kiev seize Kiev and established a Viking dynasty
At first, the Vikings sought to control trade there, which would give rise to many medieval
rather than plunder or conquer, establishing Russian principalities. Kievan Rus became
a trading network that extended as far as the Christian around 988, when its ruler Vladimir
Islamic world. In the mid-9th century, however, was baptized and, although it raided
these merchants seem to have expanded their Constantinople in 1043, it became merely
lands, setting up bases farther down the Volga another eastern European principality.
 EUROPE 169

The Normans
n NORMANDY, ENGLAND, S ITALY d 911–1087

Viking raids affected Carolingian France

(see pp.164–5) badly, and in 911, the Carolingians WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR
gave the leader of one band, Rollo, extensive With a distant claim to the
territories in modern Normandy as a “pay-off” English throne through a
in exchange for defending it from other marauders. great-aunt, in 1066, William
invaded to usurp Harold
Godwinsson as king of
The Norman conquests England, defeating him
Rollo’s descendants, the Dukes of Normandy, at Hastings in October of
that year. William ruled
rapidly absorbed French culture to create a England until 1087.
hybrid Norman state. In 1066, Duke William
the Bastard (later called “the Conqueror”)
took advantage of a disputed succession in
England to launch an audacious invasion and England was not the only place the Normans
seize the English throne himself. The newly sought to satisfy their desire for expansion. From
Norman kingdom of England imported French the 1040s, under Robert Guiscard, they conquered
cultural and administrative practices and southern Italy and Sicily, founding a kingdom that
established the strongest centralized lasted until the German emperor Henry VI
monarchy in Europe. suppressed it in 1194.
This scene from
the Bayeux tapestry,
They are a race inured to war, and commissioned to
celebrate the Norman
can hardly live without it. victory at Hastings,
shows the Norman
William of Malmesbury, from Deeds of the Kings of the army gaining the
English, describing the Normans, 12th century upper hand.
 The Benedictine Monasticism
monastery of Mont
St. Michel lies off the n EGYPT, EUROPE d c.350–1229
Norman coast of France
and was occupied by From the time of the early Christian church, men on a rigorous life of manual work and prayer.
monks from 966 until and women had chosen to devote themselves Yet by the 13th century, the reformist zeal of
the late 18th century. to a life of spiritual dedication as monks or nuns. even these communities had ebbed, and further
Gradually communities arose with fixed codes new monastic orders sprang up, most notably
of conduct, such as the “Rule” of St. Benedict of the Franciscan and Dominican friars.
Nursia (c.480–547) in Italy. They were known as mendicants, from the
Latin word for “beggars,” for they renounced
The new monastic orders personal property and were not attached to
Early monasticism became especially strong in richly endowed abbeys. To support themselves
the Celtic lands and above all in the Carolingian they depended on charity, bringing them closely
empire (see pp.164–5) of France, with wealthy in touch with ordinary people. In particular, the
monasteries such as that of Cluny (belonging to Franciscan friars, founded by St. Francis of Assisi
the Benedictine order) the frequent target of Viking in 1210, sought a return to the simplicity and
raiders. Disenchantment with the materialistic poverty of the early church, while the Dominicans
approach these abbeys took, and a general became committed to education and the fight
desire for a more spiritual observance, led to against heresy. The popularity of the new orders
the founding of new religious orders from the was also at the root of their undoing, for they,
11th century, beginning with the Carthusians, too, received bequests, grew wealthy, and
founded by Bruno of Cologne around 1082. became complex organizations far removed
The Cistercians followed in 1098, insisting from the ideals of their founders.

Where there is charity and wisdom,

there is neither fear nor ignorance.
St. Francis of Assisi, Admonitions, c.1220
 EUROPE 171

Popes and emperors

n FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY d 1049–1122

The collapse of the Roman Empire in the west

in the 5th century did not spell the end for POPE GREGORY VII
Christianity, as the Franks in Gaul soon became Known as Hildebrand, Gregory served as papal
Catholics, with the Visigoths (see p.163) following legate to France and Germany before becoming
in the late 6th century. Under the Frankish emperor pope. His papacy (1074–1085) was consumed by
the struggle with the German emperor Henry IV
Charlemagne, church and state enjoyed a close over investiture (see right). In the end Henry won
relationship, and Charlemagne often used the out, occupying Rome in 1084 and exiling Gregory
church’s spiritual authority to enhance his own. to southern Italy.

Papal reforms and the

investiture controversy
In the 11th century, relations between the secular
rulers and the church broke down. Pope Leo IX
(ruled 1049–1054) tried to limit practices such
as clerical marriage and simony (the purchase of
positions in the church hierarchy).
His protégé Pope Gregory VII sought to expand
the influence of the church, even if this meant
clashing with the authority of kings and princes.
In 1075, a dispute broke out over investiture
(the right to appoint bishops), which the Pope
declared his own, but to which the emperor had
historically laid claim. The German emperor
Henry IV persuaded his bishops to declare Gregory
deposed, and the Pope excommunicated the
emperor in response. His authority undermined,
and faced by a rebellion of German princes, Henry
was forced into a humiliating climb-down, and
at Canossa in Italy in 1077 had to do four days of
public penance, after which he received absolution.

Continued conflict
The conflict was only finally settled by the
Concordat of Worms in 1122. Disputes
over the borderline between papal
and secular authority never really
dissipated, and fed into the
discontents that would fuel
the Reformation (see p.218).

On the imperial crown of Otto I

(Holy Roman Emperor 962–976) the
biblical Solomon symbolizes
the wisdom of kings, illustrating
how secular rulers used Christian
imagery to bolster their authority.
 172 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Crusades
n LEBANON, SYRIA, PALESTINE, ISRAEL d 1095–1291

The capture of Jerusalem by Muslim armies in from Muslim rule. The crowd erupted with cries of
637 had long rankled in Europe, seeming to cut “It is the will of God,” and thousands of crusaders,
off Christianity from its wellsprings in the Holy as these soldiers became known, “took the cross”
Land. Nevertheless, for a long time Christian to join the military pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
pilgrims were in fact able to make the journey
to Jerusalem, but in the 11th century the expansion The First Crusades
of the Seljuk Turkish Sultanate (see p.156) The first of the armies to cross the Balkans into
threatened to prevent access to non-Muslim Anatolia was a rag-tag assortment of peasants,
travelers. In 1095, Byzantine emperor Alexius I some knights, and religious zealots, all under the
sent envoys to the West to plead for assistance. doubtful leadership of a charismatic preacher,
They found a willing listener in Pope Urban II. Peter the Hermit. They were soon cut to pieces
That November, in a field outside the cathedral at by the Turks. The force that followed them was far
Claremont in France, the Pope called for a military more professional: a largely Frankish army with a
expedition to liberate the Holy City of Jerusalem strong aristocratic component. Motivated by a mix
The crusaders’ sea
voyage to the Holy
Land was fraught with
danger, but avoided a
trek across Anatolia,
with its threat of
Turkish attack.
 The fort of Qalat
It is the will of God. al-Gundi was built by
Saladin, renowned for
Response of the crowd to Pope Urban II’s preaching of being a devout Muslim,
the First Crusade, at Claremont, November 1095 to guard pilgrimage
routes to Mecca from
the crusaders.
of religious idealism, eagerness to acquire new few months later seized Jerusalem itself. The
lands, and the simple attraction of a sanctioned Third Crusade, led by the German emperor
fight, the crusaders skirted Constantinople, then Frederick Barbarossa and the English and
beat the Seljuk Sultan Kilij Arslan at Dorylaeum French kings Richard the Lionheart and Philip
in July, forcing the Turks to stand aside and let Augustus, checked Saladin’s progress but did
them march into the Holy Land. After besieging not regain Jerusalem.
it for eight months, they took Antioch in June Thereafter the crusading movement declined:
1098 and then marched on the ultimate prize of the Fourth Crusade in 1204 was unable to even
Jerusalem. After another prolonged siege, the reach the Holy Land, the participants content to
city fell amid horrific bloodshed, as the crusaders sack the fellow-Christian city of Constantinople
slaughtered Muslims and Jews alike. and dismember the Byzantine Empire; while later
the Fifth (1217–1221) and subsequent crusades
Changing fortunes were sidetracked in Egypt. One by one the
The crusaders established a series of small states crusaders’ fortresses fell, until in 1291 the Mamluk
along the coastline of Palestine and inland in Syria, Sultan al-Ashraf Kalil stormed Acre, their last
chief among them the Kingdom of Jerusalem. They stronghold. Although the crusaders launched more
formed military orders of knights—the Templars expeditions, they were hopelessly unsuccessful,
and Hospitallers—who were sworn to monastic- and the age of the crusades was over.
type vows, but defended the Holy Land with
swords, not prayers. SALADIN
However, the Muslim forces regrouped, and
Founder of the Ayyubid dynasty and unifier of
they began to eat away at the crusader states, the Muslim states in the Middle East, Saladin
taking Edessa in 1144. A Second Crusade was ruled as sultan of Egypt from 1138 to 1193. This sumptuous
launched in 1145, but it met with limited success. Despite his victory against the crusaders cross is a sign both of
In the 1180s, most of Syria and Palestine united at Hattin, they considered him an honorable the crusaders’ wealth
and chivalrous leader. and the lavishness with
under the Muslim Sultan Saladin, who smashed which they adorned
the crusader armies at Hattin in 1187, and a religious symbols.
 The German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa
is shown here defeating the Seljuk Turks at
the Battle of Iconium, in May 1190 during the
Third Crusade. Shortly afterward, Barbarossa
drowned while crossing a river, undermining
the Crusade’s leadership.
176 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Black Death

n EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST d 1346–1351

Although Europe had experienced many serious The infection has three variants: bubonic plague,
outbreaks of disease (the first recorded being which is characterized by buboes, or swellings, of
the great pestilence that struck Athens in the neck, groin, and armpits; pneumonic plague,
430–429 bce), the most devastating of all which infects the lungs; and septicemic
struck in the mid-14th century, killing between plague, or blood poisoning.
one-third and half the continent’s population. The plague was transmitted via Constantinople
in 1347 and reached most parts of Europe during
The plague strikes 1348 and 1349. It caused widespread terror and
Known as the Black Death, the plague may have panic, and most attempts to fight its spread were
spread to Europe from central Asia. Theories useless. Macabre outbreaks of religious fervor
abound on what caused the disease, although accompanied the progress of the disease, and
it is widely supposed to have been Yersinia the Danse Macabre, or “dance of death,” became
pestis, a bacterium carried by fleas on rodents. a common artistic motif of the afflicted times.
The bacterial infection is transferred to humans By 1350, the Black Death had largely run
when the fleas feed on human blood. its course, but with somewhere between 25 and
50 million Europeans dead, a sudden shortage
of labor may have contributed to profound social
So many died changes. The peasantry found their diminished

that all believed it numbers led to a greater demand for their

services, which meant that their living conditions
was the end of and legal rights greatly improved.

the world. Physicians used leeches to try to cure patients.

As the leech drew blood, so “noxious vapors”
Italian chronicler Agnolo di Tura causing the disease might be removed from
on the Black Death in Siena, c.1350 his or her body.
 EUROPE 177

The Hundred Years’ War

n FRANCE d 1337–1453

In the 12th century, the Plantagenet kings of

England acquired territories in France. This
sparked hostility between the English and French,
eventually leading to the Hundred Years’ War.

War breaks out

In 1328, Edward III of England sought
to assert his claim to the French throne
by right of his grandfather, Philip IV
of France. Once rebuffed, Edward
prepared for war. Open conflict
broke out in 1337, culminating in an
English invasion of northern France Henry V led
in 1346. Edward was victorious at Crécy England to a
decisive victory at
(1346) and Poitiers (1360), leading to the Agincourt, northern
Treaty of Brétigny, by which England was France, in 1415.
left in possession of much of northern
and western France. From 1369, under the
French king Charles V, war broke out again
when the French pushed back the English,
who responded with a series of devastating
raids (or chevauchées). However, the English
failed to recover the lost ground.
Henry V of England relaunched the war in
1415, gaining victory at Agincourt and securing
almost all France north of the Loire. Inspired
by Joan of Arc, a dejected France recovered to
take the last English outposts in Gascony in the
1450s. After a final defeat at Castillon in 1453,
the English were left with almost no territory
in France, save Calais.

JOAN OF ARC
Born in 1412, Joan of
Arc claimed she had
seen visions that
inspired her to come
to the aid of France.
She reinvigorated
the French to defend
Orléans in 1429, but
she was allowed to fall
into the hands of the
English, who burned
her as a heretic.
178 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Byzantine Empire
After 395 ce, the Roman Empire was divided into two halves, and
its eastern portion, which survived the fall of Rome, is known as the
Byzantine Empire. With their capital at Constantinople, the Byzantine
emperors experienced centuries of barbarian invasions, periods
of resurgence and reconquest, and Muslim-Arab invasions that
cut away half their territory. Then, finally, 1,000 years after Rome’s
fall, they succumbed to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

The early Byzantine Empire

n NEAR EAST, ANATOLIA, BALKANS, N AFRICA d 395–717

In the 5th century ce, barbarian rulers invaded part realms severely weakened. The invasions by
of the eastern Roman Empire, but the Byzantines Muslim-Arab armies from the 620s led to the fall
weathered the storm, maintained their position, of Jerusalem in 637, of Alexandria (and Egypt)
and, under Justinian (ruled 527–565 ce), even in 640, and finally of Carthage in 698, spelling the
managed to reconquer many of the lost provinces end of Byzantine North Africa. When Arab armies
in North Africa and Italy. besieged Constantinople in 717, it looked as if
These were brittle victories, however, and many the empire was finished.
of the devastated territories produced little tax
revenue, or loyalty. In 568 ce, the Byzantines lost
much of Italy to the Lombards (see p.162), and A mosaic depicting Justinian from
the Church of San Vitale, Ravenna, Italy.
exhausting wars with the Persian Empire, which Justinian’s legal reforms made him a
ended in a Byzantine victory in 628, left both hugely respected emperor.
 BYZANTINE EMPIRE 179

Byzantine survival and fall

n NEAR EAST, ANATOLIA, BALKANS d 717–1453

The Byzantine emperor Leo III (ruled 717–741)

fended off Arab invasion in 717 with the aid of
the Bulgarian khan (ruler). In the mid-8th century,
Leo III weakened the empire by causing uproar
when he banned religious icons, claiming they
were tantamount to idol worship.
From the 9th century, under the Macedonian
dynasty, the empire began to recover. Nicephorus
Phocas (ruled 963–969) won a string of victories in
Syria, and John Tzimiskes (ruled 969–976) defeated
the Bulgar tsar Boris II, thereby securing the
empire’s position in the Balkans, and reconquered
large parts of Syria.

The revival peaks and falters

Under Basil II, “the Bulgar-Slayer” (ruled 963–1025),
the revival of the empire seemed to be complete. The
Bulgars were smashed at the Battle of Kleidion
(1014), and much of southern Italy was retaken.
But Basil neglected the empire’s eastern frontier
and his successors ignored the army, allowing
the Seljuk Turks (see p.156) to make incursions
into the empire, massacring the Byzantine army
at Manzikert in 1071. Much of Asia Minor was lost
by 1080, and only the energy of Alexius I Comnenus
(ruled 1081–1118) staved off disaster.
Nevertheless, Byzantium’s fatal decline had
now set in. Newly assertive enemies such as
the Normans chipped away at Byzantine Italy A view of Constantinople, from a late
15th century German history, shows the city
and, in the Balkans, the Slav kingdoms grew as imagined a short time after its fall to the
ever stronger. Against the relentless pressure Ottoman Turks in 1453.
of the Seljuk and Ottoman Turks, even the
most energetic emperors could do little more isolated, beleaguered outpost. On May 29, 1453,
than slow the pace of collapse. By the early the army of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II
15th century, Byzantium controlled just a few stormed the city walls and the Byzantine
territories and Constantinople had become an Empire came to an end.

BASIL THE BULGAR-SLAYER

The greatest of the Macedonian emperors, Basil ascended the throne as an infant in 963, but did
not rule in his own right until 976. In 995, he rampaged through the Near East, sacking a string
of Arab cities and securing control of northern Syria. From 1000, he won his greatest triumphs
against the Bulgars, culminating in the victory at Kleidion in 1014, after which he is said to have
blinded all but one man in every 100 of his prisoners, sending the stumbling mass back to the
Bulgarian Tsar Samuel, who died of shock and shame.
180 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Americas
During the 9th century, the lowland Maya city-states were abandoned,
leading to the end of the Classic era in Central America, but the Maya
did continue to flourish in the northern Yucatán. In Mexico, the Toltecs
built ceremonial centers and then, in the 14th century, the Aztecs
established a great empire. In the 15th century in South America,
the cultures of Tiwanaku and Wari gave rise to the greatest and
most advanced empire Peru had yet known, that of the Incas.

The Toltecs
n CENTRAL MEXICO d c.900–c.1180

Around the 9th century, Mexico gave birth to

new, more militarized cultures, well placed
to take advantage of the persistent warfare of
the region. Among them were the Chichimecs,
nomadic invaders from the north, and a more
advanced culture known as the Toltecs, from
whom the Aztecs claimed descent.

The Toltec capital

The Toltecs first entered Mexico in the early
10th century and, under their ruler Topiltzin
Quetzalcoatl, made a capital at Tollan (modern-
day Tula). From here, between 950 and 1150,
they held sway over a portion of the valleys of
Mexico, Puebla, and Morelos. The racks at Tula
that held the skulls of dead enemies, and the
sacrificial motifs prevalent in its reliefs, speak
of a warrior culture. Around 1180, outsiders
invaded Tollan, burning the city and ending
Toltec dominance in central Mexico.

One of the Atlantes—monumental columns

carved in the form of Toltec warriors—that
expressed the Toltecs’ militaristic ideology
in stone.
 THE AMERICAS 181

The Maya
n MEXICO, GUATEMALA d c.800–1697

Historians have proposed many explanations for The vivid murals from Bonampak (near
the sudden collapse of the lowland Maya city-states Yaxchilán) date from the late 8th century and
are some of the finest surviving examples of
during the 800s—from natural causes, such as Maya painting.
disease or climate change, to soil exhaustion, war,
or loss of control by the ruling classes. However, bears a striking resemblance to that of the Toltec
no theory has yet been proven absolutely. capital Tollan, which flourished around the same
After c.900, all the main Maya centers were time. It is unclear what form of contact took place
in the northern part of the Yucatán. One, Chichen between Chichen Itzá and Tollan, but there must
Itzá, had been founded in the second half of the have been extensive cultural and trade links
8th century by a confederation of various Maya across Mexico.
lowland groups and the Itzá people. After Chichen Itzá’s collapse, Mayapán took
over as the leading Maya city, ruling a confederacy
Chichen Itzá of peoples that lasted until the arrival of the
The city, which experimented with new rituals Spanish in the 16th century. Maya resistance to This limestone
and forms of shared government, was a thriving the Spanish was fierce, and independent Maya carving from
the Mayan city of
community in the 9th to 11th centuries, but states lasted until the conquest of the final Itzá Yaxchilán depicts
collapsed thereafter. The architecture of the city capital of Nojpeten (Tayasal) in 1697. a bloodletting ritual.
 182 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The Aztecs
n MEXICO d c.1168–1520

Detail from the

Codex Cospi, an
illustrated Aztec
divinatory calendar,
made from thin strips
of plant fibers covered
with whitewash.

The Aztecs, or the Mexica as they called themselves, brokered a triple alliance that united his city
began as an insignificant group in the Valley of with the cities of Texcoco and Tlacopan. In time,
Mexico, an area racked by constant warfare in the though, the Aztecs exploited their allies and
13th century and ruled by petty kingdoms. They went on to conquer all of Mexico. By 1500,
grew to be, by the 15th century, the most powerful even parts of Guatemala and El Salvador paid
people in Mesoamerica. tribute to the Aztec empire. Yet soon after the
Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519 (see p.209),
The Aztec empire the Aztec civilization collapsed.
Aztec tradition relates that their peoples migrated
from a land in the north named “Aztlán” in 1168, Aztec religion
and in 1375, they appointed their first tlatoani The Aztecs had a large number of gods related
(king), possibly from a family of Toltec origin. to the creation of the cosmos, to the sun, and to
He ruled from Tenochtitlán (modern Mexico City), fertility, death, and war. The two main temples
at the time the largest and most powerful city in of Tenochtitlán were dedicated to Huitzilopochtli,
Mesoamerica. In the vast marshes that surrounded the god of war, and Tlaloc, the god of rain and
Tenochtitlán, the Aztecs built dams to trap the water. Another important god, Quetzalcoatl, was
fresh water from the rivers that flowed into the the feathered-serpent god of wind, creativity, and
lake. They also grew crops on chinampas, artificial fertility. The Aztecs believed that if they did not
islands created in the shallow lake. In 1429, the satisfy the gods with sacrifices of blood, the sun
fourth Aztec ruler, Itzcoatl (ruled 1428–1440), would not continue its journey across the sky.

Sacrificial knives, such as this Aztec priest’s

knife with an ornately carved handle, were
used to dispatch thousands of people at the
temples each year.
 THE AMERICAS 183

Early North American cultures

n SW AND MIDWESTERN USA d c.700–c.1450

In southwest North America, small villages sheltered by canyon walls. By 1300, however,
subsisting on corn gradually merged into three most of these were abandoned, possibly
principal cultures—the Hohokam, the Mogollon, because of crop failure.
and the Anasazi—by 700.
By 900, the Hohokam, the earliest of the three Mound-dwellers
traditions, had built canals up to 9 miles (15 km) Farther to the east, a separate group of cultures
long and a sophisticated irrigation network emerged in the Middle Mississippi Valley. Here, This ornamental
that allowed them to grow two crops a year. at the turn of the 8th century, sizeable towns gorget from the
Mississippian culture
Strongly influenced by Mexico, in their major appeared, most featuring large, rectangular was worn over the
settlements at Snaketown and Pueblo Grande mounds. The towns served as administrative chest with a hide thong.
they constructed ballcourts and platform temples and ceremonial centers for the Adena and
in the Mesoamerican style. From the 10th century, Hopewell peoples.
the Mogollon, to the southeast of the Hohokam, The greatest was Cahokia, at the confluence
lived in large adobe-built complexes (pueblos), of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. By the “The Cliff Palace”
and from earliest times were expert potters. 13th century, Cahokia had a population of 30,000, at Chapin Mesa is one
The most widespread culture of the three was with more than a hundred flat mounds containing of the largest Anasazi
cliff-dwellings. It
the Anasazi, which reached its height between high-status graves. By 1450, however, Cahokia
housed some 100
900 and 1100. Around 1100, the Anasazi left their was abandoned, possibly after an epidemic people between about
pueblos and began to take refuge in cliff-dwellings of disease. 1190 and 1280.
 184 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

The great Gateway

of the Sun, Tiwanaku’s
Early cultures of South America
largest monumental n PERU AND BOLIVIA d c.650–c.1470
portal, with its semi-
subterranean temple From around 650, the highlands of the central rapidly, with most of the satellite colonies
in the foreground.
Andes in South America came to be dominated appearing around 650. Around 900, the Wari
by a series of empires. Empire dissolved, possibly because of internal
revolts that broke the bonds of a domain held
Tiwanaku and Wari together by military strength.
The earliest of these empires was Tiwanaku. Its
capital was positioned on the high altiplano of The Chimú
Bolivia. By 500 ce, its influence had spread into The collapse of the Moche culture around 800
parts of the southern Andes and, at its peak, the (see p.131) left a political vacuum in coastal Peru.
city had around 50,000 inhabitants. The city was After the brief flourishing of a people known as
characterized by great monolithic portals, the Sican, this void was eventually filled by the
dedicated to a solar “gateway god.” Chimú, who established their capital at Chan
The Tiwanaku rulers ordered large agricultural Chan near the Pacific coast around 900.
complexes of terraced fields to be built and Characterized by vast ciudadelas (palace
controlled a thriving trade in textiles, pottery, compounds), at its height Chan Chan covered
and gold. In the end, it was probably a drought some 5,000 acres (20 sq km) and had a population
that saw Tiwanaku abandoned around 1000. as high as 35,000. The ciudadelas formed the
Around 435 miles (700 km) northwest of enclosures of the Chimú lords, who from 1150
A feather hat Tiwanaku, the city of Wari emerged around 600. embarked on the conquest of the north coast
from Peru’s highland Its culture was characterized by large high-walled of Peru. Ultimately, around 1370, this brought
Wari culture, richly enclosures, scattered throughout Peru, where them into conflict with the growing power of the
decorated with
ferocious stylized the Wari elite lived, dominating the local people by Incas (see facing page), who a century later finally
animal heads. force. The empire seems to have been established conquered Chan Chan.
 THE AMERICAS 185

The Inca Empire

n PERU AND BOLIVIA d c.1300–1532

The Incas first settled high in the Peruvian Andes

around modern Cuzco about 1300. However, in PACHACUTI
1438, under their leader Pachacuti (“transformer The ninth Sapa Inca, Pachacuti (ruled 1438–1471)
of the earth”), the Incas’ expansion began in vastly extended the Inca Empire, sending his
earnest, until the culture dominated much of armies north almost to Quito, and south nearly to
Sucre in Bolivia. He rebuilt Cuzco in the shape of a
modern Peru and Bolivia—an area they called puma and strengthened the cult of the sun god Inti.
Tawantinsuyu, “the Land of the Four Quarters.”
Around 1470, the Inca Empire absorbed its most
dangerous rival, conquering the Chimú capital of
Chan Chan, and by 1493, Inca rule reached north central plaza and in which the Spanish
to Quito in Ecuador. conquistadors would find an entire replica garden
of precious materials, including “corn” with
Hierarchy, administration, stems of silver and ears made from gold.
and religion
Pachacuti and his son Tupac Inca created a federal
system consisting of four provinces, each overseen
by an Inca governor. At the top of the empire’s
social hierarchy was the Sapa Inca, whose rule
was absolute in political and religious affairs.
A complex bureaucracy administered his
empire but, being absolutely dependent on
him, the whole system crumbled when the
Sapa Inca fell into the hands of Spanish
invaders in the 1530s (see p.209).
The empire was linked by a network
of roads, many of them paved, which
connected the outlying regions to
the capital Cuzco. The Incas had
no horses, nor had they discovered
the use of the wheel for transport,
so relays of runners carried
messages, while llamas served
as pack animals.
Lacking a developed system
of writing, the Incas kept records
on quipus, collections of colored
threads that were knotted to calculate
taxation, keep records of livestock,
and pass on simple messages. The Inca
built large temples, many of them to the
sun-god Inti. The most important of these
was the Qorikancha, which lay close to Cuzco’s

This gold disc representing the sun god Inti

is one of the few Inca artifacts that the Spanish
conquerors failed to melt down.
 The city of Machu Picchu was constructed
in the mid-15th century, probably by the
Inca ruler Pachacuti. Dramatically situated,
it most likely served as a religious center
rather than a defensive one, and was
abandoned a short time before the Spanish
conquest of 1532–1533.
188 THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 600–1450

Polynesia
Beginning around 200 bce, the Polynesian people began a major
expansion and by approximately 1000 ce, settlers had explored
and settled all corners of the South Pacific, achieving astonishing
feats of long-distance navigation. At their farthest extent, they
reached New Zealand and Easter Island, and established a
diverse range of cultures, making the Polynesians the most
widely dispersed ethnic group of the time.

Polynesian expansion and navigation

n POLYNESIA d c.200 BCE–c.1000 CE

The Polynesian people are likely to have islands north of Australia. This cultural mix gave
descended from a southeast Asian group, possibly rise to the Lapita culture, whose fine red pottery
from modern Taiwan, and have genetic affinities dates back to around 1600 bce.
to a people indigenous to Melanesia, a group of
The great Polynesian expansion
The Lapita people used stone adzes and cultivated
yam and taro, as well as coconut, breadfruit, and
bananas, and they domesticated pigs and chickens—
all elements that would form an important part of
later Polynesian culture.
Excellent navigators, they used outrigger
canoes to traverse great distances. To guide them,
they used the stars, birds, winds, currents, and
tides, and may also have used charts made of
sticks. They reached the Marquesas Islands around
200 bce; Easter Island, Tahiti, and Hawaii in about
400 ce; and finally New Zealand around 1000. At
each they established chiefdoms, which led to the
growth of sophisticated and hierarchical societies.

This model of a Polynesian canoe shows the

double hull that lent the necessary stability for
ocean voyages.
 POLYNESIA 189

The Maori
n NEW ZEALAND d c.1000–1840

New Zealand was the last major area to be settled The population on North Island increased
by the Polynesians, who reached it around 1000. significantly, and the period after 1350,
Its climate is very different from tropical Polynesia, known as the Classic era, saw the building
which led to changes in established Polynesian of massive earthwork forts, with rich burials.
ways of life. Of the traditional Polynesian crops, There appears to have been an upsurge in
only the sweet potato took hold. Much of South warfare between competing Maori groups,
Island was not viable for agriculture, promoting with the building of even larger forts (pa) with Maori tiki talismans
a culture based on fishing, hunting, and gathering. complexes of terraces and ditches. Despite were traditionally
Around 1300, the Maori, as the descendants their strikingly rich culture, the Maori never worn for good luck,
of the original settlers are known, did turn united politically, putting them at a disadvantage and by women
to guard against
more to agriculture, probably because food when European colonists arrived in the infertility. This one is
for hunting became scarce. 19th century. made in greenstone.

Easter Island
n EASTER ISLAND d c.400–1868

Easter Island (or to give it its Polynesian name, ash and required enormous use of resources
Rapa Nui) is one of the most isolated islands to move from the stone quarries and erect.
in Polynesia. It lies 1,290 miles (2,000 km) from Eventually, some time after 1600, when the
its closest neighbor and may have been settled last trees were cut, the islands’ ecosystem
by Polynesians around 400. collapsed as soil erosion leeched the land of
Between 1000 and 1200, the trees on Easter its ability to bear crops, and there was no more
Island began to disappear. This seems largely wood to build boats for fishing. In the ensuing Re-erected
to have been triggered by the colonists’ obsessive social turmoil, the moai were deliberately thrown moai statues on
Easter Island are
construction of giant stone heads, called moai. They down beginning in the early 18th century, so that believed to embody
were carved in one piece from compressed volcanic by 1868, none were left intact. revered ancestors.
The Early
Modern World
 192 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD

The world in 1450–1750

Europe underwent a cultural revolution—the Renaissance—in the
15th and 16th centuries, in which much of the continent’s ancient
learning was rediscovered. A spirit of scientific inquiry arose that
provided key technological advantages over the rest of the world,
and voyages of exploration soon became tidal waves of colonization,

G reenland

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Holy Roman Empire

 THE WORLD IN 1450–1750 193

reaching most parts of the globe. By the mid-18th century, several

European countries were global powers, though their rise was not
unopposed. Ming and Qing China, Mughal India, Safavid Persia, and
the Ottomans resisted Europe’s expansion, but their resources were
overwhelmed by superior technology and organization.

The early modern

world in 1700
By 1700, most of Central and
South America (except Brazil)
was controlled by Spain, with large
S i b e r i a Chukc
hi British and French colonies in North
America. Muslim empires were at
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modern Turkey. The Russian empire
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O C E A N ravaged much of central Europe. In
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weak, but the Austrian Habsburgs
New held extensive territories and had
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control of the Balkans. Expansion by

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the Russians brought them into conflict

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with Poland–Lithuania and Sweden.

 194 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

Asia
The period from 1450 to 1650 was a time of great turmoil for Asia.
China saw the collapse of the Ming dynasty and its replacement
by the Qing, a dynasty that originated from Manchuria, in the
northeast. In Japan, meanwhile, a series of bitter civil wars ended
with unification under the Tokugawa shoguns. In western Asia,
three Muslim empires arose to dominate the region: the Mughals
in India, the Ottomans in Turkey, and the Safavids in Persia.

Decline of the Ming

n CHINA d 1449–1644

The Ming dynasty’s last wave of expansionism

ended in 1449 when the Mongols captured
Emperor Zhengtong (ruled 1436–1449 and
The Temple of 1457–1464). Rejecting further military adventures,
Heaven, Beijing, is subsequent emperors focused on affairs at home.
a relic of the Ming
dynasty’s architectural
splendor. The Later Ming Rulers
Emperors such as Jiajing (1521–1567) and Wanli
(1572–1620) became, however, ever more
remote from their subjects, and government fell
increasingly under the control of palace eunuchs.
With the morale of the regime in decline and
a realization in the provinces that the emperor
would do nothing for them, by the 1640s the Ming’s
hold on power was in desperate trouble. A series
of peasant uprisings culminated in April 1644 in
the capture of the capital Beijing by the
rebel peasant leader Li Zicheng. Li
tried to persuade the Ming frontier
commander Wu Sangui to join him,
but Wu instead allowed the Qing
through the frontier (see facing page).
With his capital lost and his rule
overthrown, the last Ming
emperor, Chongzhen
(ruled 1627–1644),
committed suicide.
 ASIA 195

The rise of the Qing

n CHINA d 1616–50

In northeastern China, an area that lay outside

Ming control, a group called the Jurchens,
descendants of the Jin dynasty (1115–1234 ce),
began, in the late 16th century, to absorb their
neighboring peoples. In 1616 their leader
Nurhaci founded the Later Jin dynasty and
formally organized both his people and the
Mongol tribes of the region.
The population was enrolled into four military
units called banners, each identified by the
color of its standard. Nurhaci’s successor Huang
Taiji (ruled 1626–1643) introduced Chinese-style
institutions among the Jurchen, changing
the name of his people in 1636 to Manchu, and
restyling the dynasty in 1637 as Qing. In 1644,
expanding into territory farther south, the Qing
took control of the Ming capital Beijing from rebel
forces (see facing page) and installed six-year-old A mounted warrior,
Shunzhi as emperor (ruled 1644–1661). Qing forces typical of the Qing
went on sweeping south, crushing any resistance. fighters who fought
sporadic Ming
By 1650, apart from isolated holdouts such as resistance in
Taiwan, Qing control over China was complete. the 1640s.

China under the Qing

n CHINA d 1644–1795 ce

The Qing bureaucracy in China retained influences from outside China. Kangxi
many features of the earlier Ming passed an “edict of toleration”
system, but caused resentment that enabled the spread of
by decreeing that all Chinese Christian Jesuit missions,
men adopt the traditional while exports of tea,
Qing hairstyle—a shaved silk, and ceramics to
forehead and long, braided Europe burgeoned.
ponytail or queue. The
successors of Shunzhi
(see above)—Kangxi
(ruled 1661–1722),
Yongzheng (ruled
1722–1735), and Qianlong
(ruled 1736–1796)—
presided over the period of A sinuous dragon
greatest expansion. The Qing coils around a panel
absorbed Outer Mongolia, and from the Dazheng Hall
of the Shenyang Palace in
claimed Tibet as a protectorate in northeast China, the original
1750. This was also a time of residence of the Qing rulers.
 196 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

Japan united and the

Tokugawa shogunate
n JAPAN d 1560–1800

In the mid-1500s, Japan was fragmented into

many semi-independent domains, each ruled
by a separate daimyo (warlord), while the shogun
(ruler of the military), and even more so the
emperor, were powerless to exert their authority.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi Gradually, groups of daimyo clustered together
was one of Nobunaga’s and, in 1560, the leader of one group, Imagawa
chief generals,
with considerable Yoshimoto, tried to take control of the royal capital,
military talent. Kyoto. To do so he had to cross the lands of
Oda Nobunaga, who cut his forces to pieces.
Nobunaga then entered Kyoto himself, beginning
a 40-year process of Japanese unification.

Nobunaga and Hideyoshi

By 1577, Nobunaga had conquered central
Japan; he then moved against more distant
daimyo. His chief general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi,
was engaged in a bitter struggle against the
powerful Mori clan of northern Honshu when
Nobunaga was assassinated in 1582. Hideyoshi
broke off the conflict in order to take over
Nobunaga’s mantle as head of the unification
drive. He had still to overcome six major daimyo
groupings, finally forcing the capitulation of the
most powerful, the Hojo of Odawara, in 1590.

Ieyasu completes the unification

Hideyoshi died in 1598, and a power struggle
immediately broke out, from which Tokugawa
Ieyasu emerged the victor, smashing his opponents’ tracts of land from the defeated daimyo, he
armies at Sekigahara in 1600. Confiscating vast established himself as shogun, but with an
unparalleled monopoly on power. Ieyasu made
Edo (Tokyo) the new, military capital of Japan. The
TOKUGAWA IEYASU emperor and his court, although revered, retained
only ceremonial stature at Kyoto, and Japanese
Born Matsudaira Takechiyo in 1542, Tokugawa
Ieyasu was a claimant to succeed Oda Nobunaga society became more structured. Extensive
as shogun in 1582, but was outmaneuvered by legislation established a hierarchy of four
another general, Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Only once classes: samurai, farmer, artisan, and merchant.
Hideyoshi had died, and Ieyasu had won a decisive
victory over other rivals at the battle of Sekigahara,
did he finally take over the shogunate. His reforms Japan turns inward
stabilized the power of the Tokugawa shogunate, Under the Tokugawa, Confucian doctrines began
strengthening it against challenges from regional to exert a greater influence in Japan. With its
daimyo (warlords). He died in 1616, leaving Japan’s
unification as his legacy.
emphasis on loyalty to the political order and
social stability, Confucianism suited the regime
 The Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu) was Many of the elements recognized as the keystones
refined in the Tokugawa era, becoming a symbol of Japanese traditional culture emerged during this
of the delicate etiquette that held together the
society of the age. period, such as haiku poetry, flower arranging, the
tea ceremony, the final form of Noh theatre, and
well, and went hand-in-hand with a closing Ukiyo-e (“pictures of the floating world”) prints.
inward of Japan. In 1612, Tokugawa Hidetada Yet, for all its unchallenged authority, the later
(ruled 1605–1623) confirmed a policy of national Tokugawa regime was inflexible. Its seclusion
seclusion (known as sakoku) and, in 1614, foreign from the outside world made Japan ill-prepared
trade was restricted to the cities of Nagasaki to face a resurgent and industrialized Europe
and Hirado in southern Kyushu. By 1639, the in the 19th century that was very different
Portuguese traders had been expelled and from the Europe it had turned its back on.
the Dutch confined to a small island off Nagasaki.
Tokugawa rule brought Japan two centuries
A Japanese mask used in Noh theatre.
of relative peace and tranquility, as well as The restraint and elegance of Noh appealed
a cultural flowering. to upper-class Japanese Edo society.
198 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

India under the Mughals

n INDIA d 1526–1739

Ultimately one of the most powerful states of the

17th century, the Islamic Mughal Empire had much
more modest beginnings in the efforts of Babur, an
ambitious Central Asian princeling who wanted to
carve himself a territory near Samarkand. In 1504,
Babur seized Kabul in modern Afghanistan and the
next year he launched his first raid into India.

Babur and Humayun

In 1519, Babur launched a concerted bid to unseat
the Lodi sultans of Delhi (see p.159). In April 1526,
at Panipat, Babur crushed the army of Ibrahim
Lodi. He then marched on and took not only Delhi
but also Agra, where the Lodi treasury was lodged.
Moving west, at Khanwa the following year he
defeated a huge army raised by Rana Sangha of
Mewar (in modern-day Rajasthan). By the time
of his death in 1530, Babur had consolidated his
position as master of the rich cities of northern
India. His son Humayun, however, met with less
success. By 1540, he had lost his father’s kingdom
to the Afghan ruler Sher Shah Suri, and was in
exile at the Safavid court in Persia. In 1555,
with the support of the Persians (see pp.204–5),
he restored Mughal rule by pushing aside Sher
Shah’s feeble successors. He died soon after,
leaving the empire to his 12-year-old son Akbar.

BABUR
Founder of the
Mughals, Babur
(ruled 1526–1530)
was descended from
the Mongol conqueror
Tamerlane, who had
raided Delhi in 1328.
Babur outdid him by
capturing the city
and becoming the
first Mughal emperor.

A Mughal miniature of the Battle of Panipat

(1526) clearly shows the cannons, part of the
arsenal of firearms that was instrumental in
Babur’s victory.
The reign of Akbar Akbar ordered a lavish new capital at
At first under the tutelage of the capable regent Fatehpur Sikri, 28 miles (45 km) from Agra.
The word fateh means “victory,” commemorating
Bairam Khan, Akbar oversaw a vast extension of Babur’s triumphs.
Mughal territory. In his lifetime Mughal dominion
expanded to reach from Kashmir in the north and Shahjahanabad—centered on the Red Fort and the
Afghanistan in the northwest to Bengal in the east Jama Masjid; and the majestic Taj Mahal at Agra.
and the Deccan plateau in the south. To consolidate These huge projects were symbols of Mughal
his position, Akbar established a centralized wealth gained from flourishing agriculture and
system of government, administered by warrior- trade. In 1657, Shah Jahan fell gravely ill. Without
aristocrats (mansabdars). The most senior of these waiting to see the outcome of their father’s illness,
were paid with land grants (jagirs), and held the his sons threw themselves with great gusto into
right to collect tax from this land. Akbar promoted a vicious and damaging civil war, from which
a policy of religious tolerance. He reduced the Aurangzeb, the third son, emerged victorious
influence of the Muslim scholars (ulama) on in 1660. Shah Jahan had by now recovered, but
government policy, abolished taxes on non-Muslims Aurangzeb locked him away in the palace at Agra,
(jizya), and replaced the Muslim lunar calendar with where he died, neglected and bitter, in 1666.
a solar one. He thereby avoided dissension among
his many non-Muslim subjects. Aurangzeb and the decline
Akbar’s reign also saw a cultural renaissance. of the empire
A new style of north Indian classical music Aurangzeb oversaw the expansion of the empire
flourished, as did an enormously productive to its greatest extent, yet he also sowed the seeds
school of Mughal painting that combined Persian of its decline. He was often away on campaigns,
and Indian styles. and his efforts to defeat the Maratha confederacy
of Shivaji in the south, which was seeking to build
Jahangir and Shah Jahan an empire of its own, met with little success.
Akbar died in 1605, and was succeeded by his He was also intolerant in religious matters,
son Jahangir, who had already tried several times reimposing taxes on Hindu pilgrims and, in
to depose him. In turn, Jahangir faced a rebellion 1670, reinstating the jizya tax on all non-Muslims.
in 1623 by his third son, Khurram, which ended All these moves polarized opinion of him and
only a year before Jahangir’s death in 1627. undermined his support among the vast numbers
A civil war instantly erupted among Jahangir’s four of Hindus and Sikhs in the Mughal Empire.
sons over the succession. Aurangzeb died in 1707 and a rapid succession
The victor, Khurram, who took the name Shah of weak rulers further undermined Mughal power.
Jahan (ruled 1628–1658), contributed some of the In 1739, Nadir Shah, the ruler of Persia, sacked The Mughal court
excelled in decorative
Mughal Empire’s greatest surviving monuments, Delhi and seized the Mughal treasury. As a serious arts, architecture, and
including a new capital at Delhi—which he called political force, the Mughal Empire was now dead. producing miniatures.
 The Taj Mahal, at Agra, is Mughal emperor
Shah Jahan’s stunning mausoleum for his
wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died in childbirth
in 1631. It is the ultimate Mughal garden
tomb, representing paradise on earth,
and took from 1632 to 1654 to complete.
Shah Jahan is buried there, too.
202 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

The Ottoman Empire

n TURKEY, NEAR EAST, BALKANS, N AFRICA d 1453–1739

After their conquest of the Byzantine Empire in westward expansion. The remnant of Hungary,
1453 under their Sultan Mehmet II (see p.179), and a fiercely independent Albanian principality
Ottoman armies surged forward into the Balkans. under the rule of the warrior-prince Skanderbeg,
However, failure to capture Belgrade (then kept a watchful eye on their new Turkish
in Hungary) in 1456 put a temporary halt to neighbors. The Ottomans turned their attention
east, where the growing power of Safavid Persia
(see pp.204–5) threatened to stem or even
reverse the Ottoman tide.

The height of
Ottoman power
It was not until the Battle of Chaldiran in 1514
that Selim I (ruled 1512–1520) was able to best
the Safavid dynasty. The Ottomans then pushed
rapidly forward, capturing the holy sites in
Jerusalem, and in 1517 overthrowing the
Mamluk rulers of Egypt by capturing Cairo.
In 1520, Suleyman, Selim’s son, took charge. In
1523, he captured the island of Rhodes, which
was the stronghold of the Knights of St. John,
a military order of the crusader era.
Having stabilized the situation in Egypt
with a new law code in 1525 that appeased
local resentment, Suleyman turned once more
to war with an attack on Hungary. At Mohács in
1526, he cut to pieces the army of Louis II of
Hungary, resulting in the division of the kingdom
between the Ottomans and the Austrian
Habsburgs. In 1529, Suleyman attempted to take
by siege the Habsburg capital of Vienna, but this
marked a watershed in his territorial ambitions,
and after only three weeks his army, frustrated,
retired into Hungary.

The beginning of decline

Suleyman’s personal life was less fortunate.
His two favorite sons, Mustafa and Bayezid,
were accused of conspiring against him.
To save his throne, Suleyman was forced to
have them both executed (in 1553 and 1562),
casting a shadow over the rest of his reign. He
died on a final Hungarian campaign in 1566

Ottoman forces equipped with cannons tried to

capture Vienna in 1529, but Suleyman’s army was
unable to dislodge the city’s defenders.
 ASIA 203

Kara Mustafa continued Koprülü’s ambitions,

SULEYMAN I besieging Vienna in 1683. Once again, however,
Known in the West the Turks were forced to abandon the siege.
as “the Magnificent” A steady European encroachment on Ottoman
and to Islamic lands began, spearheaded by the Habsburgs.
writers as Kanuni
(“the lawgiver”), Belgrade and Serbia were lost by the Treaty
Suleyman (ruled of Passarowitz in 1718, but Mahmud I (ruled
1520–1566) was 1730–54) brought respite by negotiating the
one of the greatest
Ottoman sultans
Treaty of Belgrade in 1739.
and believed Amazingly, though the Ottomans were
himself to be the militarily enfeebled, racked by revolt, and faced
spiritual heir of constant threat from, or actual secession of, its
Alexander the Great
(see pp.96–7) and Julius Caesar (see p.104). borderlands, the empire still experienced a golden
By the time of Suleyman’s death, the Ottomans cultural age in the late 17th and 18th centuries.
controlled large parts of southeast Europe, A refined court culture—the “Tulip Age”—belied
the North African coast, and the Middle East.
the reality of a state that, within 150 years, would
lose most of its European lands.

and the throne fell to his third son Selim, Decorative tilework, often created using
nicknamed “the drunkard,” whose rule was recycled material from older structures, was
a feature of Ottoman architecture.
of a very different nature. Selim’s formative
experiences were in the enclosed world of
the harem of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul.
He had little or no military training, and like
subsequent sultans, relied on viziers (ministers) to
control the empire. Lacking the sultan’s controlling
hand, the empire fell prey to competing elements
in the government: the Diwan (supreme court); the
Grand Vizier (chief minister); and the janissaries
(elite army units).

The demise
and the Tulip Age
In the 1650s, Mehmet Koprülü, the Grand
Vizier to Mehmet IV (ruled 1648–1687), began
a systematic attempt to root out corruption.
He also planned a resumption of Ottoman
conquest, but died in 1661 before his plans
could come to fruition. His brother-in-law

I am God’s slave and sultan of

this world… in Baghdad I am shah,
in Byzantine realms the Caesar, and
in Egypt the sultan.
Inscription of Suleyman the Magnificent
on the citadel of Bender, Moldavia, 1538
204 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

Safavid Persia
n PERSIA d 1501–1736

Following the collapse in 1335 of the Mongol in 1514, where the Ottoman Sultan Selim I defeated
Il-khanate, which had ruled Persia since the Ismail and prevented the absorption of eastern
1250s, the country dissolved into a collection Anatolia into the Safavid empire.
of successor states. Then, from the 1370s,
Tamerlane, a steppe conqueror in the tradition The height of power
of Genghis Khan (see p.143), built a vast Central By 1513, Ismail had created a stable frontier to
Asian empire that, from the 1380s, included the east that restrained his Central Asian Uzbek
much of Persia. After Tamerlane’s death in 1405, neighbors. With further westward expansion
his descendants continued to rule eastern Persia, blocked by the Ottoman Empire, Ismail turned his
while the western portion of the country fell to attention to making profound reforms within the
a group made up of Turkmen dynasties known Persian state. He imposed a new official faith on
as the Aq Qoyunlu and Kara Qoyunlu. the country, a variety of Shia Islam that was to
dominate Persian religious life into the modern era.
The rise of the Safavids Ottoman and Uzbek aggression and incursions
Beset by civil war in the late 15th century, the dogged Ismail’s descendants until the reign of
Aq Qoyunlu were overcome by a new group that Shah Abbas I, under whom Safavid rule reached
had grown up around the Safavids, a Sufi order its peak. Between 1587 and 1607 he recaptured lost
of Muslim mystics. In 1501, the 14-year-old territories, and in 1598, he moved the capital from
Safavid shah Ismail I (ruled 1501–1524) defeated Qazvin to Isfahan, where he ordered the construction
the Aq Qoyunlu at Shirur, and by 1507 all of western of a dazzling array of new buildings, centered on
Persia had fallen to the Safavids. Pushing farther the grand Maydan Square.
west still, Ismail’s armies met the Ottomans. Abbas I’s character had a dark side. In 1615, he
A protracted struggle culminated at Chaldiran had his (probably innocent) heir, Safi Mirza, executed
on suspicion of treasonous plotting, and for similar
reasons had his other two sons blinded, disqualifying
The Masjid-e Shah (or Imam Mosque), begun
by Shah Abbas I in 1611, forms an imposing them from succeeding him. On Abbas’s death in
centerpiece in Isfahan’s Maydan Square. 1629, it was his grandson, Safi I, who became shah.

Now that I am
king we are going
to forget about the
practice of Sultan
Muhammad Shah;
the king is going
to make the
decisions now.
Safavid ruler Shah Abbas I on his
accession to the throne in 1587
 ASIA 205

The fall of the Safavids campaigns made him deeply unpopular; he was An 18th-century
Despite the loss of Baghdad to the Ottomans killed in 1747, and Persia once more descended hunting scene
reflecting the cultured
in 1638, Safi’s able minister Saru Taqi ensured into chaos. elegance of the later
financial stability and the reign of Safi’s son Shah Safavid court, more
Abbas II (1642–1666) was peaceful and SHAH ABBAS I inclined to the pursuits
prosperous. However, his successor Sulayman of leisure than war.
Aged only 16 when
presided over a gentle decline, as he retreated to he came to the
the harem and ceased to exert effective power. throne, Shah Abbas I
By 1720, faced with multiple revolts, the (ruled 1587–1629)
proved a determined
Safavid regime fell apart and in October 1722
and able ruler. He
Shah Husayn surrendered Isfahan to an army embarked on a
led by the rebel Afghan leader Mahmud Ghilzai. program of building
Ghilzai did not last long as shah, being murdered that would lead his
reign to be regarded
in 1725. The country then fell under the control as a golden age
of another tribal leader, Nadir Khan. Ruling for Persia.
through Safavid puppets until 1736, he then
declared himself shah and set about an ambitious
military program that included the reconquest of
western Persia from the Ottomans and the sacking
of Delhi, the Mughal capital, in 1739. However, his
cruelty and extortionate tax regimes to fund his
 206 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

Voyages of discovery
At the start of the 15th century, Europeans’ knowledge of the world
beyond their own continent was limited, and based largely on the
cartography of Ptolemy, a Greek polymath who had died 13 centuries
earlier, in about 168 ce. Yet, in little over a century, European horizons
expanded massively as their navigators set sail, opening up new sea
routes to India and the East and discovering the continent of America.

The first routes Black pepper was one of the precious

The Portuguese were early pioneers in commodities that Europeans sought in
pioneering new routes to Asia.
endeavors at sea, concentrating first
on southward voyages around The incentive for these expeditions was
the African coastline. In 1486, largely a desire to find a sea route to the
Diogo Cão explored the Congo sources of the lucrative spice trade in
River, before making his final eastern Asia. Not wishing to be outdone
King Manuel I of landfall at Cape Cross in what by their Portuguese rivals, the Spanish
Portugal gives his is now Namibia. Two years later, sought an alternative, westerly route
blessing to Vasco da Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape to Asia and, in 1491, the Genoese-born
Gama as he sets out of Good Hope and sailed into the Indian Christopher Columbus was able to
in 1497 on the voyage
that would discover Ocean, while in 1498 Vasco da Gama crossed persuade Queen Isabella of Castile to support
a sea route to India. over the Indian Ocean to Calicut in southern India. a voyage across the Atlantic.
 ASIA 207

The Americas
Columbus set sail in August 1492 with three
ships (see overleaf). He accepted Ptolemy’s
calculation of the world’s size and so when
he sighted land, he believed it to be eastern
Asia, not a new continent ripe for expansion.
Even a further three voyages did not shake
this conviction. Further explorations followed
rapidly; within five years, in 1497, John Cabot
sailed into North American waters off
Newfoundland, while the voyage of Jacques
Cartier in 1534 took the French to the Gulf
of Saint Lawrence. The Portuguese, meanwhile,
began to occupy their own area of the Americas,
following the discovery of the Brazilian coastline
by Alvares Cabral in 1500.

The first circumnavigation

The lure of trade routes to Asia continued to
motivate European monarchs and the sailors
they funded. In 1519, the Portuguese explorer
Ferdinand Magellan set out to sail to the Spice
Islands (the Moluccas in Indonesia). He died
in 1521 and his deputy completed the voyage;
he and his crew were the first Europeans An atlas from c.1519 shows details of the
to sail around the world. coastline of Brazil—a Portuguese discovery.
208 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

The Americas
Soon after Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, new Spanish
expeditions occupied a series of Caribbean islands and toppled the
Aztec empire of Mexico and the Inca rulers of Peru. Spain’s authority
in the New World was soon challenged by other European countries,
notably France and England—both of which secured large territories
in North America—and Portugal, which gained control of Brazil.

Columbus lands in America

n THE CARIBBEAN d OCTOBER 11, 1492

In 1491, Christopher Columbus won the backing is now uncertain—San Salvador, claiming it for
of Queen Isabella of Castile for a voyage that he Spain. He called the local Arawak natives “Indians” in
planned to make to eastern Asia, after an eight- the firm belief that he had reached the coast of Asia.
year search for a sponsor. On August 3 the Three days after reaching San Salvador, Columbus
following year, he set sail from the Spanish port departed, sailing to Cuba and then to Hispaniola,
of Palos in a small flotilla made up of the Santa where he established a small colony, the precursor
Maria, Pinta, and Niña. of the massive Spanish settlement to come.

San Salvador
After an arduous voyage, on October 11, one Christopher Columbus landed in the
Americas after five weeks at sea. He had
of Columbus’s men finally caught sight of land. wrongly calculated that Asia was just
Columbus named the island—whose exact location 2,800 miles (4,500 km) west of Europe.
 THE AMERICAS 209

Spain conquers Mexico

n MEXICO d 1519–1521

Once the Spanish were established in the

Caribbean, they learned of the rich Aztec HERNÁN CORTÉS
culture on the Mexican mainland. In February After conquering the Aztecs, Hernán Cortés
1519, the conquistador Hernán Cortés sailed became governor of Mexico, but suffered
from Havana, Cuba, to find it. Having forced successive attempts by the Spanish authorities
to remove him or curb his power. In 1547, he
his way through the Yucatán peninsula, on died, wealthy but embittered, in Seville.
August 16, he moved inland with 15 horsemen
and 400 infantry. He secured native allies
in the Tlaxcala, bitter enemies of the Aztecs.

The capture of Tenochtitlán

In November 1519, Cortés reached Tenochtitlán,
the Aztec capital, where the ruler, Moctezuma,
received the Spanish cordially. But Cortés soon
had Moctezuma put under house arrest and,
when the Spanish massacred a number of Aztec
nobles, Tenochtitlán descended into chaos.
Moctezuma was killed by his own people, while
the Spanish fought their way in hand-to-hand
combat out of the city. Undaunted, in spring 1521,
Cortés returned with fresh reinforcements to begin
a new siege of Tenochtitlán. This ended in August of
the same year with the capture of the new Aztec
ruler, Cuahtemoc, and the total dissolution of
the Aztec empire.

Spain conquers Peru

n PERU d 1527–1572

In 1527, a small Spanish expedition, in search mounted little coherent opposition. Yet in 1536,
of the rich land of “Birú” (Peru), led by Francisco Manco Capac, installed as a puppet ruler, began
Pizarro, landed at Tumbes, an outpost of the a rebellion. Although the Spanish soon retook
Inca empire. Pizarro returned in 1531 with 180 Cuzco from the rebels, Inca resistance continued
men. He found the Incas recovering from a civil on the fringes of Peru until 1572, when their final
war, which allowed him to cross the Andes freely stronghold of Vilcamaba fell, and Titu Cusi, the last
to reach Cajamarca, where the Inca leader Inca ruler, was executed.
Atahualpa was camped.
ATAHUALPA
The fall of the Inca empire
Luring the Inca ruler into a meeting, Pizarro took With control of the imperial army in Quito,
Atahualpa was able to triumph over his brother
him hostage and then, in July 1533, had him Huascar to seize power of the Inca realm in
executed. The Spanish marched on the capital 1532, ending Peru’s civil war. By the time of
Cuzco, which they took in November. The prestige this victory, the Spanish had arrived; they
of the Inca nobility was severely damaged by executed Atahualpa in 1533.
their failure to protect Atahualpa, and they
 210 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

The Spanish Empire in the New World

n CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA d 1523–1700

The Spanish faced grave problems governing their increasing tributes, while at the same time their
vast territories in the Americas, because they lay population was shrinking, caused terrible
so far from Spain itself. From 1523, a formal body, hardships. The Spanish Empire’s real economic
the Council of the Indies, was set up to formulate wealth came, though, from a huge mountain of
policy for the new colonies. Unfortunately, very silver ore discovered at Potosí in Bolivia in 1545,
few of its members had actual experience in the which delivered enormous revenues. Up until
The two Americas, and the distances involved led to an 1660, some 17,600 tons (16,000 tonnes) of
hemispheres of the unresponsive form of government. the metal were shipped to Seville, permitting
world on this 1744 Philip II of Spain and his successors to conduct
silver coin symbolize
the global nature of New World silver a series of long (and expensive) wars.
Spanish conquests. Later in the 16th century, the Spanish replaced
the crown’s representatives in the Americas—the Challenges to Spanish rule
governors or captain-generals—with a system Spanish control of America was never complete.
of viceroyalties (provinces). That of New Spain In eastern South America, Spain competed with
supervised the territories to the north of Panama, Portuguese (and later Dutch) settlements in
and that of Peru had authority over the lands Brazil; and in the Caribbean, various islands
With Spanish to the south. were seized by the French and English. In North
colonization of the The native Americans in the Spanish colonies America, where Spanish control extended into
Americas came suffered under the encomienda system, which Florida and California, the growing might of
Catholicism and
magnificent church made them the personal “possessions” of Spanish France and England put a definitive end to the
architecture. landowners. The obligation on the natives to pay hopes of an all-Spanish Americas.
 THE AMERICAS 211

Roanoke island,
site of the first English
colony (often called
the “lost colony”),
lies within a chain
of barrier islands on
which several supply
ships came to grief.

European colonies in North America

n NORTH AMERICA d 1584–1724

Although the Spanish had bases in Florida these tiny beginnings, English control spread
to protect their silver-bullion fleets, it was throughout the eastern seaboard, with colonies
the English who first attempted to colonize the established in Maryland in 1634, Rhode Island
eastern seaboard of North America. In 1584, in 1636, and Pennsylvania (named for its Quaker
English adventurer Sir Walter Raleigh dispatched founder William Penn) in 1681. Farther south, the
a fleet to establish a settlement on Roanoke Island English crown took a more direct role, including
in Virginia, but the colony disappeared in 1590. establishing a colony in the Carolinas in 1663.
After the English defeat of the Spanish Armada in Other Europeans joined the scramble, with the
1588 (see p.223), weakening Spanish domination Dutch West India Company establishing Fort Orange
in the North Atlantic, the English made new (now Albany) on the Hudson River in 1623, and a
attempts to colonize North America. Swedish colony founded in Delaware in 1638. These
were eventually swept away by the more powerful
English rule and its competitors English, who, by 1724, controlled the east coast
In 1607 the Virginia Company of London from New England to Georgia. Only in modern
established a colony at Jamestown. In 1620, the Canada to the north were the English challenged—
English established a further settlement at New by French colonists. The French had founded
Plymouth in Massachussetts, spearheaded by Québec in 1608, and by 1712 controlled a vast area
a group of Puritans—religious dissenters—who from eastern Canada to the Rocky Mountains, and
sailed to the New World on the Mayflower. From extending as far south as Louisiana.

We went by the shore to seeke for

their boats, but could find none…
Captain John White, on finding the English colony at
Roanoke abandoned and the settlers vanished, 1589
212 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

Trading empires
Parallel to their endeavors of exploration and colonization, many
European nations developed large trading empires between the late
15th and 18th centuries, stretching to Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
Those established by Spain, Portugal, and France tended to be
extensions of monarchical control; by contrast, the maritime empires
of England and the Netherlands were more mercantile in nature.

European trade
Portugal’s experience in pioneering sea routes
to the East was matched by its acquisitions there.
Forts at Goa (1510), Malacca (1511), and Ormuz
(1515) in the Indian Ocean, established by Admiral
Afonso da Albuquerque, ensured Portuguese
control of the Persian Gulf and the major trade
routes leading east. Macau (in southern China)
An Indian cotton wall-hanging from the
late-16th century provides an early example
of local impressions of European traders.
 THE AMERICAS 213

followed in 1517, and by the 1560s, half the spice Nagasaki in Japan—all controlled from Batavia
and three-quarters of the pepper traded in Europe in northwestern Java. However, from the mid-
was imported by Portugal. Spain’s American 17th century, trade with Japan waned, and the
empire yielded vast revenues from silver, shipped cost of defending the empire rose. The English
to Europe and China for trade. France, while it encroached on VOC territory with their own East
benefited from the Canadian fur trade, regarded India Company, while internal corruption drained
its empire as a means for the state to assert finances, and by the middle of the 18th century,
power and limit English ambitions, rather than the VOC had become a shadow of its former self.
as an enabler of trade. The English founded its counterpart, the British
East India Company, in 1600. After 1615, this
The Dutch and the English company’s foothold in Bengal gave it access to
The empires of Holland and England had crucial resources and allowed it to found bases
their basis in commerce. The Dutch East in Bombay (1668) and Calcutta (1690) in
India Company, or VOC, was founded India. In 1694, it was granted a monopoly
in 1602 and established its first on trade with India, cementing the
outpost at Bantam (in Java) in 1604. company’s position and affording
It expanded to possess a string it political power. Yet by the
of factories stretching from Galle mid-19th century the English
in Sri Lanka to southern India, East India Company was also The establishment
Bengal, Malacca, Taiwan, and on the decline, brought down of Fort St. George
by the costs of military adventures (the future Madras) in
and the heavy burden of corrupt 1639 gave the English
The insignia of the VOC, East India Company
or Dutch East India Company, practices—the very problems that a vital toehold in
established to trade with Asia. had brought down its Dutch rival. southeastern India.
214 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

EUROPE
By the mid-15th century, Europe, devastated by plague and
warfare, had fallen behind other parts of the world both culturally
and politically. Yet at this very time a remarkable artistic and literary
revolution began in Italy that would resound for centuries to come,
while increasingly centralized monarchies emerging in England,
France, and Spain were soon ready to build global empires.

Humanism
n EUROPE d c.1450–c.1550

By the 15th century, education and literature

ERASMUS (c.1466–1536) in Europe had been dominated for hundreds
The Dutch humanist Gerhard Gerhards of years by the needs and preoccupations of
(c.1466–1536)—known as Erasmus—was an the Christian Church. Although great Classical
ordained priest, but lived as a scholar. In works authors such as Aristotle had formed part of
such as In Praise of Folly (1509), he criticized
the corruption of the Church, advocating a life the curriculum taught in universities, their works
of firm moral and religious principles. His critical had been interpreted very much in the light
scholarship of Biblical texts helped pave the way of Catholic teachings.
for the Reformation (see pp.218–9).
In the mid-15th century this began to change,
as scholars in Italy became interested in a wider
range of Classical literature, and especially works
with a more secular bias that predated the rise
of Christianity.

The spread of humanism

New Latin works were unearthed, such as
those of Vitruvius, whose treatise on Roman
architecture profoundly influenced 15th-century
Florentine architects such as Filippo Brunelleschi;
while other, previously neglected authors such
as Cicero and Virgil enjoyed a new vogue.
The movement became known as “humanism”
for the degree to which its scholarship placed
humankind, rather than God, at the center of
its worldview. From Italy, the movement spread
northward, producing such towering figures
as the Dutch humanist Erasmus and the English
statesman Thomas More.
 EUROPE 215

The Renaissance
n EUROPE d 1450–1550

The European Renaissance (“rebirth”) refers

to a broad movement, beginning in Italy in the LEONARDO DA VINCI
early to mid-15th century, that drew inspiration Outstanding among the great geniuses of
from a new interest in the Classical world to the Renaissance, Leonardo (1452–1519) was
produce astonishing developments in art, apprenticed in 1466 to the sculptor Andrea
del Verocchio. He showed a precocious talent
architecture, and literature. A prosperous in painting, but also embraced engineering
mercantile class became the patrons of the and theorized a number of military devices. His
new arts, giving greater freedom to the artists, artistic works include the innovative Last Supper,
a mural at the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie
while the advent of printing enabled the rapid in Milan, and the enigmatic portrait Mona Lisa.
dissemination of ideas.

Architecture and art

In architecture, a mix of civic pride and firm interest in the nude human body, as seen
ambitions to rival the achievements of Roman especially in the works of Michelangelo
architecture provided the impetus for remarkable Buonarroti. The roll call of Italian artists of this Sandro Botticelli’s
works such as the dome built for the cathedral time is awe-inspiring, including such geniuses The Birth of Venus
of Florence (completed in 1436) by Filippo as Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci. Meanwhile, (c.1486) clearly shows
Brunelleschi. In painting and sculpture, the in literature, the Renaissance produced such the 15th century’s
new preoccupation
influence of ancient Greece and Rome was famous works as The Prince (1532), Machiavelli’s with subjects from
even more apparent; for there was a great eminently secular handbook for rulers. Classical mythology.
 The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the
Vatican is a masterwork of the Florentine
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564).
Commissioned by Pope Julius I in 1508, the
ceiling frescoes depict scenes from the Old
Testament and took four years to complete,
with the artist working from a scaffold.
218 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

The Reformation and Counter-Reformation

n GERMANY, SWITZERLAND, FRANCE, SCANDINAVIA, BRITAIN d 1517–63

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther (1483–1546),

a priest who had become professor of theology
at Wittenberg University, Germany, posted a
document, his “95 Theses,” on the door of the town
church. In essence it was a public protest against
the sale by priests of “indulgences” (pardons for
sins), a practice widely criticized as an abuse of
clerical power. This single act was the catalyst
for a movement calling for reform of the Catholic
Church that was to transform Europe.
Luther went on to attack other precepts of
the Church, including the core Catholic dogma
of transubstantiation (the belief that the bread
Martin Luther translated the Bible into German,
and wine at communion transform into the a project he undertook to give the German people
body and blood of Christ) and, crucially, papal more direct access to the scriptures.
supremacy. Attempts were made to reconcile
Luther with the religious authorities, until in
1521 he was summoned to present his views
at an imperial assembly (Diet) at Worms before
the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Luther
refused to recant and, in response to the
Emperor’s outlawing of him and his views,
began an autonomous church.

The spread of Protestantism

Luther’s teachings appealed to German princes
opposed to imperial dominance; they wrote a
public letter of protest to the emperor on Luther’s
behalf, from which the term “Protestantism”
was born. Throughout the 1520s, the German
states of Saxony, Hesse, Brandenburg, and
Brunswick one by one took up Lutheranism.
Political struggle turned into outright war, and
although the emperor defeated the Lutherans
in battle at Mühlberg in 1547, he could not
overcome them politically. Charles V was forced
to compromise with the Peace of Augsburg in
1555, by which he tolerated Lutheranism in
areas where the local prince espoused it.
While never recanting his views, Luther
abhorred the violence the reform movement
had engendered (and indeed had supported

In the Raising of Lazarus (1558), by Lucas

Cranach, Luther (in the foreground, left)
stands among other Protestant reformers.
 The coronation of Charles V as Holy
Roman Emperor in 1519. He would preside
EMPEROR CHARLES V
over a huge empire that marked the pinnacle Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (ruled 1519–1558)
of Habsburg power. united the Habsburg dominions in Austria with
Spain and Burgundy (and later Spain’s colonies)
the crushing of a revolt in Germany, in 1524, to rule over a vast European realm. His reign
was troubled by religious strife, with the
by peasants influenced by his own ideas).
outbreak of the Protestant Reformation.
But he was followed by more radical reformers, Charles was the nephew of Spanish princess
most notably John Calvin (1509–1564). Calvin Catherine of Aragon, who became English king
stressed predestination (God’s control over Henry VIII’s first wife. Fear of the Emperor’s
wrath is likely to have been a factor in Pope
all human actions) and a direct relationship Clement VII’s refusal to annul this marriage,
with God, devoid of priestly or papal interference. which prompted England’s split from Rome.
Calvinism took hold in Scotland, the Netherlands,
and large parts of France. Lutheranism had
meanwhile spread from large areas of Germany
into Scandinavia, and was a factor in English position. Poland, Austria, and Bavaria were
king Henry VIII’s break with Rome in the 1530s. won back from Protestantism, although a
The Roman Catholic Church faced crisis. series of religious wars in Europe from the
1550s paid for further gains. The Catholic Church
The Counter-Reformation also reformed old religious orders and created
Yet Catholicism saved itself. Meeting in three new ones, most notably the Jesuits, who went St. Ignatius Loyola
sessions at Trent in the Italian Alps from on to establish influential schools and missions served as a soldier in
Spain until, in 1522,
1545–63, the Catholic hierarchy strengthened under the guidance of their founder Ignatius he took up a more
both the Church’s theology and its political Loyola (1491–1556). spiritual life.
 220 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

Printing
Although printing using reusable and moveable blocks appeared
in China as early as 1040, the first effective press for printing books
using moveable metal type and oil-based ink emerged in 15th-century
Europe. Its invention is attributed to a German craftsman and
entrepreneur, Johannes Gutenberg (c.1398–1468). The first
book printed on this new type of press was the Bible, in 1455.

The spread of print diffusion of knowledge. The numbers of

Printed pamphlets
were produced as
Gutenberg’s printing techniques soon spread booksellers and publishers increased, and in
propaganda during the across Europe. By 1470, there were seven the late 15th century, book fairs were held
German Peasants’ War presses in Germany, and this grew to more in Lyons, Leipzig, and Frankfurt. As printing
of 1524 (see p.219). than 50 by 1499. The first printed book in Italy became more commonplace, so the types of
was produced in 1467; presses were established publications widened. In 1609, the first “news
in Paris by 1470, and in London (by William books” (forerunners of newspapers) appeared
Caxton) in 1476. The most prestigious early in Strasbourg (then German), and the first picture
printer, Aldus Manutius, set up the Aldine Press book for children was produced in Nuremberg,
in Venice in 1495 to specialize in Greek, Latin, Germany, in 1658.
and early Italian classics.
By 1500, some 35,000 different books
Johannes Gutenberg shows the first proofs
were in print. Much cheaper than handwritten of his 1455 Latin Bible. There were some 150
works, printed books revolutionized the different Bible editions printed in the 15th century.
 EUROPE 221

The Italian Wars

n ITALY d 1494–1559

In 1494, Ludovico Sforza of Milan encouraged to the Papacy joining a pro-French alliance.
Charles VIII of France to invade Naples, an act In return, Rome was brutally sacked in 1527
that led to six decades of international warfare by German mercenaries in the pay of the
over territory in Italy involving France, Spain, Habsburgs. Peace of a sort was restored
and England, as well as the Holy Roman by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559, by
(Habsburg) and Ottoman empires. A Habsburg which Henri II of France renounced all claims
defeat of the French at Pavia in 1525 seemed to Italy, leaving most of the peninsula under
to promise an end to the conflict, but led only the influence of Spain.
The Battle of
Pavia was the first
engagement in which
handheld firearms
played a crucial role.

The French Wars of Religion

n FRANCE d 1559–1598

By the mid-16th century, the Protestant community Henri became a Catholic. This action, and his
in France, known as Huguenots, had grown guaranteeing of rights to Protestants in the Edict
considerably and included many nobility. The of Nantes (1598), cooled tempers and finally
weakness of the French crown during the reigns brought an end to France’s Wars of Religion.
of the heirs of Henri II (who died in 1559) left
effective power in the hands of the ducal house HENRI IV
of Guise, fanatical anti-Protestants bent on the
A Huguenot supporter,
extermination of the Huguenots. in 1589 Henri of
The powerful house of Bourbon favored the Navarre (1553–1610)
Protestants, and war broke out between the two had to fight a Catholic
attempt to block
in 1562. A brief pause in 1563–1567 was followed
his succession to
by a further bout of bloodshed in 1568–1570, and the French throne.
the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of thousands In 1593, he converted
of Protestants in Paris in 1572. More civil strife to Catholicism,
undermining his
followed, and nothing seemed able to reconcile opposition, to rule
the two parties, until the death of Henri III in 1589 as Henri IV.
left Henri de Bourbon, Protestant king of Navarre,
as heir to the throne. To accede as king of France,
222 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

The rise of Spain

n SPAIN d 1492–1598

As Europe emerged from the medieval era, Spain

was politically and religiously disunited, divided
between several competing kingdoms, with many
of its territories occupied by Muslim emirates
since the 8th century (see p.155).

The emergence of a great nation

In 1469, Queen Isabella of Castile married
King Ferdinand of Aragon, uniting the two
most important Spanish kingdoms, and in 1492
the royal couple completed the Reconquista—the
reconquest of the Muslim-held lands in Spain— The magnificent El Escorial near Madrid
was built in the reign of Philip II as a monastery,
with the capture of Granada. The subsequent royal residence, and burial place for the
discovery and conquest of the Americas monarchs of Spain.
(see pp.208–10) enabled the Habsburg Charles V,
the Holy Roman Emperor who became King
Charles I of a united Spain in 1519 (see p.219), to
muster sufficient finances to thrust Spain to the
forefront of European politics. When he died in
1556, the Habsburg realms were split and Philip II
inherited Spain and the Netherlands.

The Spain of Philip II

Under Philip II (ruled 1556–1598), Spain
projected its power in all directions.
Its naval force defeated the Turks at
Lepanto in 1571, annexed Portugal in
1580, fought a long war in the Netherlands,
and sent a great fleet against England
in 1588 (see facing page). Yet by the
1590s, the flow of silver from the New
World was slackening and competition
from the French and English in North
America and the Caribbean was stifling
Spain’s routes of commerce. In Spain
itself, a plague in 1599–1600 wiped out
around 15 percent of the population.
Although still Europe’s most powerful
country, the Spain that Philip III inherited
in 1598 was dangerously overstretched.

A portrait medallion of Philip II of Spain,

whose reign saw the height of Spanish power,
but also sowed the seeds of its decline a
century later.
 EUROPE 223

The Spanish Armada

n ENGLISH CHANNEL d 1588

From the mid-16th century, tensions between Elizabeth I of

Europe’s Catholic and Protestant rulers threatened England, a powerful
Protestant monarch,
to erupt into warfare. Philip II of Spain (see facing posed a constant
page) had long been irritated by the interference threat to Spain’s
in Spain’s affairs by England’s Protestant queen Philip II.
Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603), especially her
support for an anti-Spanish revolt in the
Netherlands (see below).
In 1588, he ordered a great fleet, the Spanish
Armada, commanded by the Duke of Medina
Sidonia, to begin an invasion of England.
Setting out in May, 130 Spanish ships reached
the English coast in late July. English blocking
actions, led by Francis Drake and Lord
Howard of Effingham, achieved little, until
on August 7–8 English fire-ships broke
up the Armada and left it vulnerable to
an attack that inflicted enormous human
casualties on the Spanish. This proved
to be Elizabeth’s finest hour: Sidonia took
the remains of the Armada on a long and
costly retreat around Scotland and Ireland
back to Spain.

The Dutch revolt

n BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS d 1568–1648

Ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy in the 15th century, the largest city of the Utrecht union, Antwerp,
by the 16th century the Netherlands had fallen into in 1585, the Spanish could not make any
the domains of the Habsburg Empire. While its ruler more headway to the north. This was
Charles V was perceived as sympathetic to Dutch acknowledged in a 12-year truce starting
interests, his successor Philip II of Spain spoke in 1609, and, though the Spanish tried again
neither Dutch nor French, and was more intolerant to recapture the rebellious provinces during
of Dutch Protestantism. the Thirty Years’ War (see p.224), at its end
In 1567, an attempt by the Habsburg governor, in 1648 Spain was finally forced to officially
the Duke of Alba, to repress religious unrest led recognize Dutch independence.
to open revolt the following year. Although initially
suppressed, the revolt flared up again in 1572. WILLIAM OF ORANGE
In 1579, a union of provinces loyal to Spain
In 1558, Philip II of Spain made William
(the Union of Arras) was formed in the south the Silent, Prince of Orange, stadtholder
of the Netherlands. (governor) of Holland. But William led the
This was countered by the Union of Utrecht Protestant rebels against Spain in the Dutch
in the north which, under William of Orange, Revolt and was assassinated in 1584 by a
French Catholic agent.
became, in effect, independent from Spain.
Although the Spanish general Parma retook
 224 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

Albrecht von
Wallenstein was
the Catholic side’s
most able general,
delivering a string of
victories in the early
1630s, until he was
murdered in 1634.

The Thirty Years’ War

n GERMANY d 1618–48

In central Europe at the beginning of the raised by Catholic German states at the Battle of
17th century, a watchful calm followed the turmoil White Mountain in 1620, and Bohemia reverted
of the Reformation (see pp.218–9). However, in to Catholic Habsburg control.
1617, Ferdinand of Styria, a devout Catholic, The war spread as other European powers,
was named king of Bohemia, a mostly Protestant notably France, the Dutch Republic, and Sweden,
territory. The Bohemian nobility rebelled, and in tried to thwart Catholic ambition. In the end,
1618 threw Ferdinand’s representatives from the fighting dragged on for three decades.
windows of Hradschin Castle in the “Defenestration
of Prague.” The nobles then appointed Frederick V The final stages
as king of Bohemia, but were overcome by an army The Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus II
won a string of battles that seemed to promise
victory to the Protestants, but his death at
Germany is a LÜtzen in 1632 swung power back to the

place of dead men’s Catholics. The Peace of Prague in 1635 nearly

ended the war, but France, displeased with
skulls... and a field the terms, set it off once more. Only in 1648,
by the Peace of Westphalia, was harmony
of blood. finally restored, with the borders of European
Edward Calamy, states temporarily stabilized, and the Habsburgs’
English preacher, 1641 wings firmly clipped.
 EUROPE 225

The English Civil War

n ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, IRELAND d 1642–51

During the late 16th and early 17th centuries A clash of swords, following a cavalry
England had evolved a strong parliament charge, was often the deciding factor in
battles of the English Civil War, despite
with the right to veto taxation. Charles I widespread use of firearms.
(ruled 1625–1649), a firm believer in the
“Divine Right” of monarchs to rule without
being limited by any constitutional pact fortunes waned, and the involvement
with their subjects, sought to outflank his of the Scots in the anti-royalist coalition
troublesome parliament by simply suspending further dented the king’s cause. Parliamentary
it for 11 years from 1629. He then raised victories at Marston Moor in 1644 and Naseby
revenue through extraordinary measures in 1645 finally led to the king’s surrender to
such as “Ship Money”—a levy imposed on the Scots in 1646.
all the counties of England to fund the navy.
The royalist collapse
The first civil war The war was not over, however. The king
In order to raise the funds necessary to quell made a deal with the Scots to adopt their
a Calvinist revolt in Scotland, Charles was forced Presbyterian form of church government in
to recall parliament in 1640. Relations between England in return for aid in restoring him to
king and assembly soon deteriorated into open power. In July 1648, war broke out again, but the
hostility and, in January 1642, the king entered Scottish army was easily crushed at Preston,
parliament with an armed force to arrest his dashing Charles I’s hopes of victory. The king
leading opponents. The attempt failed and, was tried and executed on January 30, 1649, and
fearing for his own safety, Charles retired England became a republic or "Commonwealth."
north from London to raise an army. However, there were more battles to be fought:
The ensuing conflict continued for four years: Charles I’s son (later Charles II) was still
an initial inconclusive engagement at Edgehill at large, and only his defeat at Worcester
was followed by victories for either side during in 1651 brought an end to the final phase of
1643. The following year, however, the royalists’ the English Civil War.

OLIVER CROMWELL
Member of Parliament
for Huntingdon from 1628,
Oliver Cromwell (1599–1658)
gradually aligned himself
with those seeking constitutional
reform in England. Fighting
for the Parliamentarians against
the king in the English Civil War,
his instinctive leadership ability
and shrewdness allowed him to
rise in the ranks until, by 1645,
he was the preeminent
parliamentary commander.
The Parliamentarians won the
Civil War in 1651 and Cromwell
was made Lord Protector—in
effect, military dictator—of
England in 1653.
226 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

The emergence of Muscovy

n RUSSIA d 1462–1725

In the 14th century, the territory of modern

Russia, led by the principality of Muscovy, threw PETER THE GREAT
off decades of Mongol rule (see pp.142–3). Initially Peter the Great (ruled 1682–1725) was aged only
occupying a tiny enclave around the city of Moscow nine when he became tsar of Russia. For the early
itself, Muscovy expanded hugely during the long part of his reign, his half-sister Sophia exercised
power, and then his mother Nataliya took control
reign of Ivan III (1462–1505), absorbing almost all until her death in 1694. Finally able to rule in
of the other Russian principalities. his own right, Peter set about a program of
modernization. This bore fruit during the Great
Northern War with Sweden (see facing page) in
Ivan the Terrible Russia’s victory at Poltava in 1709. As well as his
Ivan IV “the Terrible” (ruled 1533–1584) consolidated military and political reforms, Peter established
Moscow’s power still further. He reformed local a new Russian capital at St. Petersburg in 1703.
government, tightened royal control over the
church, curbed the power of the boyars (nobles),
and established a more professional army. His
military campaigns expanded Muscovy’s borders seized much of Livonia. Yet the latter part
along the Volga River—taking the khanate of of his reign descended into tyranny, marked
Astrakhan—and in the Baltic, where his armies by the slaughter of vast numbers of the
nobility. After Ivan’s death and the reign of
his son Feodor (ruled 1584–1598), Muscovy
was rocked by famine, civil war, and invasions
from Poland that nearly caused its dissolution.
Recovery came under a new dynasty, the
Romanovs, who would rule Russia for three
centuries from 1613.

The Romanovs
The early Romanovs gradually restored Muscovy’s
power and in 1667 regained most of the territory
in the west that had been lost to Poland. Peter the
Great built on these foundations, reconstructing
the state according to western models, vastly
increasing tax revenues, and waging successful
wars against the Ottoman Empire (see pp.202–3).
By the end of Peter’s reign in 1725, Russia was
one of the most powerful European nations.

The Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin is a

fortified palace complex that has acted as the seat
of the rulers of Russia from the 14th century.

The Grand Duke leaves his men little

rest. He is usually at war...
German diplomat Sigismund von Herberstein
on the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, 1549
 EUROPE 227

Poland–Lithuania
n POLAND, LITHUANIA d 1386–1672

In 1386, Jogaila of Lithuania converted to

Christianity to marry the Catholic Queen
Jadwiga of Poland, loosely joining the
two countries. In 1569, by the Union of
Lublin, the federation became the formal
“Commonwealth of the Two Nations.”
Its assembly, the Sejm, had the right
to elect monarchs, but the custom
of the liberum veto, by which a
single Sejm member could veto
any measure, led to stagnation.
In 1667, the Commonwealth lost
much eastern territory to Russia
and was thereafter largely at the
mercy of the Austro-Hungarian
Habsburg monarchy to the west
and the Russian tsars to the east.

The Polish eagle is part of the coat of

arms of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth,
which united the two countries from 1572 until
its dissolution in 1792.

The rise of Sweden and the Great Northern War

n SWEDEN d 1523–1719

Gustav Vasa’s election as king of Sweden weak economy compared to its European rivals,
in 1523 marked the start of the country’s Sweden’s military successes were brought to an
rise as a great power. Gustav instituted end in the late 17th century.
a hereditary monarchy, centralized In 1700, King Charles XII (ruled 1697–1718)
the bureaucracy, and imported the sparked off the Great Northern War with
Reformation (see pp.218–9), Russia. It ended in disaster, as Charles
claiming church lands and so was defeated at Poltava in 1709,
enriching the royal treasury. spent five years in exile in the
After Gustav’s death in 1560, Ottoman Empire, and then died
Sweden underwent a period during a siege near Oslo in 1718,
of turbulence until the reign of leaving Sweden vulnerable to a
Gustavus II Adolphus (1611–32). Russian counter-invasion in 1719.
His death in the Thirty Years’
War (see p.224)—during which
Sweden gained territories on the
Charles XII of Sweden’s defeat
southern Baltic—did not lead to by Russia dashed Sweden’s hopes
an immediate crisis, yet, with a of becoming a military power.
 228 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

17th-century France and absolutism

n FRANCE d 1603–1715

The death in 1603 of Henri IV (who had brought Louis moved to put a French prince on
religious peace to France), left his nine-year-old the throne of Spain, unleashing the War
son Louis XIII (ruled 1610–1643) on the throne. The of the Spanish Succession, as other powers
capable governance of Cardinal Richelieu steered sought to avoid the two countries becoming
France through the perils of the Thirty Years’ War united. The war dragged on until 1714, when
(see p.224), and laid the foundations for the great the military brilliance of the English general
reign of Louis XIV (ruled 1643–1715). Only four Marlborough thwarted Louis’s plans, leading
years old at the time of his accession, Louis was to a peace in which a French prince became king
very much under the sway of his chief minister, of Spain, but without uniting the two countries.
Louis XIV, known as
“The Sun King,” spent
Cardinal Mazarin, until Mazarin died in 1661. Domestically, the wars required a vast
lavishly to enhance improvement in the collection of taxation revenues,
France’s military and The rule of Louis XIV which was supervised by Jean-Bapiste Colbert,
cultural prestige. Instead of appointing another minister in the the director of finances; while Louis enhanced the
mold of Richelieu or Mazarin, Louis chose to prestige of the court by establishing a dazzling
rule in his own right as an absolute monarch. new palace at Versailles.
He began a series of wars to secure France’s
frontiers. From 1688 to 1697, he was at war The Palace of Versailles, built on the site of
a simple royal hunting lodge, was commissioned
against a “Grand Alliance” that included England by Louis XIV in 1669. It became the home of the
and Holland. After only a brief pause, in 1700 royal court in 1682.
 EUROPE 229

The rise of capitalism and the slave trade

n EUROPE, AFRICA, THE AMERICAS d c.1600–1865

The birth of businesses such as the English

and Dutch East India companies in the early
17th century (see pp.212–3) formed the basis
for modern capitalist-style economies.
These companies enjoyed a much more long-
term and independent existence than their
precursors, and could build up capital and make
longer-term investment plans. Specialized traders
now emerged, who arranged the buying and selling
of “stock” in the companies (shares in their
ownership), making it easier to raise new funds.
In Amsterdam, the Amsterdamsche Wisselbank
(Amsterdam Exchange bank) was founded in 1609
as a center for the sale and exchange of stocks,
while in London the first listing of share and
commodity prices was published in 1698.

The slave trade

Among the many profitable commercial ventures
the new capitalists engaged in was the slave
trade. Slaves were gathered, largely in West
Africa—often with the cooperation or connivance
of local rulers—and were shipped under inhuman
circumstances to the New World. Here, they
were exchanged for commodities such as sugar,
tobacco, and cotton, which would in turn be sold
at a great profit in Europe.
The “Middle Passage,” or transit of slaves packed into each ship. They were shackled Edward Lloyd’s
over the Atlantic, saw some 78,000 slaves a year together in cramped spaces between deck coffee house in London
became a center
transported in the 1780s, with up to 600 slaves and hold, where disease, damp, and hunger for merchants to
exacted a terrible toll in deaths. The slave discuss investment.
trade was abolished in the British Empire It would evolve into
A model of the slave ship Brookes, showing the the modern-day Lloyds
positions into which more than 500 slaves were only in 1807, although slavery persisted in
insurance market.
crammed for the harrowing transatlantic voyage. the US until 1865.
230 THE EARLY MODERN WORLD 1450–1750

The scientific revolution and the Enlightenment

n EUROPE d 16TH–18TH CENTURIES

The 16th and 17th centuries saw Copernicus’s revolutionary view of

a metamorphosis in European the solar system put the Earth in orbit
around the sun.
thinking about the natural world.
Just as the Renaissance
had transformed art, and publish his great atlas of anatomy
the Reformation had De Humani Corporis Fabrica in
loosened the shackles of 1543. Further advances in medical
religious dogma, so now a science yielded the first accurate
third revolution produced description of the circulation of
a new view of the universe. blood in 1628 by William Harvey,
Improvements in technology personal physician to Charles I of
began to undermine many long- England. His theory was confirmed in
held theories, the most celebrated 1661 by the direct observation of capillaries
casualty being the ancient Earth-centered model using the recently invented microscope.
of the universe. In 1543, the Polish priest and
astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published The Enlightenment
a proposal for a sun-centered system with Just as this scientific revolution had grown
the Earth and five other planets in orbit around from a new freedom in scientific thinking, so the
it. In 1610, the Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei, Enlightenment, a radical current of intellectual
using a new, improved telescope, discovered thought, liberated philosophy.
four moons in orbit around Jupiter, thereby René Descartes (1596–1650), the “father
definitively showing that the Earth was not, of modern philosophy,” was both thinker and
as previously believed, the center of all mathematician, arguing that only through reason
motion in the universe. could mathematical and universal truths be
discovered. In the 18th century, thinkers known
Advances in medicine as philosophes applied ideas from the advances
In other areas, too, scientific endeavors made rapid in science to challenge the way people thought
progress. In anatomy, the discovery of a lost text by about government and society, seeking to replace
the Roman medical writer Galen convinced the superstition, tyranny, and injustice with reason,
Flemish scholar Vesalius that Galen had never tolerance, and equality. “What does it mean to
actually dissected a human body, spurring him to be free?” asked François-Marie Arouet (known

ISAAC NEWTON
In 1609, Johannes Kepler showed that
the planets orbited the sun in an elliptical,
not a circular, motion, but he could not
explain why. The answer was provided
by the English polymath Isaac Newton
(1643–1727), who realized that the force
of “gravity” found on Earth, which caused
objects to fall when released, might
extend into outer space and be generated
by all objects possessing mass. Newton
published this theory in his Principia
Mathematica of 1687, one of the most
influential works in scientific history.
 EUROPE 231

René Descartes argued that logical

deduction should be trusted more than
sensory perception.

as Voltaire), answering: “To reason correctly and

know the rights of man.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau
railed against moral decadence and inequality in
his essays on the Arts and Sciences (1749) and on
Equality (1755), arguing that social progress had
helped corrupt human nature.

The spread of ideas

The most influential tool for spreading
Enlightenment values was Denis Diderot’s
28-volume Encylopédie, which boasted an
impressive array of contributors, including
Voltaire and Rousseau. Its aim was to assemble
all existing knowledge in clear, accessible prose.
A favorite target for the philosophes was
royal absolutism. Montesquieu’s celebrated
treatise Spirit of the Laws (1748) proposed a
limited monarchy based on a three-way division
of powers between the executive (the king), the
legislature (parliament), and the judiciary. Such
intellectual notions greatly added to the ferment
that would, within the next half-century, give rise
to both the American and French revolutions.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote that “Man is

born free, and is everywhere in chains,” profoundly
influencing later French revolutionaries.

The consent of the people is the sole

basis of a government’s authority.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Social Contract, 1762
The World of
Empires
 234 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES

The world in 1750–1914

The American and French Revolutions transformed Western
political expectations. Though the results were contradictory—the
US emerged as a fully functioning democracy, while France was
destabilized for almost a century—demands for political liberation
echoed throughout the 19th century. A wave of nationalist uprisings

G r e e n l a n d

Al as k a
Iceland

AY
RW

EN
NO
FINLAND

SWED
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY
Ro

St. Petersburg
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NEWFOUNDLAND
y

DENMARK Moscow
M

BRITAIN
A T L A N T I C
ou

London NETH. PRUSSIA

nt

CAN AD A O C E A N Paris
ai

Great AUSTRIAN
Québec
ns

Lakes FRANCE EMPIRE

ns St. Pierre and Miquelon
The world in 1850 U N I T ED S TAT ES ai Black Sea
nt Boston
Calif

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PORTUGAL Rome Constantinople
M Azores
International border OF AM ERI C A a n SPAIN
or

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NIS
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Texas A p p a l St. Martin Madeira MP IRE

TU
VIRGIN MOROCCO N E
Qing Empire ISLANDS Barbuda MA
Florida Antigua Canary Islands TT
O Cairo
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Ottoman Empire MEXICO Havana Bahamas Guadeloupe
CUBA Dominica CAPE VERDE
Mexico S a h a r a
EGYPT
Britain and possessions Martinique ISLANDS
Jamaica

n
BRITISH HONDURAS Puerto Barbados

da
France and possessions HAITI Rico
GUATEMALA St. Vincent

Su
Denmark and possessions HONDURAS Grenada
VENEZUELA
EL SALVADOR Trinidad,Tobago ASANTE
Spain and possessions NICARAGUA NEW BRITISH GUIANA
COSTA RICA GRANADA
DUTCH GUIANA GOLD
Portugal and possessions ECUADOR FRENCH GUIANA COAST
Netherlands and possessions
ANGOLA
EMPIRE OF Ascension
PE

Prussia PORTUGUESE
A U

BRAZIL EAST AFRICA

R

Russian Empire
n

BOLIVIA ST. HELENA NDEBELE

Japan
PA
d

Kalahari
Austrian Empire P A C I F I C RA
G Rio de Janeiro Desert
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CONFED

Persia
UA
AR GEN ERATI

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NATAL
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United States of America URUGUAY COLONY

Buenos A T L A N T I C Cape Town
CHI

Napoleon's French Empire 1812

TIN

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Muhammad Ali's possessions 1840
E ON

O C E A N
a

United Provinces of Central America

oni

1823–38
Patag

Great Colombia 1819–30

FALKLAND
ISLANDS
 THE WORLD IN 1750–1914 235

brought independence to much of Latin America and unification to

Italy and Germany. Elsewhere, however, colonial nations continued
to dominate much of the globe, stifling local political development.
Even independent regions, such as China and Japan, suffered from
significant interventions or interference by European powers.

The world of
S i b empires in 1850
e r i a
By 1850, the US spanned the
breadth of North America, while
R U S S I A N E M P I R E most of Latin America had thrown
off Spanish and Portuguese rule.
Only a few colonies existed in Africa,
but India had almost entirely become
i a dominion of the British, who also
Gob
Ca

Q I N G settled in Australia and New Zealand.

sp

KHIVA
Beijing
ian

BUKHARA JAPAN P A C I F I C A weak Qing dynasty ruled China.

Sea

E M P I R E KOREA
PERSIA Hi Tokyo
AFGHANISTAN
ma
lay Nanjing Kyoto O C E A N
Delhi as Shanghai
NORWAY
Arabian INDIA Plassey Canton (Guangzhou) SWEDEN
North
Pen in sul a Calcutta Hong Kong
AN

BURMA Sea Baltic

DENMARK Sea RUSSIAN
M

AN

EMPIRE
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Manila Mariana
NA

YEMEN Goa SIAM BRITAIN PRUSSIA

Madras PHILIPPINE Islands Marshall NETHERLANDS Berlin
M

Socotra London PRUSSIA Leipzig POLAND

ISLANDS Islands Waterloo
Jena SAXONY
ETHIOPIA Maldive
BELGIUM
Ceylon Nicobar Paris
BAVARIA Austerlitz
Islands Islands Singapore Sedan AUSTRIAN
New SWITZERLAND Vienna
Borneo
Su

Seychelle Islands Guinea FRANCE

EMPIRE
m

DUTCH POSSESSIONS
at

Zanzibar AND DEPENDENCIES

ra

SERBIA
to Oman Batavia Java TUSCANY
Rome OTTOMAN
L

EMPIRE
GA

SPAIN
Madrid SARDINIA
KINGDOM Constantinople
PORTU

PORTUGUESE Lisbon OF THE

car

MONTENEGRO
TIMOR Mediterran TWO SICILIES
ean
gas

Mauritius
I N D I A N Sea
a
Mad

Réunion AUSTRALIAN
O C E A N COLONIES Many of the European powers had
Lord Howe
Island suffered nationalist revolutions in 1848,
Adelaide Sydney but territorially they remained largely
Melbourne unchanged. By 1850 Italy and Germany, still
divided into a number of small states, were
NEW just two decades away from unification. In the
ZEALAND Balkans, the Ottoman empire still held most
of the region, but had lost control of Greece.
 236 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The Americas
By 1750, virtually the whole of the Americas was occupied by
the Spanish, Portuguese, French, or British, with the remaining few
islands and enclaves occupied by lesser European powers. In contrast,
by 1914, only a few areas remained as European colonies, the rest
having experienced around a century of independence. In the case
of the United States and Spain’s American colonies, this was won
from the mother country through revolutionary wars.

Europeans in the Americas

n NORTH AMERICA, CARIBBEAN d 1750

By the middle of the 18th century, most of the Ohio River as far as Detroit (founded in 1701),
territory of eastern North America had been carved and by 1750 they had a string of fortified positions
up among the European nations. The British along these waterways. The goal was to link with
occupied the Thirteen Colonies, an area of the their existing possessions around New Orleans
eastern seaboard of what would become the United in the south to create a north–south corridor of
States, as well as Nova Scotia and an area around French territory from which to put pressure on
Hudson’s Bay in modern Canada. the British. At about the same time, British
colonists began to move into Ohio, escalating
The French position the potential for conflict between Britain and
Britain’s principal opponents in North America France. Adding to the volatile mix—and so the
were the French, who held much of modern likelihood of war in eastern North America—
eastern Canada (or “New France”) from their were the long-held Spanish positions in Florida
main fortress at Québec. From here, the French and the Caribbean, which they had occupied
had crept south down the Great Lakes and the since the early 16th century.

From forts such as

San Felipe on Puerto
Rico in the Caribbean,
Spain defended an
arc of territory from
seaward invasion.
 THE AMERICAS 237

The French and Indian War

n E NORTH AMERICA d 1754–1760

Britain and France had sparred for decades for In 1758, the British launched campaigns to
control of the crucial waterways of the Ohio and thrust north from New York, seize Louisbourg,
Mississippi rivers. In 1754, a skirmish near Fort and march on the French capital in North
Duquesne between the French and Virginian America, Québec.
colonial troops prompted the dispatch of a British
expeditionary force, led by Major-General Edward The end of New France
Braddock, who attempted to seize the French fort. The French commander, Marquis de Montcalm,
With the help of their Native American Iroquois fought a series of able blocking actions, but A medal struck
allies, the French routed the British. Native forces the British took Louisbourg and pushed up the to commemorate
were to play a major part on both sides in what St. Lawrence River, so that by June 1759 Montcalm the British capture
of Québec in modern
became known as the French and Indian War. was confined to Québec. General Wolfe’s British Canada from the
force took the city, although both commanders French in 1759.
The war spreads were killed in the engagement. In September
A series of French victories was halted only 1760, the Marquis de Vaudreuil surrendered
by a setback at Lake St. George in September the last French stronghold at Montréal, ending the
1755, which saved the Hudson Valley for Britain. North American phase of the Seven Years’ War
By 1756, the conflict had become global (as the and handing the territories of “New France”
Seven Years’ War; see pp.246–7), and the British over to Britain.
began to see that North America was an arena
The Marquis de Montcalm was mortally
in which they could damage French interests wounded in the defeat of his forces on the
and force France to divert resources from Europe. Plains of Abraham outside Québec.
 238 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The Revolutionary War

n E NORTH AMERICA d 1775–1783

The British colonies in North America were liable

to pay tax to Britain, but without receiving the
benefit of representation in parliament, which
rankled greatly with the colonists. A series of
measures passed from 1763, aimed at raising
money for the British government, caused further
discontent, and the Stamp Act, a direct tax
on paper, provoked riots. In 1773, a group of
Bostonians, disguised as Native Americans,
threw a cargo of highly taxed East India Company
tea into Boston Harbor. Their slogan—“no
taxation without representation”—struck a
deep chord with most colonists.

The outbreak of war The “Boston Tea Party” protest in 1773,

against Britain’s three-penny tax on tea, saw
In response, the British passed a series of laws in American colonists hurl crates of tea into
1774, which the Americans dubbed the “Intolerable Boston Harbor.
Acts.” These measures were intended to restore
order, but served only to unite the colonies in deaf ears and the British government called on
further protest. A colonial Continental Congress General Thomas Gage, commander of the British
in Philadelphia in September 1774 demanded the forces in Boston, to arrest the colonists’ troublesome
repeal of the Intolerable Acts. The appeal fell on leaders. The first skirmish, described later as “the

George Washington
crossed the Delaware
River into New Jersey
in December 1776, at
a time when his army
was under severe
British pressure.
 THE AMERICAS 239

on a Declaration of Independence, thanks largely

GEORGE WASHINGTON
to the intellectual force and literary skills of
Born to a family of Virginia landowners, George Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), later to become
Washington (1732–1799) served on the British the third president of the United States.
side in the French and Indian War (see p.237),
experience that led Congress to appoint him
commander of the American military forces in The American victory
1775. He came to command widespread respect The British fought on, but Washington’s victory at
for his morality and tenacity and, after Saratoga in October 1777 stirred the interest of
independence, was president of the Constitutional
Convention that drafted the US constitution in the French, still stinging from their expulsion from
1787. In 1789, he was elected first president of the Canada (see p.237), who formed an alliance with
USA, a position he held for two terms, until 1797. the colonists. The signing of a treaty between the
Americans and the French in February 1778 The Declaration of
marked a major turning point in the war. Independence was
shot heard round the world,” occurred at All hope of a British victory ended on October 19, adopted on July 4, 1776.
Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775. 1781 when Lord Cornwallis was forced to surrender Its signatories included
John Adams and
Besieged in Boston, Gage then bungled an attempt the last major British army at Yorktown, Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, both
to dislodge rebel positions at the Battle of Bunker after an 18-day siege. The British suspended any later US presidents.
Hill in June, a success that bolstered the further military operations against the Americans.
Americans’ morale. Soon afterward, George In November 1782, they signed a provisional
Washington became commander of the newly agreement recognizing American independence,
formed Continental Army. Despite setbacks, a decision ratified by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.
including the British capture of New York, in July George Washington became the first president
1776 the Americans made a decisive break with and John Adams the first vice president of the
Britain. After a series of difficult negotiations new United States of America, which at the time
among themselves, the American colonies agreed was often also referred to as “the Union.”
240 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The expansion of the United States

n USA d 1783–1867

After the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the new US

(the Union) had frontiers along the Mississippi MERIWETHER LEWIS
River to the west, where it faced remaining French Secretary to President Jefferson, in 1803
possessions, and along the Great Lakes to the Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809) was sent to
north, where it bordered British Canada. The US explore the region acquired by the Louisiana
Purchase. He and his men reached the Pacific
did not remain confined to these boundaries for coast in 1805, making them the first Europeans
long, however. Expansion across the Mississippi to traverse the width of the US.
began with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, by which
Napoleon, abandoning plans to rebuild a French
New World empire, ceded a vast territory that Canada along the 49th parallel (line of latitude).
doubled the size of the US for a mere $15 million. To the south, the US acquired Florida from Spain in
1813–1819. In 1846, Oregon Country was split with
The frontier moves west the British, again along the 49th parallel, providing
A conflict with Britain (the War of 1812) ended a Pacific frontier.
in a stalemate and an agreement in 1818 to Texas had become independent from Mexico
demarcate the US’s northern border with in 1836, but was annexed by the US in 1845, which
led to war with the Mexicans. In 1848, a victorious
US acquired California, Nevada, Utah, and New
Mexico. The Gadsden Purchase in 1853, which
added further land from northern Mexico, and the
purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867 completed
the growth of the continental Union.

Land of opportunity
As the young nation expanded, large numbers
of settlers traveled west to the newly acquired
lands. The 1862 Homestead Act, which offered
farmers ownership of 160 acres (65 hectares)
of land after they had farmed it for five years,
accelerated the migration, as did the completion
of a transcontinental railroad in 1869.
The expansion of the settlement frontier,
however, was accompanied by the displacement—
often by force—of Native American tribes. The
death of General George Custer at Little Big Horn
in 1876 was one of the rare conflicts in which
Native Americans were the victors.

A memorial to the volunteers who died in 1836

at the Alamo, the most famous battle in Texas’s
fight for independence from Mexico.
 THE AMERICAS 241

The slide to civil war

n US d 1820–1861

Slave auctions
were commonplace
in the southern US;
the largest, in Georgia,
involved the sale of
over 430 slaves.

The Constitutional Convention of 1787 had ABRAHAM LINCOLN

allowed individual member states of the new
Kentucky-born Abraham
US (the Union) to retain slavery if they wished. Lincoln (1809–1865)
The northern states abolished slavery, while a helped found the
roughly equal number of southern states kept it, anti-slavery Republican
Party in 1854. Selected
leading to constant friction.
as a compromise
Republican candidate in
The slavery debate the 1860 elections, his
The admission of new “free” states—which victory in the northern
states provoked states in
outlawed slavery—to the Union threatened to the south to leave the
upset its equilibrium. In the so-called “Missouri Union. However, his
Compromise” of 1820, slavery was forbidden determination saw the Union through the ensuing
in much of the West, but this was overturned Civil War. In 1865, Lincoln signed a resolution on
the abolition of slavery; he was assassinated just
by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, while as the war ended.
a Supreme Court decision in 1857 further
strengthened slavery’s status. Still, the increasing
numbers of free territories jostling for statehood The southern states had opted for a pro-slavery
alarmed supporters of slavery. Democrat, John Breckenridge, and on December 20,
After an armed raid in 1859 by anti-slavery 1860, South Carolina voted to leave the Union. By
militant John Brown to free slaves at Harper’s February 1861, six more states had also withdrawn,
Ferry, Virginia, this concern turned into active creating a new body known as the Confederacy.
opposition. In November 1860, the first Republican With tensions between north and south running so
Party president, Abraham Lincoln, was elected on high, it was only a matter of time before hostilities
a platform of opposition to slavery's expansion. would break out.
 242 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The American Civil War

n USA d 1860–1865

By the spring of 1861, seven states had seceded The Confederacy’s strategy was to defend itself
from the Union (see p.241) to form the pro-slavery from attack long enough to force recognition from
Confederacy. On April 12, Confederate forces the Union government. The skill of some masterful
bombarded Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, Confederate battlefield commanders enabled it to
South Carolina, eventually forcing the surrender resist, in fact, for far longer than could be predicted
of its Union troops. The first shots of the Civil War from its military resources.
had been fired. The effort devoted by each side to the war
The two sides were ill-matched; the Union was prodigious. Conscription (a military draft)
had vast economic resources and its population was introduced by the Confederacy in 1862, and
was far larger, at 22 million. Even when a further by the Union in 1863. By the conflict’s end, some
four states joined the Confederacy after the 50 percent of the eligible population of the Union
Fort Sumter attack, its population numbered had been mobilized, and around 75 percent
only 9 million, of whom 3.5 million were slaves. in the Confederacy.

Abraham Lincoln
(right), US President
Government of the people, by the
during the Civil War,
was seen as the
people, for the people.
bringer of liberty to Abraham Lincoln, 1863
the slaves of the south.
 THE AMERICAS 243

The early course of the war

Superior Confederate generalship led to early
success, with “Stonewall” Jackson’s two victories
at Bull Run, Virginia, seriously endangering the
Union’s capital at Washington, DC. A further
attempt by the brilliant Confederate general
Robert E. Lee to invade the Union ended in disaster
at Gettysburg in a three-day battle in July 1863.
This marked the turning point of the war.
On the western front, Union general
Ulysses S. Grant won a costly victory at Shiloh,
Tennessee, in April 1862 and then thrust down
the Mississippi River, taking a strategic position
at Vicksburg in April 1863 before pushing further
south to cut the Confederacy in two—isolating
Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas from the other
states. In the fall of 1864, Union general William
Sherman began his “March to the Sea,” moving
from the Mississippi to cut a destructive swath
through the Confederacy as far as Atlanta on
the eastern seaboard.

Confederate surrender Soldiers pose for the camera at Fair Oaks,

In Virginia, meanwhile, Lee sparred for months Virginia; the Civil War was one of the first
with Grant, the Confederate general maneuvering conflicts to be recorded in photographs.
his forces both to evade capture and to shield
the Confederate capital at Richmond. In the end, this effect on January 1, 1863, and the US
despite brilliant rearguard actions, his resources adopted the 13th Amendment, enshrining
were simply drained, his army reduced to barely this in the Constitution in December 1865.
8,000. After Richmond finally fell on April 3, 1865,
Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court Reconstruction
House on April 9. Early the following month, the After the war, the southern states underwent
last Confederate forces surrendered in Carolina a process of “Reconstruction” intended to prepare
and Alabama, and the war was over. them for readmission to the Union. Former
It had cost the Union side 110,000 battlefield Confederate officials were banned from holding
deaths, the Confederacy 93,000, and each public office, and veterans were required to
side many more from disease or exhaustion. pledge allegiance to the Union. It was a
The main outcome was the harsh regime that bred resentment
emancipation of the in the southern states. Georgia was
southern slaves; the last state to be readmitted
Lincoln had issued to the Union, in July 1870,
a proclamation to but Reconstruction
continued until 1877,
A Union soldier’s when a deal (known
portable desk. A as the “Compromise”)
remarkable number was struck to allow the
of letters and memoirs, withdrawal of the final
written by ordinary
soldiers, survive Federal forces from
from the Civil War. the south.
244 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Latin American independence

n CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA d 1808–1920

In 1775, Spanish and Portuguese control of their

Latin American empires seemed unchallenged. SIMÓN BOLÍVAR
Yet the outbreak of the American and French Hero of South America’s
revolutions provided inspiration for those seeking struggle for independence
independence for Central and South America and from Spain, Simón
Bolívar (1783–1830)
offered avenues for seeking aid for those already began his revolutionary
struggling to gain autonomy. career in Venezuela
When Napoleon turned on his Spanish allies in 1813. Known as
El Libertador (“the
in 1808 during the Peninsular War (see p.254), Liberator”), his hopes
events took a disastrous turn for Spain. With the of a grand union of the
Spanish king Charles VI and his son, Ferdinand, newly independent states
taken hostage by Napoleon, rebels bent on were dashed, as the early
Republic of Gran Colombia fell
independence exploited the power vacuum to apart into its component countries (Columbia,
jostle for power across Spanish America. Panama, and Ecuador) shortly before he died
of tuberculosis in 1830.
The liberation of
Spanish America
Revolutionary forces rose from opposite ends to strike at a weak point in Chile in 1817. San
of the continent. From the south, José de San Martín then liberated the Spanish stronghold
Martín, a former Spanish military officer, led of Peru. From the north came Simón Bolívar,
5,000 troops across the Andes from Argentina whose forces entered Venezuela in 1813; they
waged a ferocious campaign, but with limited
results. However, in 1817 a larger, revitalized
Pancho Villa (center) was a key figure in the
Mexican Revolution and the last to lay down his movement for independence emerged to complete
arms, only giving up the fight in 1920. the struggle for the north. In 1821, Bolívar was
named president of Gran Colombia—a union of
Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador.
By 1821 further campaigns had wrested New
Granada and Venezuela from Spanish control.
In the central Andes, the southern and northern
armies crushed the remaining loyalist strength.
Peru, which the Spanish had recaptured, regained
its independence in 1824.
In Mexico, meanwhile, a movement emerged
in 1810, led by a radical priest, Miguel Hidalgo y
Costilla, who built up an untrained force of 80,000

All who
have served the
Revolution have
plowed the sea.
Simón Bolívar, 1830
 THE AMERICAS 245

A monument, nicknamed El Ángel

(“The Angel”), was built in Mexico City in
1910 to commemorate the centenary of
the start of Mexico’s liberation struggle.

indigenous fighters. Although

Hidalgo was captured and executed
in 1811, he had badly shaken Spanish
control of Mexico, and the country
achieved independence in 1821.
In Brazil, the colonial upper classes, reliant
on African slavery, wanted to maintain ties with
Portugal. Then, in 1808, the Portuguese court
fled to Brazil to escape Napoleon. King John
returned to Lisbon in 1821, leaving his son
Pedro in the colony. In 1822, Pedro declared
Brazil independent and himself Emperor.

The Mexican revolution

While Brazil retained its integrity, the former
Spanish America split into more than a dozen
republics. However, internal fighting caused
the first constitutional governments to fall
and Latin America in the mid-19th century
was plagued by instability, leading to the rise
of military strongmen (caudillos).
In 1876, one of these, General Porfirio Díaz,
seized power in Mexico and established a
dictatorship. Resentment toward him exploded in
the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which overthrew
Díaz in 1911. His replacement, Francisco Madero,
failed to fulfil the expectations of more radical
revolutionaries such as Emiliano Zapata and
Francisco (“Pancho”) Villa, leading the civil war
to rumble on until 1920.

JOSÉ DE SAN MARTÍN

Argentinian national hero José de San Martín
(1778–1850) joined South America’s struggle
for independence in 1812. In 1817 he crossed
the Andes to overthrow Spanish control of Chile,
and won definitive independence for Peru in 1824.
He died in France.
246 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Europe
When France overthrew its monarchy in 1789, the new regime
seemed bent on exporting democracy throughout Europe, but after
two decades of Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars the European
status quo remained largely intact. However, Europe was then shaken
by a violent upsurge in 1848, fed by new ideals of nationalism that
ultimately led to the unifications of Italy and Germany and to
independence for a string of Balkan countries.

The Seven Years’ War

n EUROPE d 1756–1763

In 1756, Frederick II of Prussia signed a treaty at Rossbach in Saxony, and then crushed
with Britain to protect British rule in Hanover the Austrians in Silesia before inflicting a
(in modern Germany). Maria Theresa of Austria defeat on the Russians at Zorndorf in 1758.
used this as a pretext with which to effect a The tide turned strongly against Frederick
“diplomatic revolution,” in which she allied in 1760 and 1761, but the succession of the
with her former enemy France and firmed up pro-Prussian Peter III in Russia in 1762
ties with Empress Elizabeth of Russia, making brought a new ally.
Prussia vulnerable to invasion. Prussian victory at Freiberg, Saxony, in
Striking first, Frederick sought to occupy 1762 meant that in 1763 the Treaty of Paris,
Saxony, but was unsuccessful. In 1757, which brought an end to the Seven Years’ War
however, he did triumph over the French in Europe, restored the status quo.

FREDERICK II
A military genius,
Frederick II “the Great”
of Prussia (ruled
1740–1786) reformed
the Prussian army and
used it to fight a series
of campaigns aimed at
gathering the disparate
possessions of Prussia
into a united state.
 EUROPE 247

The first global war

The Seven Years’ War broke out in 1756 between Prussia on one
side and Austria, France, and Russia on the other. The involvement
of Britain, through its holding of Hanover, meant that the war soon
gained a global dimension, as France and Britain extended the
conflict to their overseas colonies. In the Americas, fighting had
erupted in 1755 (see p.237), a year before the main war actually
began in Europe.
A Prussian war
The war in India The war elsewhere banner displaying
the imperial eagle
In 1756, the nawab (ruler) of Bengal sparked In the other main non-European theaters of and the motto “for
hostilities in India by capturing the British base the war, the British generally had the better glory and fatherland.”
at Calcutta, and putting his prisoners in the of the fighting, capturing Senegal from the
“Black Hole”—a small, dark cell in which many French in 1758, seizing the French islands of
died. The victory of Robert Clive over the nawab in Guadeloupe and Martinique in 1762, and briefly
June 1757 dramatically revived British fortunes occupying the Spanish forts at Havana in Cuba The British fleet
in India (see p.270). The failure of a French siege and Manila in the Philippines in 1762–1763. captured Havana in
of Madras in 1759, a British victory at Wandiwash By the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, 1762. The occupation
in 1760, and the fall of the main French base in Britain ceded back many of its conquests, but was short-lived, as the
Treaty of Paris in 1763
India at Pondicherry the following year meant the retained French Canada, Spanish Florida, and gave Florida to Britain
end of the Indian phase of the Seven Years’ War. some French outposts in West Africa. in exchange for the city.
248 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The French Revolution

n FRANCE d 1789–1796

France’s costly involvement in the American commoners. The third estate, representing
Revolutionary War (see pp.238–9) put financial the commoners, insisted on greater voting rights.
reform at the top of the country’s political agenda. These were refused and the commoners broke
Bad harvests in 1788–1789 aggravated social away and took power as a National Assembly—
tensions and fueled resentment of the ancien the first step to revolutionary change. Rioting in
régime—a system by which 40 percent of the July 1789 led to the capture of the Bastille prison
land was owned by the nobility and clergy, who (see pp.250–1), a huge blow against the oppressive
made up a mere 3 percent of the population forces of the ancien régime.
and who were exempt from taxes.
Revolutionary reforms
The Estates-General On August 4, the National Assembly abolished
After the nobility blocked his attempt to raise feudal privileges, sweeping away an entire system
revenue, Louis XVI (ruled 1774–1792) was forced, of property ownership. For the next two years,
in May 1789, to convene the Estates-General— the National Assembly passed reforms that
a parliament made up of clergy, nobility, and further undermined the ancien régime,
including the “Declaration of the Rights of
Man,” as well as army reforms, and forced
Louis XVI was executed by guillotine on
January 21, 1793, on the site that is now the the clergy to take a civic oath to the state.
Place de la Concorde in Paris. In June 1791, Louis XVI, having schemed to
 EUROPE 249

undermine the Assembly, attempted to flee

abroad, but was captured at Varennes, east of
Paris. This apparent abandonment of his people
crucially undermined regard for the monarchy.
In April 1792, the Assembly declared war on
Austria and Prussia, who were sympathetic to
the king, but this caused panic in Paris, and on
August 20 a mob stormed the Tuileries palace
and deposed the king. In the aftermath, a more
radical assembly (the Convention) was elected,
and France was declared a Republic in September.
In January 1793, the king was charged with
crimes against the French nation, convicted,
and executed.

The Terror
Faced with mounting military and economic
problems, the Convention established a
Revolutionary Tribunal to mete out instant justice,
and a Committee of Public Safety (CPS) to wield moderate Girondin faction was expelled from A membership card
central power, which it did with mixed success. the Convention and the extremist Jacobins seized for the Convention,
under whose rule
Internal conflict was rife, and on June 2, 1793, the power under Robespierre. The Jacobins unleashed France was declared a
the “Terror” on France, aimed at purging any Republic and Louis XVI
remaining anti-Revolutionaries and pro-royalists. was executed.
In 10 months from September 1793, they executed
some 20,000 people, and the Revolution seemed
to be consuming itself in violence.
A decisive military victory over Austria in
June 1794 eased political pressures and
Robespierre and his henchmen were finally
toppled in an anti-Jacobin backlash. In 1795,
the CPS was replaced by a five-man Directory,
which set about the task of restoring faith in the
Revolutionary regime.

ROBESPIERRE
Maximilien Robespierre
(1758–1794), a lawyer,
was mocked for his high
voice, but respected for
his pure principles, which
earned him the nickname
“The Incorruptible.” When
he came to power in
1793, his extremism
unleashed terror on
France, and ultimately
led to his execution.
 By July 14, 1789, the Bastille prison in
Paris housed just seven inmates, but also
held vast stores of gunpowder. Weakly
defended by a party of invalides—troops
unfit for active service—it was stormed
by a revolutionary mob and its governor,
de Launay, was stabbed to death.
252 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

France under Napoleon

n FRANCE d 1799–1815

The rule of the Directory (1795–1799) was a time

of great instability and mounting corruption
in France. The division of power between five
Directors and a two-chamber parliament led
to chaos, inaction, and disenchantment with
the political process.
Into this gap stepped the rising young military
star Napoleon Bonaparte. His successes in the
Italian campaign of the 1790s lent him an aura
of steadiness and invincibility that the fractious
Revolutionaries badly needed. In November
1799, having abandoned his army in Palestine,
Napoleon arrived back in France to answer his
nation’s call. A new civil code for France was one of
Napoleon’s most enduring legacies, enshrining
in law some of the freedoms fought for in the
From First Consul to Emperor French Revolution.
The Coup of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799)
saw Napoleon and his backers overthrow amalgam of Revolutionary and feudal systems
the Directory, and he became First Consul that had evolved since 1789. In December 1804,
in the new leadership. he had himself crowned Emperor. Presiding
His two fellow consuls were soon reduced over the ceremony was Pope Pius VII, for
to powerless nonentities, and in 1802 Napoleon had made peace with the Catholic
Napoleon had himself declared First Consul Church the previous year in a Concordat that
for life. Intelligent, determined, and energetic, recognized limited papal authority over
Napoleon set to sweeping away the ramshackle Catholics in France.
 EUROPE 253

Domestic reforms the disastrous 1812 campaign in Russia, support

Napoleon’s reforms left few spheres of French life for Napoleon steadily ebbed away. When enemy
untouched. He founded a Bank of France in 1800, armies reached Paris in 1814, his power base
and issued a new currency centered around a gold proved brittle; even long-standing loyalists
coin, the napoleon. He ordered that the educational such as Marshal Ney did nothing to prevent his
system be reformed and radically revised the being deposed.
French administrative system, rationalizing Yet the new Bourbon regime of Louis XVIII was
the network of départements set up in 1790. little loved either, and residual affection in France
A committee of legal experts was formed for Napoleon enabled him to return from exile
to bring order to the chaos of legislative codes on the Italian island of Elba in May 1815. A final
and temporary expedients. By 1804 it had flourish, the “Hundred Days,” ended in his defeat
completed a new civil code that would survive at the battle of Waterloo and permanent exile
Napoleon’s demise as the centerpiece of France’s to Saint Helena, an island in the South Atlantic.
legal system.
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
The cost of warfare Born into an impoverished
The universal conscription and punitive taxation Corsican noble family,
necessitated by Napoleon’s constant warfare Napoleon Bonaparte
(see pp.254–5) were not popular in France. As (1769–1821) became a
junior artillery officer
victory turned to stalemate, then retreat, after aged just 16. His
subsequent career was

I have tasted characterized by superb

opportunism and a tactical
At the Committee of
command, and I brilliance in battle that marked him
out from other commanders of the age. It brought Lyon in 1802, Napoleon
created the Repubblica
cannot give it up.
him high political office, but the scale of his own
ambitions and those of his foreign enemies Italiana; in 1805, this
ultimately brought about his deposition. became the Kingdom
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1798 of Italy, with the new
emperor as its king.
254 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The Napoleonic Wars Wellington leads his army from an indecisive

encounter at Quatre Bras, in 1815, to the final
n EUROPE d 1802–1815 victory at Waterloo two days later.
The French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) had first of seven such groupings, whose shifting
been intended to protect France’s borders from membership would seek to oppose the French
other European powers eager to stop the spread emperor and be repeatedly defeated by his armies.
of revolution. They turned gradually into a more
aggressive foreign policy, as France’s armies met The first great victories
with a series of successes that stoked its hunger Napoleon’s great victories in 1805 against Austria
for exporting revolution and acquiring land. at Ulm and an Austro-Prussian army at Austerlitz
The Peace of Amiens, which Napoleon struck with placed him at the summit of his power. He was
Britain in 1802, promised an end to the wars, but thwarted only by naval defeat at Trafalgar (off
it lasted only a year. By 1805 Britain managed to the southwest coast of Spain) against the British
build an alliance of countries fearful of Napoleon’s admiral Nelson in October, which scuppered his
expansionism—the First Coalition. This was the plans to invade England.
However, his insistence on an economic
blockade by all the nations under his control as
an alternative means to cripple England caused
great resentment among the other European
countries. Napoleon went on to attack Prussia
in October 1806, and within three weeks had
defeated its armies at Jena and Austerstädt.
He then forced peace on Tsar Alexander I of
Russia at Tilsit in July 1807.

The downfall of Napoleon

Napoleon’s decision to invade Spain and Portugal
Napoleon wore a hat in a bicorn (two-horned)
style that incorporated a badge bearing the French in 1808, starting the Peninsular War, led to the
Revolutionary colors of red, white, and blue. diversion of badly needed resources into a difficult
 EUROPE 255

History is a set
fought a brilliant short campaign to block the
Coalition advance toward Paris, there was little
of lies… people have political will to support continued resistance and,
betrayed by defections among his senior officers,
agreed upon. he was forced to abdicate.
Napoleon Bonaparte, Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba, but
Memoirs, published in 1823 returned the following year, and many flocked
back to his standard. The restoration of his regime
struggle against local guerrillas who were depended on early, decisive victories, so defeat by
being aided by British expeditionary forces. the Prussians and British at Waterloo in June 1815
From 1809, the British forces, under the Duke led to his definitive abdication and the end of the
of Wellington, gradually fought their way forward Napoleonic Wars.
in a bitter struggle, finally invading southwest
France in 1813–1814. THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON
Meanwhile, in 1812, Napoleon’s decision to
In 1808, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
invade Russia was similarly misjudged. The (1769–1852), was placed in command of a
Russian army simply retreated further eastward, British force dispatched to aid Portugal against
and, although Napoleon’s Grande Armée did take France. For the next six years he fought his way
through the Iberian peninsula, before invading
Moscow in September, the victory was hollow. The
France itself in late 1813. Despite his professed
French were forced to pull back in a harrowing disdain for the common soldier, Wellington had
winter retreat during which, harassed by the a clear ability to win battles, which inspired
Russians, they lost more than half a million men. great loyalty in his soldiers. After his defeat
of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, he took to
Both of these campaigns left Napoleon politics, including stints as British prime
vulnerable to a renewed Coalition against him and, minister in 1828–1830 and 1834.
in a massive battle at Leipzig in 1813, he suffered
his first major battlefield defeat. Though Napoleon
An artist’s view of
Napoleon’s planned
invasion of England in
1805 shows French
forces attacking by sea,
air, and tunneling under
the English Channel.
 256 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Nationalism and revolution

n EUROPE d 1804–1878

The Congress of Vienna, which met from Milan Obrenovic’s accession as

1814 to 1815 to settle the terms by Serbia’s first king in 1882 sealed
the country’s independence.
which the Napoleonic Wars would
be concluded, ended by sealing a
return to more or less the same including the Austrians, the
system of European powers Hungarians, and the Czechs. It
that existed before the French also posed a threat to the integrity
Revolution. For the next quarter- of the Ottoman Empire, a similarly
century, the “Congress System”— multiethnic state.
in which the “Concert of Powers”
(Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia) Nationalism in
met periodically to determine political the Ottoman Empire
issues—cast a stifling blanket over any As the Ottoman sultans were decidedly
aspirations for change. not included in the European Concert of Powers,
During the
1848 Revolutions Growing in strength all this time were feelings it is scarcely surprising that it was in their
it seemed as if the of nationalism—the view that ethnic groups had domains that nationalism won its earliest
whole of Europe was the right to political self-determination and the successes. A revolutionary uprising broke out
in flames. Uprisings in right to their own independent states. This was in Greece in 1821, supported by foreign (mainly
Austria threatened
Vienna, heart of the a particular problem for the Austro-Hungarian English) intervention—including the picturesque
Habsburg Empire. Empire, which boasted many such groups, involvement of the English poet Lord Byron. The
 EUROPE 257

Eugène Delacroix’s
Liberty Leading the
People was inspired
by the uprising that
brought Louis-Philippe
to the French throne
in 1830, only to be
deposed in 1848.

revolutionaries won a great naval victory at existing regime won out by offering concessions
Navarino in 1827 and finally forced the Ottomans to the Hungarians, the most significant non-German
to recognize Greek independence in 1832. In component of the empire. They established the
Serbia, a revolt sparked by the reformers “Dual Monarchy,” in which the ruler was emperor
Vuk Karadjic and George Petrovic in 1804 secured in Austria, but king of a theoretically separate
Russian aid and drove the Ottomans out of the Hungarian state. Popular uprisings in Italy
province by 1807. On the defensive after defeat and Germany, which seemed to promise
in Greece, the Ottoman sultan finally accepted statehood, were similarly premature, and
Serbian autonomy in 1830. ended in brutal suppressions.

The 1848 revolutions The decline and rise

In central and western Europe, poor harvests of nationalism
in 1846–1847 had resulted in appalling hardship With this almost total restoration of the status
for the peasantry. Combined with nationalist quo, it seemed that the Concert of Powers would
frustrations at the seeming impossibility of political continue to run Europe with a conservative fist
change, this produced an astonishing outbreak of much as it had done since 1815. Yet within
revolutionary movements in 1848 that touched 20 years, the disparate states of Italy and
almost all parts of Europe. In France, it led to the Germany were united as independent countries
overthrow of the monarchy of Louis-Philippe and (see pp.258–9), while the dismemberment of
the establishment of the Second Republic. the Ottoman empire continued at the Congress
In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a more of Berlin (1878), which finally recognized the
obviously nationalist series of uprisings almost independence of Serbia, Montenegro, and
overthrew Habsburg power to set up a number Romania, and began to establish a separate
of new, ethnically based states. In the end the Bulgarian state.
 258 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Wilhelm I was
proclaimed first
Kaiser (emperor) of
the German Empire
in the Hall of Mirrors at
the Palace of Versailles.

The unification of Germany

n GERMANY d 1864–1871

At the time of the 1848 Revolutions (see p.257), Republic, Bismarck soon had the victory he
Germany was a loose confederation of states, the desired. In a humiliation of the French, the German
most powerful among them being Prussia. From Empire was proclaimed at the Palace of Versailles
1862, Prussia’s Minister-President, Otto von on the outskirts of Paris on January 18, 1871, with
Bismarck, sought to secure the supremacy of the Prussian ruler Wilhelm as its first emperor.
Prussia within central Europe by encouraging the The new Germany was in principle a federation
other German states to unify under its leadership. of 25 states, but there was no doubt that Prussia
The process began in earnest in 1864, when and Bismarck—champion of the unification—were
Prussia joined forces with Austria to annex very firmly in charge.
the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein from
Denmark. Two years later, war broke out between OTTO VON BISMARCK
Prussia and Austria, and a Prussian victory at
Prime Minister of Prussia from 1862, Otto von
Königgrätz in 1867 allowed Bismarck to exclude Bismarck (1815–98) wanted to unite Germany
Austria from the German Confederation, and under Prussian leadership. His skilful conduct
from any say in the constitutional course of of wars against Denmark and Austria in the 1860s
helped secure the infant state; then
the German principalities.
victory in the Franco-Prussian War
(1870–1871) persuaded the other
The German Empire German states to join Prussia to
Bismarck was well aware that Napoleon III of form an empire, of which
Bismarck became the first
France (see p.260) would never willingly accept a chancellor. Though a
unified German state on his borders. He attempted conservative leader, he
to place a German Hohenzollern prince on the did introduce some
throne of Spain to encircle the French. social reforms aimed
at reducing the growing
As a result, Napoleon III declared war on Prussia appeal of socialism
and its German allies. Napoleon was captured (see p.267).
after the Battle of Sedan in September 1870, and,
though the French continued to resist under a new
 EUROPE 259

The unification of Italy

n ITALY d 1831–1871

The Congress of Vienna in 1814 (see p.256)

confirmed the division of the Italian peninsula GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI
into a patchwork of states. A revolutionary Having participated in a failed Carbonari
society known as the Carbonari (coal-burners) insurrection in Piedmont in 1834, Giuseppe
began to agitate for unification, and organized Garibaldi (1807–1882) was forced to flee Italy to
South America. In 1849, he returned to command
a series of insurrections. a Roman army established in the wake of the 1848
In 1831, the Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini Revolutions (see p.257), but on its suppression
formed the movement known as “Young Italy,” fled once more. In 1860, defying more cautious
mainstream nationalists, he captured most of
which called for one Italian nation, “independent, southern Italy. Sidelined thereafter, he fought
free, and Republican.” Italian statesmen were his last battles in French service during the
quick to grasp their opportunities. Camillo Cavour, Franco-Prussian War (see p.260).
the prime minister of Piedmont in northern Italy,
provoked a war against Austria in 1859, and his
victory enabled Piedmont to take control of most
of northern Italy.
The next year, Giuseppe Garibaldi invaded
southern Italy with an army of thousands of
volunteer “Red Shirts” and occupied Sicily and
Naples. In 1861, Piedmont established a “Kingdom
of Italy” with Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont as
its first monarch. The process of Italian unification
was completed with Italy’s seizure of the Veneto
from Austria in 1866 and, following Napoleon III’s
withdrawal of the French garrison to fight the
Franco-Prussian War, the occupation of Rome
in September 1870. Rome officially became
the capital of Italy the following year.

A people
destined to achieve
great things for the
welfare of humanity
must one day or other
be constituted
a nation.
Giuseppe Mazzini, Italian
revolutionary and patriot, 1861
260 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

France under Napoleon III

n FRANCE d 1848–1870

On the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy civic planner Baron Haussmann—and

in France in 1815 (see p.253), all members overseeing a massive expansion in France’s
of the Bonaparte family were sent into exile. rail network.
Napoleon I’s nephew, Charles-Louis Napoleon,
thus grew up in Switzerland and Germany. Napoleon III’s foreign policy
However, after the collapse of the “July Napoleon III joined the British side in the Crimean
Monarchy” of Louis-Philippe in 1848, Charles- War against Russia (1853–1856), aided the cause
Louis returned to France, and he was elected of Italian independence by going to war with
president later that year. Then, in 1851, Charles- Austria in 1859, acquired France’s first Southeast
Louis engineered a coup that resulted in his Asian colony (Cochin-China) in 1862, and
becoming emperor the following year, as intervened in Mexico (1862–1867) to place a
Napoleon III (ruled 1852–1870). Habsburg emperor on the throne there. It was,
Despite his imperial position, Napoleon III however, his quarrel with the German chancellor
saw himself as a social and economic reformer, Otto von Bismarck that led to his defeat and
encouraging the large-scale renovation of deposition in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War
Paris—according to a plan devised by the (see below). He died in exile in England in 1873.

The Franco-Prussian War

n FRANCE d 1870–1871

In autumn 1870 France, provoked by plans by

German chancellor Otto von Bismarck (see p.258)
to put a German prince on the Spanish throne,
declared war on Prussia. A brief occupation of
the Rhineland town of Saarbrücken in August
1870 was France’s sole success, and a bloody
defeat at Gravelotte on August 18 was followed
two weeks later by disaster at Sedan, where
Napoleon III was forced to surrender. Although
France established a Government of National
Defense to continue the country’s resistance, its
armed forces were shattered, and on January 28,
1871, Paris was forced to surrender.
France was left in chaos: most of its politicians
were discredited; Paris fell briefly under the power
of the radical Commune government; and peace with
Prussia involved the surrender of Alsace-Lorraine.

On January 25, 1871, frustrated by Paris’s

continued resistance, Bismarck ordered the
city to be bombarded with heavy Krupp guns.
 EUROPE 261

Victorian England
n ENGLAND d 1837–1901

The Great Exhibition

of 1851, held in the
Crystal Palace in Hyde
Park, London, was an
imperial showcase for
the “works of industry
of all nations.”

When Queen Victoria ascended to the British At home, there was a rise in reformism: a great
throne in 1837, Britain had not yet enjoyed the increase in urbanization inspired a will to tackle
fruits of its early industrialization (see p.264), the social problems it caused. The repeal of the
nor recovered from the loss of its American Corn Laws—which had raised the price of food—
colonies in 1783 (see p.239) or the costs of the in 1846, the passing of the Factory Acts restricting
Napoleonic Wars (see pp.254–5). Yet when she died the working hours of children, and the foundation
in 1901, Britain’s preeminence as an industrial of the Salvation Army in 1865 to encourage charity
power was unchallenged, the British flag flew to London’s slum-dwellers were just a few of the
in outposts around the globe, and a cultural self- social developments of Victoria’s reign.
confidence that grew out of this prosperity had
molded a characteristically “Victorian” Britain. QUEEN VICTORIA
Victoria (ruled 1837–1901)
Expansion abroad, was 18 when she came
reform at home to the throne, and in 1840
The demise of the East India Company in 1858 she married her German
cousin Prince Albert.
(see p.213) left the British Crown in control of large
Their children married
swaths of India. With the acquisition of colonies in into so many of the royal
Africa, Britain had truly become an imperial power, families of Europe that
and in 1877 Victoria took the title “Empress of India.” Victoria was known as the
“grandmother of Europe.”

We are not
interested in
the possibilities
of defeat.
Queen Victoria to
Arthur Balfour MP, 1899
 262 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Russia in the 19th century

n RUSSIA d 1801–1905

At the accession of Alexander I in 1801, the

Russian Empire already stretched from eastern
Siberia to Poland, a vast distance that posed
almost unsurmountable governance problems
to the tsarist administration. Its mainly rural An early Colt revolver
shipped to Russia from the US
population, largely serfs, labored under primitive and used to help the Russians
conditions, and although the country had begun fight the Crimean War.
to industrialize, it failed to match its western
European rivals. Shamil in 1859, meant that the Russian Empire
was roughly half as large again as it had been
Alexander I and Nicholas I under Peter the Great (see p.226). It was not a
Russia continued to expand in the early territory that lent itself to central administration:
A dramatic scene
of fighting during the 19th century, acquiring Finland from Sweden until 1830 there was not even an all-weather road
Crimean War between in 1809, Bessarabia from Turkey in 1812, and between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and the first
Russia and Turkey the much-diminished state of Poland in 1815. railroad followed only in 1851.
and its allies, the first Further acquisitions in the Caucasus, where the The reigns of Alexander I (1801–1825) and
conflict recorded by
both artists and Russians finally suppressed a bitter resistance Nicholas I (1825–1855) were dogged by the issue
photographers. after the surrender of the guerrilla leader of serfdom, and whether the serfs should be
 EUROPE 263

emancipated. Alexander, although liberal in

theory, even declaring the need for a Russian
constitution, did little in practice, while Nicholas
was a more straightforward autocrat who ceded
little ground.
He suppressed a revolt in Poland in 1830 and
sent aid to the Habsburgs in 1848 to put down
the revolutions in Austria and Hungary. His reign
ended in disaster, when his ambitions to acquire
territory from the Ottoman Empire led to a
humiliating defeat at the hands of Britain and
France in the Crimean War (1853–1856).

Attempt at reform
Alexander II (ruled 1855–1881), who presided over
the expansion of the Russian Empire into Central
Asia, instituted a series of liberal reforms, finally
emancipating the serfs in 1861. Legal reforms
enhanced the independence of the judiciary, while
in 1864 a system of local government with elected
bodies, the zemstvos, was set up.
Vladimir Makovsky’s Death in the Snow
Yet it was also in Alexander II’s reign that there shows the suffering caused by tsarist authorities
were the first revolutionary rumblings, among during the crushing of the 1905 Revolution.
peasants unhappy that emancipation had not led
to prosperity and intellectuals who despised the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War
tsarist system as an oppressive tyranny. One (1904–1905) increased the clamor for reform to
such dissenting group, the “People’s Will,” finally deafening levels, and a wave of revolutionary
assassinated the tsar in March 1881. protest broke out. In response, the tsar
allowed the establishment of a state
Repression and Duma (parliament), and granted
revolutionaries basic civil rights. Having satisfied
Under Alexander III (ruled the moderates, he crushed
1881–1894), a campaign of the extremists, ending the
police terror smothered the Revolution of 1905.
revolutionaries, while reforms
in 1889 in part backpedaled
on serf emancipation. When
Nicholas II came to the throne
in 1894, frustration was at boiling Nicholas II reversed many of the
reforms of previous tsars, but this
point, and the first Marxist party fostered rather than extinguished
(see p.267) was founded in 1898. radical sentiment.

The late Emperor did not anticipate

this end, and thus did not train me
in anything.
Tsar Nicholas II, 1894
 264 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The Industrial Revolution

From the late 18th century in Britain, a wave of industrialization
swept across Europe and North America. It transformed the Western
world from a rural society into an urban one, and set the foundations
for modern capitalism. This “Industrial Revolution” spurred profound
social changes, as well as giving rise to innovations in technology
that were to fuel vast economic growth.

Romanticized
depictions of the
conditions in the new
factories did nothing
to stem social unrest.

British beginnings appalling conditions, working long hours for low

Abundant natural materials such as iron and pay, until the rise of trade unionism (see p.266)
coal, and a growing middle class eager to invest, began to curb the excesses of factory owners.
allowed Britain to take full advantage of new
developments in technology. In the 1770s, James The Revolution spreads
Watts developed an improved steam engine, The new industrial techniques spread outward
which could provide the necessary power for from Britain, taking hold first in Belgium in the
various industrial uses, from pumping mines 1820s, then spreading fast during the “Second
to running machinery in the factories and mills Industrial Revolution” (1840–1890) when the new
of the early 18th century. railroads in Germany, Switzerland, and the US made
Textile production mechanized particularly it easier to move labor and commodities.
rapidly—by 1835 there were more than 120,000 In Europe, the abolition of serfdom—in France
power looms in textile mills—leading men, during the 1790s, in Germany between 1811 and
women, and children to flock to the towns where 1848, and in Russia and Poland in the 1860s—
the factories were situated. There they endured assisted industrialization by creating a more
 EUROPE 265
George Stephenson’s “North Star” steam engine
readily available workforce. In the US, large- served on Britain’s Great Western Railway, one of
scale immigration provided the new factories the great Victorian rail companies.
with their employees.
In 1856, Englishman Henry Bessemer invented
a new process for making iron into steel—a stronger,
more versatile metal than wrought iron. This
provided the raw material for new railway lines,
improved ships, and more powerful armaments.
Demand for steel was almost insatiable—by
1910, Krupp, the leading German steel
manufacturer, employed some 70,000 people;
in 1846 its workforce had been just 122.

The third wave

From the 1890s, a third wave of industrialization
occurred in Russia, Sweden, France, and Italy.
This saw the industrialization of chemical and Russia improved its rail network specifically for Developments in
electrical engineering. The Germans now dominated transporting troops. It would be just a few years engineering technology
industrial and weaponry production, as Britain’s before Europe would begin fighting the first truly enabled the building of
initial lead ebbed away. Fear of what this might industrialized war—World War I (1914–1918)—a war triumphant monuments
to the modern age,
mean led Russia, France, and Italy to accelerate that would destroy those infrastructures that had such as the Eiffel
investments in arms manufacturing, while been so improved by industry. Tower in Paris.
 266 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Industrialization and the labor movement

n EUROPE, THE USA d c.1800–1868

Labor practices in the factories of the Industrial the deportation of the “Tolpuddle
Revolution (see pp.264–5) ranged from neglectful Martyrs,” organized agricultural workers,
to abusive. From the early 19th century, British to Australia in 1834 being only the most
workers organized themselves into groups to famous example.
protect their interests, but these “combinations” Rapid economic progress in the 1840s
were illegal and employers often repressed them. strengthened the hand of the unions, and
in 1868 the forerunner of Britain's modern
Trade unionism Trades Union Congress was founded.
In 1824–1825, the British government repealed Meanwhile, the movement spread overseas
the anti-Combination laws and, for the first to the US, and establishment of unions
time, trade unions became lawful. In 1829, in continental Europe followed the
John Doherty established the Grand General 1848 Revolutions (see p.257).
A German socialist Union of the Operative Spinners of Great Britain
banner from the 19th and Ireland, the first attempt at a national union—
century calls on the At the Peterloo Massacre in 1819, British troops
workers of the world starting a trend that was followed in the 1830s by fired on unarmed workers protesting at working
to unite. other trades. Repression was still commonplace— conditions and lobbying for reforms.
 EUROPE 267

Socialism and Marxism

n EUROPE d c.1800–1917

The Industrial Revolution inspired political

groups to organize workers and improve their lot.
A philosophy called socialism arose that argued Karl Marx, with
that wealth should be shared by putting it in the Friedrich Engels,
wrote The Communist
hands of its creators. Similar sentiments had Manifesto (1848),
inspired the German Peasants’ Revolt in 1532–1534 setting out a
and had also caused unrest in England after the revolutionary
Civil War (see p.225), but the industrialized socialism.
Europe of the 19th century provided the first
arena for these ideas to be put into practice.
Early 19th-century socialists included Robert
Owen, a Welsh industrialist, who proposed a
society in which property was owned collectively.
In France, Henri Saint-Simon advocated a society
in which there was equal opportunity for all,
while his followers wanted an end to private
property. By the early 20th century, many
European countries had established socialist
parties, including the Labour Party in Britain
(1900) and the Socialist Party in France (1902).

The history of all…

society is the history
of class struggle.
Karl Marx, The Communist
Manifesto, 1848

Marxism and revolution

More radical still were the ideas of the
German-born philosopher and economist
Karl Marx (1818–1883), who viewed history as
a series of class struggles that would lead to the
end of capitalism. Distrusting the compromises
of more moderate “Social Democrats,” Marx
helped establish the International Working
Men’s Association in 1864, which acted
as a platform for the dissemination of
his revolutionary theories. Although
he believed that the full revolution
would break out in France or
Germany, it was in the relatively
underdeveloped Russia that
Marxists would finally seize
power, in 1917.
 268 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Scientific advances
The Industrial Revolution (see pp.264–5) was accompanied
by an explosion in technology, leading to huge developments
in transportation (the car and airplane), communications (telephone
and radio), and even in domestic life (the electric light bulb and
gramophone, or record player). In science, British naturalist
Charles Darwin overturned previous understanding of the world
by developing the theory of evolution.

Scientific discoveries Marconi built on earlier theoretical work by the

Few men had a greater impact on life in the German scientist Heinrich Hertz to transmit
19th century than English physicist Michael speech wirelessly over the airwaves using radio
Faraday, who discovered that moving a magnet transmissions. The appearance of the internal
through a coil of wire produced an electric current. combustion engine, patented by Karl Benz in
His experiments in electricity in the 1830s led to 1879, led to the development of the first practical
Karl Benz, seated dramatic progress in the sphere of communications, automobiles by the mid-1880s.
on his 1885 Benz with the patenting of the electric telegraph The first powered, sustained, heavier-than-air
Motorwagen, the in 1837, and the invention of the telephone by flight by the Wright brothers in 1903 further
first automobile to
be available for sale the Scottish-born American scientist Alexander revolutionized transportation. Other innovations
to the general public. Graham Bell in 1876. In 1906, the Italian Guglielmo of the 1890s, such as the gramophone and moving
 EUROPE 269

pictures (the latter pioneered by the French On the Origin of Species in 1859. Darwin’s Alexander Graham
inventors the Lumière brothers), were only observation of finches on different islands in the Bell, the inventor of
the telephone, made the
available at first to small groups, but within Galápagos group showed they had developed first long-distance call,
decades the refinement and expansion of characteristics to suit their particular from New York to
these technologies made them accessible environments. Darwin argued that through Chicago, in 1892.
to almost everyone. “natural selection” individuals in a
species had competed against
The theory of evolution each other and those stronger
The long-held notion that animal or more able survived to
species had been created by pass on their genes. In
God and remained essentially The Descent of Man (1871),
unchanged was shaken by the Darwin argued that
publication of Charles Darwin’s humankind had descended
from an apelike ancestor.
The microscope that Charles
Darwin took with him on his
Initially bitterly contested,
1831–1836 voyage to the Galápagos Darwin’s theory survived to
Islands in the Pacific. become scientific orthodoxy.

Man with all his noble qualities… still

bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp
of his lowly origin.
Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 1871
270 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Asia
The countries of Asia had to contend in the 19th century with
increasingly aggressive interventions by European powers,
with varying degrees of success. Most of India had fallen under
British control by the 1850s, while China had been fatally
weakened by the Opium Wars, also fought against Britain.
Only Japan had shown that it was more than able to hold its
own, by seizing opportunities made possible by industrialization.

The Battle of Plassey

n BENGAL, INDIA d JUNE 23–24, 1757

The British East India Company, which had first Robert Clive
established a firm base in Bengal at Calcutta in (1725–1774) secured
1690, struggled for the next half-century with local the British position
in India as a result of
rulers who were eager to minimize its presence his victory at Plassey.
in their territories. In 1756, a major crisis erupted
when Siraj-ud-Daula, the new nawab (ruler) of
Bengal, demanded that the British hand over his
wealthy subject Krishna Das, who after embezzling
government funds had taken refuge in Calcutta.

The fall of Calcutta

Siraj-ud-Daula further demanded that the British
demolish the walls of the city, and when they
refused, the Bengali army stormed the rather
run-down fortifications in June 1757. Some 146
British captives were allegedly then confined in
the “Black Hole,” the cell of the company barracks,
from which it was said only 23 emerged alive.
Although exaggerated, the story helped prompt
a severe reprisal from the British.

Clive wins at Plassey

The British dispatched soldier and statesman
Robert Clive and his troops from Madras to
punish the nawab. After capturing the French
headquarters at Chandernagore, Clive defeated
Siraj-ud-Daula in a two-day battle at Plassey on
June 23–24. Mir Jafar was made nawab, Clive
received 28 million rupees on behalf of the East
India Company from the royal treasury, and the
Company’s position in Bengal appeared secure.
 ASIA 271

The British in India

n INDIA d 1757–1885

Clive’s victory at Plassey in 1757 (see facing they acquired more territories by the doctrine of
page) had seemed to cement British power “lapse,” which meant that the lands of Indian
in India. But trouble soon erupted again with princes who died without direct heirs simply
Bengal’s next nawab, Mir Kasim, and on his fell into British possession. This was most
defeat in 1764, the British East India Company unpopular with the native rulers, and Britain’s
effectively annexed west Bihar. From then on, growing power fed into the resentment that
the British became increasingly entangled sparked the Indian mutiny in 1857 (see p.272).
in Indian affairs, and as they defended their Once the British had suppressed the mutiny
established interests, they gained more and in 1858, the rights of the East India Company
more territory. were transferred to the British Crown.
Through the Anglo-Mysore Wars (1767–1799) The next half-century of British rule in India,
and the Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775–1818), the known as the Raj, was peaceful, though the
Duleep Singh,
Company extended its domains into the south Indian National Congress, which called for the last maharaja
of India to complement its near-monopoly of greater political rights for Indians, was founded of the Punjab, was
power in the north. It annexed Sindh in 1843, in 1885. But India was the “jewel in the crown” deposed by the British
and conquered the Punjab in two tough wars of the British Empire, and the British long when they annexed
his kingdom in 1849.
in 1845–1846 and 1848–1849. resisted making meaningful concessions to
the Indian nationalists.
The British Raj
The British, under the Governorship of Lord
The British Raj built the spectacular
Dalhousie, now began to unify the administration Victoria Terminus of the Indian Peninsular
of all these disparate territories. In the meantime, Railway in Mumbai.
272 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The Indian mutiny

n INDIA d 1857–1858

In the 1850s the British East India Company a new Enfield rifle into service in India, and
imposed a variety of measures on its sepoys— the firing drill required the sepoys to bite off the
native Indian soldiers—that caused great tip of the cartridge. Rumors flew that the tip
resentment. Early in 1857, the British introduced was smeared with animal (pig or cow) fat,
offending the religious sensibilities of both
Muslim and Hindu troops.
A mutiny erupted at Meerut in May 1857,
which soon spread to units throughout northern
India. The involvement of the aged Mughal
emperor Bahadur Shah II seemed to promise
the revival of native Indian power, but the
British fought back and, by September 1857,
had recaptured lost Delhi, although the last
rebels were only suppressed in July the
following year.

Indian mutineers massacred their British

prisoners at Cawnpore in July 1857, fueling
a desire for revenge among British troops.

The Burmese Wars

n BURMA d 1824–1885

Early relations between the British of Pegu, the northern section of the country,
in India and the neighboring which the British established as the colony
kingdom of Burma centered on the of Lower Burma.
East India Company’s attempts to For the next 25 years, the Burmese
open trade links. However, when a king Mindon Min (ruled 1853–1878) fended
common frontier was established off further British advances, but his
between Bengal and the Burmese successor Thibaw (ruled 1878–1885) was
state of Arakan in the late 18th less able, and in November 1885 a dispute
century, tensions led to three wars over payment for timber concessions
between the two countries. flared up into war. The British advance
was swift, and by the end of the month
The British invasions they had captured Thibaw’s capital at
During the first war (1824–1826), Mandalay and deposed him.
the East India Company gained
territory in Manipur, Arakan, and
Tennasserim. The second Anglo-
Burmese War (1852), provoked by
minor Burmese violations of the A 19th-century Burmese silver
dagger, clearly a highly prized
treaty that had settled the first weapon, but of little use against
conflict, ended with Burma’s loss the Enfield rifles of the British.
 ASIA 273

Turkish reform movements

n TURKEY d 1789–1923

Reform in the Ottoman Empire began with The empire collapses

attempts by Selim III (ruled 1789–1807) to institute The leader of the CUP, Enver Pasha, pushed
a Nizam-I cedid, or “New System” of bureaucratic forward the reform process—opening schools
organization, aimed at countering the inaction that to women, for example. Yet in matters of foreign
had contributed to the Ottoman loss of lands in policy the Young Turks chose unwisely, entering
Serbia and Hungary. His successor Mahmud II World War I on the side of the Germans. After
(ruled 1808–1839) went on to restore authority to Germany’s defeat in 1918, an Allied invasion
the central government, which had been usurped led to British forces occupying Istanbul by 1920.
by powerful local interests. Turkey was saved by Kemal Mustafa Ataturk, who
rallied the country’s armies and drove back the
The Young Turks Allies in 1922 to become president of a Turkish
Mahmud’s successor Abdülmecid (ruled 1839–1861) Republic in 1923.
embarked on a program of modernizing reform
that would become known as Tanzimat ENVER PASHA
(“reorganization”). However, under Abdul Hamid II
An early leader of
(ruled 1876–1909) the Ottoman Empire suffered the Young Turk
a disastrous setback: defeat by the Russians movement, Enver
in 1878 deprived the empire of most of its Pasha (1881–1922)
became Turkey’s
European territories, and then, in 1882, it
military attaché in
lost Egypt to the British. Berlin, a posting
Under pressure, Abdul Hamid continued that contributed to
to make educational and military reforms, but his advocacy of a
Turkish–German
this was not sufficient to satisfy radical opinion, alliance during
and in 1902 a meeting in Paris brought together World War I.
the leadership of the “Young Turks,” a coalition of
fervent nationalists who wished to rescue Turkey
from its ruinous position. In 1908, the Young
Turks joined a rebellion in Macedonia and formed
the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). They The Dolmabahce Palace, overlooking the
Bosphorus at Istanbul, was the residence
forced Abdul Hamid to agree to grant a constitution of the last Ottoman sultans in the late 19th
and establish a parliament. and early 20th centuries.
 274 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Qing China
n CHINA d 1796–1912

In 1796, the White Lotus Rebellion—part tax revolt, The Opium Wars
part mystical movement, part nostalgia for the rule The conflict was hugely one-sided, and the British
of the Ming (see p.139)—broke out in Qing China. soon occupied Hong Kong and Shanghai. The
While it was crushed in 1804, the White Lotus Treaty of Nanjing, which ended the conflict in
weakened the regime of Emperor Jiaqing (ruled 1842, ceded Hong Kong to Britain, set limits on
1796–1820) and began a series of debilitating the external tariffs China could impose, removed
uprisings that would tear China apart. Westerners from Chinese jurisdiction, and opened
five “treaty ports” to European traders.
The opium trade Then, in 1856, the Chinese authorities boarded
During Jiaqing’s reign, huge amounts of opium a British trading vessel, the Arrow, and the Second
During the 19th began to flow into China, largely smuggled Opium War broke out. This time the French joined
century, European in by British traders, which necessitated the in, and after a four-year war that featured the
demand for decorative export of large quantities of silver to pay for it. humiliating burning of the Qing Summer Palace
Chinese goods
such as silks and Opium addiction became rife and, in 1839, the in Beijing, the western powers (including Russia)
porcelain soared. Chinese government appointed a leading official, were awarded 10 further treaty ports, on top of
Lin Zexu, to suppress trade in the southern enormous financial payments, and the opium trade
port city of Guangzhou. Lin confiscated opium was legalized.
stocks, but also detained several British traders,
which prompted the London government to
The “Thirteen Factories” (or hongs) of Canton
dispatch an expeditionary force, sparking (now Guangzhou) were the sole place where
the First Opium War. foreigners could trade into China until 1842.
 ASIA 275

The Taiping Rebellion

The surrender of the Qing regime in the
Opium Wars contributed to a rising tide of
antigovernment protests. Largest of these
was the Taiping Rebellion.
In 1836, a Christian teacher, Hong Xiuquan,
had a series of dreams that led him to believe
he had a mission to bring Christianity to
China. He made converts among peasants
in Guangzi, south China, and in January 1851
established the Taiping Tianguo—the Heavenly
Kingdom of Great Peace. In 1853, the Taiping rebels
captured Nanjing, and banned gambling and opium
smoking. However, in 1860, the Western-trained
“Ever-Victorious Army” defeated a Taiping assault
on Shanghai, and in 1864 the Qing government
recaptured Nanjing. The revolt effectively collapsed.

Social reform
From 1861, the Qing court was dominated by
Empress Ci Xi, mother of the Tongzhi emperor.
For 47 years she ruled China, encouraging at
first the “Self-strengthening Movement,”
which permitted limited reforms—including
China’s first railroad and a reorganized army.
However, China’s dramatic defeat by Japan’s
army and navy in the Sino-Japanese War of
1894–1895 over Korea (see p.277) undermined
support for further reforms.

The end of the Qing From humble origins as a concubine to the

Xianfeng emperor, “Lady Yehonala” became
Resentment at the growing influence of Christian Empress Dowager Ci Xi and controlled China
missionaries in China fed into an uprising by the for nearly half a century.
Boxers, also known as the “Righteous Fists of
Harmony,” who aimed to expel all foreigners including Britain, France, the US, and Japan,
from China. Tacitly supported by Ci Xi, the Boxers sent a relieving force and crushed the rebels.
marched on Beijing in June 1900, where they Its credibility compromised, the Qing regime
besieged the foreign legations for nearly two was finally replaced in 1912 by a Republic of
months. An alliance of eight foreign nations, China, led by Sun Yat-Sen.

As long as China remains a nation

of opium smokers, there is not the least
reason to fear that she will become a
military power of any importance.
Lin Zexu, Chinese commissioner at Guangzhou
 276 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The Meiji restoration

n JAPAN d 1833–1911

From the early 17th century, the Tokugawa shoguns that they were able to make a healthy profit buying
kept peace in Japan and the population prospered. Japanese gold, in the form of relatively
Yet from the early 19th century, several disasters undervalued coins, and taking it out of the country.
occurred. A famine in 1833–1836 killed many It seemed as if the Tokugawa were ignoring
thousands, while, partly in response, a wave of Japan’s best interests, and a resistance movement
rural riots and urban disorder struck the country. broke out under the slogan of sonnō jōi (“honor
On top of internal problems, Japan faced the emperor, expel the barbarians”). A group of
new threats from abroad. The country had been leading daimyo (noble) families began to lobby
virtually closed to foreigners for two centuries, for the return of the emperor to real power, after
but in the mid-19th century several attempts centuries of powerlessness in Kyoto. In 1868, a
were made to engage with it. In 1853, the US short civil war brought nearly seven centuries of
government sent Commodore Matthew Perry to shogun rule to an end: the emperor was restored
The Meiji emperor Edo (Tokyo) with four warships. Perry demanded and a new era, the Meiji (1868–1912), began.
was restored to power the opening of Japanese ports for trade, and In 1877, enraged traditionalists started a major
in 1868, leading to the
abolition of shogun returned the following year with an even larger uprising—the Satsuma Rebellion. A new conscript
feudalism. flotilla. Powerless to resist such a show of force, army defeated the traditional samurai forces
the Tokugawa shogun signed the Convention of (see p.146), ending their role in Japanese politics. The
Kanagawa, opening several ports to the Americans. emperor set in motion a series of reforms, including
the granting of a formal constitution in 1889.
The emperor restored
Similar treaties followed with Britain, France, the Japan as a major power
Netherlands, and Russia. Japan gradually lost Japan industrialized rapidly and made use of
control over its customs dues, and a dispute arose its new economic strength to build up its armed
in 1859–1860, after foreign merchants discovered forces. In 1894, Chinese intervention in Korea,
 ASIA 277

where Japan claimed a sphere of influence, led

the Japanese to declare war. Japanese armies
rapidly proved superior, and they seized the
strategic naval base at Port Arthur in Manchuria
in November. The Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895),
which ended the conflict, saw China abandon
its Korean interests and cede Taiwan to Japan.
Japan’s next military adventure, a clash
with Russia in 1904–1905, again over Korea,
resulted in an even more resounding success.
The Japanese Imperial Navy decimated the
Russian fleet at Tsushima in May 1905, forcing
Tsar Nicholas II to agree in September to the
Treaty of Portsmouth, by which Russia backed
out of Korea and Japan gained occupation of
the Liadong peninsula. The defeat of a modern
European army by an Asian power sent
shockwaves through Western military circles.
Japan was a force to be reckoned with, and it
renegotiated its treaties to secure full customs
control by 1911.

The Satsuma Rebellion in 1877 was the last

(and most serious) of a series of uprisings by A great victory parade in Tokyo marked the
traditionalists bent on reversing the reforms of Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War
the Meiji Restoration. (1904–1905), igniting a burst of patriotic fervor.
278 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Oceania
By 1750, the Europeans had explored only a few coastlines and
scattered islands in the Pacific Ocean, their voyages motivated by
the search for the hypothetical Terra Australis or great Southern
Continent, but equally impeded by the vast distances involved.
Nevertheless, by the early 20th century, European powers had
colonized the Pacific islands, while the two largest countries,
Australia and New Zealand, had become self-governing dominions.

Exploration in the Pacific

n SOUTH PACIFIC d 1642–1770

The Pacific Ocean was first sighted by the Spanish of Australia, with Willem Janszoon reaching the
explorer Vasco Nuñez de Balboa in 1513, and Gulf of Carpentaria in 1605. In 1642, the Dutchman
soon Spanish and Portuguese ships were crossing Abel Tasman first explored the coastline of
its northern reaches. But while Magellan crossed Tasmania, and also, heading east, made the first
the South Seas in 1520, he completely missed European sighting of New Zealand. The Dutch
Australia, undermining belief that Terra Australis, called these lands New Holland, but they did not
the “Southern Continent,” actually existed. seek to settle there.
Eventually, the Dutch East India Company made
the first sure sightings and exploration of the coast Cook’s voyage
The east coast of mainland Australia, however,
was first sighted on April 19, 1770, by the British
explorer Captain James Cook, whose ship
Endeavour had been on a voyage tasked with
observing the Transit of Venus (a rare
astronomical phenomenon), but
also motivated by the desire
to forestall French ambitions
in the South Pacific. On
April 29, Cook made landfall
on Australia at Botany Bay,
and in August formally
claimed possession of
the new land for the
British Crown.

Native inhabitants of
New Guinea, in a drawing
contemporary with the
time of Cook’s voyages
in the 1770s.
 OCEANIA 279

The First Fleet

n NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA d 1787–88

The British were at first unsure as to what to do colony was reinforced by a Second Fleet in 1790, Leg irons and chains
about the territory Captain Cook discovered in and a third a year later. At first, survival was the shackled the convicts
of the First Fleet on
1770 (see facing page). Then Lord Sydney, the main concern, but within a few years the first their long sea journey.
home secretary, devised the “Heads of a Plan” settlement, at Sydney Cove, sent out parties
to solve the twin problems of how to prevent the to explore their new homeland.
French from establishing their own colony in the
new land, and what to do with the convicts who
would once have been deported to the now-
independent Americas. The scheme was to ship
a batch of prisoners to Australia.
On May 13, 1787, 11 ships (the “First Fleet”),
under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip, set
off from Portsmouth, England, bearing around 750
convicts, and arrived at Botany Bay on January 20,
1788. Given the name New South Wales, the small

The exploration of Australia

n AUSTRALIA d 1798–1861

As Australia’s first colony, in New South Wales,

grew—ably led from 1809 to 1820 by Governor
Lachlan Macquaherie—there came a desire
to explore the new continent. Early attempts
concentrated on charting the coastline, and
included, in 1798–1799, George Bass and
Matthew Flinders’ circumnavigation of
Tasmania, previously believed to be joined
to the mainland. But then explorers began to
strike inland.
In 1813, Gregory Blaxland crossed the Blue
Mountains for the first time, and in 1828 Charles
Sturt explored Murray and Darling, reaching
the sea near present-day Adelaide. By the early
1840s, new “free” colonies (to which convicts
were not—at least initially—sent) had been
founded in Victoria (1803), Western Australia
(1829), and South Australia (1836).
Gradually, the explorations edged toward
the center of the continent, and in 1845 Sturt
reached the fringes of the Simpson Desert.
Charles Sturt In 1861, John McDouall Stuart, suffering
(1795–1869), aged terrible privations along the way, made the
32 when he arrived first south-to-north crossing of Australia,
in Australia, spent
20 years exploring beginning at Adelaide. His trip established
the continent. once and for all the continent’s extent.
280 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

The federation of Australia

n AUSTRALIA d 1872–1901

By the end of the 19th century, the Australian

colonies had overcome their early travails,
which included conflicts with the Aboriginal
peoples, who were gradually pushed out of
their lands by European settlers. A growing
national self-consciousness emerged, which
demanded more than the status of a mere
colony of the British Crown.
The connection of the six Australian colonies
by telegraph in 1872 fueled the sense of a
common destiny and demands for “federation”
as a single nation grew. A Federal Council
was finally established in 1895, but it had no
control over revenue. The 1898 Constitution
Bill established a much stronger federal system,
and on January 1, 1901, today’s Commonwealth
of Australia came into being.

The Royal Exhibition Building in the city of

Melbourne housed the first session of Australia’s
Federal Parliament on May 9, 1901.

European settlement in New Zealand

n NEW ZEALAND d 1769–1850

The first contact between Europeans and the brought with them, and by intertribal warfare
Maori of New Zealand (known by the indigenous sparked by the firearms they bought from
peoples as Aotearoa—the “land of the long foreign traders.
white cloud”)—ended unhappily when, in 1642,
four Dutch crew members sailing with Abel Waitangi and
Tasman (see p.278) were killed following European migration
a dispute. It was not until Captain Cook’s In 1839, a new New Zealand Company set up a
“rediscovery” of New Zealand in 1769 that formal colony along the lines of those in Australia,
Europeans encroached once more on Maori and in February 1840 the British and the Maori
possession of the land, and only gradually that chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which (in the
sealers, whalers, and missionaries began British view) ceded Maori sovereignty in exchange
establishing small coastal enclaves. for Crown protection. European migration to
By 1839, there were probably only 2,500 New Zealand followed, and the settlers founded
Europeans on the North and South Islands. Auckland and Wellington in 1840, Dunedin in 1848,
The Maori themselves were debilitated by the and Christchurch in 1850. By 1858 the 59,000
effects of the epidemic diseases the Europeans Europeans probably outnumbered the Maori.
 OCEANIA 281

The New Zealand Wars

n NEW ZEALAND d 1840–1873

The Treaty of Waitangi (see facing page) did In the 1860s, though, the emergence of a
not put an end to friction between the Maori Maori “King Movement,” with the selection
and the British, as the latter sought to of the first king Potatau Te Wherowhero,
expand into new areas. In 1843, open disrupted the balance of power.
fighting erupted around Nelson, War flared up again, with the British
South Island, when armed struggling to break through the Maori
settlers tried to punish the network of pa. By 1864, a force of almost
Maori chief Ngati Toa for 14,000 British soldiers had weakened the
resisting further encroachments. Maori warriors in the Waikato War, and
The Maori proved competent fighters and despite a flare-up in 1872–1873, European
beat off the settlers. More fighting erupted military supremacy in New Zealand was
on North Island in 1845–1846, in part a Maori thereafter largely left unchallenged.
civil war, and around Wellington, North
Island, in 1846.

The Waikato War

The Maori, making able use of their pa
The Maori used wooden
(fortified settlements), beat off most European war clubs, despite also having
assaults, and for 15 years calm prevailed. European firearms.

Antarctic exploration
n ANTARCTICA d 1820–1911

Although the Russian expedition of Fabian von International Geographical Conference declared
Bellinghausen had sighted the Antarctic continent the Antarctic the world’s last great focus for
in 1820, and Briton James Ross had explored exploration, and the race was on to discover
part of it (including Victoria Land and the Ross Ice and chart its secrets.
Shelf) in 1839–1843, most of Antarctica remained
a mystery in the 1890s. In 1895, the Sixth The race for the Pole
In first place among the objectives was
to reach the South Pole. In 1908, Sir Ernest
Shackleton’s expedition reached 88º 23' south,
just 112 miles (180 km) short of the Pole. In 1911,
however, the competition reached fever pitch
with the simultaneous arrival of a Norwegian
expedition, led by Roald Amundsen, and a
British one, under Robert Scott. Amundsen’s
better-planned expedition reached the Pole
first, on December 14, beating Scott’s group
by five weeks.

A photograph of Robert Scott’s final five-man

party for the assault on the South Pole in 1911, all
of whom died on the return trip to their base camp.
282 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Africa
In the early 19th century, although Europeans had established
settlements at several points along the African coast and North Africa
was well known to them, the African interior remained largely
uncharted. Yet by 1900, most of the continent had been carved up
among European colonial powers, with only a few areas, such as
Ethiopia, having been able to resist annexation. Anti-colonial resistance
did occur, but in the end European armies always proved too strong.

The early explorers

n AFRICA d 1805–1871

In 1820, the development of quinine, an of the Nile. Speke argued (correctly) that it
effective treatment for malaria, opened was Victoria, to which he alone had traveled.
up the African interior to proper exploration From the 1840s, the Scottish missionary David
for the first time. Even so, West Africa was Livingstone managed to journey extensively
so thoroughly unhealthy for outsiders that in central and southern Africa. In 1853–1856,
it was known as the “White Man’s Grave”; he made the first known crossing of Africa
Mungo Park’s British-sponsored expedition from east to west, discovering Victoria
there in 1805 ended in disaster when his Falls on the way, before retiring to a remote
party simply disappeared. station on Lake Tanganyika, where he was
In 1828, however, the Frenchman René- in turn famously “discovered” by Henry
August Caillié became the first European Morton Stanley in 1871.
to reach the fabled desert metropolis By the end of the century, Europeans
of Timbuktu and return alive, and had charted the courses of the Nile,
by 1835, Europeans had Niger, Congo, and Zambezi rivers,
mapped most of and the world was well informed
northwestern Africa. of the vast resources that Africa
might offer them.
Charting the
great rivers
An expedition in 1858
by Englishmen Richard
Burton and John A tropical pith
Hanning Speke located helmet worn by the
Lake Tanganyika and Lake Scottish missionary
David Livingstone
Victoria, although they quarreled (1813–1873) as he
over which of the lakes was the source explored Africa.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

Henry Morton Stanley, on
finding David Livingstone, 1871
 AFRICA 283

The Ashanti were

one of the few African
peoples to offer
strong resistance
against European
imperialism, but
were subjugated by
the British in 1900.

The Scramble for Africa

n AFRICA d 1869–1914

In 1869, the opening of the Suez Canal, linking effective their claims in areas they feared
the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and thus to others might enter, setting off a “Scramble
Asia, focused European attention on Africa’s for Africa.” By the close of the century virtually
strategic importance. European colonial presence all the continent was under European control.
in Africa was still fragmented. It included Algeria, By 1914, only two areas remained free: Liberia,
into which the French had made inroads in the which had been settled by freed American
1830s; a few Spanish settlements; Portugal’s slaves; and Ethiopia, which still retained its
territory of Angola; and British and French trading traditional rulers.
stations in West Africa. Britain administered the
Cape Colony, bordered by two Boer (Afrikaners CECIL RHODES
of Dutch origin) states.
Having made his fortune as founder of the De
Beers diamond company in South Africa, British
The Berlin Conference businessman Cecil Rhodes (1853–1902) turned
In 1884, the German chancellor Otto von Bismarck to politics. A firm believer in British imperialism,
convened the Berlin Conference to settle rival his British South Africa Company made treaties
that established a network of control throughout
claims. It was agreed that imperial powers modern Zimbabwe. As Prime Minister of the
could claim colonies only if they had agreed Cape Colony from 1890, he sponsored the 1895
treaties with native chiefs and had established Jameson Raid, an attack on the independent
an administration there (the “Principle of Boer Republic of the Transvaal. However, the
attack failed, ending Rhodes’ political career.
Effectivity”). This led European countries to make
284 THE WORLD OF EMPIRES 1750–1914

Egypt under Muhammad Ali

n EGYPT d 1807–1882

When France and Britain intervened in Egypt power by 1807. He fought on the Ottoman sultan’s
during the Napoleonic Wars (see pp.254–5) they behalf against a revolt in Saudi Arabia in 1811–1812,
destabilized the Ottoman regime there, enabling but then absorbed new territory before launching
Muhammad Ali—of Albanian origin—to seize outright war on the sultan in 1832. An agreement
in 1840 removed Muhammad Ali’s Syrian conquests
to restore peace.
Ali reformed Egypt’s army and tried to
strengthen the economy by establishing state
monopolies. His successors, who took the
title Khedive, continued this process, but Ismail
Pasha (ruled 1863–1879) overreached himself.
His ambitious projects bankrupted the country,
allowing the British to occupy Egypt in 1882.

The Suez Canal, one of Ismail Pasha’s hugely

ambitious projects, was opened by French
Empress Eugenie in November 1868.

The Mahdist movement

n SUDAN d 1881–1898

In 1877, the British military officer Charles George

Gordon was appointed governor of the Egyptian-
controlled Sudan, a post he held until 1880, when
ill health forced him to retire.
Around the same time, a mystical Islamic
movement arose under Muhammad Ahmad, who
declared himself the Mahdi, promised savior of
the Muslim world. The Mahdi’s forces annihilated
a British expeditionary force under Colonel Hicks
at El Obeid, central Sudan, in November 1883.
Gordon was sent back to Sudan, but found himself
besieged at Khartoum. After prolonged resistance,
the city was stormed by Mahdists on January 26,
1885, and Gordon was killed.
Although the Mahdi died in June 1885, his
successor, the Khalifa ’Abdallahi, continued to rule
Sudan until 1898, when a British force under Lord
Kitchener invaded the country, bent on revenge
for Gordon’s death. At Omdurman on September 2,
the British, armed with the new Maxim machine gun,
Lord Charles George Gordon faces down
totally destroyed ’Abdallahi’s army and the Mahdist advancing Mahdist rebels on the steps of the
state collapsed. British Residence at Khartoum, in 1885.
 AFRICA 285

The Boer Wars

n SOUTH AFRICA d 1877–1902

The Dutch were the first Europeans to settle in 1895, the Jameson Raid, a botched British attempt
South Africa, in 1652. From their first colony at to retake the Transvaal, led to a serious escalation
Cape Town grew a distinctively Afrikaner, or Boer in tensions and the outbreak of the Boer War in
(“farmer”), society. October 1899.
By 1815, however, the British had acquired
possession of the Cape and, in the 1830s, the War breaks out
pressures of their new colonial masters led The Boers struck first and began protracted sieges
the Boers to embark on the “Great Trek” inland. of Ladysmith, Kimberley, and Mafeking. A British
A series of Boer republics grew up, including the counteroffensive in early 1900, after defeats at
Orange Free State and the Transvaal. Colenso and Spion Kop in December 1899,
In 1877, Britain annexed the Transvaal, but the required vast reinforcements to push the Boers
Boers declared independence again in 1880 and back. Under serious pressure, the Boers turned
fought a brief and successful war to secure it. In to a guerrilla campaign, prolonging the war into
1902, while the British employed ruthless tactics,
including the use of concentration camps. The The Queen’s South
Guerrilla detachments drawn from the Peace of Vereeniging ended the war in 1902, Africa medal was
Boer farming community managed to hold awarded to British
off the British for almost two years between the Boer republics accepting British sovereignty troops for service
1900 and 1902. in return for autonomy. in the Boer War.
The Modern
World
 288 THE MODERN WORLD

The world in 1914–present

Europe began World War I confidently in command of much of the
world’s territory. But the conflict’s human and economic cost ushered
in a period of turmoil that engulfed the continent, and also helped
spark the Russian Revolution. In the aftermath of World War II,
Europe was forced to abandon most of its colonies and embarked

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 THE WORLD IN 1914–PRESENT 289

on a process of political unification, while the Cold War—an

ideological confrontation between the capitalist USA and communist
USSR—took center stage. The end of this struggle in the 1990s briefly
promised a new era of peace, but soon gave way to a period of
political uncertainty and regional strife.

The modern world

in 1950
Though India had regained its
independence from Britain in 1947,
much of Africa was still under
European colonial domination in
S i b e r i a 1950. However, an ongoing process
of large-scale decolonization was
UNION O F S O VIE T
about to take place that would leave
SOC IALIST RE PU B LICS almost no European colonies in the
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MAURITIUS
Europe dominated by the communist
RÉUNION O C E A N AUSTRALIA Soviet Union, while in capitalist Western
Lord Howe
Europe a tentative process of political
Island integration began that would lead to the
Sydney formation of the European Community. In
Canberra the Middle East, an uneasy truce between
Arab states and the new nation of Israel
NEW (formed in 1948) marked a brief moment
ZEALAND of peace in more than half a century of
conflict in the region.
290 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

World War I
In 1914, the monarchies that had governed Europe since the end
of the Napoleonic Wars a century earlier seemed secure. However,
underlying tensions continued to grow, eventually exploding into a
war of unprecedented scale and ferocity. In just five years, the war
cost the lives of around 10 million soldiers and saw the collapse of the
German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman Turkish empires.

Assassination at Sarajevo
n SARAJEVO, BOSNIA d JUNE 28, 1914

The Austro-Hungarian Empire struggled to Ottoman territories. In 1908, Austria–Hungary

cope with the end of Ottoman Turkish power annexed Bosnia, riding roughshod over Bosnia’s
in the Balkans in the 19th century (see p.273), large Serbian population, which felt that it should
and to deal with nationalists who sought to stop be a part of Serbia. The two Balkan Wars (1912–
Austria–Hungary’s encroachment into lost 1913), in which Serbia first defeated the Ottomans
and then a coalition of other Balkan states, also
raised tensions, as Serbia showed it was a
formidable military force.

Death in the Balkans

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir
to the Austro-Hungarian throne, paid an official
visit to Sarajevo to inspect military maneuvers.
A group of pro-Serbian revolutionaries from the
“Young Bosnia” movement lay in wait for him.
As the royal couple drove to an official reception
at the town hall, a bomb was thrown into their
car, but it bounced off and only caused injuries
in the following vehicles. After the reception, the
archduke’s route was changed, but by ill-fortune
a wrong turn took his driver past one of the Young
Bosnian conspirators, Gavrilo Princip, a 19-year-
old student. He opened fire, killing the archduke
and his wife Sophie. The archduke had been the
principal proponent of restraint toward Serbia,
and his assassination unleashed a confrontation
with Austria–Hungary that would soon engulf the
whole of Europe.

The blood-stained jacket worn by Franz

Ferdinand on the day of his assassination in 1914.
 WORLD WAR I 291

Escalation into war

n EUROPE d JUNE–SEPTEMBER 1914

Even before the murder of Franz Ferdinand (see The crisis spreads
facing page), there were serious underlying strains Russia, fearing that the Austrians might annex its
between the major European powers. Imperial Serbian ally outright, had by now part-mobilized.
ambitions, instability caused by a constant As a result, the Germans, afraid that Russia might
repositioning of alliances, and a growing arms race defeat Austria–Hungary, in turn mobilized its own
all added to the potentially inflammable situation. army. Now that Germany might face war with
Anger boiled over in the Vienna government Russia, German military planners thought France
after Franz Ferdinand’s assassination, and on could then take advantage and attack Germany’s
July 23, 1914, the Austrians issued an ultimatum western frontiers.
to Serbia that would, in effect, have ended Serbian The simple, but terrible, solution was to strike
independence. Serbia partially accepted the treaty, first, and the Germans developed a plan to cross
but the Austrians were not satisfied and both Belgium into France. Germany declared war on
countries mobilized, with Austria declaring war Russia on August 1 and on France two days later.
on July 28. Germany had encouraged Austria– On August 3, German troops crossed the frontiers British recruiting
Hungary to act, hoping that Britain would remain of Russian Poland and Belgium. The next day posters featured
the image of Lord
neutral and that decisive military action would Britain entered the conflict on the French side, Kitchener, veteran
bring a rapid conclusion to the conflict. and World War I had begun. of the Boer War.

German soldiers travel in a

truck mounted on railroad tracks.
Such speedy mobilization made
the momentum of the July 1914
crisis unstoppable.
 292 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Western Front

n W EUROPE d 1914–1915

The shape of the initial fighting in western War in the trenches

Europe during World War I was determined For the rest of World War I, major advances
by Count Alfred von Schlieffen’s German from these trench lines were the exception rather
strategic plan of 1905. This called for an attack than the rule. Life in the trenches was appalling:
through Belgium, hooking around French epidemics of disease easily took hold, with such
defenses and enveloping Paris, in theory horrors as “trench foot” (in which damp and
provoking France’s swift surrender. Yet when infected flesh simply rotted away) becoming
the war broke out in early August 1914, Belgian an everyday occurrence.
resistance held up the German timetable, giving The trench systems were also increasingly well
the French time to consolidate their defenses and defended, so that when soldiers went “over the
a British force time to arrive to aid them. top,” they became entangled in barbed wire and
In the ensuing First Battle of the Marne, were scythed down by fire from machine guns—
An aerial view of the the German thrust reached to within 45 miles a relatively recent invention well adapted to
complex trench system
near Fricourt, on the (75 km) of Paris before being beaten back. conditions on the Western Front. Those who
Somme, France. The French and German armies then raced succeeded in reaching the opposition’s trench
north toward the English Channel, trying to lines found themselves inadequately supported
outflank each other. However, the French and faced instant counterattack from the enemy’s
infantry could not outpace their opponents and, reserve trenches.
by late fall 1914, the two sides had dug a system of Allied French and British attempts to force
trenches that stretched from the advances at Neuve Chapelle, Ypres, and Loos in
North Sea almost to Switzerland. 1915 all failed, with enormous casualties. In an
 WORLD WAR I 293

attempt to break the deadlock, the Germans Somme, where, on July 1, an Anglo–French
used poison gas (chlorine) at Ypres in April offensive tried to break the German lines
1915. This did little but gain a very localized with a huge infantry advance. However, the
advantage—and at a huge cost, in the suffering preliminary artillery bombardment
inflicted on the soldiers who inhaled this had not cut the German lines of barbed
new weapon. wire nor destroyed their trenches,
enabling the Germans to inflict appalling
Verdun and the Somme casualties on the British: some 57,000 men
In 1916, Erich von Falkenhayn, the German on the first day alone.
Chief of Staff, devised a new strategy of The battle degenerated into a series of
attrition—to “bleed France white” costly offensives and counteroffensives
by drawing its armies into a that never remotely delivered the
defense of the hugely strategic hoped-for breakout from the trench
fortress-city of Verdun. The lines. The four months of fighting
battle, which pitted an initial on the Somme cost 300,000 lives
500,000 French defenders in 1916, and yet in 1917, both high
against a million Germans, commands still planned to win
began on February 21, and the war through the same sorts
lasted for 10 months. of offensives that had failed German troops
The Germans made initial so miserably the year before. advancing across
advances, but by December open ground, a risky
they had lost them all, at the strategy that rarely
Explosives were often used to succeeded without
cost of 700,000 casualties on both detonate mines and so disrupt the heavy casualties for
sides. Further carnage occurred at the enemy’s trenches. the attacking side.
294 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The war at sea

n NORTH SEA, MEDITERRANEAN, S ATLANTIC d 1914–1918

Naval warfare in World War I was tentative.

Both Britain and Germany had a fleet of
“dreadnoughts” (heavily armored battleships)
but were eager to avoid a decisive encounter that,
if lost, would render them powerless. The British
concentrated instead on blockading Germany’s
North Sea ports to throttle its commerce. The
only major fleet-to-fleet encounter, at Jutland
(off Denmark) during May 31–June 1, 1916, was
indecisive, with both sides suffering significant
losses of ships.
Elsewhere, the Germans were initially more
adventurous, sending commerce raiders such
as the Emden to disrupt British and French trade.
The German East Asia Squadron, under Admiral
von Spee, also threatened trade routes before
it was destroyed at the Battle of the Falklands
in December 1914. Deprived of more conventional
avenues, the Germans turned to submarine
warfare, using U-boats to conduct a campaign
of “unrestricted warfare” against Allied civilian
vessels in 1915. However, the sinking of the
The German U-boat campaign, particularly passenger liner Lusitania in 1915 caused
its “unrestricted” phases in 1915 and from
1917, hugely disrupted Allied shipping in outrage, contributing to the US joining in
the North Atlantic. the war against Germany.

The war in eastern Europe

n E EUROPE d 1914–1917

During World War I the geography of eastern to launch the Brusilov Offensive,
Europe necessitated different military recapturing much lost ground. But
strategies from those used on the Western the increasing costs of the war and
Front. More than 930 miles (1,500 km) of rising social unrest in the army meant
front, stretching from the Black Sea to the that by June 1917, many Russian army
Baltic, rendered building a defensive trench units refused to fight, allowing the
network impractical, so warfare was more Germans to transfer reinforcements
mobile than in the west. to the Western Front.
At Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes
in August–September 1914, the Russians
reversed the initial German and Austrian
advance. In the Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive of
May 1915, however, General von Falkenhayn
smashed a Russian army, capturing some The German stick grenade was
used to clear out stubbornly defended
140,000 men and securing Galicia. In June infantry positions. The British nicknamed
1916, the Russians recovered and were able it the “potato masher.”
 WORLD WAR I 295

Gallipoli
n GALLIPOLI PENINSULA, TURKEY d APRIL 1915–JANUARY 1916

After a Turkish fleet attacked Russia’s Black Gallipoli peninsula (overlooking the straits) were
Sea ports on October 29, 1914, Turkey allied a disaster. The initial day’s objectives were never
with Germany. Winston Churchill, British First reached, and a Turkish counterattack, organized by
Lord of the Admiralty, immediately lobbied for Mustafa Kemal (later Atatürk), confined the Allied
an expedition to seize control of the Dardanelles— forces to enclaves around Cape Helles in the south
the strategic straits that linked the Black Sea and Anzac Cove in the north. In mid-December, the
to the Aegean—to prevent a Turkish blockade Allies evacuated Anzac Cove, and then withdrew
that would cut off a vital Russian supply route. from Cape Helles. By January 9, 1916, their
But the Allied landings on April 25, 1915, on the withdrawal was complete.

Palestine and the Arab Revolt

n N SAUDI ARABIA, PALESTINE, JORDAN, ISRAEL, IRAQ d 1915–1918

Aside from the Gallipoli campaign, initial British

moves against the Ottoman Empire in World War I T.E. LAWRENCE
concentrated on seizing control of Mesopotamia. Having joined
After the disastrous surrender of a British army in expeditions
in the Near East,
at Kut (in Iraq) in April 1916, the focus shifted to
T. E. Lawrence
a wider area. The British attempted to instigate (1888–1935) was
an Arab uprising against Ottoman rule in northern a perfect liaison
Arabia and the Transjordan, and to link this with officer to Britain’s
Arab allies. He stirred
a more conventional military campaign to take up the Arab Revolt of
control of Palestine. Persuaded by T.E. Lawrence, 1916 with a distinctive
Sharif Hussein ibn Ali of Mecca raised a revolt flamboyance, giving
rise to the legend of General Allenby
against the Ottomans in June 1916, causing enters Jerusalem
“Lawrence of Arabia.”
enormous disruption in Sinai and Palestine. after its capture
General Allenby’s British army entered Jerusalem from the Ottomans
in December 1917, and inflicted a devastating on December 11, 1917.
The damage to Turkish
defeat on the Ottoman army at Megiddo in morale from its loss
September 1918, ending the war in the region. was profound.
 296 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Stalemate in the west

n W EUROPE d 1917

1917 was one of the most difficult years for all offensives at Arras (in northeastern France) in
those involved in World War I. The Allied naval April and at Messines (western Belgium) in June
blockade of Germany led to a shortage of wheat failed to gain any significant ground. Both sides
British troops march there in the winter, while the German U-boat tried new weapons, the Germans pioneering
toward the front line campaign (see p.294) led to hardships in Britain. poison gas artillery shells at Messines, and the
to relieve comrades In April, France’s Nivelle Offensive gained barely British using tanks on a large scale for the first
there. The rotation of 1,650 ft (500 m) in its first day at a cost of 100,000 time at Cambrai (northeastern France) in
units was an attempt to
mitigate the hardships casualties, and led to widespread mutinies in November. Neither weapon contributed to
of trench life. the French army. Despite enormous losses, British a decisive breakthrough.

The US enters the war

n W EUROPE d 1917–1918

It was German action that finally broke the 1917 arrived in France, under the command of General
stalemate (see above). In February, Germany John Pershing, and they were posted to the
announced it was resuming unrestricted attacks trenches only in October. The initial inexperience
on foreign shipping. of the Americans, and the fact that Pershing at
The threat to US interests was clear, and was first failed to have his troops operate independently
compounded by a telegram written by the German of their allies, meant that for a while their impact
foreign minister encouraging Mexico to attack the was limited.
US. President Woodrow Wilson’s attempts to Yet the German High Command was well aware
In May 1917, the maintain neutrality in the conflict, and to act as that each increase in the numbers of US soldiers
US Congress passed an honest broker for peace, were over, and in fighting with the Allies, which reached four
legislation authorizing
the drafting of men April the US declared war on Germany. However, complete divisions by 1918, lessened the chance
into the army. it was not until June that the first US troops of a German victory.
 WORLD WAR I 297

The end of the war

n W EUROPE d 1918

In March 1918, Germany signed a peace treaty at Armistice Day

Brest-Litovsk with the new Bolshevik government on November 11 is
marked by wearing
of Russia. This freed up some 44 German divisions, red poppies, the
which were now shifted to the Western Front. The flowers that bloomed
German Chief of Staff, Erich Ludendorff, argued on World War I battlefields.
that these divisions should be used for a massive
all-or-nothing assault. casualties on August 8 alone,
On March 21, the Germans launched Operation which Ludendorff dubbed
Michael, the first element in their “Spring “the black day of the German
Offensive.” They won 45 miles (70 km) of ground, army.” In the “Hundred Days
but their largest gains were against the least Campaign,” the Allies then pushed
resistance. As Allied resistance stiffened, east, finally breaking through Germany’s trench
Germany’s initial momentum stalled. Ludendorff lines. In a costly series of actions in September
ordered further smaller attacks between April and October, they breached the Hindenburg line,
and July, but by then, with the US presence Germany’s last fortified defense.
growing at 250,000 men a month, it was clear With its main ally, Austria–Hungary, having
A German army
that his gamble had failed. signed an armistice with Italy after a disastrous unit returns home in
defeat by the Italians in late October, Germany was December 1918. Many
The Final Offensive under huge pressure, and a revolution threatened soldiers were bitter
The Allied counterstroke came with an attack to overthrow the German Kaiser. Finally, the that the politicians
agreed to an armistice
along the Marne River in late July. Another Germans signed an armistice on November 11, while they were still
offensive around Amiens led to 27,000 German bringing World War I to an end. able to fight.
 American artist John Singer Sargent’s
harrowing painting Gassed evokes the terrible
torment inflicted on soldiers who inhaled poison
gas. Gas was first used as a weapon by the
Germans near Ypres in April 1915, but eventually
all sides employed some form of gas warfare.
300 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Treaty of Versailles

Although World War I had ended at the armistice of November 11,
1918, a large number of issues remained. The Western Allies wanted
arrangements to ensure that Germany never again posed such a
threat to peace, including an adjustment to Germany’s borders to
reflect its reduced status. Other treaties redrew the map of central
and eastern Europe in favor of new nations that had emerged there.

The peace conference

On January 18, 1919 in Paris, delegates from
more than 20 nations, excluding Germany and
Austria–Hungary, gathered to seal peace. The
driving forces at the conference were France’s
prime minister Georges Clemenceau, his British
counterpart David Lloyd George, and US president
Woodrow Wilson.
The French were intent on reducing Germany’s
capacity for waging war, extracting reparations,
and regaining control of Alsace-Lorraine. The
British wanted to avoid the anger that extravagant French troops disarm German police during
their 1923–1925 occupation of the Ruhr, western
reparations claims might fuel in Germany, and Germany, when Germany refused to pay
to protect their imperial interests. President its reparations.
 WORLD WAR I 301

Wilson, meanwhile, came armed with his

Fourteen Points, the most important of which
demanded guarantees of self-determination for
the national minorities and the establishment
of an international body to preserve world peace,
the League of Nations.

The settlement
By May the outline of a final settlement stated
that Germany was to acknowledge its guilt in
the war and Kaiser Wilhelm was to be put on trial.
Germany was to reduce its army to fewer than
100,000 men, its navy to a token force, and to
have no tanks or aircraft.
The Rhineland was also to be demilitarized.
More galling still was the cession of Alsace-
Lorraine to France, part of Schleswig to Denmark,
large portions of Prussia and Silesia to Poland,
and the occupation of the Saarland region for
15 years by an international force. Any future
union of Germany with Austria was also forbidden. Treaty in its entirety, sowing the seeds of bitterness The Hall of Mirrors
Huge financial reparations were to be paid. On among the German people that would be a key at the Palace of
Versailles, where
June 28, 1919, the German delegation signed the contributor to the outbreak of World War II just 20 the 1919 Treaty
years later. Further treaties imposed conditions was signed.
French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau on Germany’s allies, and contained clauses that
signs the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919.
His desire to punish Germany harshly caused also caused considerable political strife in the
some debate. interwar period.
 302 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Between the wars

The treaties that ended World War I, such as that signed at
Versailles, did little to create a stable political environment in
Europe. Resentment at the terms of the peace grew in Germany,
and successive governments began to test its limits. In eastern and
central Europe, fragile democracies succumbed to dictatorships.
More ominously, public unrest in Germany and Italy gave rise to
the extremist ideologies of National Socialism and Fascism under
Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Russia heads for revolution

n RUSSIA d 1905–1917

After the Revolution of 1905 (see p.263), Tsar Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and Moscow in
Nicholas II had been forced to agree a new the February Revolution, led by the Petrograd
constitution for Russia, including the formation Soviet (“council”), and Nicholas abdicated
of an elected Duma (parliament). on March 2, 1917.
However, the tsar retained the ability to Power was handed to a Provisional Government
dissolve the Duma, which he did in 1906 and under Prince Lvov, but its position was contested
1907. Two subsequent Dumas met from 1907–1912 by the Petrograd Soviet, which was dominated by
and 1912–1917, which were in almost constant Vladimir Lenin’s revolutionary Russian Bolshevik
conflict with Nicholas. Normal political tensions Party. In July, riots erupted in Petrograd. Prince
were suspended in the early stages of World War I, Lvov was replaced as leader of the Provisional
but as the war went progressively worse for Government by Alexander Kerensky, but the
Russia, rising prices prompted industrial workers possibility of restoring stability would soon
to strike. Violence erupted on the streets of be ruined by a tide of revolutionary activity.

Revolutionary
officers drive the tsar’s
confiscated car around
the streets of Petrograd.
Ironically, it was later to
become Lenin’s own
personal vehicle.
 BETWEEN THE WARS 303

The 1917 Revolution

n RUSSIA d OCTOBER 1917

In July 1917 Russia’s Provisional Government, had no effect apart from bringing
under Alexander Kerensky, suppressed an into disrepute those parties who
outbreak of revolutionary riots. Vladimir Lenin cooperated with it. In mid-
fled to Finland, but his followers received help October, the Central Committee of
from an unlikely source. the Bolshevik Party met to plan the
seizure of power, fearful that a left-wing
Bolshevik power coalition of other parties might take power
In August 1917, General Lavr Kornilov, the army if the Kerensky government collapsed.
commander in chief, ordered troops into Petrograd, On October 25, Leon Trotsky, the party’s
ostensibly to protect the Provisional Government chief organizer, launched an almost
from the Bolshevik threat. Suspecting an bloodless coup in Petrograd. Armed squads
attempted coup, Kerensky asked the Bolsheviks of pro-Bolshevik revolutionaries occupied The Bolshevik
for help, arming the Bolshevik Red Guard militia. key positions such as railroad stations and hammer and sickle
symbolized the unity
Kornilov’s alleged attempt to seize power was telephone exchanges. Kerensky surrendered of industrial and
unsuccessful, but Kerensky’s regime was fatally and the Bolsheviks moved quickly to push out agricultural workers.
weakened. In September Kerensky attempted to the other leftists from positions of influence.
organize a “Democratic Conference” to rein in the Their supremacy ensured, the Bolsheviks moved
unruly leftist factions baying for power, but this to implement Lenin’s revolutionary program.

LENIN
After his brother was hanged for his part in a plot to
kill Tsar Alexander III, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)
became a revolutionary. In 1895, he was exiled to Siberia.
On his release, he spent several years in Europe,
where he studied Marxism (see p.267). Lenin
came to power in the October Revolution
of 1917, but he died less than seven
years later, his program for a
revolutionary transformation of
Russia only partially fulfilled.
 304 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Leon Trotsky
returned from exile
in North America in
1917 to lead the
infant Bolshevik
Red Army, instigating
proper training to
turn it into an effective
fighting force.

The Russian Civil War

n RUSSIA d 1918–1920

After seizing the center of power in Petrograd pushing far into the Urals. Trotsky’s Red Army
in November 1917, the Bolsheviks fought a defeated Kolchak in April, but Kornilov’s army—
multisided civil war. Many high-ranking tsarist now under General Denikin’s control following
officers were determined to fight back against Kornilov’s death—captured Kiev, Odessa, and
the Revolution, and the left-wing parties whom the Orel in the summer of 1919, almost threatening
Bolsheviks had pushed aside were unwilling to Moscow. Yet a devastating counterattack pushed
let the matter rest. Denikin back, and a badly coordinated thrust
In May 1918, the remaining leaders of the leftist against Petrograd by Yudenich in October 1919
Socialist-Revolutionaries (SR) set up their own failed. The last remaining large White force,
government at Samara on the Volga River. under General Wrangel, attempted to seize the
Anti-Bolshevik (“White”) armies began to form, Crimea, but in late 1920 he evacuated his forces,
led by General Kornilov (see p.303) in the south, leaving the Red Army to mop up an assortment
Admiral Kolchak in Siberia, and General Yudenich of anarchist, nationalist, and Islamic militia,
in the northwest. By late 1918, the situation for which continued to resist reincorporation by
the Bolsheviks was critical, with Admiral Kolchak the central government.

Go where you belong… into the

dustbin of history.
Leon Trotsky, dismissing a walkout by the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries
from the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets (October 25–26, 1917)
 BETWEEN THE WARS 305

Russia under Lenin and Stalin

n RUSSIA d 1921–1953

When Vladimir Lenin (see p.303) came to

STALIN power after the Russian Revolution, he quickly
Born Joseph Djugashvilli in Georgia in established a highly centralized system of
1878, Stalin (1878–1953) joined the Marxist government, banning all rival political parties
Social-Democratic Labor Party in 1901, and empowering the Communist Party’s dominant
and when this split in 1904 he joined the
Bolshevik faction. Stalin became a valued Central Committee to expel anyone who failed
enforcer of Lenin’s policies, joining the to follow the party line.
Bolsheviks’ policy-making Politburo in From 1921, Lenin promoted the New Economic
1919. By 1922 he was the party’s Secretary
General, becoming supreme leader after
Policy (NEP), in which peasants were given more
Lenin’s death. In 1926, he expelled Trotsky control over the levels of agricultural production
from the party; he went on to rule the USSR than strict Bolsheviks would have liked. A federal
virtually unchallenged for nearly 30 years. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was
created in 1922.

Stalinism
After Lenin’s death in 1922, Joseph Stalin—whom
Lenin had favored—removed, tried, or executed his
rivals in the Central Committee, and pushed for
a tougher line and greater centralized state control.
Between 1928 and 1932, he instituted the first of
the Five Year Plans—huge schemes that aimed to
transform the USSR into an industrialized society.
He also enforced a policy of “collectivization,”
in which land belonging to kulaks (prosperous
peasants) was given to cooperative farms.
Enormous hardship ensued, including a famine
in the Ukraine in 1932–1933. A network of prison
camps (the gulag) was established, and the
“Great Terror” of 1936–1938
saw the secret police
launching waves of purges
of the party elite and army.
Some 690,000 people were
executed, with many more
consigned to prison camps.
It was only with Stalin’s
death in 1953 that the icy
chill of his oppressive
regime began to thaw.

A 1920 propaganda
poster for the Communist
Party demands:“Are you
a volunteer yet?”
 306 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Great Depression

n WORLDWIDE d 1929–1932

During the early 1920s the US economy flourished,

but by 1927 the US was overproducing goods
for which it did not have a market. European
economies, meanwhile, had failed to adjust to
the conditions of peacetime following the end
of World War I, and in Germany a savage bout of
hyperinflation in 1919–1923 had wrecked that
country’s economy.

The Wall Street Crash

Despite the underlying economic gloom,
investors on New York’s Wall Street stock
In London, City A German 1,000 mark note overprinted with the
workers gather after exchange continued to push up share prices. value 1 billion; by December 1922, printing presses
the collapse of British In October 1929, however, prices began to decline were struggling to keep up with hyperinflation.
investor Clarence as investor confidence evaporated. On October 24
Hatry’s business (“Black Thursday”), panic set in. It was followed respectively, in a collapse known as the “Wall
empire, which fed into
the Wall Street Crash by “Black Monday” and “Black Tuesday,” on which Street Crash.” The decline soon infected the US
one week later. stock market prices tumbled by 13 and 12 percent economy, as banks called in loans that could no
 BETWEEN THE WARS 307

longer be repaid, and several banks collapsed as the Tennessee Valley Authority—which
as panicked savers withdrew their money. A constructed a large series of dams—did much
wave of mortgage foreclosures and business to alleviate unemployment while the US economy
bankruptcies led to a downward spiral of got back on its feet.
unemployment and homelessness. Many people The political response in European countries
were forced to take shelter in shantytowns, was less constructive. Mass unemployment
nicknamed “Hoovervilles” out of resentment and poverty led to civil unrest and the rise of
against President Herbert Hoover, who right-wing movements. In the 1920s and ’30s,
declined to extend government aid to many countries in eastern and central Europe
the unemployed. became dictatorships—such as Poland,
where Marshal Pilsudski’s authoritarian
The depression regime came to power in 1926. Even in Britain,
As a result of the Crash, US investors withdrew where in 1930 unemployment had touched
many foreign loans. This caused the collapse of 2.5 million (20 percent of the workforce),
the system of international loans set up to handle Oswald Mosley’s Union of British Fascists,
Germany’s war reparations and meant that founded in 1932, briefly threatened to become
European countries, including Germany, could a real political force.
not pay for their imports. Trade between Europe
and North America was badly hit, and the price
of commodities plummeted, by 1932 falling to
around 45 percent of their 1929 values.
A wave of economic nationalism erupted
as countries sought to protect their domestic
industries. President Hoover introduced the
Smoot-Hawley Tariff in 1930, which increased
taxes on imports by around 20 percent, and
European governments responded in kind with
similar protectionist measures. This resulted in
the crippling of international trade and in further
deterioration in the world economy. In Germany,
unemployment more than doubled to over
15 percent of the workforce, some 4 million
people, by the end of 1930.

The New Deal

Hoover was voted out of office in 1932 when
Franklin D. Roosevelt (US president 1933–1945)
won a landslide victory on the promise of a
“New Deal.” This was a series of initiatives
designed to kick-start the economy and provide
emergency relief, new jobs, and agricultural Workers widen curbs, a project of the Works
reforms. A series of successful projects, such Progress Administration in Roosevelt’s “New Deal.”

I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new

deal for the American people.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Democratic presidential
nomination acceptance speech, 1932
 308 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The rise of Fascism

The economic hardship and political instability that followed
World War I contributed to a climate of violence and lawlessness
across much of Europe in the 1920s. This atmosphere, and unresolved
disputes about national boundaries and Germany’s role within
Europe, helped to produce new, right-wing nationalist movements,
sharing an ideology that became known as fascism.

In 1922 Benito
Mussolini (fourth Mussolini and Fascism socialist democracy provided a model of
from left) led his The new right-wing philosophies were fed by government for extreme right-wing nationalists
National Fascist Party loathing and fear of the Union of Soviet Socialist seeking to reform failing democracies in Europe.
in a march on Rome,
forcing a handover of Republics (USSR) and its open desire to export Mixed with a militaristic ideology, this style of
power to the Fascists. communism. Ironically, the USSR’s totalitarian government turned conservatism into fascism.
 BETWEEN THE WARS 309

First of the fascist leaders Hitler’s book Mein Kampf (meaning

to rise to power was Italy’s “My Struggle”) was a statement of his
political ideology.
Benito Mussolini (1883–1945),
who in 1914 joined one of
the revolutionary fasci request for military support
(political groups) agitating and invited Mussolini to
for social reform. In 1919 he form a government. In 1926,
helped found the Fasci Italiani Mussolini assumed power, brutally
di Combattimento, a group silencing any political opponents.
of extreme nationalists. Known as Il Duce (“the leader”),
The Fascists became he ruled Italy as a dictator
seen as the protectors of until 1943.
law, deploying their informal
militia—the “Blackshirts”— Nazism in Germany
to terrorize socialists. In October In 1918, Germany’s new Weimar
1922, Mussolini ordered the Blackshirts to Republic faced similar problems. Many Germans
march on Rome and seize power. King Victor and Austrians resented the terms of the Treaty of
Emmanuel III refused his prime minister’s Versailles (see pp.300–1).
Among them was Adolf Hitler (1889–1945),
an Austrian-born former soldier who in 1919
joined a small Munich-based political group—
the German Worker’s Party, renamed the following
year the NDSAP, or Nazi Party. The Nazis had
much in common with Mussolini’s Fascists, but
also had a hankering for a romanticized German
past and a dangerous belief in the superiority
of the German Volk (or race) and of Aryans
(white Caucasians), particularly compared
to Slavs and Jews.
The Nazis aimed to unite all German speakers in
a greater German Reich. Hitler maneuvered
the Nazi Party into power, offering it as the only
way to end instability. In 1932, he lost an election
for the presidency to Paul von Hindenburg, but
the following year Hindenburg offered him the
chancellorship, hoping to neutralize the Nazis
politically. It was a fatal mistake. In 1933, Hitler
pushed through an Enabling Act giving him
near-dictatorial powers for a period of four
years, and once that time had elapsed the
Nazis prevented them from being rescinded.

Hitler in power
Once Führer (“leader”) of Germany, Hitler was able Joseph Goebbels
to implement his racial and extreme nationalist was an early follower
ideology. This was done with the help of an of Hitler, joining the
oppressive state security system bolstered Nazi Party in 1924.
From 1933 to 1945
by the Gestapo (political police) and the SS (a he was minister in
paramilitary police force controlled by the Nazis). charge of propaganda.
 The Nazis had held a party rally in the
Bavarian city of Nuremberg as early as
1923, and between 1933 and 1938 it became
an annual event. The vast numbers of
attendees and the militaristic setting proved
the party’s power and cemented the cult of
Adolf Hitler, the revered Führer.
 312 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Spanish Civil War

n SPAIN d 1936–1939

In February 1936, Spain’s newly elected left-wing

Popular Front government vowed to uphold FRANCISCO FRANCO
liberty, prosperity, and justice, but many feared Born into a military family, Francisco Franco
their policies were too progressive. On July 19, (1892–1975) served in Morocco from 1912 to
1936, Francisco Franco took control of Spain’s 1926, becoming the youngest general in Spain.
After leading the Nationalist movement to victory
armies in Morocco and led them into Spain; the in the Spanish Civil War, Franco dominated
result was civil war. Spanish politics as head of state for 36 years,
though from 1947 he was formally the regent
for a restored monarchy in which he chose
The opposing sides not to appoint a king. His regime was stifling,
The Republicans (government supporters) were militaristic, and conservative—democracy
composed of liberal democrats, communists, was restored only on his death in 1975.
A 1937 poster by socialists, and anarchists. They faced roughly
the UGT—a union equal numbers of Franco’s Nationalists, who
aligned with the
Republicans—urges were backed by monarchists, Catholics, and
its members to fight. the Falange—the Spanish fascist party.
While the Republicans received support
from the USSR, Mexico, and socialist
and communist volunteers throughout
Europe, the Nationalists received military
aid from the fascist regimes in Italy and
Germany (including the “Condor” legion,
armed with tanks).

The course of the war

By November 1, 1936, 25,000 Nationalist troops
had begun a three-year siege of the capital, Madrid.
In 1937, a campaign to capture the north’s Basque
provinces led to the aerial bombing of Guernica
and many civilian casualties.
A disastrous attempt to force a way through
to Madrid in March 1938 put the Nationalist
central front on the defensive. Further east,
however, the Nationalists pushed toward
the coast near Valencia in April, cutting the
Republican territory in two. At the Battle
of the Ebro (July 25–November 16, 1938),
Republican forces were all but destroyed.
On January 26, 1939, Barcelona fell to Franco’s
forces, and on March 27, 1939, the Nationalists
entered Madrid almost unopposed.
 BETWEEN THE WARS 313

Women and the vote

n UK, USA, EUROPE d 1869–1928

Suffrage (the right to vote) had been considerably

extended during the 19th century, particularly
in Britain, but it was still denied to women. In Women will
1903, Briton Emmeline Pankhurst formed the
Women’s Social and Political Union to campaign
have, with us, the
for the vote. Frustrated by the failure to achieve fullest rights.
this through peaceful means, the suffragettes, Stanley Baldwin, prime
as they became known, took direct action, including minister of the UK, 1928
an invasion of the Houses of Parliament.
Many suffragettes went on hunger strike, part as recognition of the role they had played in
prompting the British government to pass the World War I. Key among the figures campaigning
“Cat and Mouse” Act in 1913, by which the women for the vote for American women was Susan B.
could legally be force-fed. The campaign finally Anthony, who cofounded the National Woman
achieved success in 1918, when women aged Suffrage Association in 1869.
30 and over obtained the vote, although full voting In the rest of the world, stories of women’s
rights were granted only in 1928. suffrage are mixed. New Zealand was the first
to grant women full suffrage, in 1893, while
Suffrage in the USA some other countries restrict women's right
and elsewhere to vote even today.
A similar but more peaceful campaign began
in the USA in the 1840s. The first state to
The “New Women’s Organization” lobbied for
grant female suffrage was Wyoming, in 1869; French women to be given the vote—a right that
nationally, women won the vote only in 1920, in they received only in 1944.
314 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

World War II
Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in Germany seriously destabilized
Europe and, after a series of false alarms, war broke out in September
1939. The conflict became global, with the USSR and USA joining the
western European powers (the “Allies”), while Japan and Italy joined
the German (“Axis”) side. By the time the fighting finally ended in
1945, World War II had led to the deaths of some 25 million military
personnel, and at least as many civilians.

Germany’s path to war

n POLAND d SEPTEMBER 1939

Throughout the late 1930s, the chancellor of

Germany, Adolf Hitler, had steadily chipped
away at the restrictions placed on his country
by the Treaty of Versailles (see pp.300–1); he
had restarted conscription, established an air force
and, in March 1936, remilitarized the Rhineland.
In March 1938, he went further, sending German
troops into Austria and proclaiming its Anschluss
(“union”) with Germany.

The Czech and Polish crises

In September 1938, Hitler demanded concessions
for the German speakers of Czechoslovakia’s
Sudetenland, and the Munich Conference
(involving Germany, Britain, France, and Italy)
granted him occupation of Sudetenland.
The German foreign minister, von Ribbentrop,
brokered a deal with the USSR to divide eastern
central Europe into two spheres of influence,
leaving western Poland in German hands. On
the pretext that Poland refused to allow Germany
to occupy the once-German port of Danzig, on
September 1, 1939, Hitler ordered German forces
to invade Poland, marking the beginning of
World War II.

The Germans used propaganda to support their

annexations, such as this postcard proclaiming that
the once-Polish town of Danzig “is German.”
 WORLD WAR II 315

Blitzkrieg and the fall of France

n SCANDINAVIA, BELGIUM, THE NETHERLANDS, FRANCE d SEPTEMBER 1939–JUNE 1940

In 1939 the British and French After French surrender in June 1940,
governments had guaranteed Philippe Pétain led a regime that governed
protection for Poland against German southern France from Vichy.
aggression, so when German forces
invaded Poland on September 1, move against Germany. Then Hitler
they responded by declaring war. invaded Denmark and Norway in
Germany’s assault had begun April 1940, occupying both nations.
with the Luftwaffe (air force)
blanket-bombing roads, towns, and The surrender
villages. Fast-moving mobile units, of France
spearheaded by Panzer (tank) On May 10, Hitler pushed west
divisions, thrust deep into the Polish toward France, overrunning the
heartland. It was a new form of warfare, Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg.
rapid and devastating, which became known German forces broke through the Ardennes,
as Blitzkrieg. and reached Abbeville on the northern French
coast, trapping the British Expeditionary Force
The fall of Poland (BEF) sent to aid France. As the German army
The successful
and Scandinavia surged toward Paris, the British prime minister removal by sea
Within a week, Warsaw was under siege. A Soviet Winston Churchill ordered the BEF, who were of some 338,000
invasion on September 17 dealt the fatal blow, hemmed in around the port of Dunkirk, to Allied soldiers from
and Polish resistance ended on September 28. evacuate. The German army entered Paris on Dunkirk in May 1940
preserved the core of
There followed months of “Phoney War”: the June 14, and a week later the French signed an army that could
Allies built up weapons stocks, but made no an armistice with Germany. resist Germany.
 316 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Battle of Britain WINSTON CHURCHILL

n BRITAIN d AUGUST–OCTOBER 1940
First Lord of the Admiralty during World War I,
Having overcome France in June 1940, Adolf Hitler Winston Churchill (1874–1965) warned against
German rearmament in the 1930s. When he
turned his attention to Britain, the one remaining became Britain’s prime minister in May 1940,
country of significance that resisted him. He laid his strong resolve and wooing
plans for the invasion of southern England of US support helped
to ensure Britain’s
(“Operation Sealion”), but before they could be final victory in
put into effect, the Germans needed to achieve World War II.
dominance of the skies. The aerial conflict that
raged between August and October 1940 became
known as the Battle of Britain, and it pitted
Germany’s Luftwaffe, under the command of
Herman Göring, against the Fighter Command
of the British Royal Air Force (RAF), led by The RAF wins out
Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. The Germans assumed that the main force
of the RAF was spent, and that they would soon
The first German attacks achieve by attrition what they could not with a
Dowding linked the new technology of radar to single blow. The RAF, however, proved resilient,
a system of battle groups and sectors that was and by early September had some 738 Spitfire and
able to respond rapidly to German raids. Although Hurricane fighter aircraft—more than at the start
the Luftwaffe had superiority in numbers of of the campaign. Instead, it was the Luftwaffe
aircraft, they were often close to their extreme that was suffering a steady stream of losses.
flight range and so could operate for only a At the start of September, Hitler ordered a
short time in British airspace. change of tactics and the bombing of London, which
On August 12, 1940, concerted German started in earnest on September 7. Although the
attacks on British airfields began, but an attempt Battle of Britain carried on until October, in effect
the following day (Adlertag, or “Eagle Day”) to the German chances of destroying the RAF had
overwhelm the RAF with a mass attack failed. already ended.
The single-engine
Supermarine Spitfire
formed the backbone
of Fighter Command
during the Battle
of Britain.
 WORLD WAR II 317

Air power in World War II

World War II was the first major conflict in which air power played
a determining role. During the Polish campaign in 1939, the Luftwaffe
deployed some 1,500 aircraft to pulverize Poland and smash its lines
of communication. From then on, almost every campaign used air
support, with an increasing emphasis on strategic bombing, aiming
to destroy the opponent’s industries and undermine its morale.

Strategic bombing Command from February 1942. The bombers

The Battle of Britain (see facing page) seemed were inaccurate, however, and the chances of
to indicate that there was no decisive strategic hitting a specific military or industrial target
advantage in using air power, but both sides were remote, so Harris ordered larger raids,
continued to deploy massive numbers of aircraft containing up to 1,000 bombers. At the attack
in a tactical role. From 1941, with the arrival on Hamburg on July 27–28, the sheer weight
of more efficient bombers such as the Vickers of Allied bombing caused a firestorm and
Wellington, the British were able to bomb German 40,000 to 45,000 people died. By 1944, the
cities on a large scale, a tactic championed by Luftwaffe’s resistance had almost disappeared,
Arthur Harris, the controversial chief of Bomber and the Allies could bomb at will.

German Dornier
217 bombers
attack London
during the Battle
of Britain in 1940,
foreshadowing later,
much larger attacks
on Germany itself.

Bomb the enemy soft until a

comparatively small land force… can
overcome his remaining resistance.
Air Vice Marshal Arthur (“Bomber”) Harris, January 1943
 318 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The German invasion of the USSR

n USSR d JUNE–DECEMBER 1941

Ever since the 1920s, Hitler had viewed the and was hampered by a military strategy that
western USSR as a possible area for German insisted on defending every yard of ground,
expansion to provide Lebensraum (“living space”) leaving few reserves to contain the intense,
for a growing population. By 1941, Hitler also rapid attacks of the German Blitzkrieg tactic.
German army
helmets were the
feared that the US might join the war on
only part of their gear the British side and so, although an uneasy The battle for Moscow
suitable for the harsh peace had prevailed in eastern Europe since The German armored columns sped forward,
temperatures in the the defeat of Poland in September 1939, he in the north reaching Leningrad by August 19
USSR, and the German
soldiers suffered decided on an invasion of Britain’s last possible and on the central front surrounding Minsk on
terribly from the cold. European ally, the USSR. June 18, where they would capture some 300,000
prisoners—a sign of the large-scale collapse
Operation Barbarossa of the Soviet defensive effort. By December 1941,
The force that Hitler had assembled for the Moscow itself was under threat.
planned invasion, Operation Barbarossa, was The most advanced German units reached the
truly prodigious, including around four million outer suburbs on December 2. But the offensive
German troops and their allies, and some 11,000 ground to a halt in the face of fanatical Soviet
tanks. At around dawn on June 22, 1941, the resistance and the effects of winter, which froze
German army crossed into the USSR, the invasion the lubricant in German tanks. On December 5,
having been delayed by several crucial months the Soviet commander, General Zhukov, ordered
to deal with a crisis in Yugoslavia. The Soviet Red a counterattack and within a month, the Germans
Army was caught almost completely by surprise had been driven back from Moscow.

A Soviet border
garrison surrenders
in June 1941. Few
Red Army units could
defend themselves
against swift
German forces.
 WORLD WAR II 319

The battle of Stalingrad

n STALINGRAD, USSR d JUNE 1942–FEBRUARY 1943

German troops
surrendered at
Stalingrad in early
February 1943, after
holding out for more
than two months
against besieging
Soviet forces.

The industrial city of Stalingrad stood on the The Soviet forces crashed through the weaker
west bank of the Volga River in southern Russia, Romanian armies and within four days had the
controlling the vital river and rail connections that Axis side surrounded. Confounding Zhukov’s
carried oil supplies to the armament factories of expectation of an attempt at breakout, Paulus Mosin-Nagant
central Russia. Thwarted in his desire to capture settled down for a siege. But after a German M91/30 rifles were
Moscow the previous winter (see facing page), attempt to relieve Paulus failed in December, any used by the Red Army
Hitler ordered a thrust in the spring and summer hope of victory was gone, and the remnants of the as sniper rifles from
1932, to devastating
of 1942 to capture Stalingrad and the oil reserves 6th Army finally surrendered on February 2, 1943, effect on the streets
further south in the Caucasus. at a cost of around 170,000 dead. of Stalingrad.

Operations Blue and Uranus

The general German offensive, Operation Blue,
began on June 29, 1942, and General Paulus’s
6th Army soon moved to secure Stalingrad itself.
Sustained air attacks on August 23 began the
main assault, and the same day German troops
reached the Volga north of the city. But this was the
limit of their success—an astonishingly tenacious The God of War
Soviet resistance bogged the 6th Army down in
house-to-house fighting. On November 19, the
has gone over to the
Red Army was still somehow clinging onto a other side.
small strip along the Volga when Soviet General Adolf Hitler, February 1943
Zhukov ordered a counterattack, Operation Uranus.
320 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The war in North Africa

n NORTH AFRICA d JUNE 1940–MAY 1943

The vast North African desert provided a theater

of war unlike any other in World War II; one in
which tanks played a crucial role. Yet the relative
strength of the armies deployed there was tiny
compared with other fronts. Italy declared war
on the Allies on June 10, 1940, and in September,
General Graziani—the Italian commander in chief
in North Africa—launched an attack toward
British-held Egypt.
At the Battle of El Alamein, Rommel lost
more than 400 tanks, a loss from which the
The Western Desert campaign German war effort in North Africa was never
After initial successes, by December 1940 really able to recover.
Graziani’s force was driven back as far as
Tripolitania in Libya—the first of the swings El Alamein in October 1942, the new British
in fortune that characterized the desert fighting. commander, General Montgomery (see p.324),
By January 22, 1941, the British had taken wore down the Afrika Korps and then struck west.
the strategic city of Tobruk, but the Germans
had started to send reinforcements to bolster Operation Torch
their Italian allies and, under the command Rommel now retreated into Tunisia, but on
of General Rommel, the German Afrika Korps November 8, 1942, a series of Anglo–American
commenced a dramatic advance eastward. landings (Operation Torch) in Morocco and Algeria
A British counteroffensive (Operation Crusader) tightened the noose on the German and Italian
forced the Germans back in December, but in armies in North Africa. Despite stubborn resistance,
June of the following year, Rommel captured Rommel’s position grew steadily worse. He flew out
Tobruk, and threatened to push toward the to Germany in March 1943, and on May 13 the last
Egyptian capital, Cairo. In a 12-day battle at Axis armies in Tunisia surrendered.

ERWIN ROMMEL
An early proponent of mobile warfare, Erwin
Rommel (1891–1944) led a Panzer unit during
the Battle of France in 1940. After his failed
North Africa campaign of 1941–1943 he was
sent to France, where he committed suicide
after being implicated in a plot to kill Hitler.

General Rommel (far left) was

a master of armored warfare,
which played a vital part in
Germany’s efforts in the
North African desert.
 WORLD WAR II 321

The war in Italy

n ITALY d JULY 1943–MAY 1945

At the Casablanca Conference in January 1943, and resistance was stiffer than the Allies had
the Allies decided to exploit imminent victory expected, very nearly pushing their forces
in North Africa (see facing page) by launching back into the sea.
a new front in Italy. This would enable them to
threaten Germany itself from the south, using The end of the
Sicily as a springboard for the assault. Italian campaign
On July 10, “Operation Husky” began. The Allied The Allied campaign never regained its
advance was sluggish, however, and allowed time momentum, and stalled trying to breach a series
for Germany’s General Kesselring to evacuate of strong German defensive lines. A new Allied
more than 100,000 of his soldiers back to the amphibious landing at Anzio, south of Rome, in
Italian mainland on August 11–12. December 1943 became bogged down, while
it required an enormous effort and almost
Salerno five months (January to May 1944) to clear
The fall of Mussolini’s regime on July 25 the Germans from their positions around Monte In June 1944 US
brought forward Allied plans to invade Cassino. Even after they finally reached Rome general Mark Clark
southern Italy. By the time an armistice with on June 4, 1944, the Allies failed to exploit their entered Rome, a
German-declared
the new Italian government was announced victory, and the Germans finally surrendered in “open city” that
on September 8, British forces had already Italy only on May 2, 1945, at the very end of the war. escaped bombing.
crossed over into southern Italy. The following
day they made a larger amphibious landing at
The military cemetery at Monte Cassino is
Salerno, south of Naples. However, the Germans overlooked by the ruins of the abbey that was
had been pouring reinforcements into Italy destroyed by Allied bombing in February 1944.
 322 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Pearl Harbor
n HAWAII d DECEMBER 1941

Throughout 1940, US president Roosevelt

looked on with alarm as the Japanese steadily
encroached on new territory, occupying
northern Indochina in July 1940. Meanwhile,
the powerful Japanese naval lobby pressed
for a preemptive strike against the US to
cripple its military capacity before it could react
to Japan’s advances. Finally, on December 1, 1941,
Japanese emperor Hirohito approved the order
for an attack on the main US Pacific naval base
at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

The Japanese attack

Although intercepted intelligence had given
indications that an attack of some sort might occur,
the Americans were totally unprepared when the This Japanese military flag inscribed with
prayers is an example of the potent mix of
large Japanese task force, including six aircraft nationalism and religious sentiments that
carriers, began its attack on December 7. inspired Japanese soldiers.
The Japanese commander, Admiral Nagumo,
The battleships
West Virginia and launched two waves of bombers and fighters carriers were—by chance—absent from Pearl
Tennessee ablaze against the US base, an hour apart. Some 18 Harbor that day. The following day in Congress,
after Japan’s attack US naval vessels were sunk, including eight President Roosevelt described the Japanese attack
on Pearl Harbor. The battleships, and nearly 400 aircraft were destroyed as a “date which will live in infamy” and declared
West Virginia was
repaired and returned (with the loss of just 29 Japanese planes). The only war on Japan. Germany and Italy declared war on
to service in 1944. consolation for America was that its two aircraft the US three days later.
 WORLD WAR II 323

British troops
surrender to
the Japanese at
Singapore. Large
numbers would be
used by the Japanese
on labor projects
in Southeast Asia.

The Japanese advance

n SE ASIA, PACIFIC ISLANDS d DECEMBER 1941–MARCH 1942

The Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor (see facing though spirited, proved hopeless, and on May 6
page) was followed by an attack on the British- the last defenders surrendered. To complete their
held territories of Malaya and Singapore. Japan’s defensive perimeter, the Japanese moved to secure
armies rapidly swept aside British defenses in Burma in the west and a string of Pacific islands
Malaya, using surprise and mobility to compensate to the east. They captured the Burmese capital
for a lack of heavy equipment. Rangoon on March 8, 1942, and the British
By February 12, 1942, Japanese forces had evacuated their remaining positions in Burma in
landed in Singapore, a fortress-city that was late April, but the Allies’ fighting retreat prevented
supposedly the British bastion in Southeast Asia. any large-scale Japanese move into India.
Three days later its commander, Lieutenant- In the early part of 1942, the Japanese made
General Percival, surrendered his 100,000-man a series of amphibious attacks on Allied colonies
command, the largest surrender in British in the Pacific, occupying the Dutch East Indies
military history. and the British-held portion of Borneo, and on
March 8 landing in New Guinea.
The Philippines and Burma It now seemed conceivable that they might
At the same time, the Japanese moved against even invade Australia from the north, and the
the Philippines—American-held since 1898— catastrophic Japanese defeat of a joint Allied fleet
from bases on Taiwan. By late December, at the Battle of the Java Sea on February 27 made
Japanese air superiority had forced the US the situation seem even more irrecoverable. In the
general Douglas MacArthur to order a retreat to event, however, this would prove to be the high
the island of Corregidor. The US/Filipino defense, tide of the Japanese advance.

The worst disaster and largest

capitulation in British history.
Winston Churchill on the surrender of Singapore to the Japanese, 1942
 324 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

D-Day and the war in the west

n FRANCE d JUNE–AUGUST 1944

After almost four years of planning, a combined the campaign in Normandy went slowly. Allied
American, British, Canadian, and Free French forces under the British general Bernard
force launched Operation Overlord to wrest Montgomery stalled in front of Caen, which
control of Europe from Germany. It began on had been a D-Day objective, and it took a major
“D-Day,” June 6, 1944, on the coast of northern offensive to secure the city’s fall on July 18.
France. The Germans believed that any Allied The Germans had defended well, but their losses,
landings would occur near Calais, on the eastern including 2,000 tanks, made victory impossible.
north coast, so were underprepared when the Hitler refused to sanction tactical withdrawals,
attack came in Normandy. demanding that every inch of ground be defended.
More than 7,000 Allied naval vessels were The Allies, in turn, were hampered by the difficult
US army field involved in the preliminary bombardment of Normandy terrain and by bad weather, which
telephones enabled German positions and the subsequent landings. prevented them from effectively employing their
rapid communications
from the front line to The largest of the five assault areas was at more than ten-to-one superiority in aircraft.
headquarters units. Colleville-sur-Mer, codenamed Omaha Beach.
Heavy Allied air and naval bombardment, effective
at the four other landing points (Utah, Gold,
Juno, and Sword), had made little impact on the
well-prepared German positions at Omaha, and
the US 1st and 29th Infantry Divisions suffered
enormous casualties. By early afternoon, the
US had secured a small strip of beach, 6 miles
(9.7 km) wide and about 2 miles (3.2 km) deep,
but at the cost of 3,000 casualties.

The beachhead expands

Meeting with less resistance at the other beaches,
the Allies landed 130,000 troops by nightfall.
Six days later, they had linked together the five
beachheads into a continuous front and could
land armored vehicles, heavy artillery, and a
stream of troops. Despite these reinforcements,

BERNARD MONTGOMERY
A veteran of World War I (who was severely
wounded in France in 1914), Montgomery
(1887–1976) took command of the British
8th Army in North Africa during World War II.
His meticulous planning led to the defeat of the
German field marshal Rommel at El Alamein in
October 1942. Montgomery could be overcautious,
which hampered his operation to take Caen after
D-Day. Confident of his own importance, he
quarreled with General Eisenhower, the
US commander in chief in western Europe,
which almost led to his dismissal in 1945.
 WORLD WAR II 325
The French city
The Falaise pocket of Caen in Normandy
On July 25 the US 7th Army advanced south was largely destroyed
through St. Lô, clearing the way for an advance by Allied bombing and
toward Paris. A German counteroffensive ended the fighting that took
place in its streets.
with almost all the German troops in Normandy
penned into a pocket around Falaise. When Hitler
did allow a retreat, on August 16, it was too
late for the 25,000 German soldiers who were
taken prisoner.
On August 19, the first Allied units crossed
the Seine, threatening German control of Paris. US troops disembark
A second Allied landing in France, on the southern in Normandy in June
Riviera, captured Toulon and Marseilles by the end 1944. By June 30, some
of August. By pushing north toward Lyons, this 850,000 men, 148,000
vehicles, and 570,000
advance threatened to trap German forces between tons of supplies had
its forces and the advance from Normandy. been put ashore.
 326 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The defeat of Germany

n FRANCE, GERMANY, RUSSIA, UKRAINE, BELARUS d JANUARY 1943–MAY 1945

The Allies won a morale-boosting victory in made his last throw of the dice in the west, with
France with the recapture of Paris on August 24, a massive assault on Western Allies in the “Battle
1944, spearheaded by a Free French unit. Yet any of the Bulge.” More than 500,000 men took part in
hope that the war might soon be over in western the advance, which began on December 16. Though
Europe was dashed by a German recovery. initially caught off-balance by the sheer weight
German units in Normandy began to regroup of German numbers, the Americans held out at
and a series of strategic miscalculations hampered Bastogne, Belgium, counterattacking to narrow
the Allies’ progress. the neck of the “bulge” of German troops, and on
The Allies captured the Belgian port of Antwerp January 8, 1945 the Germans finally retreated.
on September 4, but then stalled. British general They had suffered 100,000 casualties and lost
Montgomery suggested an operation called Market 1,000 aircraft.
Garden to push across the lower Rhine and into the The Allies finally crossed the Rhine in force
vital German industrial heartland of the Ruhr. on March 24, and against only patchy resistance
During the operation, elements of a British airborne reached the Elbe, where on April 25 they
division became trapped at Arnhem and 6,000 men met up with the Red Army, which had been
On August 24,1944, surrendered on September 21. In December, Hitler advancing westward.
a small force of the
2nd French Armored
Division under Captain
Raymond Dronne We will fight on to the last.
liberated Paris. General Krebs, German army Chief of Staff on May 1, 1945,
the day before the final surrender of Berlin
 WORLD WAR II 327
The Soviet hammer
and sickle flag was
raised on the Reichstag
building in central
Berlin during the final
German surrender.

The triumph of the Red Army showed a fanatical determination to resist, but
After its sensational victory at Stalingrad by April 30 even Hitler despaired and committed
(see p.319), the Red Army had endured mixed suicide. Two days later the Berlin garrison
fortunes. They were driven back at Kharkov surrendered. On May 7, Hitler’s successor
following a rapid advance westward, but at government at Flensburg in northwest Germany
Kursk on July 12–13, they won the largest signed a document of surrender. The Allies
tank battle in history (more than 6,000 tanks designated the following day—May 8—as
were engaged). By November 6, 1943, the Victory in Europe (VE) Day.
Red Army had taken Kiev.
After a lull in the fighting necessitated by a
harsh winter, Stalin ordered a new offensive,
Operation Bagration, to clear the German Army
Group Center from Belorussia. On June 24, 1944,
the Red Army launched a vast assault around
Minsk, with some 2.4 million men facing half
that number of German defenders. The German
positions collapsed, and by July the Red Army
was in Poland. Pausing on the Vistula in fall
1944, while Polish insurgents perished in a failed
anti-German uprising in Warsaw, Soviet forces
finally took Warsaw on January 17, 1945, and then
began the race for Berlin. The Red Army’s
In mid-April the final assault began, with two advance into Germany
million Soviet troops spearheaded by General caused a mass exodus
Zhukov’s 1st Belorussian Army. The one million of civilians, such as
these refugees seeking
German defenders, many of them untrained desperately to escape
units and some soldiers little more than boys, from Berlin.
328 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Holocaust
Among the most pernicious aspects of German National
Socialist ideology was its view that Aryans (white Caucasians)
were racially superior and that other groups, most especially
the Jews, were inferior. The practical consequence of this belief
was the Holocaust—the deliberate attempt to annihilate the
Jewish population of Europe, which resulted in the murder of
some six million Jews by 1945.

Early anti-Jewish measures

When Hitler took power in Germany in January
1933, he began a slow process of reducing the
civil rights and economic position of the country’s
half-million Jews. They were excluded from state
office and from many professions in 1933–1934.
In September 1935, the Nuremberg Laws
stripped Jews of their German citizenship and
prohibited marriage or sexual relations between
German Jews and Aryans. In November 1938,
widespread violence broke out in a pogrom
(anti-Jewish riot) known as Kristallnacht that
destroyed some 7,500 Jewish businesses and
killed 91 Jews.
The German invasion of Poland in September
1939 and of the USSR in June 1941 tragically Half-starved survivors of the camp at
Ebensee—liberated by the US on May 7,
transformed Germany’s anti-Semitic policies. 1945—to which many former inmates of
With 3.1 million Jews in Poland and 2.7 million Auschwitz had been sent.
 WORLD WAR II 329

in the western USSR—as well as more than a

million in occupied France, the Low Countries,
Scandinavia, and the Balkans—Nazi authorities
took drastic measures to “clear” Jewish
populations. In Poland, the Einsatzgruppen (action
groups made up from the SS—the elite paramilitary
units of the Nazi Party) herded Jews into restricted
areas of towns known as ghettoes. Thousands
more went to labor camps to work for the
German war effort. As German troops swept into
the USSR, the SS shot or gassed (in mobile vans)
as many Jews as they could find. In Kiev, 33,771
Jews were marched out to the Babi Yar ravine
and shot on September 29–30, 1941. Only when the Soviet Red Army advanced westward Top Nazi leaders
in 1944–1945 did the camps cease work. Even then faced trial at the Allied
Military Tribunal in
The “Final Solution” the suffering was not over. Many thousands died in Nuremberg in January
On January 20, 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, head “Death Marches,” during which they were herded, 1946 for atrocities
of the Gestapo, summoned senior bureaucrats starving and freezing, deeper west into Germany. against the Jews.
to a villa at Lake Wannsee in Berlin to ensure After the war the Allies tried 22 leading Nazis
their support for a “Final Solution” to the Jewish at Nuremberg in 1945–1946 for the atrocities.
question. Jews would be transported to camps Twelve were sentenced to death and six to long
in eastern Europe, to be worked to death or periods of imprisonment. Of the European Jews
killed on the spot by mass gassing in who had suffered the Holocaust, only
sealed chambers. around 300,000 survived, and
The bodies were to be burned in many of these would not return to
huge crematoria staffed by Jews their homeland, choosing instead to
themselves. Trainloads of Jews arrived emigrate to the new Jewish State
at the death camps—Auschwitz, of Israel (see p.362). Railroad tracks
Belzec, Chelmno, Majdanek, lead to the main gates
Sobibór, and Treblinka—from of the Auschwitz
The Star of David, once a symbol of hope concentration camp, in
occupied and Axis Europe (except for a Jewish homeland, was used by Nazi which around a million
Bulgaria, whose king refused to cooperate). Germany as a badge to single out Jews. Jews were murdered.
 The principal means used to transport
Jewish prisoners to concentration camps
was by train. Crowded into cattle cars, with
little or no food and water, many perished
before they even reached their destination.
Once disembarked, the old, sick, and the
children were selected for immediate
death in the gas chambers.
332 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The defeat of Japan

n SE ASIA, PACIFIC ISLANDS d MARCH 1942–AUGUST 1945

In early 1942, the Japanese The Burma Star was a medal

sought to complete their outer awarded to Commonwealth military
personnel who served in Burma
perimeter in the southern Pacific by between 1941 and 1945.
seizing the remainder of southern
New Guinea. A large Japanese largely because Japan struggled to
naval force set out in May 1942, match the extraordinary military and
but at the Battle of the Coral Sea industrial resources of the US. In June
the Americans turned them back 1943, General MacArthur ordered
with large losses. A far more Operation Cartwheel, designed to
significant setback came at the neutralize Japan’s bases on New
Battle of Midway in early June. Guinea and the nearby island of New
The Japanese admiral Britain. Although Japanese troops held
Yamamoto intended to surprise the US out until the end of the war, they were
fleet at the American-held Midway Islands. confined to the mountains and posed no
However, US intelligence had cracked the real further threat to the Allies.
Japanese message codes, and the US Navy
was well prepared for their Island-hopping
arrival. Yamamoto, moreover, In November 1943, the Americans
had wrongly calculated that the continued their “island-hopping”
two US aircraft carriers would not strategy with the conquest of the
be present at Midway. In the ensuing Gilbert Islands, although the fierce
battle, Japan lost four aircraft resistance of even very small
carriers and hundreds of pilots garrisons there showed the
(some 70 percent of its total). difficulties the US might face
At the end of 1942, Japanese in pressing its campaign to a
success on land also petered out as US naval successful conclusion. They then continued
superiority pushed Japan out of Guadalcanal in on to seize the Marshall and Marianas islands,
the Solomon Islands by February 1943. Later from where they could launch direct air attacks
in 1943 the tide of war in the Pacific turned against Japan.
even more in favor of the Allied powers, During 1944 and 1945, US power at sea and
in the air began to have a decisive effect. A sea
blockade of Japan cut off all imports, strangling
the Japanese war economy. Another pivotal US
naval victory at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October
1944 opened the way for the US to regain the
Philippines. Landings at Leyte on October 20 met
only light resistance, and by March 1945, the US
had liberated the Philippine capital of Manila.
Meanwhile, in January 1945, the British advanced
back into Burma and by early May had secured
the entire central area of the country.

A US-supplied M5 tank manned by a Chinese

crew in northern Burma in 1944. Longtime
adversaries of the Japanese, the Chinese fought
for the Allies in Burma.
 WORLD WAR II 333

Iwo Jima to surrender GENERAL DOUGLAS MACARTHUR

In February 1945, the US invaded Iwo Jima.
The Supreme Allied Commander in the
It secured the island in several hard-fought weeks, Pacific, US general Douglas MacArthur
and at the cost of 23,000 Marine casualties, to (1880–1964) was born into a military
provide a base for fighters to support US bombing family and began his military career
in World War I. He rose to the rank of
raids on mainland Japan. The US now launched
Army Chief of Staff in the interwar
a series of devastating strikes on Tokyo, which on years. At the end of World War II, he
March 9–10 caused a firestorm that killed around became Supreme Allied Commander
100,000 Japanese citizens. in Japan, overseeing its reconstruction
and the drafting of a new Japanese
Japan’s island garrisons were isolated and constitution. In 1950–1951, he led
picked off one by one by the US, but although United Nations forces in Korea, but
it could clearly no longer win the war, Japan was after a disagreement with President
refusing to accept defeat. The fanatical resistance Truman was relieved of his command
in April 1951.
on the small island of Okinawa, where 120,000
Japanese troops—of whom just 7,500 survived—
fought back from March 26 to June 30, cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 US Marines raise
demonstrated how bloody the invasion of the and 9, 1945 (see pp.334–5). As a direct result their national flag on
Japanese home islands might be. It was this of these bombings, the Japanese signed an top of Mount Suribachi
after the US capture of
resistance that led President Truman to sanction unconditional surrender on September 2 aboard the island of Iwo Jima
the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. in February 1945.
334 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The atom bomb

Scientists discovered the awesome power of nuclear fission
just before World War II, and warring countries raced to develop
the first atomic bomb. The world became aware of America’s
scientific victory when it dropped bombs on two Japanese cities—
Hiroshima and Nagasaki—destroying them within seconds.
The development of these weapons was to play a large part
in the ensuing Cold War (see pp.338–9).

The nuclear race

In 1938, German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz
Strassmann had split uranium atoms by bombarding
them with neutrons. Known as “nuclear fission,” this
process had obvious military uses, and scientists in
the UK and US grew concerned that Germany
might use it to make bombs.
In August 1939, Albert Einstein wrote to
President Roosevelt urging him to take action.
The president set up the Uranium Committee
to pursue research, and after the US entered
the war in December 1941, he established the
Manhattan Project to accelerate US development
of an explosive nuclear device.

The first bombs

The decision to use nuclear force in World War II
was made by US president Harry S. Truman,
who was frustrated at Japan’s resistance to final
surrender and conscious of the huge casualties,
on both sides, that would result from an invasion
of Japan. He chose Hiroshima for its industrial
and military significance.
On August 6, 1945, a US B-29 bomber named
Enola Gay dropped “Little Boy” over the city of
Hiroshima. The bomb exploded 1,950 ft (600 m)
above the city with a blast equivalent to 13 kilotons
of TNT. An estimated 90,000 people were killed
instantly; another 50,000 died later from wounds
or radiation. Around 90 percent of Hiroshima’s
buildings were damaged or destroyed in the blast.

The first nuclear artillery shell—designed for

firing from ground-based guns—was tested in the
Nevada desert on May 25, 1953.
 WORLD WAR II 335

The ruins
of Hiroshima’s
Museum of Science
and Technology in
the aftermath of the
atomic bomb, which
totally destroyed
48,000 buildings.

The second bomb was destined for the town the late 1940s to the early 1990s. Israel,
of Kokura, but this was shrouded in clouds on India, Pakistan, and North Korea went on to
the morning of August 9, 1945, so the US develop nuclear bombs and arsenals by the
bomber headed for the city of Nagasaki instead. early 21st century.
At 11:02am its “Fat Man” bomb delivered
22 kilotons of explosive force over Nagasaki,
leading to 70,000 deaths by the end of the year.

Worldwide development
The US quickly lost its nuclear monopoly
after the war, as the USSR, Britain, France, and
China developed nuclear weaponry. The stockpiling
of large nuclear arsenals in the USSR and US
created a balance of terror between the two The “Fat Man” plutonium bomb dropped
by the B-29 bomber Bockscar on Nagasaki
powers that was to play a large part in the was just 5 ft (1.5 m) in diameter, but killed
Cold War, which dominated world politics from tens of thousands.

I am become death, the destroyer

of worlds.
Robert Oppenheimer, physicist and director of the Manhattan Project,
quoting from the Bhagavad Gita on the first testing of the atomic bomb, 1945
336 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Europe after World War II

For much of the 20th century after World War II, Europe seemed
irrevocably divided into two parts: a democratic, capitalist West,
and a communist Eastern bloc. The problems of national self-
determination and democratic aspirations were smothered rather
than solved by this new order. When communist regimes collapsed
from the late 1980s, Europe erupted in a series of savage civil wars.

The Marshall Plan

n W EUROPE d 1948–1952

In 1945 the Allied powers met at Yalta in the Soviet sphere be extended to cover eastern
Crimea and Potsdam in Germany to shape Poland and the Baltic states raised anxieties
post-war Europe. Stalin’s insistence that the about his expansionist ambitions.

Hard times
Concern over Stalin’s intentions had led the
British government to support Greek anti-
Communist rebels in the Greek Civil War that
erupted in December 1944. Yet economic
hardship in the devastated Western economies
threatened to secure communist influence just
as much as Stalin’s more direct diplomatic
thuggery. Shortages were dire in 1947, partly
due to the shattered state of European postwar
industry, and France and Italy suffered strikes.

The Paris Conference

Allied plans to revive western Germany
were opposed by the USSR, which wanted
to leech reparations from Germany’s
economy, not to repair it. US Secretary
of State George C. Marshall announced
a new European Recovery Program (the
“Marshall Plan”) in June 1947, offering
economic aid to speed Europe’s recovery.
Stalin forbade Eastern European countries
from participating, so only western European
nations assembled in Paris in July to discuss
the plan. The US was ultimately to disburse
George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1953 for his development of the some $12 billion of aid to the 16 participating
Marshall Plan. countries by 1952.
 EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR II 337

The European Community Steel Community (ECSC) in 1950. This pooled

n W AND S EUROPE d 1957–1986 the coal and steel resources of France, Germany,
Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands.
After World War II, it was clear to many politicians In 1957, the Treaty of Rome established the
that Europe needed a mechanism to coordinate European Economic Community (EEC), with these
its economies, and, among idealists and countries as founder members. The EEC allowed
pragmatists alike, a desire emerged to build free movement of goods, services, and labor
a political structure to ensure that no further between member states and promoted greater
war between the major European powers would economic integration. Initially Britain stood aside,
ever again devastate the continent. In 1950, suspicious of ceding control over its own economic
Jean Monnet devised the “Schuman Plan,” which affairs, but it finally joined in 1973, and by 1986
led to the founding of the European Coal and the EEC had 12 members.

The Eastern bloc in Europe

n E EUROPE d 1947–1968

Czech
demonstrators
mount a Soviet tank
following the Warsaw
Pact invasion in
August 1968.

Although Communist parties had actively resisted brutal Communist regimes. Following Stalin’s
German occupation in some countries of Eastern death in 1953, some countries made bids for
Europe, their preeminent role from the late greater independence.
1940s onward owed as much to Stalin’s brutal In 1956, the Hungarian leader Imre Nagy
suppression of other political groups as to their announced the end of one-party rule by the
real level of popular support. Communists, the expulsion of Soviet troops,
and Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw
The imposition of Communism Pact (see p.339)—but Hungarian hardliners and
In January 1947 the Peasants’ Party of Poland Soviet forces soon snuffed out his revolution.
was robbed of probable election victory by Similarly, in 1968, Alexander DubČek tried to
falsified results. Stubborn anti-Soviet resistance implement economic and political reforms
in Czechoslovakia was subdued by the mysterious in Czechoslovakia. His “Prague Spring” was
death of two leading anti-Communist ministers suppressed in August; Warsaw Pact troops
early in 1948. For almost 40 years, most central invaded Czechoslovakia and imposed a
and Eastern European countries lived under more amenable regime.
338 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Cold War

Tensions over the post-World War II settlement between Britain
and the US on one hand, and the USSR on the other, led one
Soviet official to state in 1947 that the world was now split
between Western imperialists and socialist anti-imperialists.
Countries around the world aligned themselves with one of
the two groupings, beginning a Cold War—a state of political
hostility that stopped short of actual warfare.

Early confrontations
The first real crisis of the Cold War almost
brought the two sides to open warfare.
Early in 1948, the Western Allies proposed
to unite their sectors of Berlin (which was
isolated deep inside the Soviet zone of
occupation in Germany) into a single unit.
The Soviets retaliated by cutting off land
routes into those sectors. Far from capitulating,
however, Britain, France, and the US decided
to launch an airlift, and for 11 months they
delivered enough supplies to feed West
Berlin’s two million people.

The Cold War grows During the Berlin airlift, the Western Allies
In April 1949, 12 Western countries formed delivered some 2.3 million tons of food to
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the city on more than 277,000 flights.
a mutual self-defense pact clearly aimed at
the USSR, and a month later the Western Republic of Germany. The Cold War rift
Allies announced the formation of the Federal between the US and USSR now seemed
irresolvable; furthermore, it was given a new
edge by the USSR’s first atomic weapons
test in August 1949.
As each side’s sphere of influence in
Europe solidified, the Cold War spread globally
to areas where the two “superpowers”—the
USSR and the US—could operate through
proxies. The victory of Mao Zedong’s
Communists in the Chinese Civil War in 1949
opened up yet another front—one that was

Cold War allies Fidel Castro (left) and Nikita

Khrushchev show fraternal solidarity during
the Cuban leader’s visit to Moscow in 1963.
 EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR II 339

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in

the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended
across the continent.
Winston Churchill, in a speech at Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946

to lead to enormous problems for the US side.

Mao began to enact his own foreign policy
initiatives, into which the US would become
entangled during the Korean War (see p.372)
and the Vietnam War (see p.373).

The Cuban missile crisis

Although Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader from
1953, sought to promote a policy of “peaceful
coexistence” with the West, it did not prevent
him from founding the Warsaw Pact in 1955
as a military organization to confront NATO.
In 1962 a serious crisis developed when
Khrushchev dispatched nuclear missiles to
bases in Cuba, then controlled by Fidel Castro’s
communist regime. This posed a very real threat
to the US, which considered invading Cuba
or launching air strikes in response. Two weeks
of knife-edge negotiations finally convinced the
Soviets to back down and withdraw their weapons.

The end of the Cold War

The superpowers continued to stockpile
nuclear missiles throughout the 1970s and
’80s. A period of easing tension in the 1970s,
when the two sides ceased to posture quite
so openly, was not matched by any reduction
in the destructive power of their arsenals.
A series of Strategic Arms Limitations
Talks (SALT) had begun in the late 1960s, but
agreement on real reductions was reached
only in the early 1990s, when the USSR was
finally on the verge of collapse and the Cold
War was at last coming to an end.

The US Navy Trident missile gave reality to

the idea of Mutual Assured Destruction, in which
warring sides would both be destroyed by a
nuclear conflict.
 340 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Ireland and the troubles expulsion of the British authorities from Northern
n NORTHERN IRELAND d 1968–1997 Ireland. It was matched by Protestant paramilitary
groups, such as the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF),
In April 1916, the Easter Rising in Dublin helped established in 1966. Two decades of violence
spark war between the nationalist Irish Republican followed, including “Bloody Sunday” on January 30,
Army (IRA) and the British authorities. In 1922 1972, when British security forces shot dead
Britain sanctioned an independent Irish Free State 13 Catholic protestors, and the IRA bombing
(later the Irish Republic), which excluded the areas of a Birmingham pub on November 21, 1974,
in the north of Ireland that had a Protestant (and killing 21 people.
pro-British) “Unionist” majority; these were Normal political life did not return to the
retained within the UK. province until the late 1990s. The Provisional
IRA declared a final ceasefire in 1997 and
The years of violence began negotiations that would finally lead to
In 1968–1969, rising tensions between Catholic a power-sharing government with Protestant
and Protestant communities led to renewed Unionists. The “Troubles,” though, had left in
violence. A new nationalist group, the Provisional their wake more than 3,000 dead and a legacy
IRA, emerged in 1969 to push for the violent of sectarian mistrust.
A mural in a
Protestant district
of Belfast, Northern Bloody sunday… was sheer
unadulterated murder.
Ireland’s capital, shows
the “loyalist” groups
that fought nationalist
Coroner Major Hubert O’Neill, August 21, 1973
paramilitaries.
 EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR II 341

ETA
n SPAIN d 1959–PRESENT

Nationalists in Basque Spain had claimed Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco, Franco’s designated
independence in the 19th century, but the successor. After Franco’s death, some autonomy
region suffered under Franco’s repressive was granted to the Spanish provinces, with
regime (see p.312). particularly wide powers ceded to the government
Extremists formed the armed group ETA of the Basque region.
(Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or “Homeland and Liberty”) ETA, though, did not cease its violent campaign,
in 1959 to fight for independence. At first attacking continuing to demand full independence. A series
the local infrastructure, in 1968 ETA moved on of abortive ceasefires from 1998 was followed by
to violent terrorist attacks, killing a police chief in a new ceasefire in 2010, and the announcement of a
August that year. In 1973, the group assassinated permanent cessation of hostilities in 2011.

Perestroika
n USSR, E EUROPE d 1985–1991

In 1964, Leonid Brezhnev became Soviet

leader, succeeding Nikita Khrushchev.
Under his governance, the Soviet economy
stagnated, and there were often shortages
of manufactured goods.
Senior party officials had access to
privileges unattainable to many people, and
although the Soviet security forces, notably
the KGB, relentlessly persecuted dissidents,
by the late 1980s the system seemed on the
point of collapsing beneath the weight of its
own inefficiency and corruption.

The failure of reform

Mikhail Gorbachev became Soviet leader
in 1985, and at once publicly acknowledged
the faults in the system.
While never questioning Lenin’s view
of the prime importance to Russia of the
Communist Party, he argued that perestroika
(“restructuring”) was needed to streamline British prime minister Margaret Thatcher
met Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow in 1987.
it and that a new openness (glasnost) was He was, she once remarked, a man “we can
needed to allow a debate on how best to do business with.”
repair the Communist regime.
Cautious reforms included limited rights
for private enterprise (introduced in bloc countries threw off communism and
1987–1988), but talk of change provoked in 1991 Gorbachev, who had made himself
demands for more, and Gorbachev was president with executive powers the previous
overtaken by events. In 1988, the Eastern year, was overthrown.
 342 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The collapse of Communism

n E EUROPE, THE USSR d 1989–1991

Lech Walesa,
leader of Solidarity,
is carried in triumph
through the streets
of Krakow, shortly
after the August 1980
accord that legalized
the trade union.

In 1980 striking shipyard workers in Gdansk, BORIS YELTSIN

Poland, forced the Communist government to
A member of the Communist Central Committee in
allow workers to form an independent trade Sverdlovsk from 1976, Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin
union—Solidarity—led by Lech Walesa. (1931–2007) became the party’s chief in Moscow
The state struck back in December by declaring in 1985–1987, but was sacked amid allegations of
alcoholism. Yeltsin bounced back and by 1990 was
martial law, and suppressed Solidarity. The USSR
chairman of the Russian component of the USSR.
could have intervened but chose not to, and by After the USSR dissolved, he became President of
1988, with the economic situation deteriorating Russia, but constitutional crises, Russian losses
badly, Poland’s government opened talks with the in two invasions of Chechnya, economic problems,
and corruption all tarnished his reputation and he
trade unionists and agreed to hold elections in resigned in 1999.
June 1989. These were meant to yield a coalition
rule, but ended in Solidarity’s victory.
A non-communist, Tadeusz Mazowiecki,
became prime minister, dismantling the pillars
of communist power. In May 1989, streams of
East Germans, disenchanted at being denied
even the gradual change occurring elsewhere
in the Eastern bloc, began to take refuge in gently
reformist Hungary—the only country they could
go to without a visa.
Hardline East German leader Erich Honecker
demanded Soviet action, but Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev had enough on his hands keeping the
USSR together, and refused to give Honecker any
assistance. Mass demonstrations broke out, and
the East German government panicked. First
it tried to purge its own hardliners, and then on
November 9 it announced that the Berlin Wall,
 EUROPE AFTER WORLD WAR II 343

The Soviet
Union could not exist
without the image of
the empire!
Boris Yeltsin, The
Struggle for Russia, 1994

which had divided the Eastern and Western

sectors of the city since 1961, would be opened.
East Germany collapsed, and became reunited
with West Germany the following August.
The spread of anti-communism was
uncontrollable. In early December, a “Velvet
Revolution” overthrew the communists in
Czechoslovakia, while toward the end of
the month the communist dictator of Romania,
Nicolae Ceaucescu, was toppled in a much
bloodier coup.

The collapse of the USSR

Waves of dissent now began to lap at the USSR
itself. Throughout 1990 Gorbachev struggled to
stop the Union from dissolving.
He still believed he could “de-Leninize” the
Communist Party, and held a referendum in
March 1991 in which 78 percent of voters said
the USSR (in a modified form) should stay.
However, on August 18, 1991, a committee of
communist hardliners staged a coup, arresting
Gorbachev and his advisers, and declaring a
return to old-style Soviet rule. Boris Yeltsin,
president of the Russian Republic (part of the
USSR), rallied opinion against the coup and it
collapsed. Yet nothing was ever the same again.
On December 1, Ukraine declared its
independence, and Gorbachev resigned. At
midnight on December 31, 1991, the USSR
ceased to exist. The Communist Party, at the
heart of public life since 1917, had been banned
eight weeks earlier.

A colossal statue of Vladimir Lenin

was removed from the Romanian capital
of Bucharest in March 1990, at the end of
Communist rule.
 On November 9, 1989, after weeks of
civil unrest, the East German Communist
government announced that it would permit
travel into West Berlin. Within hours 50,000
East Germans climbed and crossed the Wall,
and even started to destroy it; by 1991 it had
been demolished.
 346 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The war in Yugoslavia

n FORMER YUGOSLAVIA d 1991–1995

Josip Tito, the communist dictator of Yugoslavia

from 1945 to his death in 1980, reorganized
the state in 1946 into six socialist republics—
Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Montenegro, and Macedonia—in an effort to
balance Yugoslavia’s potentially explosive
mixture of religions and ethnic groups.
After the collapse of communism in 1990,
free elections led to nationalist governments
in Slovenia and Croatia, which demanded
independence. The president of the Serbian
republic, Slobodan Milosevic, stridently opposed
this notion and whipped up pro-Yugoslav
(fundamentally Serb) sentiment. When Slovenia
declared its independence from Serbia in June
1991, the Serb-dominated army intervened, but
after a short campaign were forced to withdraw.
Smarting from this rebuff, the Serbian army
moved in greater force into Croatia, which had
also declared its independence. A bloody campaign
ensued in eastern Slavonia, where the cities of
General Ratko Mladic, commander of
Vukovar and Vinkovci were destroyed and many the Bosnian Serb forces during the civil war
Croat civilians massacred. Only in 1992 did a there in 1992–1995.
UN-brokered ceasefire bring peace. By then
Bosnia, an even more ethnically mixed republic— and the massacre of thousands of refugees at
around 43 percent Muslim, 31 percent Serb, a UN “safe haven” in Srebrenica. The violence
and 17 percent Croat—was sliding into civil war. only ended in August 1995, when a NATO bombing
The vicious conflict saw Europe’s worst fighting campaign induced Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw
since World War II, including a brutal siege of support for the Bosnian Serbs and to sign the
Sarajevo conducted by the Bosnian government, Dayton peace accord in December.
The Croatian city
of Vukovar suffered
a two-month siege by
Yugoslav army forces
and Serb paramilitaries
between September
and November 1991.
New challenges for Europe 27 member states, making it a large and fractious Crowds filled
family in which agreeing on any further changes the streets of Kiev
n EUROPE d 1992–PRESENT in support of the
seemed an almost impossible challenge. Ukrainian opposition
Europe had spent nearly all of the 20th century leader Viktor Yuschenko
divided by war, but as the Cold War ended, most Further hurdles during the “Orange
European leaders looked forward to a new period An ethnic civil war had erupted in Kosovo in Revolution” of
December 2004.
of peace and prosperity. Events, however, did not 1997–1999, leaving the region in a legal limbo—
unfold quite as they expected. The rapid collapse neither independent nor a part of Serbia—and the
of communism in Eastern Europe and the USSR EU uncertain as to whether or not to recognize
(see pp.342–3) opened up the prospect of a Europe the territory. Similarly, Ukraine had overthrown
without fear, but the equally rapid descent of its old-guard communist regime in late 2004;
Yugoslavia into civil strife (see facing page) encouraging the new state to join the EU might
suggested that lasting peace was illusory. provide political stability, but it would alienate
the Russian government. Europe still faced
European Union many challenges.
The European Community (see p.337) reformed
itself in 1992 by means of the Maastricht Treaty,
in which it gave itself greater powers, and a new We never want
name—the European Union (EU).
A process of enlargement then began, first
to wage war against
with the admission of Sweden, Finland, and each other… That is
Austria into the Union in 1995, and then with the
strategically more significant additions of ten the most important
further countries in 2005, including many former
Eastern bloc nations (such as Poland and Hungary)
reason for a
and the former Soviet republics of Estonia, United Europe.
Latvia, and Lithuania. By 2007, when Bulgaria Former German chancellor
and Romania joined the EU, the organization had Helmut Kohl, May 1, 2004
348 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Americas
In the second half of the 20th century, the Americas were marked
by extremes of wealth and poverty. The US was the richest and
most powerful nation on Earth, but it also struggled with social
divisions and prejudices, such as the exclusion of black citizens
from the political process. In South America, political and economic
crises—combined with occasional direct interventions by the US—
created an environment in which stability was hard to achieve.

US economic growth
n USA d 1945–1960

The US experienced an economic boom during American children were on average 2–3 in (5–8 cm)
World War II, as its industries expanded to deal taller in 1950 than their grandparents had been
with wartime production. This growth continued in 1900, and life expectancy for women rose from
in peacetime, and the country’s buoyant economy 51 to 71 years old. There was a large-scale
created a new middle class that spent its migration to the suburbs, accompanied by a
money on consumer goods—some building program to erect a massive 13 million
83 percent of homes in the US new houses in the ten years between 1948
had a television by 1958. As a and 1958. There was consumer choice as never
result of an improved diet, before, and the US developed a “youth culture”
for the first time, which fed into a cultural
renaissance in the 1960s.
However, the country’s growing prosperity
had done nothing to halt racial segregation.
Many cities became “doughnut-shaped,”
with a rich business center surrounded by
poorer African-American neighborhoods,
and then a more prosperous, and largely
white-inhabited, outer zone.

Increasing affluence fueled

the technological innovation of
consumer “must-haves,” such
as this 1955 TV.
 THE AMERICAS 349

McCarthyism
n USA d 1950–1954

The growing tensions of the Cold War Bodies such as the House Committee
between the US and the USSR (see pp.338–9) on Un-American Activities investigated
soon fed back into US politics, as fears arose alleged communist activity, while McCarthy
that the Soviets would encourage communist himself, as Chair of the Senate Permanent
subversion or even outright revolution in Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953–1955,
America. On February 9, 1950, Republican sought to root out communists in all walks of
senator Joseph McCarthy gave a speech in life, particularly in the movie industry and among
which he claimed to have the names of 205 labor activists. Yet when he turned to attacks
communists working in the US State Department. on the army, he overplayed his hand: public Senator Joseph
A political furor erupted in which, to defend sympathy for him waned, and in December McCarthy testifies
to the Senate Foreign
himself, McCarthy issued further accusations 1954 his activities were condemned by Relations Subcommittee
of communist infiltration. a vote in the Senate. in March 1950.

The assassination of JFK

n DALLAS, TEXAS, USA d NOVEMBER 22, 1963

On Friday November 22, 1963, President However, two days later he was shot dead while in
John F. Kennedy visited Dallas, Texas, to drum police custody by Jack Ruby, a gangster who later
up support for his reelection in the 1964 gave contradictory motives for the killing. Kennedy’s
US presidential race. As the motorcade drove successor, vice president Lyndon Johnson, rapidly
through Dealey Plaza, at least three gunshots established the Warren Commission to investigate
rang out, killing the president instantly. the assassination. It concluded there was no wider
conspiracy to kill Kennedy.
The investigation
The assassination became the subject of
a huge controversy. A lone gunman, Lee President Kennedy and his wife
Jacqueline smile at the Dallas crowds,
Harvey Oswald, was arrested shortly after minutes before his assassination on
the shooting and charged with murder. November 22, 1963.
 350 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Civil rights
By the 1950s, discrimination against African-Americans had
become entrenched in many southern US states. From the
1870s onward, discriminatory laws had been passed depriving
African-Americans of the right to vote, and legalizing a system
of segregation in which black people were denied access to
whites-only schools and universities, and even from choosing
where they might sit on public transportation.

The Montgomery a high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, in

Bus Boycott September 1957. The National Guard had to
In the mid-1950s, years of anger and protect them, but they were able to attend class.
frustration triggered a reaction against
discrimination. In December 1955, Rosa Sit-ins and
Parks refused to give up her seat to a white Freedom Rides
man on a segregated bus in Montgomery, In February 1960, black students from Greensboro,
Alabama. Her arrest ignited a movement North Carolina, staged the first “sit-in” by refusing
for civil rights. to move from seats at lunch counters reserved for
Local activists, including members of whites, demonstrating how basic rights were still
the NAACP (the National Association for the denied to black Americans. In 1961 groups of black
Advancement of Colored People), which and white people set out to ride buses together—
had long lobbied for African-American rights, these “Freedom Rides” tested the ruling on
organized a boycott of the city's public desegregated travel.
transportation system, which ended in November All the while a campaign grew to promote
1956 with a Supreme Court ruling that the the voter registration of southern African-
Rosa Parks in the buses must be desegregated. American citizens. Martin Luther King organized
front of a bus, after a mass rally in Birmingham, Alabama, in April
the abolition of
segregation on the Martin Luther King 1963 and a “March on Washington” in August,
Montgomery buses. A boycott organizer and the first African- in which he made his iconic speech, “I have a
American to climb aboard a bus when it dream…,” from the Lincoln Memorial to
ended, Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) 250,000 people. Under intense pressure,
was a young Baptist minister who soon the government buckled and in 1964 passed
became the public face and inspiration of the Civil Rights Act, making many forms
the civil rights movement. Unswerving of discrimination illegal. The
in his pledge of nonviolence, he achievements of the civil rights
followed the lead of Mahatma movement were crowned
Gandhi (see p.359) in encouraging 45 years later with the election
civil disobedience to highlight of Barack Obama, the first
unjust laws. African-American president
In 1954, the Supreme Court of the US.
had ruled that education must
be desegregated. This remained
The raised fist of the “Black
largely untested until nine African- Power” movement, popularized
American students attempted to attend by radical activists in the 1960s.
 Martin Luther King delivers
his “I have a dream” speech.
In 1964, he received the Nobel
Peace Prize; four years later, he
was assassinated in Tennessee.
 352 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Space Race

n EARTH’S ORBIT, THE MOON d 1957–1969

At the end of World War II, both the US and by the US Explorer in January 1958. Then a Soviet
the USSR scrambled to secure the expertise cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became the first human
of German scientists who had created the first in space, on April 12, 1961. The US got their
ballistic missile, the V2. This knowledge could first astronaut (Alan Shepard) aloft 23 days later.
be used to develop rockets capable of reaching Piqued by the failure of the US to match its
space and satellites that would orbit the Earth. apparently technologically inferior rival, President
A “Space Race” grew out of the Cold War John F. Kennedy announced in May 1961 that,
(see pp.338–9), with both sides wishing to within a decade, an American would land on
exploit the propaganda and military benefits the moon and come safely home. So began the
of making the first forays beyond the Earth’s Apollo program that culminated in Apollo 11.
Soviet cosmonaut surface and atmosphere. At 10:56pm on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong
Yuri Gagarin on his The USSR won the early victories in this race, became the first man to stand on the moon.
mission to become
the first human in putting the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into All the astronauts made it back to Earth, and
space in April 1961. Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. This was followed the US declared the Space Race won.

US astronaut Buzz
Aldrin, the second
man to stand on the
moon, makes his
historic walk during
the Apollo 11 mission
on July 20, 1969.
The Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro
and some of his
n CUBA d 1953–1959 revolutionaries
in 1957, at a time
The military regime of Fulgencio Batista, him, in August 1958 Castro decided on an offensive when they were still
which had ruled Cuba since 1933, came under of his own. Encountering surprisingly light in hiding in Cuba’s
increasing pressure in the 1950s. In 1955, it resistance, by December 31 he had taken the Sierra Maestra hills,
under pressure from
released a group of political dissidents who strategic central city of Santa Clara. Batista’s army.
had attacked a military barracks in 1953. This Batista panicked and fled Cuba, leaving Castro
turned out to be a disastrous miscalculation: to enter the capital, Havana, on January 8, 1959.
among them was Fidel Castro, a young With his idiosyncratic brand of communism, he
revolutionary activist. dominated the country’s political life until his
On December 2, 1956, Castro—who had left death in 2016.
Cuba—returned with a group of around 80 fellow
revolutionaries aboard the Granma. Three days
later, Batista’s soldiers attacked and most of the Each and every
revolutionaries were killed, but Castro and a few
others, including Ernesto “Ché” Guevara, escaped one of us will pay
into the hills. Kept together by Castro’s
determination, the band grew larger. In 1958,
on demand his part
the orthodox Communist Party of Cuba gave of sacrifice.
its backing to Castro’s revolutionaries and, as Ernesto “Ché” Guevara (1928–1967),
Batista’s forces continually failed to dislodge Cuban revolutionary leader
 354 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Allende and Pinochet

n CHILE d 1970–1988

Since 1938, a succession of civilian governments

in Chile had struggled to cope with increasing
economic hardship and the aspirations of landless
peasants. In 1970, a left-wing front led by Salvador
Allende tapped into these feelings to win an
election, but before long his coalition began to
fracture. The US raised concerns when Allende
established diplomatic relations with China
and other communist regimes.
In 1973, General Augusto Pinochet seized power
in a US-backed coup. Although Pinochet restored
economic order, thousands of political opponents
A photo-montage “disappeared.” Finally, after losing a referendum
of the desaparecidos, on the extension of his term of presidency, in
more than 3,000 1990 Pinochet stepped down and civilian rule
political opponents was restored to Chile.
of Pinochet who were
killed or “disappeared”
during his dictatorship.

Perón and Argentina

n ARGENTINA d 1946–1974

Popular with trade-union leaders and the poor,

Juan Domingo Perón became president of
Argentina in 1946. He immediately embarked
on economic reform, nationalizing banks and
expanding education. His following, and that
of his first wife Eva, was enormous—but there
were negative aspects to his rule: he vigorously
suppressed all opposition, and sheltered Nazi war
criminals fleeing from justice. He also offended
the Catholic Church by legalizing divorce.
Perón’s populist “Third Way” foreign policy
aimed to avoid alienating either side in the Cold
War (see pp.338–9). But it was too radical for
some in the armed forces, and in 1955, the last in
a series of military coups unseated him. However,
his supporters remained numerous and their
effective exclusion from political participation
in the 1960s destabilized a series of military-led
governments. In 1972 Perón returned from exile
to Argentina and in 1973 was elected president,
aged 78. His austerity measures calmed inflation,
Former actress Eva Maria Duarte
but he died in 1974, leaving his third wife Isabel married Juan Perón in 1945, and later
to complete the last two years of his term. became his vice-president.
 THE AMERICAS 355

The US in Latin America

n LATIN AMERICA d 1952–PRESENT

Ever since 1823, when President James Monroe of Anastasio Somoza. The new regime, led
sought to exclude the European powers from by Daniel Ortega, had strong ties to Cuba, and
expanding their hold in the Americas, the US had the US tried for years to destabilize it. Ultimately,
actively desired to keep the sphere of influence in though, it was a peace plan brokered by other
Latin America purely American. At times this meant Latin American countries which laid down
intervention: in 1898, war with Spain resulted in free elections that finally brought down the
temporary occupation of Cuba. As the Cold War Sandinistas in 1990.
flared up, the US sought to exclude communism
from its sphere, signing a series of bilateral defense Noriega and Panama
pacts with Latin American countries from 1952. Fears of a different kind emerged over Panama,
which contained the strategic Canal Zone. Manuel
The Sandinistas Noriega, commander of Panama’s armed forces, Panama’s Manuel
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 marked both the had become increasingly involved in the illegal Noriega waves to
crowds in October 1989
failure of US exclusion policy and the sharpening drug trade, which was channeled through after the suppression
of US attempts to contain the spread of Central America. of a coup against him.
communism. In 1979, the Marxist Sandinista In 1989, the US finally lost patience and
movement overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship launched an invasion of Panama. Noriega’s
forces put up little resistance, and the commander
was seized, flown to the USA, and put on trial.
Sandinista fighters advance along a road during
the Nicaraguan Civil War (1972–1979), which ended He was sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment
in the overthrow of Somoza’s dictatorship. for drug trafficking.
356 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Democracy returns to Latin America

n LATIN AMERICA d 1982–PRESENT

The 1980s saw the end of many dictatorships

in Latin America, beginning in 1982 with the fall
of the Argentinian military government (junta)
and the restoration of civilian rule to Chile in
1988 (see p.354). Democracy provided no easy
answers, but produced some strong-minded
populists. In 1990, Peru elected as its president
Alberto Fujimori, whose “Fujishock” policies
tamed hyperinflation and won plaudits from
the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Yet his violations of the constitution and
suspicions of corruption led to his overthrow in
2000. Hugo Chávez, a former army chief, served
as president of Venezuela from 1999 to 2013.
He initiated laws to empower the poverty-stricken
majority, but ruthlessly stamped down any
opposition. His attempts to forge alliances with
other radical Latin American presidents, such
President Hugo Chávez initiated a
as Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Evo Morales (Bolivia), “Bolivarian Revolution” of democratic
were met with suspicion in the US. socialism in Venezuela.

The Falklands War

n FALKLAND ISLANDS d APRIL–JUNE 1982

Argentina and the UK had long disputed the islands’ future broke down in early 1982,
ownership of the Falkland Islands in the western and on April 2 the Argentines launched an
Atlantic. Talks between the two countries on the invasion of the Falklands. They overwhelmed
the small British garrison, but the Argentine
military government under General Leopoldo
Galtieri underestimated the British resolve to
recover the islands.
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher ordered
the dispatch of a large task force that landed
British soldiers on the Falklands on May 21.
The British units fought their way east to the
Falklands’ capital, Port Stanley, by June 14, where
they took 11,000 Argentine prisoners, reclaiming
the islands and ending the war.

The Argentine cruiser General Belgrano

was sunk after an attack by a British nuclear-
powered submarine on May 2, 1982, with the
loss of 321 lives.
 THE AMERICAS 357

NAFTA
n NORTH AMERICA d 1992–PRESENT

In December 1992, the leaders of the US, Canada, oil reserves. This situation in turn contributed to
and Mexico established the North American Free the loss of political dominance by the Institutional
Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This promoted the Revolutionary Party, which had ruled Mexico
freedom of movement of goods and services—and unchallenged since 1929.
labor, but only to a very limited extent—across the The US’s other NAFTA partner, Canada, was
borders of their respective countries. generally a model of economic stability, but it
NAFTA became active on January 1, 1994. suffered persistent political crises over the
Central American countries (and others, such as aspirations for autonomy of its mainly French-
Chile) hoped that they might also be included, but speaking province, Québec. First winning elections US president
they met strong opposition from US politicians, in the province in 1976, the separatist Parti Bill Clinton speaks
at a public meeting
who were already concerned that products from Québecois was never, however, quite strong in November 1992
a lower-wage economy such as Mexico would enough to force a referendum on the issue. The to promote NAFTA.
now be freely available in the US. election of Donald Trump as US president in 2016,
committed to protectionist economic policies,
Mexico and Canada raised questions over the future of NAFTA.
Despite the economic benefits Mexico received
from NAFTA, it remained vulnerable to economic
shocks, as demonstrated by a devaluation of its The border between the US and Mexico.
Concerns about immigrants and migrant workers
currency in 1994. Panic set in and the country entering the US from Mexico contributed to the
needed $50 billion in loans, secured against its election of Donald Trump as US president in 2016.
358 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Asia and the Middle East

Asia faced a series of political upheavals after World War II. First
the aftermath of British withdrawal from Israel and India turned
bloody, then the long-term effects of the communist victory in
China’s Civil War led to violent struggles in Korea and Southeast Asia.
Nevertheless, in the latter half of the 20th century, economic growth
in East and Southeast Asia helped improve upon this troubled legacy.

The Indian National Congress

n INDIA d 1885–1945

In 1885, Western-educated Indians campaigning Gandhi’s protest movements

for greater rights founded the Indian National The 1909 Government of India Act allowed a
Congress (INC). Although in principle the congress greater number of Indians to sit on legislative
represented all Indians, its members were mainly councils alongside the British. However, the
Hindu, and in 1906 some Muslims broke away changes were deemed to be insufficient, and
from the INC to form the Muslim League. in March 1919 Mahatma Gandhi launched his
satyagraha protests—a mass nonviolent
movement to force British concessions. At
one meeting in Amritsar, the British authorities
opened fire on protestors, killing nearly 400
of them. Gandhi did not answer violence with
violence, although sporadic riots erupted in
the 1920s. In 1930, he symbolically declared
Indian independence and conducted a “salt
satyagraha,” marching to the sea near Gujarat
to make salt, which was illegal because
manufacture of salt was a government monopoly.
Another Act in 1935 allowed more Indians
to vote, but still this did not satisfy Gandhi
and the INC. World War II suspended the main
independence drive, but by its end calls for
Indian independence swelled again, with a
force almost impossible for Britain to resist.

A line of workers lie down to block

strikebreakers from entering a workshop
gate in 1930, as part of Gandhi’s satyagraha
protest movement.
 ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 359

The partition of India

n INDIA, PAKISTAN, BANGLADESH d AUGUST 14–15, 1947

In 1945, the British government sent a

delegation of Cabinet ministers to India to
try to secure agreement between the Hindu-
dominated Indian National Congress (INC; see
facing page) and the Muslim League on terms
for the country’s independence. They failed,
and communal tensions between Muslims and
Hindus festered: on August 16, 1946, the Muslim
League leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, organized

MAHATMA GANDHI
Born in Gujarat, India, Mohandas K. Gandhi
(1869–1948) studied law in London. He moved
to South Africa in 1893, where he helped found
the Natal Indian Congress to lobby for greater
civil rights for Indians. Returning to India in 1915,
he became involved in the INC. His insistence on
nonviolence and a united India sometimes put
him at odds with other independence leaders, but
he earned the name Mahatma (“great soul”) for his Three policemen lie injured following riots
calm devotion to the cause. He was assassinated in the Punjabi city of Lahore over the decision
in 1948 by a Hindu extremist. to incorporate it within the borders of the new
state of Pakistan.

a “Direct Action Day” in a bid to secure a separate

state for Muslims. The ensuing riots led to the
deaths of thousands.
The British will to remain in control of the
country had by now ebbed away, and they
realized that the only way they were going to
be able to withdraw from India was to partition
the country and transfer power to two separate
governments. In July 1947, the British government
passed the Indian Independence Act, ordering the
demarcation of India and Pakistan.

Post-independence massacres
On August 14–15, 1947, the two new states
gained their independence, sparking an exodus
of millions of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs who
found themselves on what they saw as the
wrong side of the border. Fighting erupted
between India and Pakistan over the disputed
region of Kashmir. As many as two million
died in the appalling carnage of inter-community
violence that tarnished the first days of the
infant countries.
 360 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Decolonialization
At the end of World War II, European powers, in particular the
British, French, Portuguese, and Dutch, still controlled large
colonial empires, and there was mostly no timetable for granting
the colonies their independence. Yet within ten years, most of
Asia—and in a further 20 years, almost all of Africa—had achieved
freedom, leaving only small islands or other isolated territories under
European colonial rule.

Asian independence Independence for Africa

In Asia, it was mostly weakening colonial In 1956, the US forced the French and British
control as a result of World War II that sparked to back down from occupying the Suez Canal
independence movements, especially in India area in Egypt, and their will to hold onto their
(see p.359). In Indochina the French struggled to African possessions seemed to evaporate.
beat back the rise of nationalists such as Ho Chi Britain had already granted independence to
Minh, whose Vietminh fighters had occupied much Ghana in 1957, after which many former British
of Vietnam. In the French Indochina War (1946– colonies in Africa became sovereign nations:
King Muhammad V 1954), the French army failed to dislodge the Tanganyika (now Tanzania) in 1961, Uganda
of Morocco returned Vietminh from the north of Vietnam, and had to in 1962, Kenya in 1963, and Zambia in 1964.
home from French-
imposed exile late accept a division of the country into communist Eventually only Rhodesia remained, to become
in 1955. northern and capitalist southern states (see p.373). Zimbabwe in 1980 (see p.375).
 ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 361

The wind of change is blowing through

this continent.
British prime minister Harold Macmillan to
the South African parliament, February 3, 1960

However, full independence was granted to most

colonies in 1960. Only in Algeria, with its large
minority of French settlers (the pieds noirs), did
there seem any prospect of Paris retaining control.
In 1958, the French colonial authorities staged
a coup to prevent a perceived “weak” French
government from granting concessions to the
Algerian separatist group, FLN. Although the coup
was put down by General Charles de Gaulle,
fighting raged on until, in 1962, Algeria
achieved independence.
Political prisoners were freed onto the streets
of Ghana’s capital, Accra, in 1966. The last outposts
Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in A breathtaking
French colonies in Africa followed a similar 1997, and the Chinese took Macao from the fireworks display
path to independence, though France initially Portuguese in 1999. By 2000 only a handful of marked the transition
sought to impose a conditional form of freedom colonial territories worldwide were still deemed from British to Chinese
rule in Hong Kong on
in which it continued to control the currency, unable to govern themselves. The colonial era the night of June 30–
defense, and foreign affairs of former colonies. was at an end. July 1, 1997.
 362 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The birth of Israel

n ISRAEL d 1917–1949

From the 1880s, many Jews emigrated to Jewish–Arab violence also troubled Britain’s
Ottoman-controlled Palestine with the aim authorities, who in 1939 called the St. James
of creating a Jewish state there. This goal Conference to reconcile the two sides. This failed,
was given focus when the First World Zionist and the British subsequently conceded to Arab
Congress convened in Switzerland in 1897. demands for restrictions on Jewish immigration.
In 1917, the British government drew up a new However, Jewish fortunes were reversed
An ancient symbol policy, the Balfour Declaration, that recognized when the question of allowing Jews to migrate
of Judaism, the Star of the Zionist aim of a Jewish homeland. to Israel became a moral rather than political
David was adopted in issue following the Holocaust of World War II (see
1948 as the emblem
on the flag of the new The British mandate pp.328–9). In 1946 US president Harry S. Truman
State of Israel. The League of Nations granted Britain formal endorsed a proposal to issue 100,000 entry
control of Palestine following the collapse of the permits to Jews from Europe, and the British
Ottoman Empire after World War I. However, determination to hold onto their mandate cracked.
the British struggled to reconcile the very different A concerted campaign of violence to evict
political agendas of Arab and Jewish groups. the British from Palestine was also having its

A Jewish family at
a kibbutz (agricultural
commune) near Haifa
in 1948. The formation
of the State of Israel
fulfilled dreams of
a Jewish homeland.
 ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 363

effect, in part spearheaded by the Haganah—the

official Jewish paramilitary force—as well as more
extremist groups such as Irgun Zvai Leumi and the
Stern Gang.

The UNSCOP plan

By February 1947 the British despaired of
working out a plan for Palestine, and handed
matters over to the United Nations (UN), whose
Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP)
produced a report in August that proposed
partitioning the territory into an Arab zone
of some 44 percent of the land, with a Jewish
state receiving around 56 percent. Jerusalem
and Bethlehem were to remain UN-controlled in
this complex, and in truth unworkable, mosaic.

Civil war
The British announced they would withdraw on
May 15, 1948, and fighting erupted as the Jewish
and Arab sides sought to gain control of the areas
assigned to them in the plan. On May 14, Zionist
leader David Ben-Gurion declared the formation
of the State of Israel, but already there was
full-scale civil war. The fledgling Israeli state also
beat back an invasion by six Arab countries that
had intervened to support the Palestinian Arabs.
By November Jewish forces had secured not only
the sector assigned to them, but large additional
areas. This sent a stream of at least 500,000 Arab
refugees into neighboring Arab states, where
many of them and their descendants remain.
The bombing by
DAVID BEN-GURION Jewish extremists of
Born David Grün in Russian-controlled Poland,
Jerusalem’s King David
David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973) was involved in
Hotel on July 22, 1946,
Zionist activities by his mid-teens. In 1906, he
crushed the morale of
arrived in Palestine, establishing the first workers’
the British in Palestine.
agricultural commune. Deported by the Ottoman
authorities in 1915, Ben-Gurion spent World War I
in New York, before returning to help establish a
Zionist trade union movement in Palestine. He held
the office of prime minister of Israel twice (from 1948
to 1953 and from 1955 to 1963) before finally retiring
from political life in 1970.
 364 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Arab–Israeli conflict

n MIDDLE EAST d 1948 TO PRESENT

Israeli soldiers
fire shells at Syrian
positions on the Golan
Heights during the
Yom Kippur War
in October 1973.

By July 1949, Israel had signed armistice in the Anglo–French operation to occupy
agreements with the Arab countries that the Suez Canal after its nationalization by
had invaded in 1948 (see p.363), but as a Egyptian president Nasser, and they briefly
result the Palestinians, who had fled their occupied much of the strategic Sinai Desert.
homes during the fighting, were deprived In May 1967, a mutual defense pact between
of any prospect of immediate return. Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria looked likely to turn
In their refugee camps, mostly in Lebanon into an invasion of Israel, which provoked the
and the area on the West Bank of the Jordan, they Israelis to a preemptive strike. In the ensuing
became the responsibility of the United Nations Six Days’ War, the Israelis destroyed much of
Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which the Egyptian Air Force on the ground and made
operated programs to relieve their plight. large territorial gains in the Sinai from Egypt,
took much of the West Bank (including East
Continued fighting Jerusalem) from Jordan, and seized parts of
Bitterness between Israel and Arab countries the Golan Heights from Syria. These areas
broke out into open warfare on a number of became known as the Occupied Territories.
further occasions. In 1956, the Israelis joined In 1973, Egypt and Syria launched an attack

I come bearing an olive branch in

one hand, and the freedom fighter’s gun
in the other.
Yasser Arafat, PLO chairman, November 1974
 ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 365

on Israel on Yom Kippur—the Jewish Day of permanent settlement proved illusory. In 1987,
Atonement—when they knew much of the Israeli a low-level insurrection broke out among the
military would be at religious observances. The Palestinians in Gaza and in the other Occupied
Arab forces made significant early advances, Territories, eventually leading the Israeli
but the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) struck back, government to soften its reluctance to negotiate
pushing their opponents back beyond the 1967 with the Palestinian leadership. This led to the Oslo
lines. After the conflict, Israel was left with small Accords of September 1993, which allowed the
territorial gains in the Golan Heights; the Arabs creation of a Palestinian Authority—led by Yasser
with nothing. Arafat—and the Palestinians’ gradual assumption
of power over much of the Occupied Territories.
The PLO However, opposition from extremists on both
Resorting to terrorist and guerrilla tactics, in sides frittered away the chance for lasting peace.
1964 the Palestinians founded the Palestine Suicide bombers from the radical Islamist
Liberation Organization (PLO), which for the next Hamas movement struck several times in Israel in
40 years aimed to help Palestinians realize their 1993–1995, and on November 4, 1995, a Jewish
hopes of restoring some of their 1948 losses. extremist killed the Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Yasser Arafat led
the Palestine Liberation
Under the leadership of Yasser Arafat from Rabin. A new Palestinian intifada, or uprising, Organization from 1969
1969, the PLO sponsored guerrilla raids on Israeli erupted in the fall of 2000, and since then, peace until his death in 2004.
and military targets. It also hijacked international processes have offered the Palestinians less
aircraft and murdered members of the Israeli and less. The Israeli government has sponsored
Olympic team at the 1972 Munich games. settlements on formerly Palestinian land and
Setbacks occurred when Jordan expelled militant built a security wall isolating those Palestinian
Palestinians in 1970, and when PLO fighters were enclaves it does not seek to control directly.
pushed out of Lebanon in 1985–1988. Radicalism has flourished on the Palestinian
side, with Hamas taking power in Gaza in 2007.
Moves for peace In 2014 the Israeli army invaded the Gaza Strip in
Israel evacuated the Sinai in 1979 following the response to rocket attacks on Israel from there.
Camp David Accords, signed by presidents Sadat The 70-year Arab–Israeli conflict looks set to
of Egypt and Begin of Israel, but hopes for a more continue for a long time yet.

Palestinian youths
confront the Israeli
army, angered by
a Jewish settler’s
massacre of 29 Arabs
in the main mosque in
Hebron, the West Bank,
in February 1994.
366 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Oil and politics

The awareness among oil-producing nations that they could use the
threat of cutting off oil exports as an economic weapon became much
stronger after the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948, with one
major oil embargo being put into place since then. Outside powers
have also sought to exert political or direct military influence over
oil-producing nations in a bid to ensure vital fuel supplies.

The 1973 oil crisis

An oil embargo formed part of the Arab
response to the Six Days’ War with Israel in 1967
(see p.364), but was largely ineffective due to
a lack of solidarity between the oil-producing
countries. This led to the foundation, in 1968, of
the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting
Countries (OAPEC), a body whose purpose was
to coordinate and control the use of oil as a
political weapon.
The Yom Kippur War of 1973 saw OAPEC flex
its political muscles for the first time, as Saudi
Arabia and Egypt put an embargo on shipments
of crude oil to Western nations that were providing
President Jimmy Carter greets Sheikh Ahmed
aid to Israel; this tripled world oil prices and Yamani, Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Oil and an
architect of the OAPEC oil embargo of 1973.

sent the world into recession. But the oil weapon

has never again been used to such conspicuous
effect: some members have always been tempted—
by the higher profits that could be made—into
sidestepping any restrictions or embargo.
In the early 21st century, control of energy
reserves and the means of their transmission
remains an area of supreme concern for
industrialized powers. Russia (which has
massive natural gas fields) has become
increasingly ready to threaten to cut off
supplies or raise prices to countries whose
foreign policies are not to its taste.

A large line for fuel in Nigeria, which exports

most of its crude oil, leaving little for domestic use.
 ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 367

The Iranian Revolution

n IRAN d 1979

In the 1960s, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, From monarchy to theocracy

Shah (monarch) of Iran since 1941, Fearing imminent revolution, the Shah fled
embarked on a program of economic Iran on January 16, 1979. Khomeini returned on
and social modernization, bolstered by February 1, and a popular referendum voted for
Iran’s vast oil reserves. In Iran’s mosques, an Islamic Republic.
the teachings of the cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah A new constitution named Khomeini as Iran’s
Khomeini—in exile since 1964—were supreme leader. Relations between the new
gaining ground. regime and the US deteriorated when the
He preached an end US government permitted the Shah to enter
to the Iranian monarchy, the US for cancer treatment
with its perceived in October 1979.
insensitivity to Demanding the Shah’s return
traditional Shia Islam, to Iran to face trial, student
and the installation radicals invaded the US embassy
of a theocracy guided in Tehran, taking 52 hostages and
by clerics. By 1978, holding them for over a year.
demonstrations against Despite a 2015 agreement on
the monarchy had regulating Iran’s nuclear industry,
erupted, but were relations with the US remain
brutally suppressed troubled four decades after the
by martial law. hostage crisis.

Iranian women
demonstrators carry
a placard bearing
Ayatollah Khomeini’s
portrait just after his
return to Tehran.
368 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan

n AFGHANISTAN d 1973–1988

Muhammad Zahir Shah was deposed as king Islamic resistance group then declared a jihad
of Afghanistan in a Marxist-led coup in 1973. (holy war) against the USSR and the PDPA.
The People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan These Islamist mujahideen guerrillas fought
(PDPA) government of Nur Muhammad Taraki off the Soviet troops, and even began to threaten
and Hafizullah Amin then began a program of Soviet aircraft.
secularization that offended conservative Muslims The war was vastly expensive for the USSR,
and brutally suppressed dissent. and, in February 1988, under firm international
When 50 Russian advisors were murdered pressure, President Mikhail Gorbachev announced
in the Afghan city of Herat, the USSR invaded the withdrawal of Soviet troops, leaving the
to restore order on December 24, 1978. An mujahideen and PDPA in a stalemate.

A Soviet-made AK-47 Kalashnikov

assault rifle used by both Soviet soldiers
and Afghan mujahideen fighters during
the 1978–1988 conflict in Afghanistan.

Indo–Pakistan wars
n INDIA–PAKISTAN BORDER d 1947–1999

When the British withdrew from India in 1947

(see p.359), the partition of the Indian subcontinent
between India and Pakistan left a question over
the future of the princely state of Jammu and
Kashmir. Faced with a Pakistani invasion of Poonch,
part of his territory, the maharaja appealed to
India for help and Indian forces secured the
capital Srinagar and eastern Kashmir. The ensuing
war continued until a ceasefire was agreed to in
January 1949.
The front lines solidified into a “Line of
Control” across which the two sides occasionally
skirmished, fighting two low-level wars there
(in 1965 and 1999). A major Indo–Pakistan war
erupted in 1971 when the breakaway regime of
East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) successfully bid
for independence from the Pakistani government,
with significant military assistance from India.

Child refugees fleeing for safety from

fighting in East Pakistan during the 1971
Indo–Pakistan war, which led to the region’s
independence as Bangladesh.
 ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 369

The Iran–Iraq war

n IRAN–IRAQ BORDER d 1980–1988

In 1979, Saddam Hussein (see p.393) became The Iranians defended fanatically, and by
president of Iraq, following an internal coup March 1981 the Iraqi offensive had stalled.
in the ruling Ba’ath party. A man of unbridled By June 1982, the Iranians had recovered
ambition, he sought to reassert Iraq’s position almost all the lost ground.
as a strategic power in the Gulf region. Thereafter, however, neither side was
The Iraqi regime was concerned about the able to deliver a knockout blow and the
possibility of Iran exporting its religious revolution war degenerated into a series of offensives
(see p.367) to Iraq’s large Shia minority, while that gained little ground at huge cost, as
a festering dispute over territorial rights in well as sparking the “War of the Cities”—
the Shatt al-Arab waterway threatened to erupt missile attacks on major cities. Finally, both
anew. Sensing a moment of weakness in Iran, sides accepted that neither could force a
Saddam ordered his forces across the border victory and agreed to a ceasefire in August
on September 22, 1980. The war, however, 1988, with little to show for the war’s
was not the walkover that he had expected. 1 million casualties.

The first Gulf War

n KUWAIT, IRAQ d AUGUST 1990–FEBRUARY 1991

In August 1990, the Iraqi president Saddam

Hussein invaded the small Gulf sheikhdom
of Kuwait. He claimed it as a province of Iraq,
with more than half an eye on the country’s
vast oil reserves, which might help him cover
the $100 billion cost of the war with Iran in
1980–1988 (see above). The Iraqi army faced
precious little resistance to its invasion and
the Kuwaiti emir fled.

Operation Desert Storm

The international community was not prepared
to acquiesce, and a series of United Nations
Resolutions demanded Iraqi withdrawal.
US President George H.W. Bush (president
1989–1993) built an international coalition, including
many Arab countries. On January 15–16, 1991,
the coalition forces launched Operation Desert
Storm, an air offensive that destroyed military
and strategic targets.
This was followed by a massive land
assault on February 24 known as Operation
Desert Sabre. Within less than a week the
Iraqi army had retreated from Kuwait and
coalition forces had penetrated southern As the Iraqi forces retreated from Kuwait
they set off a series of fires in the oilfields,
Iraq; then they pulled out, leaving Hussein which took weeks to extinguish and caused
still in power. severe environmental damage.
370 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Communist China
n CHINA d 1949–PRESENT

In October 1934, Chinese Communists, largely

confined by their rivals in the nationalist KMT
party to rural areas, abandoned their Jianxi base,
broke through a nationalist blockade, and began
the “Long March” to find a safer refuge. A trek
of around 6,200 miles (10,000 km) ensued, and
by the time the Communists established a new
headquarters at Yan’an in October 1935, only
around a tenth of the 80,000 marchers survived.
The Communists, now led by Mao Zedong,
regrouped and in July 1946 launched a civil war
to wrest control of China from the nationalists.
Despite serious initial setbacks, Mao’s forces were
able to recruit reinforcements and in the winter of
1947 made gains in Manchuria. The nationalists’ Actors during the Cultural Revolution
(1966–1976) perform a play criticizing Confucius,
best armies perished there and throughout 1948 who was seen as symbolic of traditional
were in retreat. Finally, in January 1949, Mao conservative thinking.

MAO ZEDONG
Born into a peasant family
in Hunan, Mao Zedong
(1893–1976) moved to
Beijing in 1919 and
encountered communism
for the first time. He joined
the Chinese Communist
Party at its inception in
1921 and, in 1927, led the
abortive “Autumn Harvest”
communist uprising. He
took control of the party in
1935. His long tenure as
leader of China from 1949
to 1976 left an indelible
stamp on the country.
 371

President Nixon’s
visit to China in 1972
was the start of an
improved relationship
between the US
and the communist
Chinese government.

entered Beijing in triumph, while the remaining “bourgeois” influences. Children were recruited
nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan to establish as Red Guards, and were encouraged to inform
a Republic of China, with the aim of rivaling the on schoolteachers and relatives who showed
Communist People’s Republic of China (PRC). any signs of dissent against the regime.
Initially the PRC aligned itself politically with the After Mao’s death in 1976, his wife Jiang Qing
USSR, agreeing to a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual and a party faction known as the “Gang of Four”
Assistance in 1950. But in the 1960s Chinese tried to seize power, but were arrested and jailed.
resentment at the cost of the Korean War (see Instead, for the following 15 years China was
p.372), in which Stalin had encouraged Chinese led by Deng Xiaoping, who introduced a series of
involvement—and a territorial dispute that erupted measures aimed at turning the Chinese economy
into military clashes in March 1969 with the USSR away from centralized planning, increasing the
itself—strained the relationship. volume of foreign trade, and encouraging foreign
Domestically, Mao encouraged a radical investment into China.
program of industrialization, in 1958 beginning These new policies reaped spectacular
the “Great Leap Forward,” in which industrial rewards, with the Chinese economy growing
and agricultural cooperatives were amalgamated at a rate often around 10 percent each year.
into communes and industrial targets raised. At When other communist regimes collapsed
first it seemed as if China had achieved spectacular one by one in 1988, China experienced its own
increases in output, but later evidence showed pro-democracy movement, which for a time in
that these policies had caused disastrous famines. June 1989 seemed as if it might even dent the
In 1966, the Cultural Revolution was launched, party’s political monopoly. But Premier Li Peng
with the aim of cleansing the country of ordered the army to act, and on June 4, 1989,
troops opened fire on the protestors in Beijing’s
Tiananmen Square, killing some 400 to 800 of
them. No opposition movement on a similar
scale emerged again. The implicit bargain with
the Chinese people became that in exchange
for economic well-being, there would be no
modification of the Communist Party’s central
role and that all dissent would be suppressed.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

is the largest army in the world, with
more than 2.25 million service personnel
in its army, navy, and air forces.
372 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Korean War

n KOREA d 1950–1953

Korea, annexed by Japan in 1910, was partitioned both Soviet and US forces withdrew, and tensions
following Japan’s surrender in World War II. The between North and South Korea began to rise.
division line, at latitude 38ºN, was known as the Finally, on June 25, 1950, the communist leader of
“38th parallel.” Soviet forces occupied land north North Korea, Kim Il Sung, ordered an invasion
of this line, while the US held the south. In 1949, of the south. A United Nations Command (UNC)
made up mostly of US forces was sent to assist
the south, but they and the South Korean troops
were soon penned into a small area in the
southernmost tip of the peninsula.
In September, General Douglas MacArthur,
commander of the UNC forces, landed troops
150 miles (240 km) farther north at Incheon,
catching the North Koreans off guard. By October,
UNC forces had crossed the 38th parallel and
moved north to the Chinese border. The Chinese
government quickly launched a counteroffensive,
and pushed the UNC forces back south of the
38th parallel.

The end of the war

The war dragged on for a further two years.
Finally, in July 1953, the two sides signed an
armistice, leaving the dividing line between the
two Koreas close to the 38th parallel, more or
less exactly where it had been before the war
had started.

US Marines prepare to disembark

at Incheon, Korea, in September 1950.
The offensive drove pro-communist
forces back to the Chinese border.

The first Indochina War

n INDOCHINA d 1947–1954

At the end of World War II, northern Vietnam blow at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, where a
came under the control of Ho Chi Minh’s heavily fortified French position was overrun
communist Vietminh movement, while the in May 1954.
French reestablished their administration
over what they had named “Indochina” only The Geneva conference
in the south. Attempts to reach political accord The French will to resist was shattered. On July 21,
failed; there was fierce fighting throughout 1954, a peace conference held in Geneva agreed to
1947–1948, which flared up again in 1950. The a formal partition of Vietnam along the 17th parallel,
able Vietminh general Vo Nguyen Giap thwarted dividing the country between a communist north
all French offensives and then delivered a final and a Western-aligned south.
 ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST 373

The Vietnam War

n VIETNAM d 1963–1973

The division of Vietnam in 1954 did not exceeded 50,000. At the peak of the US deployment,
bring peace. Fearing the spread of communism in April 1969, there were 543,000 US troops in
in the region during 1955, US President Vietnam (as well as 47,000 Australians and a New
Dwight Eisenhower (1890–1969) helped Zealand contingent). A formidable US bombing
Dog tags were
the anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem to campaign, Operation Rolling Thunder, failed to dent used by the US
take power in the south via dubious elections, the Vietcong resistance, and growing US casualties armed forces in
and sent the government hundreds of military sapped support at home for continued involvement. Vietnam as an
advisers. The North Vietnamese reacted by A bold series of attacks by the Vietcong easy means to
identify soldiers
encouraging those in the South who opposed on South Vietnamese cities in January 1968 who had been
Diem—the Vietcong—to take up arms against (the “Tet Offensive”) also unnerved the Americans, killed in battle.
the South. and in August 1969 they began to “Vietnamize”
the conflict by withdrawing their forces. On
The US military campaign January 27, 1973, the US signed the Paris
The US became drawn ever deeper into the Peace Accord by which US forces would leave
conflict, dispatching more than $500 million of Vietnam within 60 days. Deprived of US backing,
US aid to South Vietnam by the end of 1963. the South Vietnamese regime survived until
In August 1964, US president Lyndon B. April 1975, when the southern capital Saigon
Johnson used an attack by North Vietnamese fell to the Vietminh.
boats on a US military vessel in the Gulf of
Tonkin as a pretext to authorize retaliatory raids
The Vietnam War was the first conflict in which
on North Vietnam. The first US Marines arrived helicopters played an important role. Here, a US
in South Vietnam in March 1965, and by July they Chinook resupplies US forces.
 374 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Japan, China, and the tiger economies

n EAST ASIA d 1945–PRESENT

After World War II, Allied forces led by US General

MacArthur occupied Japan for six years. MacArthur
worked with Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida to
draft a new democratic constitution for Japan and
reconstruct the Japanese economy.

An economic miracle
From the mid-1950s, the Japanese economy
entered a period of rapid growth. Having
established heavy industries, such as coal, iron,
and steel, the emphasis in Japanese industry
shifted in the 1960s to specialist high-tech
production, including a lucrative role in the
new computing industry.
The 1973 oil crisis (see p.366) caused a temporary In the 21st century, Asian manufacturing
continues to lead the way in consumer goods,
setback, but by the 1990s Japan’s economy was electronics (such as this flat-screen television),
second in size only to that of the US. The long and technology.
economic boom came to an end in the late 1990s,
as an overvalued currency and excessive lending However, Thailand was to overstretch itself,
by banks finally resulted in a dramatic slowdown and in 1997, foreign investors began rapidly
that lasted more than a decade. withdrawing funds, leading to the collapse of
the Thai currency. Panic in the financial sector
The Asian tigers spread to other parts of the Asian economies,
From the mid-1960s, Japan’s economic record had as investors offloaded their Asian assets. It took
The skyline of been matched by South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, some years for the tigers to recover, but they did
Pudong in Shanghai, and Hong Kong—a group that was nicknamed so, confounding expectations. Of this group, China
China, with its modern, “the tigers.” In the 1990s a second wave of tigers emerged the most economically powerful—even
high-tech buildings, included Thailand, Malaysia, and also China, whose after the global economic crisis of 2008—and by
is a dramatic contrast
to Asian cities of even rapid growth in the 1990s placed it in the first rank 2017 it was challenging the US for the title of
a few decades earlier. of world economic powers. the world’s largest economy.
 AFRICA 375

AFRICA
The modern history of most African states has been troubled.
Decolonialization created nations that cut across ethnic divides,
in many cases leading to civil war. Despite Africa’s rich reserves
of oil, diamonds, and some metals (including gold), inadequate
infrastructures hampered attempts to develop modern economies,
while many African leaders chose dictatorship over democracy, doing
little to enable their countries to compete on the global market.

Rhodesia and UDI

n RHODESIA (NOW ZIMBABWE) d 1962–PRESENT

In 1962 elections in Southern Rhodesia put

the pro-white Rhodesian Front back in power.
In 1964, its leader Ian Smith made a show of
negotiating with Britain over independence
for Rhodesia, on terms that would reflect the
will of its black majority. Smith had no intention
of allowing black Rhodesians any real political
power, and on November 11, 1965, confronted
the British with a unilateral declaration of
independence (UDI).

The UDI regime

The British government instantly isolated the
rebel colony, and the UN condemned the UDI
as the act of “a racist minority.” But despite the
imposition of sanctions, Ian Smith continued to
rule. African nationalist groups, notably ZANU,
under Ndabaningi Sithole, came to realize that
merely lobbying for black majority rule was futile,
and were prepared to fight. Smith faced a growing
guerrilla insurgency, which placed enormous
strain on Rhodesia’s resources.

Modern Zimbabwe
Isolated by the collapse of Portuguese rule in
Ian Smith gives a press conference in
Mozambique and Angola in 1973, and with the London shortly before the end of talks that
insurgency reaching the heart of the country by hoped to avert UDI.
1976, the Rhodesian government finally agreed
to a new constitution in 1978. A moderate black returned the hard-line Robert Mugabe, by then
nationalist faction under Bishop Abel Muzorewa leader of ZANU, who remained Zimbabwe’s leader
took power in 1979, but elections in February 1980 for the following four decades.
 376 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Post-colonial Africa
n AFRICA d 1960–PRESENT

The end of European rule in Africa left more real winner was Joseph Mobutu, the army Chief of
than 50 independent countries facing myriad Staff, who obtained the presidency in 1965, a post
challenges, often exacerbated by years of he held until 1997. In common with many African
colonialism or created by the legacy of the dictators, he viewed the country’s treasury as his
borders that colonial powers had imposed. personal cash cow, sequestering huge sums that
The advent of the Cold War (see pp.338–9) in impoverished his nation through both the direct
the 1940s had aggravated Africa’s problems, losses and the corruption that it encouraged.
as the continent became a proxy battlefield
between the superpowers. In the Horn of Africa, Rwanda and Zimbabwe
Cold War tensions exploded into open warfare, Rwanda had been French-administered from the
as Ethiopia saw the overthrow in 1974 of Emperor end of World War I to its independence in 1964,
Haile Selassie by a Marxist group, the Derg, led and the colonial regime had done nothing to ease
Robert Mugabe, who by Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. With Soviet tensions between the two main ethnic groups:
rose to prominence in and Cuban backing, Mengistu secured most of
the 1960s, became
president of Zimbabwe Ethiopia. He also became involved in a war in the
in 1987. Ogaden Desert with Somalia in 1977, a country
that then became a US ally until it dissolved into
total chaos after 1991.

Famine and civil war

A growing insurgency against the Derg and the
regime’s policies of agricultural centralization
contributed to severe famines in Ethiopia in
1984–1985, in which as many as a million may
have died. Climate change (see pp.386–7)
and continued instability in the region have
meant that government policy continues to be
dominated by crisis responses to famine rather
than long-term solutions.
Marxist groups also seized power in Angola
and Mozambique after the Portuguese government
abruptly decided to withdraw its colonial control
in 1973. In both cases, long-running civil war
broke out. In Angola, conflict between the Marxist
MPLA and the anti-communist UNITA movement
of Jonas Savimbi finally ended only with Savimbi’s
death in 2002.
The dubious worth of Europe’s legacy to Africa
was demonstrated in the Belgian Congo, which
achieved independence in 1960 under Patrice
Lumumba, but almost instantly suffered the
secession of the copper-rich province of Katanga.
The Belgians sent back troops to Congo,
intervening on the side of the Katangan leader
Moise Tshombe, before a United Nations force
displaced them. Out of this appalling mess the
 AFRICA 377

Hutu and Tutsi. A Hutu massacre A sign warns of land mines in

Mozambique, a hazard that persisted
of Tutsis in 1964 foreshadowed years after the end of the civil war
the genocide of 1994, when Hutu there in 1992.
Interahamwe militias slaughtered
some 500,000 Tutsis as the Tutsi-led independence seized many
RPF fought its way to the capital of white-owned farms, crippling the
Kigali. The RPF, led by Paul Kagame, agricultural economy. By 2008,
took power, but many Hutus fled to the economy was in tatters, basic
Zaire, where they became involved services had seized up, and inflation
in a multi-sided civil war. reached almost unmeasurably high
Refugees of the
Zimbabwe had entered levels. Despite a power-sharing inter-ethnic fighting
independence as one of the stronger agreement signed between in Rwanda in 1994,
African economies, but it suffered a dramatic Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai in September in which thousands
deterioration in fortunes under Robert Mugabe, 2008, Mugabe refused to cede power, and of Tutsis were
slaughtered. Large
whose regime became increasingly autocratic. the political and economic prospects for the numbers of Hutus also
From 2000, “veterans” of the struggle for country look grim. died in its aftermath.
378 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The end of apartheid

n SOUTH AFRICA d 1958–1999

Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, South Africa’s prime In 1960 police turned their guns on a nonviolent
minister between 1958 and 1966, drew up demonstration held by the anti-apartheid
the system of apartheid—an Afrikaans word group the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in
meaning “separateness”—in which legalized Sharpeville, killing 69 people and injuring
segregation discriminated against the country’s 180 more. The massacre triggered a shift to
nonwhite population. more militant tactics among activists.
Apartheid controlled where nonwhites could In 1961, Nelson Mandela became leader of the
live and work, as well as their movements, military wing of the African National Congress
and denied them political rights. Initially, (ANC) Party, beginning a campaign of sabotage
European powers, still the masters of colonial against government installations. He and other
holdings in Africa, did nothing to oppose the ANC members were arrested and sentenced
inequalities this created. to life imprisonment.

Apartheid persists
As the 1970s and 1980s progressed, violence
escalated and resentment grew at a system of
Bantustans—impoverished enclaves to which
Blacks were relocated as a substitute for any

Never, never,
and never again
shall it be that this
beautiful land will
again experience
the oppression
of one by another.
Nelson Mandela, May 9, 1994

NELSON MANDELA
Born in the Eastern Cape, South Africa,
Nelson Rolhlahla Mandela (1918–2013)
was an early anti-apartheid activist, and after
the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960 joined in the
ANC’s move to a more violent struggle. He was
arrested in August 1962 and served 27 years in
prison. Mandela emerged in 1990 to become a
powerful voice arguing for peaceful reconciliation
between South Africa’s communities, and served
as the country’s first nonwhite president from
1994 to 1999.
real rights. The police and military clamped talks with the de Klerk government on ways to Corrugated
down on dissent, violating human rights. A series achieve a transition to Black majority rule. There iron shacks in the
Soweto township
of anti-government riots, which began in Soweto were grave obstacles, including the question are characteristic of
in June 1976, ended 16 months later after between of how to reconcile different views from political the living conditions
600 and 700 people had been killed. and tribal factions among the Black community, and of many black South
Two events weakened South Africa’s position. strong opposition to change from many Whites. Africans during
apartheid, and beyond.
First, its Rhodesian allies lost power in 1979 A Convention for a Democratic South Africa
(see p.375) and second, in 1986, the international met on December 20, 1991, to thrash out the
community imposed economic sanctions on issues, and a referendum among Whites in
the country. Yet still the government shied March 1992—which delivered a 68-percent
away from real reform. vote for change—bolstered de Klerk.
Negotiations resumed in March 1993 and
The end of apartheid finally, on April 26–28, 1994, South Africa
It took a new government held its first elections open to
administration to open the way universal suffrage. On May 10,
for change. In 1989, the country 1994, Nelson Mandela became
elected F.W. de Klerk as president, President of South Africa, a post
and he soon lifted bans on the he held until 1999, as the last
ANC and other opposition groups. vestiges of the apartheid system
On February 11, 1990, Nelson were swept away.
Mandela was released from the
Robben Island prison where he had
been held since 1963 and, setting South Africa’s ANC flag
displays a spear—a symbol
aside any bitterness from nearly of resistance to colonial and
30 years of incarceration, he began apartheid rule.
 Of South Africa’s 22.7 million registered
voters, some 19.7 million voted in the
national elections on April 26–28, 1994; a
turnout of 86 percent, which caused massive
lines in many areas. The ANC, as expected,
was the overwhelming winner, receiving
62.6 percent of the vote.
382 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

New challenges
In the early 1990s, following the collapse of communism and the
end of the Cold War, it seemed for some that “history had ended”
and the world had overcome the challenges it once faced. Yet
soon the advent of dangerous new diseases, an awareness of
man-made damage to the environment, the rise of radical Islamic
terror networks, increasing flows of refugees, and a resurgence
of populism and nationalism in Europe and the US created
a challenging environment for 21st-century governments.

Biotechnology
n GLOBAL d 1945–PRESENT

The founding of the United Nations Food and GM Foods and cloning
Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945 signaled In the 1990s, scientists developed the technique
an international desire to enhance crops and of Genetic Modification (GM) to alter plants’
eradicate hunger. In 1960, the International genetic material and so create crops with better
Rice Research Institute was established in the disease and pest resistance. In late 1996 and
Philippines to improve rice production. Its work early 1997, it emerged that the US company
has helped rice farmers to increase output by Monsanto had been shipping soybeans containing
an average of 2.5 percent each year since 1965. GM material to European ports, resulting in a
Known as the Green Revolution, this transformation storm of controversy and strong public fears
has gone a long way to support the burgeoning in Europe about the long-term effects of
population of less developed countries. consuming GM foods.
In July 1996, a sheep (“Dolly”) that had been
grown from an adult sheep cell (or cloned) was
Scientists tend to a greenhouse of GM born, giving rise to concerns that the science of
crops. The problem of cross-contamination
of non-GM crops by pollen from GM crops biotechnology had far outrun any consideration
has caused great controversy. of the ethical aspects of such manipulations.
 NEW CHALLENGES 383

Medical advances and new diseases

n GLOBAL d 1967–PRESENT

The past century has produced astonishing In 2013, an outbreak of the Ebola virus in
advances in medicine, most notably the discovery Guinea, West Africa, spread to cause more than
11,000 deaths. Here, Red Cross volunteers
of penicillin—the first antibiotic—by Alexander disinfect a Guinean hospital in 2014.
Fleming in 1928. By the 1950s, antibiotics were
being used to provide treatments for many killer The rise of “new” diseases
diseases, such as syphilis and tuberculosis. The sexually transmitted disease AIDS,
caused by the HIV virus, was first identified
Advances and challenges among homosexual men in the US in 1981.
Scientists pushed forward other medical HIV spread globally, and by 2015, AIDS had
boundaries, too. In 1967, surgeons carried out caused 35 million deaths worldwide, with a
the first successful human heart transplant. further 33 million people infected with HIV.
However, while some infectious diseases Outbreaks of the acute respiratory disease
were eradicated (the last recorded case of SARS in 2002–2003, and Mexican “swine ’flu,” a
naturally occurring smallpox was in Somalia strain of the influenza virus that crossed over
in 1977), many old killers, such as cholera from pigs to humans in 2009, have provoked
and typhoid, have persisted in underdeveloped fears that it is only a matter of time before a
countries. As many as 40,000 people a day pandemic occurs on the scale of the “Spanish Since the early
1990s, the red ribbon
die from diseases caught by drinking water Flu” that killed up to 20 million people just has become a symbol
contaminated by sewage. after World War I. for HIV/AIDS awareness.
 384 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Globalization
The increasing interconnectedness of the world economy, with
multinational companies cutting across many different jurisdictions,
has been termed “globalization.” Global consumption of uniform
products has led to concerns about the erosion of different cultures
and the fear that individual governments have become almost
powerless in comparison to the enormous power wielded by
global corporations.
Barcodes first
appeared on products
in the US in 1974, and The growth of global trade nations. It was a first sign that the world
are now a powerful The process of globalization has, in one sense, needed an international approach to tackle
tool for tracking goods
as they make their way been going on ever since agricultural villages the globalization of the world economy.
around the world. began trading with more distant neighbors From the 1980s onward, many governments
in the Neolithic age. The events of the mid- to began to liberalize their economies,
late 20th century, however, were of an entirely privatizing state assets and encouraging
different order. “open” competitive markets. The volume of
In 1944, representatives of 44 nations met goods traded worldwide each year in the early
at Bretton Woods in the US to establish the 21st century was approximately 22 times larger
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to increase than that in 1950. Global bodies such as the
world trade through cooperation between World Trade Organization—established in
 NEW CHALLENGES 385
A McDonald’s restaurant
1995, and with 164 member in Kuwait City. The “golden
countries by 2016—set ground rules arches” are a potent symbol
for international trade and solved of globalization.
disputes between governments. The
idea behind these organizations from high-cost Western countries
was that easier international trade to lower-wage developing
would result in greater growth in countries. Moves such as this
the world economy and greater have led to an anti-globalization
prosperity for its people. The movement, protesting at
advent of the Internet and digital international agreements that
communications from the 1990s appear to ignore the interests
added new dimensions to the of people in both industrialized
world’s economic infrastructure, and developing nations.
making international trade quicker Feelings that globalization and
and more efficient and the exchange free trade may have damaged
of information almost instantaneous. domestic industries contributed to the election
of Donald Trump as US president in 2016. His
Anti-globalization message that American economic priorities should
However, globalization has potentially negative come before a commitment to economic openness
effects, too. Multinational companies can shift was attractive to many. Governments in many A car lot outside
production to countries where labor costs are lower other countries, especially in Europe, faced similar a Toyota factory
or health-and-safety legislation is less stringent, challenges among elements in their electorates near Derby, UK.
cutting their costs and increasing profits. By the who felt left behind economically. By 2017, The Japanese car
company began
21st century many service jobs—such as those in globalization was, for the first time, facing serious assembling vehicles
customer service call centers—had been transferred political challenges. overseas in 1964.
 386 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Climate change and the green movement

n GLOBAL d 1988–PRESENT

Since the Industrial Revolution (see pp.264–5), changes, because the warming oceans are
average global temperatures have risen by about less able to remove CO2 from the atmosphere.
1.44°F (0.8ºC). This warming has accelerated in Increasing industrialization has caused a rapid
the last four decades, so that between 2000 and acceleration in the production of CO2 emissions.
2015 the world experienced 15 of the warmest Coal-burning power stations generate CO2, as do
years on record. Many experts believe human air, sea, and road traffic; for example, each of the
A recycling activity is to blame for this change in the Earth’s 260 million cars in the US produces more than five
symbol, a sign of climate, and are calling for urgent action to tons of the gas each year.
increasing efforts
worldwide to reduce prevent a global crisis and protect the planet There are several signs that global warming is
the burden of waste. for future generations. starting to severely impact our environment, such as
a dramatic retreat of glaciers in nonpolar regions, a
The Greenhouse Effect diminution in sea ice around the Arctic, and a
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change breakup of many ice shelves in the Antarctic.
(IPCC) was set up in 1988 to investigate climate Changes in rainfall patterns in many regions of the
change. In 2014, the IPCC produced a report that world—tens of millions suffered from drought in
projected rises in temperature of between 4.7 and Africa in the 1980s—and an increase in the number
8.6°F (2.6 and 4.8ºC) by the end of the 21st century. of severe weather events, such as hurricanes,
The report concluded that a raised atmospheric floods, and droughts, are believed to be a result of
concentration of the gas carbon dioxide (CO2) has climate change.
intensified a natural phenomenon known as the
“Greenhouse Effect.” This is a process by which Extinctions and deforestation
the surface and atmosphere of the Earth are Many animal species are now in danger of
warmed as heat radiation from the sun is absorbed extinction. In its 2016 report, the International
by “greenhouse” gases, including methane and CO2. Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found
This effect is magnified as the climate of the Earth that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo alone,
 NEW CHALLENGES 387
Wind turbines can
there were 235 animal species under threat—30 of generate electricity
them critically endangered. This situation has been with comparatively
aggravated by habitat loss, caused not only by little impact on the
the expansion of human populations into new environment.
areas—a process promoted by overpopulation—
but also by environmental degradation caused at
least in part by climate change. The world’s tropical
forests play an important part in holding back
global warming too, as they “inhale” CO2. Yet many
of these forests are in retreat, having become the
victims of overlogging or simply clearance for
agricultural expansion.

The green movement there is a push for consumers to recycle goods.

Many fear that climate change is becoming Many policy makers continued to dispute the
irreversible, though there is much lobbying for findings of global-warming experts, and they found
social change to help slow the trend, and perhaps a champion in US President Donald Trump, elected
even reverse it. Investment is increasing in in 2016. Yet without urgent action, an increasing
renewable sources of energy, such as tidal, wind, consensus believes that climate change will
and solar power; and in many developed economies, produce an environmental catastrophe.

Future generations may well have

occasion to ask themselves, ‘What were As rainfall levels
have fallen in many
our parents thinking?’ areas, desertification—
encroachment by
Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, 2006 deserts—has become
an increasing problem.
 A large section of glacier sheers off
into the sea. By the early 21st century,
there were fears that rising global
temperatures would cause large glacial
sheets to melt, raising the level of sea
globally and threatening low-lying coasts
and islands with flooding.
 390 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The communications revolution

n GLOBAL d 1958–PRESENT

Since World War I, advances in technology have The rebirth of communication

transformed global communications and By the early 20th century, technological advances
transportation systems. A journey that once took were making it possible to exchange messages
weeks by land or sea can now be made by air in instantly across the world by radio and telephone
hours, while huge amounts of data can be (see pp.268–9). Then, in 1958, the development of
transmitted almost instantaneously across the the microchip dramatically transformed the world
world, at the click of a computer mouse. of communications. Microchips provide the “brains”
for computers, personal communications, and
Road and air travel cell phones, allowing the storage and transmission
The 20th-century boom in travel was largely of vast amounts of data, often merely at the touch
a result of advances in engine technology that of a button.
permitted ever more powerful automobiles. A precursor to the Internet became operational
Global statistics predict that by 2030 there in 1969, and the World Wide Web was made
will be 1.2 billion motor vehicles in use available to the public in 1991; while the first
The Apple iPhone, worldwide, operating on a network of roads cellular telephone network went live in Chicago
released in 2007, that cross the land throughout the globe. in 1978. The social media site Facebook
put computer-
processing power More dramatic still has been the explosive was launched in 2004. These innovations are
into a mobile handset. growth in air travel since World War II, reaching now ubiquitous, and citizens have information and
almost 3.6 billion passengers in 2016. communications tools with a power and scope
In the Classical era, traveling from Rome to unimaginable even 30 years ago.
London would have taken weeks and enormous
expense, but in the 21st century the journey can
Cell phone technology provides communication to
be made by air in fewer than three hours and for remote villages, where the cost of installing fixed
less than a day’s average wage in either country. telephone cables is prohibitive.
9/11
n USA d 2001

On September 11, 2001, Islamic extremists

launched successful attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York City and the Pentagon in
Washington DC.

The US under attack

At 8:46am American Airlines Flight 11 crashed
into the World Trade Center’s north tower,
followed by an attack on the south tower just
16 minutes later by a hijacked United Airlines
Flight 175. In all, around 2,750 people died.
Then, at 9:37am, American Airlines Flight 77
crashed into the Pentagon, killing a further
184 people, and at 10:03am another 40 died
when United Airlines Flight 93, probably bound
for the Capitol Building or the White House
in Washington DC, plowed into a field near
Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
There had never been such a damaging
terrorist attack on US soil. The attackers had
used simple methods—knives and the threat of
bombs—to take over the aircraft, but the logistics
of the operation were well thought out and clearly
required months of planning. It took very little time
for the prime suspect to emerge as al-Qaeda, an
extremist Islamic terrorist network with bases in
Afghanistan, led by Osama bin Laden.

OSAMA BIN LADEN

From a wealthy Saudi Arabian family, Osama
bin Laden (1957–2011) joined the mujahideen
fight in Afghanistan in the 1980s (see p.368).
Around 1988 he founded al-Qaeda (“the base”),
using extreme terror to oppose US policy
toward Muslims.

Today, our
fellow citizens,
our way of life, our
very freedom, came
under attack. Smoke billows out from the World Trade Center,
President George W. Bush, New York City, after the al-Qaeda terrorist attack
September 11, 2001 on September 11, 2001.
 392 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The Afghan War

n AFGHANISTAN d OCTOBER 2001–PRESENT

The withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan conservative southern province of Kandahar.
in 1988 (see p.368) was followed by a bitter From August 1994, the Taliban militia won victory
civil war, as the mujahideen commanders after victory, finally capturing the Afghan capital
Taliban fighters fought for control of the country. In reaction Kabul in September 1996.
near Kabul in February to this chaos, a new political faction arose, the The Taliban, under their leader Mullah
1995, after their rapid
advance northward Taliban (meaning “students”), who originated Omar, instituted a regime of harsh Islamic
from Kandahar. in the madrassas (religious schools) of the rigor, gravely curtailing the rights of women
and banning activities such as the playing of
music or kite-flying, with severe (including
capital) punishment for offenders. Only in the
north of the country did a Northern Alliance
resist, but they controlled only 10 percent of
Afghanistan by 2000. From 1997, the Taliban
regime played host to the al-Qaeda movement
of Osama bin Laden (see p.391), which used its
Afghan safe haven as a base to plan terrorist
attacks against US interests.

The US campaign
in Afghanistan
Once it became clear that al-Qaeda had carried out
the 9/11 attacks against the US (see p.391), the
US government demanded that the Taliban hand
over Osama bin Laden. Mullah Omar refused and
on October 7 the Americans began to bomb Afghan
cities. The Americans also started to provide
military aid to the Northern Alliance, who began
an offensive southward. The Taliban, faced with
US carpet-bombing, largely melted away. Kabul
fell on November 13 and the Taliban stronghold of
Kandahar at the end of the month. However, Osama
bin Laden and much of the al-Qaeda leadership
managed to slip away.

The Taliban return

Despite the subsequent dispatch of a multinational
armed force to stabilize the country, the Taliban
regrouped. The new Afghan government of Hamid
Karzai wavered between supporting international
offensives against the resurgent Taliban and
seeking compromise with more moderate elements.
Despite a US troop surge in 2010, the Taliban
insurgency grew, particularly after the US army
ended combat operations in 2014. By 2017, the
Taliban controlled large rural areas of Afghanistan
and threatened Kabul and other cities.
 NEW CHALLENGES 393

The war in Iraq

n IRAQ d MARCH 2003–PRESENT

From 1993, the Iraqi president Saddam Hussein

had been forced to allow the United Nations (UN) to SADDAM HUSSEIN
inspect his armaments industries to ensure he did A member of the Iraqi
not acquire “weapons of mass destruction” (WMD), Ba’ath party from
such as nuclear, chemical, or biological weaponry. 1957, Saddam Hussein
(1937–2006) played
US President George W. Bush (president 2001– a key role in the coup
2009) exploited Saddam’s often patchy compliance that brought the party
with this directive, encouraging the international to power in 1968. He
ruled Iraq from 1979
community throughout late 2002 to pressure the
with brutal force at
Iraqi government to come clean about its weapons home and abroad. The
stocks. Saddam blustered, realizing too late that Americans toppled
Bush had boxed him into a corner. him in 2003.
The Americans were unable to secure a
definitive UN resolution authorizing force, but
maintained that previous resolutions contained
implicit approval for military action. On March 20,
2003, US airstrikes against Baghdad began. In turned against the coalition, too, and a vicious set of
contrast to the first Gulf War (see p.369), a land civil wars erupted between the two communities,
attack began almost immediately, with US-led with the loss of thousands of lives. The insurgency
coalition forces landing near the southern port of continued to grow, and after the US withdrew its
Basra on March 22. As the invasion force pushed troops in 2011, the extremist Sunni group ISIS
northward, many Iraqi units failed to resist or (see p. 397) seized large parts of the country,
melted away, and the US took Baghdad on April 9, including Mosul, in 2014. It took hard fighting,
with the last major city, Tikrit, falling four days later. and renewed US aid, including military advisers,
to partially roll back these gains by early 2017.
Iraq after the war
Postwar Iraq descended into chaos, with the
breakout of an insurgency against US occupation, Flames light up Baghdad on the second
night of the US bombing of the Iraqi capital
mostly by Sunni Muslims, that killed hundreds of US on March 23, 2003, an attack described as
soldiers. The previously supportive Shia population “shock and awe.”
 394 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

Beyond the nation state

As early as the 1920s, there was an awareness that the world’s
nations needed a more international approach to policymaking to
avoid the kind of tensions that had led to World War I. Despite this
knowledge, the League of Nations, which first met in 1920, failed
the challenge of keeping the peace, while its successor, the
United Nations, was hampered by the outbreak of the Cold War
in the late 1940s.

Failed states and terrorism no longer required as Cold War allies. The
When the Cold War (see pp.338–9) ended in phenomenon of “failed states” (such as Somalia)
the 1990s, many saw it as heralding the “End of arose; in such nations, no effective government
History” or a “New World Order,” both notions that exists, leading to civil war and warlordism.
The Taj Mahal hotel proved hugely overoptimistic. Nation states with Enforcing world norms (such as the repression
in Mumbai, India, was widely varying political traditions could not—or of piracy) is simply impossible on a failed state’s
targeted during the
terrorist attacks on the refused to—impose Western democratic systems; national territory.
city in November 2008. while others simply fell apart either as a result The world has faced the growth of a new
of years of misrule or because funding to their sort of international terrorism, exemplified by
governments was removed when they were al-Qaeda and ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and
 NEW CHALLENGES 395
Controversial
Syria), whose agenda is not a nationalistic one US presidential
(such as that of the IRA for a united, independent candidate Donald
Ireland, or ETA for Basque independence in Trump campaigns in
northern Spain), but aims instead to establish 2016. After winning
the election, he took
its own new (Islamic) world order. Incidents such office in January 2017.
as the 9/11 attack on the US (see p.391), the 2015
attacks in Central Paris, and the continued rise
of ISIS in the Middle East demonstrated a threat
that—because it undermines the safety
of many countries—cannot be dealt with by one
nation acting alone.

World problems with

global solutions
The leaders of the 21st century face challenging In the early 21st century, worries about globalization
problems. Large-scale population shifts—such helped the rise of populist movements such as
as the vast numbers of migrants seeking to France’s Front National and contributed to the
enter the European Union illegally from African election of Donald Trump as US president. Although
Syrian refugees
countries—as well as climate change, threaten the urgent international cooperation is needed to fleeing conflict caused
livelihoods of millions. Globalization is increasing address problems such as global warming, by Islamic extremists
the interdependence of the world economy, so that refugee crises, and international terrorism, in wait at the Turkish-
a fiscal crisis in one country can soon translate 2017 the world seems to be entering a phase Syrian border, 2014.
In 2016, there were an
into factory closures or banking chaos in another, where nationalist and regional concern makes estimated 65.3 million
as happened in 2008–2009. such concerted action increasingly difficult. refugees worldwide.
 Crowds gather
in al-Tahrir Square,
The Arab Spring
Cairo, which became n MIDDLE EAST, N AFRICA d 2010–PRESENT
the main venue for
demonstrations against By the early 21st century, discontent was growing and killed. In Syria, the regime of Bashar al-Assad
Egyptian president
Hosni Mubarak. in many countries of the Middle East and North responded violently to protests, sparking a civil
Africa. Longstanding dictatorships in Libya, Egypt, war, which was still raging six years later, and
Yemen, and Syria stifled dissent, while political caused millions of Syrians to flee their homes.
corruption went unchecked and poverty increased. The effects of the Arab Spring were mixed. The
In December 2010, a Tunisian fruit vendor set hopes of the original protesters were rarely realized
himself alight in protest of police corruption. A as regimes clung to power, or other military,
wave of demonstrations broke out in Tunisia after political, and radical religious factions seized
his death, uniting political liberals, radical Islamic the initiative. Tunisia succeeded in holding
factions, and disenchanted youth, all of whom democratic elections, but in Egypt a new military
felt marginalized by the country’s regime. Unable regime was established. Libya, Yemen,
to contain the protests, President Ben Ali fled and Syria all descended into violent factional
Tunisia a month later. struggles in which radical Islamic groups such
as ISIS flourished (see opposite).
The Arab Spring spreads
The protest movement spread to other Arab
countries and became known as the “Arab Spring.”
Demonstrations grew in size, aided by the
opposition’s use of new technology: videos
of protests shot on mobile phones were rapidly
uploaded to websites.
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s president, tried to
suppress protesters, and to offer last-minute
Muammar Qaddafi’s concessions to placate them, before stepping
pro-Russian stance down in February 2011. In March 2011, Libyan
and alleged sponsorship dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s threat to send tanks
of terrorist attacks in to quash protests in Benghazi provoked NATO to The Syrian town of Azaz saw bitter fighting
alienated NATO in the civil war, as its position on the Turkish
countries and helped begin airstrikes against his forces. After six further border made it a key base for resupplying
bring about his downfall. months of bitter fighting, Qaddafi was overthrown opposition fighters.
 NEW CHALLENGES 397

ISIS and global terror

n MIDDLE EAST d 2011–PRESENT

The instability that followed the US invasion of

Iraq in 2003, and the outbreak of civil war in Syria,
allowed Islamist extremist groups to reestablish
themselves, reversing an apparent decline since
the expulsion of al-Qaeda from Afghanistan in
2001. Iraqi government policies after 2003
favored the Shia majority and marginalized
the minority Sunni community, among whom
Saddam Hussein had found his key support.
The resulting disaffection helped the growth of
al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), which joined the insurgency
against Iraq’s US-backed government until its
near destruction in 2007 following a surge in
American troop numbers.
AQI remnants regrouped in eastern Syria after
the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War in 2011. Now
led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group renamed
itself Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and
captured the Syrian regional capital of Raqqa. northern city of Mosul in June 2014. The group Mourners in the
ISIS proved effective propagandists, using the now felt strong enough to declare a caliphate, Place de la Bourse,
Brussels, in March
Internet and social media to spread their message modeled on the political structure of the early 2016 honor the victims
and attract foreign fighters to their cause: by early Islamic empire, with al-Baghdadi as its caliph, of an ISIS bombing
2016 an estimated 36,000 had traveled to Syria, and renamed itself Islamic State (IS). that killed 31 people.
nearly 7,000 of them from Western countries. As ISIS steadily gained territory, outside
Taking advantage of the weakness of the Iraqi powers, including the US, Russia, and Iran
army, ISIS expanded in Iraq and seized the became alarmed. The US began airstrikes in
Iraq in August 2014. American military aid to
ABU BAKR AL-BAGHDADI the Iraqi government and to Kurdish groups in
Syria, as well as Russian and Iranian assistance
Born Ibrahim al-Badri, al-Baghdadi founded a
small militant group in Iraq in 2003, before joining to the Assad regime, helped push back ISIS,
forces with ISI (the predecessor of ISIS) and until by March 2017 it was threatened in its
becoming its leader in 2010. He was instrumental Mosul stronghold.
in the group’s expansion, but was rarely seen in
ISIS responded to Western assaults by
public before his declaration of the Islamic State
caliphate in 2014. launching a series of attacks in Europe,
including one in Paris in November 2015,
which left 130 dead. Even as its military
position in the Middle East weakened,
intelligence services feared that many of
those who had traveled to Iraq and Syria
to support ISIS might now return and become
the nucleus of terrorist cells in their ISIS adopted an early
home countries. Islamic black flag as
its symbol. Bearing a
Muslim declaration of
faith, this flag flew over
ISIS-controlled towns
and villages.
 398 THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT

The European Union and the crisis of populism

n EUROPE d PRESENT

The admittance of Croatia to the European Union

(EU) in July 2013 brought the EU’s membership
to 28 countries. There had been political strains
in some member countries for a long time,
particularly in the UK, which opposed further
integration in the EU. The dislocation that followed
the global financial crisis of 2008 heightened
a sense that the organization was ignoring the
concerns of more deprived socioeconomic groups
in favor of those of a trans-national elite.

Refugees in Europe
Rising political instability in the Middle East and
Rescuers from a Maltese organization save
North Africa after 2011 led to a corresponding some of the tens of thousands of refugees who
increase in refugees from those areas. Many tried to make the hazardous crossing by boat
headed toward the EU, either by land or by boat from Libya to Italy.
across the Mediterranean. This influx of asylum
seekers fueled an increase in support for far-right Europe crystallized with the rise of the staunchly
and populist parties, which made political capital anti-European UK Independence Party (UKIP),
out of the perceived threat to national identity which was a key player in the coalition that
posed by the largely Muslim newcomers. secured a 51 percent referendum vote in June
In France, the right-wing National Front (FN) 2016 for the UK to leave the EU.
won seats in the national legislature for the first This vote, for what was popularly known as
time in 2012, and in 2017 its leader, Marine Le Pen, “Brexit,” marked a moment of crisis. The challenge
secured a good percentage in the popularity polls of balancing the need for deeper cooperation with
and a place in the presidential elections. In the UK, the populist groundswell promised a profoundly
longstanding antipathy to closer integration with difficult period for the EU.
British Prime
Minister David
Cameron faces
UKIP leader Nigel
Farage in this poster
from the June 2016
referendum campaign.
 NEW CHALLENGES 399

Russia and Ukraine

n RUSSIA, E EUROPE d PRESENT

A pro-Russian
insurgent stands
guard over wreckage
from Flight MH-17.
Subsequent
investigations strongly
indicated the BUK
missile that
shot down the
Malaysian airlines
plane had been fired
by a separatist unit.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, sending military aid to the insurgents. Commercial
traditionalists in Russia sought close ties with the passenger jet Malaysian Airlines Flight MH-17
other ex-Soviet republics, particularly Ukraine, was shot down over Donbas on July 17, with
which was seen as a strategic bulwark against the loss of 298 lives. This, combined with
NATO’s expansion into eastern Europe. Western anxiety over a possible total collapse
Russian president Vladimir Putin was enraged of Ukraine, led to the imposition of sanctions
when his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych, on Russia, which reined in Russian enthusiasm for
previously seen as a loyal ally, agreed to sign an the separatists. However, despite attempts
Association Agreement with the EU in November at peace talks, the fighting continued in 2017,
2013. It took strong pressure from Moscow to albeit at a lower level, and southeastern
induce Yanukovych to reverse his decision. Ukraine seemed set to become a permanent
pro-Russian enclave.
The Donbas crisis
Protests against this move broke out in Kiev, the VLADIMIR PUTIN
Ukrainian capital, and Yanukovych fled after a
Putin’s early career was as an
heavy-handed reaction by the security forces intelligence officer in the KGB.
backfired, including the shooting of 28 people by He entered politics in 1991, and
snipers on February 20, 2014. Russia sent irregular replaced Boris Yeltsin as Russian
president in 1999. Putin served
forces to seize key buildings on the Crimean
in the office until 2008 and
peninsula, an area that had been part of Russia then again from 2012,
until 1954, and still housed the bases of the acquiring a reputation
Russian Black Sea fleet. as a proponent of an
increasingly
A Russian-sponsored referendum voted assertive foreign
overwhelmingly for Crimea to become part of policy in the
Russia. Soon afterward pro-Russian insurgents Middle East,
seized territory in the predominantly Russian- Ukraine, and
elsewhere.
speaking Donbas region of southeastern Ukraine.
As fighting flared with Ukrainian security forces,
there was a strong suspicion that Russia was
 400
Agincourt, battle of 177 Altamira, Spain 39 Aq Qoyunlu 204
INDEX Agra 198
Taj Mahal 199, 200–1
Amalasuintha 162
Amazon Basin 38
Arab Revolt 295
Arab Spring 396, 396
agriculture: Amenemhet I 66 Arab-Israeli wars 364–5
cradle of 42 Amenophis IV see Akhenaten Arafat, Yasser 365, 365
early 38 America: Arakan 152
Page numbers in bold
spread 43 Declaration of Archimedes 99
refer to main references
Ahmose I 63, 68 Independence 239 architecture 22–3, 215
to subject.
Ahura Mazda 86 Revolutionary War 238–9 Argentina 354, 356
Page numbers in italics
Aibek, Qutb-ud-din 159 see also US Falklands War 356
refer to illustrations
AIDS 383 Americas: Arianism 115
and captions.
air power: in World War II ancient 78–9 Aristophanes 95
316, 316, 317 Classical period 128–31 Aristotle 21, 95, 214
A air travel 390
powered flight 268–9
early modern 208–13
Europeans in 236
Armada 223
Armenia 86, 156
Akbar 198–9 medieval 180–5 Armistice Day 297, 297
Aachen 165
Akhenaten 67, 69 postwar 348–57 armor 94, 106, 167, 183
Abbas I 204, 205
Akkad 55 Spanish in 208–10 Arnhem 326
Abbasid caliphate 142, 155,
156 Akkadian Empire 55 Amiens, Peace of 254 arquebuses 148
Abdul Hamid II 273 al-Assad, Bashar 396 Amritsar 358 Arras, Union of 223
Abdülmecid 273 al-Baghdadi, Abu Bakr 397 397 Amundsen, Roald 281 art:
Aborigines (Australian): al-Qaeda 391, 392, 394, 397 Anatolia 45, 57, 59, 156, cave art 32, 36, 38, 39
rock art 39 Alamanns 111, 115 157, 172 earliest development 35
Abu Bakr 154 Alamo, battle of 240 Anawrahta, King 152 geoglyphs 131, 132
Abu Hureyra, Syria 44 Alaric 115 ANC 380 giving perspective 25
Abusir 63 Alaska 36, 240 flag 379 Greek 95, 95
Abydos 49 Alauddin Khilji, Sultan 159 Ancient world 50–79 Japanese:
Accra 361 Albania 157 map 52–3 scroll 145
Achaemenids 84, 85, 86, 96–7 Alboin 162 Angkor 152 tomb paintings 144
Acre, city 173 Alcibiades 94 temples 122, 152 Maya 181
Acropolis 90 Aldrin, Buzz 352 Angles 163 Minoan 71, 71
Actium, battle of 105 Aleppo 57 Anglo-Maratha Wars 271 Mughal 198
Adams, John 239 citadel 142–3 Anglo-Mysore Wars 271 mummy portraits 98
Adena people 183 Alexander the Great 84, 85, Anglo-Saxons 163 prehistoric 39
Adrianople 113, 157 88, 91, 96 Angola 283, 376 Renaissance 215
Aegospotami 94 conquests 96–7 animals: rock art 39, 39
Aeschylus 95 successors 98 breeding 43 from Song China 138
Afghan War 392 Alexander I, Tsar 254, 262–3 domestication 42 Artaxerxes III 85
Afghanistan 74 Alexander II, Tsar 263 extinctions 387 artillery: medieval 149
al-Qaeda 397 Alexander III of Macedonia 98 Antarctic: exploration 281 Ashanti 283
Soviet invasion 368 Alexander III, Tsar 263, 303 Anthony, Susan B. 313 Ashoka 118, 119, 123
Africa: Alexandria 99, 178 antibiotics 383 Asia:
agriculture 43 Alexius I 172 Antigonids 98 early modern 194–207
decolonialization 360, 375 Alexius I Comnenus 179 Antigonus I of Macedonia 98 East:
empires 282–5 Alfred the Great 163, 163 Antioch 173 ancient 76–7
Europe’s colonies in 283 Algeria 283, 361 Antiochus I: monument to 99 medieval 136–53
exploration in 282 World War II 320 Antoninus Pius, empires 270–7
Homo sapiens in 35 Ali, Ben 396 Emperor 108, 109 independence 360
North 155 Ali, Muhammad 284 Antony, Mark 105 postwar 358–74
World War II 320 Allenby, General 295, 295 Antwerp 326 South: ancient 74–5
post-colonial 376–7 Allende, Salvador 354 Anyang 77 Southeast: medieval
sub-Saharan 160–1 Alp Arslan 156 Anzio 321 136–53
Agila 163 alphabets 61, 151 Apartheid 378–9 Asia Minor 98
Agilulf 162 Alsace-Lorraine 300, 301 apes: tool use 32 Assyria 54, 58
 401
Assyrian empire 59 Bactria 97 Berlin Wall 342, 344–5 Britain (contd.)
astronomy 230 Baekje 150 Bessemer, Henry 265 industrialization 261
Assurnasirpal II 59 Baghdad 142, 155, 156, Bethlehem 363 in Ireland 340
Atahualpa 209 393, 393 Bhagavad Gita 120–1, 335 in North America 236
Ataturk, Kemal Bahadur Shah II 272 Bible 17 battles with French 237,
Mustafa 273, 295 Balfour Declaration 362 Bihar 271 247
Aten 67, 69 Bali: temples 122 bin Laden, Osama 25, in Palestine 362–3
Athalaric 162 Balkan Wars 290 391, 392 peace with France 254
Athens: Balkans: farming 43 Bindusara 118 Raj 271
Acropolis 90 ball game court 129 biotechnology 382 Romans in 107, 113, 114
ancient 88, 89 Baluchistan 118 Bird Jaguar IV 130 withdrawal from India 358–9
democracy in 90–1 Bangladesh 368 Birmingham, Alabama 350 World War I 291, 292, 293,
Parthenon 92–3, 95 Banpo, China 76 Bismarck, Otto von 258, 260, 294, 295, 296
war with Sparta 18, 94, 96 Bantustans 378–9 283 World War II 315, 316–17,
atom bombs 333, 334–5, 334 Barcelona 312 Black Death 176 320, 323, 324–5
Attila 117, 117 barcodes 384 Black Power movement 350 British Isles: farming 43
Auckland, New Zealand 280 barrows 35 Blackshirts 309 Brittany 164
Augustus (formerly Octavian), Basil II 179 Blanco, Luis Carrero 341 Bronze Age: collapse 58
Emperor 105–7 Basques 341 Blaxland, Gregory 279 bronze(s) 45
statue of 105 Basra 393 Blitzkrieg 315 Chinese 77, 77, 124
Aurangzeb 199 Bass, George 279 boats see ships and boats Ife 161
Aurelian, Emperor 111 Bastille 248, 250–1 Boer Wars 285 Brown, John 241
Aurelius, Marcus, Emperor Batista, Fulgencio 353 Boethius 162 Brunelleschi, Filippo 214, 215
108, 109, 110 Battle of Britain 316, Bohemia 224 Bruno of Cologne 170
Auschwitz 328–9, 329 317 Bolguksa temple 150 Brutus, Marcus 104
Austerlitz, battle Bayeux tapestry 169 Bolívar, Simón 244, 244 Buddha: figures 99, 122, 137,
of 254 beads: earliest 35 Bolivia: early cultures 184 153
Australia 278 Bede, St. 20 Bolsheviks 302, 303, 304, 305 Buddhism 117, 118, 119,
Aboriginal rock art 39 Beijing 139, 194, 195, symbol 303 122–3, 144, 153
deportations to 279 274, 370 Bombay: Victoria Terminus stupas 122–3
exploration of 279 Forbidden City 139, 271 temples 117
federation 280 139, 140–1 Bonampak: murals 181 Buffett, Warren 395
migrations to 36, 37 Temple of Heaven 194 boomerang 37 Bukhara 142
Australopithecines 30, 32 Belgian Congo 376–7 Boris II 179 Bulgaria 257, 329
Austria 254, 258, Belgium: Borneo 37, 323 Bulgars 179
291, 301 World War I 291, 292 Borobodur 122–3, 153 Bunker Hill, Battle of 239
Austro-Hungarian Empire World War II 315 Bosnia 157, 290 burial mounds 46, 116
256, 257, 290 Belgrade 202 Bosnia-Herzegovina 346 figures round 144
Authari 162 Bell, Alexander Graham 268, Boston Tea Party 238, 238 burials:
Avar Empire 165 269 Botany Bay 278 Chinese 77, 77
Avebury, Wiltshire 46 Bellingshausen, Fabian Boticelli, Sandro 215 grave goods 45, 69, 116
axe heads 45 von 281 Boxers 275 rituals 33, 37
Aztecs 17, 128, 149, Ben-Gurion, David 363, 363 Braddock, Edward 237 Burma:
180, 182, 209 Benedict, St., of Nursia 170 Brahmanism 122 medieval 152
gods 182 Benedictines 170 Brazil 210, 245 World War II 323, 332, 332
priest’s knife 182 monastery of Mont Breckenridge, John 241 Burmese Wars 272
Aztlán 182 St. Michel 170 Brétigny, Treaty of 177 Bursa 157
158, 270–1 Brexit 398 Burton, Richard 282

B
Benin 161 Brezhnev, Leonid 341 Bush, George H.W. 369
Benz, Karl 268, 268 Britain: Bush, George W. 393
Beophung, King 150 Battle of 316, 317 Byblos 58
Babi Yar 329 Bering Strait 34, 36 Falklands War 356 Byzantine Empire 87, 157,
Babur 198 Berlin 327, 327 independence for 173, 178–9, 202
Babylon 54, 56, 58, 59 Berlin airlift 338, 338 colonies 360–1 Byzantium 91
 402
castles: medieval 167 China (contd.) Claudius, Emperor 106, 107
C Castro, Fidel 338, 339, 353,
353, 356
Cultural Revolution 370, 371
deities 136
Cleisthenes 90
Clemenceau, Georges 300,
Cabot, John 207 Çatalhöyük, Turkey 39, 44, 48 disunity 136 301
Cabral, Alvares 207 Caucasus: farming 43 early modern 194–5 Cleopatra 105
Caen 324–5, 325 cave art 32, 36, 38, 39 economy 374 climate change 386–7,
Caesar, Julius 18, 104, 114 Caxton, William 220 emperors 125 388–9, 395
assassination 104, 105 Ceaucescu, Nicolae 343 exports 195 Clive, Robert 270, 270, 271
Cahokia 183 Celts 114, 170 farming 43 cloning 382
Cahuachi 131 Central America: gunpowder weapons 148, clothing: hats: feather 184
Caillié, René-August 282 independence 244–5 148, 149 Clovis 115, 164
Cairo 202 Spanish in 210 Han dynasty 126–7, 136 Clovis people 36–7
Calcutta 270 cereals: earliest 42 histories 18–19 Cluny 170
Black Hole 247, 270 Chaldiran, Battle of 202, 204 medieval 136–43 Cochin-China 260
calendar systems Chalukya kingdom 158 Ming dynasty 139 Codex Cospi 182
Aztec 182 Champa 153 Mongol 139, 143 coins 91, 110
Maya 130 Champollion, François 61 People’s Liberation Army 371 Colbert, Jean-Baptiste 228
Caligula, Emperor 107 Chams 152, 153 protective wall 126–7 Cold War 289, 334, 335,
Calvin, John 219 Chan Chan 184, 185 Qing regime 274–5 338–9, 376, 394
Calvinism 219, 225 Chandernagore 270 Song dynasty 138 Columbia 244
Cambodia: medieval 152 Chandragupta I 119 Tang dynasty 137 Columbus, Christopher
Cambrai 296 Chandragupta II 119 Three Kingdoms 136 206–7, 208, 208
Cameron, David 398 Chandragupta Maurya 118 village cultures 76 combustion engine 268
Canada: Changan 137 Warring States 124 Commodus, Emperor 109,
border with US 240 Chapin Mesa: Cliff Palace 183 writing 60 110
migrations to 36 Charlemagne 162, 164–5, Cholas 158 communications: global 390
in NAFTA 357 165, 171 Choson dynasty 151 Communism 305, 341
Cannae, battle of 103 Charles I of England 225 Christchurch, New Zealand 280 in China 358, 370–1
cannons 148, 149 Charles II of England 225 Christianity 112, 122, 123 collapse of 342–3, 346, 347
canoes 36 Charles V of France 177 artifacts 123 in US 349
Canossa 171 Charles V, Holy Roman in China 275 computers 390
Cão, Diogo 206 Emperor 218, 219, 219, chronicles 20 Confucianism 126, 196
Cape Colony 283 223 Crusades 172–3 Confucius 370
Capet, Hugh 165 Charles VI of Spain 244 in Europe 20, 115, 162, 163, Congo, River 282
Capetians 165 Charles VIII of France 221 170–1 Constantine, Emperor 112,
capitalism 229 Charles XII of Sweden 227, 227 monasticism 170 112, 123
Cappadocia 98 Chauvet, France 39 popes 171 Constantinople 112, 157, 168,
Caracalla, Emperor 110 Chávez, Hugo 356, 356 chronicles: ecclesiastical 20 173, 176, 178
Carbonari 259 Chavín culture 78, 128, 131 Churchill, Winston 295, 315, Cook, Captain James 278–9
Carloman 165 art 78 316, 316 Copernicus, Nicolaus 230
Carnac, France 46 Chavín de Huántar 78, 78 Ci Xi, Empress 275, 275 view of solar system 230
Carolingians 164–5, 168, 170 Chichen Itzá 181 Cicero 214 copper 45, 45
Carrhae: battle of 86 Chichimecs 180 circumnavigation 207 Coral Sea, Battle of 332
Cartagena 163 children: employment 261 Cisalpine Gauls 103 Corinth 88, 98
Carter, Howard 16, 17 Chile 354, 357 Cistercians 170 Corn Laws 261
Carter, Jimmy 366 migrations to 36 cities 48 Cortés, Hernán 209, 209
Carthage 58, 103, 178 chimpanzees 30, 32 city-states 48, 54 Counter-Reformation 219
Carthaginians: Punic Chimú 184 Greek 88 Cranach, Lucas 218
Wars 102–3 China 124–7 culture 95 Crécy, battle of 148, 177
Carthusians 170 agriculture 42 Civil Rights: in US 350–1 Crete: Minoan 70–1
Cartier, Jacques 207 ancient 76–7 Claremont, France 172 Crimean War 260, 262
Cascajal 79 Communist 358, 370–1 Clark, General Mark 321 Cro-Magnon people 37, 39
Cashel, Rock of 166–7 conflict with Korea 151 Classical world 80–131 Croatia 346
Castillon, battle of 148, 177 conquests 137 map 82–3 Cromwell, Oliver 225, 225
 403
crops: earliest 42, 42, 43 Denikin, General 304 Edward III 177 England (contd.)
cross: crusader’s 173 Denmark: WWII 315 Egypt 202, 360, 396 trading empire 213
crown: imperial 171 Depression 306–7 agriculture 43 Victorian 261
Crusades 172–3 Derg 376 ancient 62–9 see also Britain
Ctesiphon 87 Descartes, René 230, 231 Cairo 396 English Civil War 225
Cuba 208, 355 desertification 386–7 caliphate 155 Enki (god) 49
missile crisis 339 Desiderius, King 162 conquest of 87 Enlightenment 230–1
Revolution 353, 355 desk: portable 243 First Intermediate Period Enver Pasha 273, 273
cuneiform writing 16, 16, 17, Dias, Bartolomeu 206 62, 66 Ephesus 91
54, 60, 60, Díaz, Porfirio 245 foreign rule 69 sculpture 108
Custer, General George 240 Diderot, Denis 231 gods 67, 67 Epic of Gilgamesh 17, 17
Cuzco 185, 209 Dien Bien Phu 372 Greek influence 99 Erasmus 214, 214
Cyrus II 84 Diocletian, Emperor 111, invasions 58, 62 Eridu 49
tomb 84 112, 123 Late Period 69 Erlitou culture 76
Czechia 38 see also Dionysia 95 Middle Kingdom 62, 66 Escorial 222
Czechoslovakia 343 Dionysus 95 New Kingdom 58, 62, 68–9 Estates-General 248
invasion 337, 337 Djenné: Great Mosque 160 Old Kingdom 62, 67 ETA 341, 395
World War II 314 Djoser, pharaoh 63 predynastic 49 Ethiopia 282, 283, 376
Doherty, John 266 Ptolemies in 98 Etruscans 100, 101

D
Dominican friars 170 pyramids 63, 63 Euclid 99
Domitian, Emperor 108, religion 67 Euphrates 48, 54
109, 123 Roman conquest of 98 Euripides 95
D-Day 324–5, 324–5 Donbas 399 Second Intermediate Europe:
da Gama, Vasco 206, 206–7 Dorylaeum 172 Period 66 after WW II 336–47
Dacia 108, 111 Drake, Francis 223 texts 61 map 289
Dagobert I 164 Druids 114 Third Intermediate Period 69 in Americas 236
Dai Viet 153 Dubček, Alexander 337 tomb treasures 62 ancient 70–1
Dalhousie, Lord 271 Dublin: Easter Rising 340 towns 48, 49 colonies in America 211
Dallas 349 Dubois, Eugène 16 under Muhammad Ali 284 Concert of Powers 256, 257
Damascus: mosque mosaic Dunedin, New Zealand 280 unified kingdom 49 Depression 307
155 Dunkirk: evacuation 315, 315 writing 60, 60 early modern 214–31
Danelaw 168 Dutch East India Company Eiffel Tower 265 empires 246–69
Danes: in England 163 (VOC) 211, 229, 278 Einstein, Albert 334 feudalism 162, 166–7
Danse Macabre 176 insignia 213 Eisenhower, Dwight D. 333, medieval 162–77
Danzig (Gdansk) 314, 342 Dutch East Indies 323 373 migrations to 37
Dapenkeng culture 76 Dutch Revolt 223 El Alamein, Battle of 320, 320 Renaissance 21
Dardanelles 295 El Salvador 182 revolutions in 1848 257

E
Darius I 84, 85, 89 Elagabalus, Emperor 110 trading empires 212–13, 212
Darius III 84, 97 Elba 255 World War I 290–4, 296
Darwin, Charles 16, 269 electricity 268 European Economic
Davison, Nathaniel 63 Early Modern world: Elizabeth, Empress Community (EEC) 337, 347
Dayala 119 map 192–3 of Russia 246 European Union 347, 395, 398
de Clerk, F.W. 379 East India Company 213, 229, Elizabeth I 223, 223 Evans, Sir Arthur 16, 71
de Gaulle, Charles 361 261, 270, 271, 272 emmer 42 evolution, theory of 269
dead: Easter Island 188, 189 Empires: Ewuare 161
cult of 67 Ebensee 328 age of 22–3 explosives 293, 294
death mask: Mycenean 71 Ebola virus 383, 383 world of 233–85 extinctions 37, 386–7
deforestation 386–7 Ecuador 244 map 234–5

F
Delacroix, Eugène 257 Edessa 173 energy: renewable 387
Delhi 199, 205, 272 Edgehill, battle of 225 England:
Delhi Sultanate 158, 159, 198 Edirne 157 in Americas 210, 211
Delphi 95 Edo 196, 276 Anglo-Saxon 163, 168 Facebook 390
democracy: in Athens 90–1 education: Hellenistic 99 Heptarchy 163 factories 264
Deng Xiaoping 371 Edward the Elder 163 Normans in 169 Factory Acts 261
 404
Falaise 325 France (contd.) Garibaldi, Giuseppe 259, 259 gold 45
Falklands, battle of the 294 women’s suffrage 313 gas, poison 293, 296, 298–9 death mask 71
Falklands War 356 World War I 291, 292, Gates, Bill 395 grave goods 116
Faraday, Michael 268 293, 296 Gaul 164 Inca 185
Farage, Nigel 398 World War II 315 Franks in 115 jewelry 74
Faraway Bay, Australia: cave Francis of Assisi, St. 170 Roman rule 111, 113, 114 trade 160
art 38 Franciscans 170 Visigoths in 163 Gorbachev, Mikhail 341, 341,
farming see agriculture Franco, Francisco 312, Gautama, Siddhartha 123 342, 343, 368
Fascism 307, 308–9, 312 312, 341 Gaza 365 Gordian, Emperor 87
Fatehpur Sikri 199 Franco-Prussian War 258, Gdansk (Danzig) 314, 342 Gordon, Charles George 284,
Fatimid caliphate 155 269, 270 Gempei Wars 145, 146 284
Ferdinand of Aragon, King Franks 111, 115, 163, 164, 171 General Belgrano 356 Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar 33
222 Franz Ferdinand, Archduke: Genghis Khan 142, 143, Göring, Hermann 316
Ferdinand II 224 assassination 290, 290, 291 143, 204 Goryeo dynasty 150, 151
Fertile Crescent 42 Frederick Barbarossa 173, geoglyphs 131, 131 Gothic Wars 162
fertility: 174–5 Georgia 156 Goths 111, 113, 115
cults 39 Frederick II of Prussia 246, Germanic tribes 114, 115 gramophone (phonograph) 268
talisman 39 246 Germany: Gran Columbia 244
feudalism 162, 166–7 Frederick V of army helmet 318 Grant, Ulysses S. 243
bastard 167 Bohemia 224 East: collapse of grave goods 45, 69, 116
Finland 262 Free French 324, 326, 326 communism 342–3 Graziani, General 320
fire: earliest use of 31 French Revolution 23, farming 43 Great Exhibition (1851) 261
fishing: spear-fishing 38, 38 248–9, 254 Fascism 309 Great Northern War 227
Five Year Plans 305 frescoes (murals): hyperinflation 306, 306 Great Terror (USSR) 305
Flavian dynasty 108 Maya 181 Jews in 328–9 Great Zimbabwe 160, 161
Fleming, Alexander 383 Mexican 128 reunification 343 Great Enclosure 161
flight: powered 268–9 Minoan 71, 72–3 Roman conquests in 105 Greece:
Flinders, Matthew 279 Fujiwara family 145 unification 258 ancient 88–99
flints: earliest 32 World War I 291–4, 291, art 95

G
footprints: prehistoric 30, 36 292–3, 296, 297, 297 authors 95
Fort St. George 212–13 treaty 300–1, 302 city-states 88
France: World War II 314, 324–5 Civil War 336
17th-century 228 Gades (Cadiz) 58 defeat 326–7 Classical culture 95
in Africa 283 Gadsden Purchase 240 in USSR 318–19 colonization 91
in Americas 210, 211 Gagarin, Yuri 352, 352 Germany, Federal Republic conquest by
Carolingian 164–5 Gage, General Thomas 238, 338 Macedonians 96
Civil Code 252, 253 239 Geta, Emperor 110 Dark Age 165
independence for colonies Gaixia 126 Gettysburg, Battle of 243 independence 257
360, 361 Galapagos Islands 269 Ghaggar-Hakra River 74 philosophy 95
Indochina War 372 Galen 21, 230 Ghana 160, 360, 361 religion 95
Merovingian 164 Galicia 294 ghettoes 329 temples 95
Napoleonic wars 253, Galilei, Galileo 230 Ghilzai, Mahmud 205 trade 91
254–5 galleys (boats) 58 Gibbon, Edward 113 wars with Persia 89
in North America 236, 240 Gallipoli 157 Gibraltar: Gorham’s Greeks:
battles with British 237, Gallipoli, battle of 295 Cave 33 alphabet 61
247 Galtieri, Leopoldo 356 Gilbert Islands 332 historians 18
peace with Britain 254 gaming board: Sumerian 55 Girondins 249 Green movement 387
Revolution 23, 248–9, 254 Gandhara 99 Giza 63 Green Revolution 382
Second Republic 257 Gandhi, Mahatma 350, 358, globalization 384–5 Greenhouse Effect 386
Seven Years’ War 246–7 359, 359 GM foods 382, 382 Greenland 168
trading empire 212–13 Gangaikondacholapuram 158 Göbekli Tepe, Turkey 44 Gregory of Tours 20
under Napoleon 250–1 Ganges Valley 43 Go-Daigo, Emperor 146, 147 Gregory VII, Pope 171, 171
under Napoleon III 260 Gao 160 Go-Sanjo, Emperor 145 Guadalcanal 332
Wars of Religion 221 Gaozu, Emperor 126, 137 Golan Heights 364, 364, 365 Guadeloupe 247
 405
Guangdong 125, 127 Hattin 173 Homer 88 Incas 149, 180, 184, 185, 209
Guangzhou 274 Hattusa 57, 58 Homo erectus 16, 31, 32 artifacts 81
Guangzi 127 Gate of the Lions 57 skull 31 India 118–23
Guatemala 128, 130, 182 Haussmann, Baron 260 Homo habilis 31, 32 agriculture 43
Guernica 312 Hawaii 188 skull 31 British in 270–2
Guevara, Ernesto “Ché” 353 Hebron 365 Homo heidelbergensis 32 British withdrawal 358, 360
Guillaume de Nangis 20 helicopters 373 Homo neanderthalensis 33 Chola 158
Guinea, West Africa 383 Hellenism 99 Homo sapiens 30, 31, 33, 34–7 Delhi Sultanate 158, 159
Guiscard, Robert 169 henges 46, 46 in Africa 35 medieval 158–9
gulags 305 Henri II of France 221 migrations 59, 36–8 Mughal 198–9
Gulf Wars 369 Henri IV of France 221, 221, physical description 35 Partition 369
Gundestrup cauldron 114 228 skull 37 people of 117, 118
Gung Ye 150 Henry IV, Emperor 171 Honecker, Erich 342 Seven Years’ War 247
gunpowder 148–9 Henry V 177, 177 Hong Kong 274, 374 wars with Pakistan 368
Gunpowder Plot 21 Henry VI, Emperor 169 return to China 360, 361 writing 60
guns 149, 262, 319, 368 Henry VIII 219 Hongwu, Emperor 139 Indian Mutiny 271, 272, 272
handguns 148 Hephtalites 119 Honorius, Emperor 113 Indian National Congress 271,
Gupta Empire 117, 118, 119, Heracleopolis 66 Hoover, Herbert 307 358, 359
158 Herat 118 Hopewell people 183 Indo-Pakistan Wars 368
Gustav I Vasa 227 Herder, Johann von 22 hoplites: helmet 94 Indochina 322, 360
Gustavus Adolphus II 224 Herodotus 18 Horyuji 144 Indochina War 372
Gutenberg, Johannes 220, 220 Hertz, Heinrich 268 Hospitallers 173 Indonesia 158
Gwisho 38 Heydrich, Reinhard 329 Howard of Effingham, Lord Indrapura 153
Hidalgo y Costilla, 223 Indravarman II 153
Miguel 244 Huguenots 221 Indus River 74

H Hideyoshi, Toyotomi 196, 196 Huitzilopochtli 182 Indus script 74, 74

Hierakonpolis, Egypt 49 Humanism 214 Indus Valley civilization 74–5
hieroglyphs 17, 60, 60, 61 humans: Industrial Revolution 261,
Habsburgs 202, 221, 224, Hindenburg, Paul von 309 ancestors 30–3 264–5, 266, 267, 268
227, 257, 260, 263 Hinduism 122 earliest 34–9 International Monetary Fund
Hadrian, Emperor 108–9 gods 122, 122 Humayun 198 (IMF) 384
Hadrian’s Wall 108 Hindus: conflict with Hundred Years’ War 177 Internet 390
Hahn, Otto 334 Muslims 358–9 Hungary 202, 273, 342 Intolerable Acts 238
Haile Selassie, Emperor 376 Hirohito, Emperor 322 revolution 337 Ionia 88, 89
Halafian culture 49 Huns 113, 116, 117
Hiroshima 333, 334–5, 335 IRA 340
Hamas movement 365 hunter-gatherers 38
Hispaniola 208 Iran 33
Hamburg: bombing 317 Hussein, Saddam 369,
historians 18–19, 25 fighting ISIS 397
Hammurabi 56, 56 393, 393
history: Revolution 367
law code 56 Hutu 376, 377
perspectives 15 trade 74
Hyksos 66, 68
Han dynasty 126–7, 136, 150 sources 14–15, 19 war with Iraq 369
hyperinflation 306, 306
Hangzhou 138 study of 14–15 see also Persia
Haniwa 144 Hitler, Adolf 25, 309, 310–11, Iraq:

I
Hannibal 102–3 314, 316, 318, 319, 324, agriculture 42
Harappa 74, 75 326, 327, 328 fighting ISIS 397
Haroun al-Rashid 155, 165 Mein Kampf 309 Gulf War 369
Harris, Arthur 317 Hittites 57, 69 Iberian peninsula: war in 393
Harsha, Emperor 158 goddess 57 earliest man in 33 war with Iran 369
Harvey, William 230 HIV 383 farming 43 Ireland:
Hasdrubal 103 Ho Chi Minh 360, 372 Ibn Khaldoun 20–1 Celts in 114
Hastings: battle of 169 Hohokam 183 Ice Ages 34, 36, 42 Troubles 340, 340
Hatra 87 Hojo clan 146 Iceland 168 Vikings in 168
Hatshepsut 68 Holland see Netherlands Ieyasu, Tokugawa 196 irrigation 48, 49, 62, 74
funerary temple 64–5 Holocaust 328–9, 330–1, 362 Ife 161 ISIS 393, 394,
Hatti 57 Holstein 258 Iliad 88 396–7, 397
 406
Isabella, Queen of Japan (contd.) Koprülü, Mehmet 203
Castile 206, 208, 222
Isfahan 205
invasions of Korea 151
in Korea 372
K Korea:
Chinese in 127
Islam 122, 123 mask 197 Kabul 198, 392 civil war 151
in Africa 160 medieval 144–7 Kadaram 158 conflict with China 151
and crusader states 173 Meiji restoration 276–7 Kadesh: battle of 57 Japan and 151, 276–7
historians 20–1 migrations to 37 Kaifeng 138 medieval 150–1
manuscripts 21 military flag 322 Kalahari desert 38 Three Kingdoms period 150
Muslim/Hindu conflict Nara period 144 Kalil, al-Ashraf 173 vase 151
358–9 postwar 374 Kalinga 119 World War II 333
rise of 154 shogunates 146–7, Kamakura 146, 147 Korean War 370–1, 372
Shia 204, 393 196–7 Kambujadesa 152 Kornilov, General Lavr 303,
Sunni 393 tea ceremony 197, 197 Kamose 68 304
Ismael I 204–5 trade with 276 Kandahar 392 Kosovo 347
Ismail Pasha 284 unification 196 Kanishka 117 Krupp 265
Israel 329 World War II 322–3, 332–3 Kara Khitan khanate 142 Kublai Khan 139, 143
Arab-Israeli conflict 364–5 Java 37, 153 Karzai, Hamid 392 Kumara Gupta 119
birth of 362–3 Java Sea, Battle of 323 Kashmir 199, 368 kurgans 116
earliest man in 35 Jayavarman II 152 Kassites 56, 58 Kursk 327
Issus, battles of 97, 98 Jayavarman VII 152 Kaungai 152 Kushans 117, 118, 119
Istanbul: Dolmabahce Palace Jefferson, Thomas 239 Kaya 150 Kuwait 369, 369
273 Jahan, Shah 199 Kennedy, John F. 349, 349, 352 Kyaswa, King 152
Italian Wars 149, 221 Jericho 44, 48 Kenya 360 Kyoto 144, 145, 147
Italy: Jerusalem 154, 178, Kerensky, Alexander 302, 303
Fascism 308–9 202, 295, 363 Kharkov 327
kingdom of 253
unification 259
World War II 320, 321
and Crusades 172, 173
Jerusalem, Kingdom of 173
Khmer empire 152
Khomeini, Ayatollah 367, 367
Khrushchev, Nikita 338, 339,
L
Jesus Christ 123 La Tène culture 114
Itj-tawy 66 341
jewelry: La Venta, Mexico 79
Itzcoatl 182 Khufu, pharaoh 63, 63
ancient 74 Labor Movement 266
Ivan IV (the Terrible) 226 Khusrau II Parviz 87
Persian 85 labyrinth: Minoan 71
Iwo Jima 333, 333 Khwarezmid empire 142
Jews see Judaism Ladysmith 285
Iznik: mosque tiles 157 Kiev 142, 327, 329, 347
Jiang Qing 371 Laetoli footprints 30
Viking conquest of 168
Jiankang 136 language: evolution 32, 33
Kigali 377
Jin 139, 142, 195
J Kilij Arslan, Sultan 172 Lapita culture 188
Jinnah, Muhammad Ali 359 Lascaux, France: cave art 32,
Kim II Sung 372
Joan of Arc 177, 177 39, 40–1
Kimberley 285
Jackson, “Stonewall” 243 John Tzimiskes 179 Latin America:
King, Martin Luther 350, 351,
Jacobins 249 John V Palaiologos 157 351 democracy 356
jade 77 John VI Kantakouzenos 157 Kish 56 US in 355
Jahangir 199 Johnson, Lyndon B. 349, 373 Kitchener, Lord 284 Laudon, Baron Ernst von
Jameson Raid 285 Jomon 144 Klasies Cave, South Africa 35 Lawrence, T. E. 295, 295
Janszoon, Willem 278 Judaism, Jews 122, 123 knights 167 laws:
Japan: Judaism/Jews: investiture 166 Civil Code (France) 252, 253
Ashikaga period 147 symbol 328, 362 Knights of St. John 202 Roman: Twelve Tables 101
Asuka period 144 World War II 328–9 Knossos 16, 70, 73 Lazar, Prince of Serbia 157
civil war 147 Zionists in Israel 362–3 palace of 71 Le Thanh-Ton 153
early modern 196–7 Julius I, Pope 217 Blue Ladies (fresco) 72–3 League of Nations 394
economy 374 Jurchen 138, 195 Koguryo 150–1 Leakey, Richard and
Fujiwara period 145 Justinian, Emperor 162, Kolchak, Admiral 304 Louis 16
Heian period 145 178, 178 Komyo, Emperor 147 Lee, Robert E. 243
imperial 23 Jutes 163 Konya: Ince Minare leg irons 279
industrialization 276 Jutland, battle of 294 medrese 156 Legalism 124, 125, 126
 407
Leipzig, battle of 255 Lumumba, Patrice 376 Manzikert 179 Medina 154
Lenin, Vladimir 302, 303, Luoyang 127, 136 Mao Zedong 370–1, 370 megaliths 46–7
305, 341 Luther, Martin 218–19, 218 Maori 189, 280, 281 Mehmet I 157
statue 343 Luxembourg: World War II 315 talisman 189 Mehmet II 157, 157, 202
Leningrad 318 war club 281 Melanesia 188
Leo III, Emperor 179
Leo IX, Pope 171
Leonardo da Vinci 215, 215
M Marathon 89
Marcomannic Wars 109
Marconi, Guglielmo 268
Melbourne: Royal Exhibition
Building 280
Memphis 62
Leonidas, King 89 Maastricht Treaty 347 Mari 48, 56, 60 Menander 99
statue 89 Macao 361 Maria Theresa of Austria 246 Meng Tian 125
Leovigild 163 MacArthur, Douglas 323, 332, Marianas Islands 332 Mengistu Haile Mariam 376
Lepenski Vir, Serbia 38 333, 333, 372, 374 Marine Le Pen 398 Mentuhotep II, Nebhepetre 66
Lepidus 105 Macauley, Baron 23 Marlborough, General 228 Mercia 163
Leshan: Buddha statue 137 McCarthy, Joseph 349, 349 Marne River 297 Merovingians 115, 164
Lewis, Meriwether 240 Macchiavelli, Niccolò 21, 215 Marseilles 91, 325 Mesoamerica:
Leyte Gulf, Battle of 332 Macedonia 346 Marshall, George C. 336, 336 agriculture 43
Li Peng 371 Macedonian dynasty 179 Marshall Islands 332 ancient 78
Li Yuan 137 Macedonian Empire 91, 98 Marshall, Sir John 16 writing 60
Liberia 283 conquests 96–7 Marshall Plan 336 Mesopotamia 49, 54, 56, 295
Libya 396 Roman conquest of 98 Marston Moor, Battle of 225 cities 48
Lin Yi 153 machine guns 149 Martinique 247 imports 45
Lincoln, Abraham 241, 241, Machu Picchu 186–7 Marx, Karl 24, 267, 267 Roman conquests in 108,
242, 243 Macquaherie, Lachlan 279 Marxism 24, 263, 267 110
Lindisfarne 168 Madras 212–13, 247 masks: societies 54
Linear B script 71 Mafeking 285 bronze 77 texts 61
Linear script 70 Magadha 118 death: Mycenean 71 towns 48
literacy 61 Magellan, Ferdinand 207, 278 mastabas 63 trade 74
Lithuania: alliance with Magyars 165 Mauryan Empire 116, 118–9 writing 60
Poland 227 Mahabharata 122 Maximian, Emperor 111 metallurgy 45
Liu Bang 126, 127, 127 Mahdist movement 284 Maximus, Fabius 103 metals: discovery of 45
Livia (wife of Augustus) 107, Mahmud of Ghazni 159 Maya 128 metalworking: Celtic 114
107 Mahmud II 273 art 181 Mexica see Aztecs
Livingstone, David 282 Majapahit empire 153 Classic period 130 Mexico 260
pith helmet 282 Majiabang culture 76 culture 130 Classical period 128–9
Livy 18 Makovsky, Vladimir 263 history 130 conquest 209
Lixus 58 Malaya: WWII 323 inscriptions 60–1 economy 357
llamas 43, 43 Malaysia 374 medieval 180, 181 people of 128, 180–2
Lloyds of London 229 Malaysian Airlines religion 130 Revolution 244, 245
Lombards 162, 165, 178 Flight MH-17 399, 399 temples 130 Mexico City 182
London: bombing 316 Mali 160 Mayapán 181 monument 245
Long March 370 Malik Shah I 156 Mazarin, Cardinal 228 Michelangelo Buonarroti 214
Longshan 76 Mallia 70 Mazowiecki, Tadeusz 342 Sistine Chapel ceiling
Louis the Pious 165 palace 70 Mazzini, Giuseppe 259 216–17
Louis V 165 Malta 202 Mecca 154, 160 microchips 390
Louis XIII 228 Mamertines 102 medals: Middle Ages see Medieval
Louis XIV 228, 228 Mamluks 142, 202 Burma Star 332 world
Louis XVI 248–9 mammals: extinctions 37 Québec 237 Middle East: medieval 154–7
Louis XVIII 253 Manchuria 277, 370 Queen’s South Africa 285 Midway Islands 332
Louis-Philippe 257, 260 Mandela, Nelson 378, 378, 379 Medes 59 migrations 36–8
Louisiana Purchase 240 Manhattan Project 334 medicine: advances in 230, map 28–9
Loyola, St. Ignatius 219, 219 Manila 332 383 Milan, Edict of 112
“Lucy”: skeleton 30 Mansa Musa 160 Medieval world 132–89 Milosevic, Slobodan 346
Ludendorff, Erich 297 Manuel I of Portugal 206–7 map 134–5 Minamoto family 145
Lugalzagesi, King 54, 55 Manutius, Aldus 220 records of 20–1 Minamoto Yoritomo 146
 408
Ming dynasty 139, 148, 194 Moseley, Oswald 307 Nanking, Treaty of 274 New Zealand:
Minoans 16, 70–1, 72–3 Motya 58 Nantes, Edict of 221 European settlement in 280
Minsk 318, 327 mound-dwellers 183 Napoleon Bonaparte 240, migrations to 188, 189
missiles 339, 339 moving pictures 269 244, 252–3, 253 wars in 281
Mitanni 57, 68 Mozambique 376 English invasion plan 255 women’s suffrage 313
Mithridates I 86 Mu’awiyah 156 Napoleon III 258, 260 Newgrange, Ireland 46, 47
Mitochondrial Eve 35 Mubarak, Hosni 396 Napoleonic Wars 253, newspapers 22
Mixtec culture 129 Mugabe, Robert 375, 376, 377 254–5, 256 Newton, Isaac 230, 230
Mladic, Ratko 346 Mughals 23, 159, 198–9 Naqada, Egypt 49 Niaux, France 39
Mnajdra temple, Malta 47 Muhammad of Ghur 159 Naqsh-e Rustam: carvings 87 Nicaragua 355
Mobutu, Joseph 377 Muhammad ibn Tuhgluq, Nara: Todaiji temple 144 Nicephorus Phocas 179
Moche 128, 131, 184 Sultan 159 Narathihapate, King 152 Nicholas I, Tsar 262–3
cups 131 Muhammad, Prophet 21, 123, Narmer 49 Nicholas II, Tsar 263, 263,
Moctezuma 209 154 Naseby, Battle of 225 277, 302
Modern world 288–395 Muhammad V of Morocco 360 Nasser, Gamal 364 Niger, River 282
map 288–9 Mumbai (Bombay) 394, 395 nation states 394–5 Nigeria 161
Mogollon 183 Victoria Terminus 271 Nationalism 256–7 oil supplies 366
Mohenjo-Daro 16, 74, 75, 75 mummies: Peruvian 131 Native Americans: Nile, River 48
Citadel 75, 75 mummification 67 ancestors 36 flooding 49, 62
statue 75 Mungo, Lake, Australia 37 displacement 240 source 282
monasticism 170 Munich Conference 314 NATO 338, 339, 346 9/11 391
Mongke 142 Murad I 157 naval warfare: World War I Nineveh 48, 59
Mongols 142–3, 155, 156, 226 Murad II 157 294 Nergal gate 59
attacks on Japan 147 murals see frescoes Navarino, battle of 257 Nippur 56
in Burma 152 Murasaki Shikibu, Lady 145 navigation: Polynesian 188 Nishapur 156
in China 139, 195 Muromachi shogunate 147 Naxos: marble lions 88 Nisibis 87
knives 142 Muscovy 226 Nazca 128, 131 Nixon, Richard 371
Monnet, Jean 337 muskets 149 geoglyphs 131, 131 Nobunaga, Oda 196
matchlock 148, 148–9
Monroe, James 355 Nazis 309, 328–9, 354 Nojpeten 181
Muslim League 358, 359
Mont St. Michel 170 rally 310–11 Noriega, Manuel 355
Muslims:
Montcalm, Marquis of 237, Neanderthals 32, 33, 37 Normandy landings 324–5,
conflict with Hindus 358–9
237 skull 33 324–5
see also Islam
Monte Albán 129 Near East: ancient world Normans 169
Mussolini, Benito 308–9,
ball game court 129 54–61 North America: early cultures
308, 321
Temple of the Danzantes 129 Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) 49 183
Mutawalli II 57
Monte Cassino 321, 321 Nelson, Horatio 254 North Korea 372
Muzorewa, Abel 375
Montenegro 257, 346 Neo-Assyrians 59 Northumbria 163
Mwenemutapa Empire 161
Montesquieu, Charles-Louis Neolithic period 42 Norway: World War II 315
Mycenae 71
231 cultures in China 76 Novgorod 168
Myceneans 58, 71, 88
Montgomery, Bernard 320, Nero, Emperor 106, 107 Nubia 66
Mysore 158
324, 326 Nerva, Emperor 108 nuclear race 334, 335
myths 17
Montréal 237 Netherlands: Nuremberg Laws 328
Moon: landing on 352, 352 independence for colonies Nuremberg rally 310–11

N
Morales, Evo 356 360 Nuremberg Trials 329, 329
More, Thomas 214 revolt against Spain 223

O
Morocco: World War II 320 trading empire 213
mosaics: Nabatea 108 World War II 315
of Alexander the Great 96 NAFTA 357 New Britain 332
Islamic 155 Nagaoka 144 New Deal 307 Obama, Barack 350
Italian 178 Nagasaki 333, 334, 335 New Guinea: Obrenovic, Milan 256
Moscow 226, 255 Nagumo, Admiral 322 migrations to 36, 37 obsidian 44
Ivan the Great Bell Tower Nagy, Imre 337 World War II 323, 332 Oceania 278–81
226 Nan-chao 152 New York: World Trade Center Octavian see Augustus
World War II 318 Nanjing 136, 139, 275 391, 391 Odovacar 113, 115
 409
Offa, King 163 Palestine 173 Persia (contd.) Poland 263
oil: conflicts over 366 campaigns in 66, 68, 295 religion 86 alliance with Lithuania 227
Okinawa 333 conquest of 87 Roman conquest of 86 dictatorship 307
Old Babylonian period 56 Palette of Narmer 49 Safavid 204–5 fall of Communism 342
Olduvai Gorge 31 Pallava kingdom 158 Sassanid 87, 154 World War I 291
Olmecs 78, 79, 128 Palmyra 111 Seljuks 157 World War II 314, 315,
statues and carvings 79, 79 Panama 244, 355 wars with Greece 89 317, 328
Olympia 95 migrations to 37 see also Iran Poltava, battle of 227
Omo, Ethiopia 35 Pandyan empire 158 Peru 356 Polybius 99
Onin War 147 Panipat, battle of 198, 198 ancient 78 Polynesia 188–9
Operation Barbarossa 318 Pankhurst, Emmeline 313 conquest of 209 Pompeii 19
Operation Blue 319 Pannonia 110, 165 early cultures 184–5 Pompey 104
Operation Cartwheel 332 Paracas 128, 131 independence 244, 245 popes 171
Operation Crusader 320 Paris 260, 260, 292, 315, 325 medieval 180 populism in 21st century 398
Operation Desert Storm 369 liberation 326, 326 people 131 Port Stanley 356
Operation Market Paris, Treaty of (1763) 246, Pétain, Philippe 315 Portugal:
Garden 326 247, 247 Peter the Hermit 172 colonies 210, 244, 245, 283
Operation Overlord 324 Paris, Treaty of (1782) 239, 240 Peter I (the Great) 226, 262 independence for colonies
Operation Rolling Thunder Park, Mungo 282 Peter III of Russia 246 360, 361
373 Parks, Rosa 350 Peterloo Massacre 266 trading empire 212
Operation Sealion 316 Parthenon 92–3, 95 pharaohs 62, 63 war with France 254–5
Operation Torch 320 Parthians 84, 86, 87, 116 Phidias 93, 95 Porus 97
Operation Uranus 319 hunting 86 Philip Augustus, King 173 Potidaea 94
Opium Wars 270, 274–5 religion 86 Philip II of Macedonia 96 Potsdam 336
Oppenheimer, Robert 335 Pasargadae: tomb of Cyrus 84 Philip II of Spain 210, 222, pottery and porcelain:
Orange Free State 285 pastoralism 83 222, 223 Chinese 76, 76, 274
Orhan, Sultan 157 Pataliputra 117, 119 Philip III of Spain 222 early 43
Orléans 177 Paulus, General 319 Philip IV of France 20, 177 Kamáres ware 70
Ortega, Daniel 355 Pavia 162 Philip III of Macedonia 98 Korean 151
Ostrogoths 115, 162 Pavia, battle of 149, 221 Philippines: WWII 323, Prambanan: temple
Oswald, Lee Harvey 349 Pazyryk 116 332 complex 122
Otranto 157 Pearl Harbor 322, 322 Philistines 58 pregnancy: duration 35
Otto I: imperial crown 171 peasants: after plague 176 philosophers Prehistoric world 26–49
Ottomans 204, 205
“Peking Man” 31 Greek 88, 95 map 28–9
Empire 143, 178, 202–3,
Peloponnesian War 90, 94 philosophy 230 study of 16–17
226, 273, 290
Peninsular War 244, 255 Phoenicians 83, 58 Preseli, Wales 47
Nationalism in 256–7
Pepi II 62 alphabet 61 Princip, Gavrilo 290
World War I 295
Pepin II 165 photography 23, 24 printing 21, 220
rise of 157
Pepin III 165 Pi-Rameses 69 Protestantism 218–19
Owen, Robert 267
Percival, Arthur 323 Piedmont 259 Provisional IRA 340
Oxus Treasure 85
perestroika 341 Pilgrimage of Gold 160 Prussia 254, 255, 258, 301
Pericles 93 Pilsudski, Marshal 307 Seven Years’ War 246–7

P
Perón, Eva 354, 354 Pinochet, Augusto 354 Ptolemies 69, 98
Perón, Juan Domingo 354 Pius VII, Pope 252 Ptolemy 98, 206
Perry, Matthew 276 Pizarro, Francisco 209 Punic Wars 58, 102–3
Pachacuti 185 Persepolis 85 Plantagenet kings 177 Punjab 271
Pacific Ocean: exploration in reliefs 85 Plassey, Battle of 270, 271 Puritans 211
278 Pershing, General John 296 Plato 95 Putin, Vladimir 399, 399
Pagan, Burma 152 Persia 84–7 PLO (Palestinian Liberation Pyinbya, King 152
Pahlavi, Mohammed Reza 367 defeat by Byzantine Organization) 365 Pylos 71
Pakistan 42, 43, 74, 359 Empire 178 Pliny the Younger 18 pyramids:
wars with India 368 Macedonian invasion Poitiers: Baptistery of in Egypt 63, 63
Palenque 130 of 96–7 Saint-Jean 164 Mexican 128
temple 130 Parthian 86 Poitiers, battle of 177 Moche 131
 410
Richard I (Lionheart) 173 Romulus Augustulus, SALT talks 339
Q Richelieu, Cardinal 228
road travel 390
Emperor 113
Roosevelt, Franklin D. 307,
Salvation Army 261
Samarkand 142, 198
Qaddafi, Muammar 396 roads: 322, 334 Samsuiluna 56
Qadesh 68, 69 in China 125 Rosetta stone 61 samurai 146, 147
Qalat al-Gundi 173 Roman 106 Ross, James 281 San Felipe, Puerto Rico 236
Qin 124–5 Silk Road 137, 142 Rousseau, Jean-Jacques 231, San Lorenzo, Mexico 79
Qin Shi Huang 125 Roanoke Island 211, 211 231 San Martin, José de 244, 245
Qing dynasty 140, 195 Robben Island 379 Rua, King 117 San people 38
Qorikancha 185 Robespierre, Maximilien 249, Ruby, Jack 349 San Salvador 206
Quan-nam 153 249 Rum Sultanate 156 Sandinistas 355, 355
Québec 237, 357 rock art 39, 39 Rus 168 Saqqara: pyramid 63, 63
Quetzalcoatl 182 relief carving 87 Russia: Sarajevo 290, 346
quipus 185 Roderick, King 163 in 19th century 262–3 Sargent, John Singer 298–9
Qur’an 123 Rollo 169 Civil War 304 Sargon II 59
Roman Catholicism 219 Crimean War 262 Sargon, King 54, 55, 55
Romania 108, 257, 343 empire 262 Sarmatians 116

R
Romanovs 226 Great Terror 305 SARS 383
Romanticism 22 Napoleonic war 255 Sassanids 84, 86, 87, 116,
Romanus IV 156 oil supplies 366 117, 154
Rabin, Yitzhak 365 Rome: Revolution (1905) 263 Satsuma Rebellion 276–7, 276
radio 268, 390 alphabet 61 Revolution (1917) 24, 24, Savimbi, Jonas 376
RAF: in World War II 316, 316 army 106, 112, 113 303 Saxons 163
railways 264, 265 civil wars 104, 107 Seven Years’ War 246–7 Saxony 165
Rajaraja I 158 Classical 100–13 under Lenin and Stalin 305 Scandinavia: farming 43
Rajendra I 158 Colosseum 107 unrest 302 Schleswig 258, 301
Rajendra III 158 conquests 58, 105 Ukraine 399 Schuman Plan 337
Raleigh, Sir Walter 211 early people 100 Russia science: developments 230,
Ramayana 122 Empire 105–12, 178 fighting ISIS 397 268–9
Rameses II 68, 69 fall of 20, 113 wars with Japan 277 Scipio 103
statues 69 map 83 World War I 291, 296, Scotland:
Rameses III 68 expansion 101 297, 302 Celts in 114
Rangoon 323 fall of 113 Russo-Japanese War Scott, Robert 281, 281
Rashtrakuta kingdom 158 government 106 263, 277 scribes 61
Ravenna, Battle of 149 histories 18 Rwanda 376–7, 377 sculpture and carvings:
Reccared 163 lictor 101 Champa 153

S
Red Turban Army 139 monarchy 100 early 49
Reformation 21, 171, 218–19, patricians 101 Easter Island 189, 189
230 plebeians 101 Egyptian 69
refugees 394–5, 398, 398 Punic Wars 102–3 Saarbrücken 260 funerary monument 99
religion: Republic 101 sacrifice: Greek 88, 89, 90
ancient Greek 95 end of 104 auto-sacrifice 130 Indian 119, 158
authority 48 Senate 101 Aztec knife for 182 Indus Valley 74, 75
Aztec 182 Temple of Castor and Pollux Safavids 202, 204–5, 205 Japanese guardian king 145
Celtic 114 101 Safi I 204 Maya 181
early evidence of 39 territories 106 Saguntum 102–3 sculpture and carvings
intolerance 199 Tetrarchy 111, 112 Sahel 160 Mexican 79
Persian 85 Trajan’s Column 109, 109 Saigon 373 Peruvian 78
tolerance 198–9 Twelve Tables 101 Sailendra kingdom 153 prehistoric 38
world 122–3 wars against Persians 86, St. Bartholomew’s Day Roman 108, 110–11
Remus 100 87 Massacre 221 Toltec 180
Renaissance 21, 215, 230 Rome, Treaty of 337 Saint-Simon, Henri 267 Venus figurines 39, 39
Rhodes, Cecil 283 Rommel, Edwin 320, 320 Saladin, Sultan 173 Scythians 116
Ribbentrop, Joachim von 314 Romulus 100, 100 Salerno 321 Sea Peoples 58, 59, 68
 411
Sedan, Battle of 258, silk routes 86 South Africa: Steppes: people of 116–7
260 Silla 150, 151 Apartheid 378–9 Stonehenge 46, 47
Seiwa, Emperor 145 silver 45, 210 Boer Wars 285 Strassmann, Fritz 334
Sejanus 107 Sima Qian 19, 19 elections 380–1 Stuart, John McDouall 279
Sejong 151 Sinai 364, 365 townships 379 Sturt, Charles 279, 279
Seleucids 86, 98, 118 Sindh 271 South America: Sudan 284
Selim I 202, 204 Singapore 374 early cultures 184 Sudetenland 314
Selim III 273 World War II 323, 323 independence 244–5 Suetonius 18
Seljuk Turks 155, 156, 157, Singh, Duleep 271 migrations to 37 Suez Canal 283, 284, 364
172, 174–5, 179 Sino-Japanese War 275 Spanish in 210 suffrage: women’s 313
Senegal 247 Sippar 56 South Korea 372, 374 Sui dynasty 136, 137
Sennacherib 59 Sirenpowet II: tomb South Pole: race to 281 Suleyman I (the Magnificent)
Septimania 164 paintings 66 Southern Rhodesia 375 202–3
Serbia 157, 273, 290, 291, 346 Sistine Chapel 216–17 Soweto 379 Sulla 104
independence 257 Sithole, Ndabaningi 375 Space Race 352 Sumatra 37, 153
serfdom: abolition 264 Siwa Oasis: Temple of the Spain: Sumerians 54–5
Seti I 68 Oracle 97 in Americas 182, 208–10, gaming board 55
Seven Years’ War 237, 246–7 Six Days’ War 364, 366 236, 244–5 sun: worship of 67, 69
Severus Alexander 111 Skara Brae 44 Armada 223 Sun Yat-Sen 275
Severus, Septimius, Slave Dynasty 159 becomes nation 222 Sundiata Keita 160
Emperor 110 slaves 23 Carthaginians in 102–3 Sungas 119
Sforza, Ludovico 221 auctions 241 Civil War 312 Suppiluliuma I 57
Shackleton, Sir Ernest 281 emancipation 243 Greeks in 91 Suryavarman 152
Shalmaneser III 59 ship for 229 Islam in 155 Susa, Iran 48, 85
shamans 39 trade in 229 Romans in 113 Sweden 227
Shang dynasty 76, 77 in US 241 settlements in 115 Syagrius 164
Shanghai 8–9, 274, 374 Slovenia 346 trading empire 212 Sylvester, Pope 112
Shapur I 87, 87 smallpox 383 Visigoths in 163 Syracuse 91, 94, 102
Sharpeville 378 smelting 45 war with France 254–5 Syria:
Shenyang Palace 195 Smith, Adam 22 Sparta 88 agriculture 42
Shenzong, Emperor 138 Smith, Ian 375, 375 war with Athens 18, 94, 96 ancient world 56
Shepard, Alan 352 Smoot-Hawley Tariff spear point: Clovis 37 Arab Spring 396, 396, 397
Sherman, William 243 307 spear-fishing 38 Byzantine 154
ships and boats: Snefru, pharaoh 62, 63 Spee, Admiral von 294 campaigns in 68
canoes: Polynesian 188 Socialism 267 speech: conquest of 87
early boats 36, 37 Socialist-Revolutionaries earliest 31 crusaders in 173
slave ship 229 304 evolution 32 invasions 66
triremes 94 society: Speke, John Hanning 282 refugees 394–5
U-boats 294 early 42–9, 44 Spion Kop 285

T
Viking 168 hierarchies: early 48 Srebenica 346
Shirakawa, Emperor 145 Socrates 95, Sri Lanka 158
Shiva 122, 122 statue 95 Srinagar 368
shoguns 146–7 Sofia 157 Srivijaya 153, 158 Tabatabai, Ghulam
Shomu, Emperor 144 Sogdia 97 Stalin, Joseph 305, 305, 336 Hussain 23
Shotoku Taishi 144 Solidarity 342 Stalingrad 319, 319, 327 Tacitus 18
Shu kingdom 136 Solon 88, 90 Stanley, Henry Moreton 282 Tahiti 188
Siberia: migrations to 37 Somalia 376, 383, 394 Star Carr, England 38 Taiping Rebellion 275
Sicily: Somme, battle of 293 Staraya Ladoga 168 Taira family 145
Greeks in 91 Somoza, Anastasio 355 steel production 264–5 Taiwan 195, 277, 323,
war in 102 Song dynasty 138 stela: 370, 374
Sidon 58 painting 138 Carthaginian 103 Taj Mahal 199, 200–1
Silesia 301 Songgye 151 Chavín 78 Takauji, Ashikaga 146, 147
Silk Road 137 Songhay 160 Stephenson, George: Takht-i-Rustam: temple 117
cities on 142 Sophocles 95 engine 265 Taliban 392, 392
 412
Tamamo-no-mae 146–7 Tiberius, Emperor 107, 107 Tsvangirai, Morgan US:
Tamerlane 143, 157, 204 Tiger economies 374 377 in Afghanistan 392
Tamura Maro 145 Tiglath-Pileser III 59 Tudhaliya III 57 army dog tags 373
Tang dynasty 137 Tigris River 48, 54 Tugrul Beg 156 birth of 239
Tanganyika, Lake 282 Tikal 130 Tukulti-Nimurta I 59 border with Canada 240
tanks 296 Timbuktu 160, 282 Tula 180 Civil Rights 350–1
Tanzania 30, 30, 360 Timur see Tamerlane Tullus Hostilius 100 Civil War 242–3, 242, 243
Tarquinius Priscus 100 Tiryns 71 Tunisia 102 slide to 241
Tarquinius Superbus 100 Tito, Josip 346 Arab Spring 396 Cold War 289, 335,
Tasman, Abel 278 Titus, Emperor 108 World War II 320 338–9, 349
Tasmania 37, 279 Tiwanaku 180, 184 Tupac Inca 185 Confederacy 241, 242
Tayasal 181 Gateway of the Sun 184 Turkey: economic growth 348
technology: Tlacopan 182 agriculture 42 expansion 240
in Industrial Revolution 264 Tlaloc 182 Crimean War 262 fighting ISIS 397
modern 24–5, 364 Tobruk 320 Ottoman Empire 157, immigration 264
telephone 390 Tocqueville, Alex de 23 202–3 and Iran 367
television 24, 25 Tokugawa shoguns 196–7, 276 reform movements 273 Korean War 372, 372
Templars 173 Tokyo 196, 276, 277, 333 Tulip Age 203 in Latin America 355
temples: Tolbiac, battle of 115 Turkmenistan: farming 43 Reconstruction process 243
Egyptian 64–5, 97 Toledo 163 Tutankhamun 68 Space Race 352
funerary 64–5 Tollan 180, 181 death mask 68 Vietnam War 373
Greek 95 Tolpuddle Martyrs 266 tomb 16, 17, 69 women’s suffrage 313
Kushan 117 Toltecs 180, 182 Tuthmosis I 68 World War I 296
Maya 130 Atlantes (columns) 180 Tuthmosis II 68 World War II 322, 324–5,
megalithic 47 tombs: Tuthmosis III 68 326, 332
Roman 101 Egyptian 16, 17, 66, 69 Tutsis 376, 377 USSR 308
Tenochtitlán 17, 182, 209 Japanese 144 Tyre 58 in Afghanistan 392
Teotihuacán 128 megalithic 46, 47 Cold War 289, 335, 338–9,

U
murals 128 paintings on 66, 144 349
terracotta figures: Persian 84 collapse of 343
Chinese warriors 125 tools: creation 305
Japanese 144 development 32 U-boats 294 expansionism 336
Terror (in Belgium) 397 earliest 31 Ubaid culture 49 invasion of Afghanistan 368
Terror (in France) 249 Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl 180 Udayagiri: temple perestroika 341
terrorism: 9/11 391, 391 Toulon 325 carvings 119 Space Race 352
Teshik-Tash 33 towns: first 48 UDI 375 World War II 318–19
Tetrarchy 111, 112 trade: Uganda 360 Uthman, Caliph 154
Teushpa 59 development Ugarit 60 Uzbekistan 33
Texas 240 European empires 212–13 alphabet 61

V
Texcoco 182 global 384–5 Ujjain 117
Thailand 152, 374 trade unionism 266 Ukraine 305, 343, 347,
Thanjavur 158 Trades Union Congress 266 399, 399
temple statue 158 traditions 17 UK Independence vaccination 383
Thatcher, Margaret 341, 356 Trafalgar, battle of 254 Party (UKIP) 398 Valentinian III, Emperor 113
Thebes 66, 88, 89, 96 Trajan, Emperor 86, 108 Ulm, battle of 254 Valerian, Emperor 87, 111
funerary temple 64–5 Transvaal 285 Umar, Caliph 154 Valley of the Kings 63, 69
Theoderic I 115, 162 Trasimene, Lake 103 Umayyad caliphate Vandals 113
Thera 70 trench warfare 292–3 155 Varna, Bulgaria:
Thermopylae 89 triremes 94 United Nations 394 grave 45
Thessaly 71 Trotsky, Leon 303, 304 FAO 382 mines 45
Thirty Years’ War 223, 224, 228 Truman, Harry S. 334, 362 UNSCOP plan 363 Varro, General 103
map 193 Trump, Donald J. 357, 385, Ur 54, 55, 56 vassals 166
Thrace 98 387, 395, 395 Urban II, Pope 172 Vatican: Sistine Chapel
Thucydides 18, 94 Tshombe, Moise 376 Uruk 49, 54, 54 216–17
 413
Venezuela 244, 356 Washington, George 238, World War II (contd.) Yayoi 144
Venus figurines 39, 39 239, 239 causes 301 Yazdegird III 87, 154
“Venus of Willendorf” 39 water jug: Iraqi 165 D-Day 324–5 Yellow River 127
Verdun, battle of 293 Waterloo, Battle of 253, end of 326–7, 332–3 villages along 76
Vereeniging, Peace of 285 254, 255 Europe after: map 289 Yellow Turban 127
Versailles, Palace of 228 Watts, James 264 Holocaust 328–9, 330–1 Yeltsin, Boris 342,
Hall of Mirrors 301 weaponry: in Italy 321 342, 343
Versailles, Treaty of (1919) Clovis spear point 37 Japan in 323, 332–3 Yemen 396
300–1, 314 francisca throwing in N. Africa 320 Yom Kippur War 364, 365, 366
Verus, Lucius 109 axe 113 start of 314–15 Yongle, Emperor 139,
Verwoerd, Dr. Hendrik 378 weapons US in 322 139, 140
Vesalius 230 gunpowder 148–9 in West 324–5 Yoruba people 161
Vespasian, Emperor 107, 108 see also explosives Worms, Concordat of 171 Yoshida, Shigeru 374
Victor Emmanuel II 259 Wei kingdom 136 Worms, Diet of 218 Yoshimasa, Shogun 147
Victor Emmanuel III 309 Wellington, Duke of 255 Wright brothers 268 Yoshimitsu 147
Victoria Falls 282 Wellington, New Zealand 280 writing: invention 17, 60–1 Yoshimoto, Imagawa 196
Victoria, Lake 282 Wessex 163 writing systems: Yoshitsune 146
Victoria, Queen 261, 261 West Kennet, Wiltshire 46 cuneiform 16, 16, 17, Ypres 292
Vienna: uprisings in 256 White Lotus Rebellion 274 54, 60, 61 Yuan 139
Vienna, Congress of 256, 259 Wilhelm I 258, 258 hieroglyphs 17, 60, 60 Yucatán 128, 130, 181
Vietnam 360 Wilhelm II 301 Indus 74, 74 Yudenich, General 304
Chinese in 127 Willandra Lakes, Australia: Linear 70 Yuezhi 117
Vietnam War 373 human footprints 36 Linear B 71 Yugoslavia 318
Vijayanagar empire 159 William the Conqueror Maya 130 civil war in 346, 347
Vikings 165, 168, 170 169 Olmec 79

Z
Vilcabamba 209 William of Orange 223 Wu kingdom 136
Villa, Pancho 244, 245 Wilson, Woodrow 297, 300 Wudi, Emperor 126–7
villages: first 44 wind turbines 387

X
Vinkovci 346 wine vessel: Chinese 124 Zahir, Muhammad 368
Virgil 214 Wolfe, General 237 Zakros 70
Visigoths 113, 115, 163, 164 women: suffrage 313 Zama, battle of 102–3
Vitruvius 214 Woodhenge, Wiltshire 46 Xerxes I 84, 89 Zambezi, River 282
Voltaire 22, 231 Woolley, Leonard 16 Xiangbei 136 Zambia 360
Vouillé, battle of 163 Worcester, Battle of 225 Xianyang 125, 126 Zamora: San Pedro de
voyages of discovery 206–7 Working Men’s Xiongnu 126, 136 la Nave 163
Vukovar 346, 346 Association 267 Xuanzong, Emperor 137 Zapata, Emiliano 245
World Trade Organization Zapotecs 128, 129

W Y
384–5 deity 129
World War I 24, 265, 288, Zeno, Emperor 115
290–301, 394 Zenobia, Queen 111
Waikato War 281 armistice 297 Yalta 336 Zhao Kuangyin 138
Waitangi, Treaty of 280, 281 in Eastern Europe 294 Yamamoto, Admiral 332 Zhengzhou 77
Walesa, Lech 342, 342 end of 297 Yamani, Sheikh Ahmed 366 Zhou dynasty 124
Wall Street Crash 306–7, 306 at sea 294 Yangdi, Emperor 136 Zhoukoudian Cave, China 31
Wallenstein, Albrecht von 224 start of 291 Yangshao culture 76 Zhu Yuanzhang 139
Wandu 150 trench warfare 292–3 pottery 76, 76 Zhukov, General 318,
Wang Geon 150, 151 US enters 296 Yangtze River: ancient 319, 327
Wang Mang 127 Western Front 292–3 settlements along 76 ziggurats 48, 54, 55
War of the Spanish World War II 24, 25, 288, Yangtze Valley 42 Zimbabwe 375, 377
Succession 228 314–35, 358 Yanukovych, Viktor Zimri-Lim 56
Wari 180, 184 air power 316, 317 399 Ziying 125
Wari Kayan 131 atom bombs 333, Yarmuk, Battle of 154 Zoroastrianism 86
Warsaw 315, 327 334–5 Yaxchilán 130 guardian spirits
Warsaw Pact 337, 339 Battle of Britain 316 carving 181 (fravashis) 86
 414

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The publisher would like to thank Neha Samuel for editorial Middle Eastern (cla). 56 Corbis: Gianni Dagli Orti (bl). 57 Corbis:
assistance and Heena Sharma for design assistance. Burstein Collection (tr); The Art Archive (b). 58 Corbis: Gianni Dagli
Orti (cra) (bl). 59 Getty Images: Jane Sweeney (b). 60 Getty Images:
Picture credits Middle Eastern (tl). 60–1 Corbis: Brooklyn Museum (b). 61 Getty
The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind Images: Egyptian (tl). 62 Corbis: Brooklyn Museum (cl); Werner
permission to reproduce their photographs: Forman (t). 63 Corbis: The Gallery Collection (tr). iStockphoto.com:
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(t); Nik Wheeler (b). 55 Corbis: Gianni Dagli Orti (br). Getty Images: Images: Panoramic Images (b). 123 Getty Images: Paleo-Christian
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(tr). 124 Corbis: Asian Art & Archaeology, Inc. (bl); Frank Lukasseck 202 Getty Images: Islamic School (clb). 203 Corbis: The Gallery
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