| Part ofa series on |
| Politics |
|---|
_(cropped).svg) |
Government branches |
 Politics portal |
| Part ofa series on |
| Human history |
|---|
| ↑Prehistory (Stone Age) (Pleistocene epoch) |
| ↓Future |
The political history of theworld is the history of the variouspolitical entities created by thehuman race throughout their existence and the way these states define their borders. Throughouthistory, political systems have expanded from basic systems ofself-governance andmonarchy to the complexdemocratic andtotalitarian systems that exist today. In parallel, political entities have expanded from vaguely defined frontier-typeboundaries, to the national definite boundaries existing today.
Theprimate ancestors of human beings already had social and political skills.[1] The first forms of humansocial organization werefamilies living inband societies ashunter-gatherers.[2]
After theinvention of agriculture around (7,000-8,000 BCE) across various parts of the world, human societies started transitioning totribal forms of organization.[3] Food surpluses made possible the development of a social elite who were not engaged in agriculture, industry or commerce, but dominated their communities and monopolized decision-making. Nonetheless, larger societies made it more feasible for people to adopt diverse decision making and governance models.[4]
There is evidence of diplomacy between different tribes, but also ofendemic warfare.[5] This could have been caused by theft of livestock or crops,abduction of women, or resource and status competition.[6]
TheThree-age system ofperiodization ofprehistory was first introduced for Scandinavia byChristian Jürgensen Thomsen in the 1830s. By the 1860s, it was embraced as a useful division of the "earliest history of mankind" in general[7] and began to be applied inAssyriology. The now-conventional periodization in the archaeology of the Ancient Near East was developed in the 1920s to 1930s.[8]
The early distribution of political power was determined by the availability offresh water,fertile soil, andtemperate climate of different locations.[9] These were all necessary for the development of highly organized societies.[9] The locations of these early societies were near, or benefiting from, the edges oftectonic plates.[10]
TheIndus Valley Civilization was located next to the Himalayas (which were created by tectonic pressures) and the Indus and Ganges rivers, which deposit sediment from the mountains to produce fertile land.[11] A similar dynamic existed inMesopotamia, where theTigris andEuphrates did the same with theZagros Mountains.[12]Ancient Egypt was helped by theNile depositing sediments from the East African highlands of its origins, while theYellow River andYangtze acted in the same way for Ancient China.[13] Eurasia was advantaged in the development of agriculture by the natural occurrence of domesticable wild grass species and the east–west orientation of the landmass, allowing for the easy spread of domesticated crops.[14] A similar advantage was given to it by half of the world's large mammal species living there, which could be domesticated.[15]
As the cooling and drying of the climate by 3800 BCE caused drought in Mesopotamia, village farmers began co-operating and started creating larger settlements withirrigation systems.[16] This new water infrastructure in turn required centralised administration with complex social organisation.[16] However, there is archaeological evidence that shows similar successes with more egalitarian and decentralized complex societies.[17] The first cities and systems of greater social organisation emerged in Mesopotamia, followed within a few centuries by ones at the Indus and Yellow River Valleys.[18] In the cities, the workforce could specialise as the whole population did not have to work for food production, while stored food allowed for large armies to create empires.[18] The firstempires were those ofAncient Egypt andMesopotamia.[9] Smaller kingdoms existed inNorth China Plain,Indo-Gangetic Plain,Central Asia,Anatolia,Eastern Mediterranean, andCentral America, while the rest of humanity continued to live in small tribes.[9]
The first states of sorts were those ofearly dynastic Sumer andearly dynastic Egypt, which arose from theUruk period andPredynastic Egypt respectively at approximately 3000BCE.[19] Early dynasticEgypt was based around theNile River in the north-east ofAfrica, the kingdom's boundaries being based around the Nile and stretching to areas whereoases existed.[20]Upper andLower Egypt were unified around 3150 BCE by PharaohMenes.[21] This process of consolidation was driven by the crowding of migrants from the expandingSahara in theNile Delta.[22] Nevertheless, political competition continued within the country between centers of power such asMemphis andThebes.[21] The prevailing north-east trade winds made it easier to sail up the river, thereby helping the unification of the state.[22] The geopolitical environment of the Egyptians had them surrounded byNubia in the smaller southern oases of the Nile unreachable by boat, as well as by Libyan warlords operating from the oases around modern-dayBenghazi, and finally by raiders across theSinai and the sea.[23] The country was well defended by natural barriers formed by the Sahara on both sides, though this also limited its ability to expand into a larger empire, mostly remaining a regional power along the Nile (except for a conquest of the Levant in the second millennium BCE).[22] The lack of timber also made it too expensive to build a large navy for power projection across the Mediterranean or Red Seas.[18]
Mesopotamia is situated between the major rivers ofTigris andEuphrates, and the first political power in the region was theAkkadian Empire starting around 2300 BCE.[24] They were preceded bySumer, and later followed byBabylon, andAssyria. They faced competition from the mountainous areas to the north, strategically positioned above the Mesopotamian plains, with kingdoms such asMitanni,Urartu,Elam, andMedes.[24] The Mesopotamians also innovated in governance by writing the first laws.[24]
A dry climate in the Iron Age caused turmoil as movements of people put pressure on the existing states resulting in theLate Bronze Age collapse, withCimmerians,Arameans,Dorians, and theSea Peoples migrating among others.[25] Babylon never recovered following the death ofHammurabi in 1699 BCE.[25] Following this,Assyria grew in power underAdad-nirari II.[26] By the late ninth century BCE, the Assyrian Empire controlled almost all of Mesopotamia and much of theLevant andAnatolia.[27] Meanwhile, Egypt was weakened, eventually breaking apart after the death ofOsorkon II until 710 BCE.[28] In 853, the Assyrians fought and won a battle against a coalition of Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Israel, Aram, and ten other nations, with over 60,000 troops taking part according to contemporary sources.[29] However, the empire was weakened by internal struggles for power, and was plunged into a decade of turmoil beginning with a plague in 763 BCE.[29] Following revolts by cities and lesser kingdoms against the empire, acoup d'état was staged in 745 byTiglath-Pileser III.[30] He raised the army from 44,000 to 72,000, followed by his successorSennacherib who raised it to 208,000, and finally byAshurbanipal who raised an army of over 300,000.[31] This allowed the empire to spread overCyprus, the entireLevant,Phrygia,Urartu,Cimmerians,Persia,Medes,Elam, andBabylon.[31]
By 650, Assyria had started declining as a severe drought hit the Middle East and an alliance was formed against them.[32] Eventually they were replaced by theMedian empire as the main power of the region following theBattle of Carchemish (605) and theBattle of the Eclipse (585).[33] The Medians served as the launching pad for the rise of thePersian Empire.[34] After first serving as vassals, under the third Persian kingCambyses I their influence rose, and in 553 they rose against the Medians.[34] By the death ofCyrus the Great, the PersianAchaemenid Empire reached fromAegean Sea toIndus River andCaucasus toNubia.[35] The empire was divided into provinces ruled bysatraps, who collected taxes and were typically local power brokers.[36] The empire controlled about a third of the world's farm land and a quarter of its population.[37] In 522, after KingCambyses II's death,Darius the Great took over power.[38]
As the population ofAncient Greece grew, they began acolonization of the Mediterranean region.[39] This encouraged trade, which in turn caused political changes in thecity-states with old elites being overthrown inCorinth in 657 and inAthens in 632, for example.[40] There were many wars between the cities as well, including theMessenian Wars (743–742; 685–668), theLelantine War (710–650), and theFirst Sacred War (595–585).[40] In the seventh and sixth centuries,Corinth andSparta were the dominant powers of Greece.[41] The former was eventually supplanted byAthens as the main sea power, while Sparta remained the dominant land-force.[42] In 499, in theIonian Revolt Greek cities inAsia Minor rebelled against the Persian Empire but were crushed in theBattle of Lade.[43] After this, the Persians invaded theGreek mainland in theGreco-Persian Wars (499–449).[43]
TheMacedonian KingPhilip II (350–336) conquered much of Greece.[44] In 338, he formed theLeague of Corinth to liberate Greeks in Asia Minor from the Persians, with 10,000 troops invading in 336.[44] After his murder, his sonAlexander the Great took charge and crossed theDardanelles in 334.[45] After Asia Minor had been conquered, Alexander invaded Levant, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, defeating the Persians underDarius the Great in theBattle of Gaugamela in 331, and ending the last resistance by 328.[45] AfterAlexander's death inBabylon in 323, theMacedonian Empire had no designated successor.[46] This led to its division into four: theAntigonid dynasty inMacedonia, theAttalid dynasty inAnatolia, thePtolemaic Kingdom inEgypt, and theSeleucid Empire overMesopotamia.[47]
TheRoman Republic became dominant in theMediterranean Basin in the 3rd century BC after defeating theSamnites, theGauls and theEtruscans for control of theItalian Peninsula.[48] In 264, it challenged its main rivalCarthage to a fight forSicily, starting thePunic Wars.[49] A truce was signed in 241, with Rome gainingCorsica andSardinia in addition to Sicily.[49] In 218, theCarthaginian Army generalHannibal marched out ofIberia towards Italy,crossing the Alps with hiswar elephants.[50] After 15 years of fighting, theRoman republican army beat him and then sent troops against Carthage itself, defeating it in 202.[51] TheSecond Punic War alone cost Rome 100,000 casualties.[52] In 146,Carthage was finally destroyed completely at the end of theThird Punic War.[53]
Rome suffered from various internal disturbances and instabilities. In 133,Tiberius Gracchus was killed alongside hundreds of supporters after trying to redistributepublic land to the poor under thelex agraria.[54] TheSocial War (91–88) was caused by neighbouring cities trying to secure themselves the benefits ofRoman citizenship.[54] In 82, generalSulla captured power violently, ending theRoman Republic and becoming adictator.[55] Following his death new power struggles emerged, and inCaesar's Civil War (49–46),Julius Caesar andPompey fought over the empire, with the former winning.[56] After theassassination of Julius Caesar in 44, asecond civil war broke out between his potential heirs,Mark Antony andAugustus, the latter gaining the new title ofRoman emperor.[56] This then led to thePax Romana, a long period of peace in theRoman Empire.[57] The quarrels between thePtolemaic Kingdom, theSeleucid Empire, theParthian Empire and theKingdom of Pontus in the Near East allowed the Romans to expand up to theEuphrates.[44] During Augustus' reign theRhine,Danube, and theSahara became the other borders of the empire.[58] The population reached about 60 million.[59]
Political instability in Rome grew. EmperorCaligula (37–41) was murdered by thePraetorian Guard to replace him withClaudius (41–53), while his successorNero (54–68) was rumored to haveburned Rome down.[60] The average reign from his death toPhilip the Arab (244–249) was six years.[60] Nevertheless, external expansion continued, withTrajan (98–117) invadingDacia,Parthia andArabia.[61] Its only formidable enemy was theParthian Empire.[62] Migrating peoples started exerting pressure on the borders of the empire in theMigration Period.[63] The drying climate ofCentral Asia forced theHuns to move, and in 370 they crossedDon and soon after theDanube, forcing theGoths on the move, which in turn caused otherGermanic tribes to overrunRoman borders.[64] In 293,Diocletian (284–305) appointed three rulers for different parts of the empire.[65] It was formally divided in 395 byTheodosius I (379–395) into theWestern Roman andByzantine Empires.[66] In 406 the northern border of the former was overrun by theAlemanni,Vandals andSuebi.[67] In 408 theVisigoths invaded Italy and thensacked Rome in 410.[67] The final collapse of the Western Empire came in 476 with the deposal ofRomulus Augustulus (475–476).[68]
Built around theIndus River, by 3300 BCE theIndus Valley Civilization, located in modern-day India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, had formed. The civilization's boundaries extended to 600 km from theArabian Sea.[69] After its citiesMohenjo-daro andHarappa were abandoned around 1900 BCE, no political power is known to have replaced it.[70]
States began to form in 12th century BCE with the formation ofKuru kingdom which was first state level administration in Indian subcontinent. In 6th century BCE with the emergence ofMahajanapadas.[71] Out of sixteen such states, four strong ones emerged:Kosala,Magadha,Vatsa, andAvanti, with Magadha dominating the rest by the mid-fifth century.[72] The Magadha then transformed into theNanda Empire underMahapadma Nanda (345–321), extending from theGangetic plains to theHindu Kush and theDeccan Plateau.[73] The empire was, however, overtaken byChandragupta Maurya (324–298), turning it into theMaurya Empire.[73] He defended against Alexander's invasion from the West and received control of the Hindu Kush mountain passes in a peace treaty signed in 303.[73] By the time of his grandsonAshoka's rule, the empire stretched fromZagros Mountains to theBrahmaputra River.[74] The empire contained a population of 50 to 60 million, governed by a system of provinces ruled by governor-princes, with a capital inPataliputra.[75]
After Ashoka's death, the empire had begun to decline, withKashmir in the north,Shunga andSatavahana in the centre, andKalinga as well asPandya in the south becoming independent.[76] In to thispower vacuum, theYuezhi were able to establish the newKushan Empire in 30 CE.[77] TheGupta Empire was founded byChandragupta I (320–335), which in sixty years expanded from theGanges to theBay of Bengal and theIndus River following the downfall of the Kushan Empire.[78] Gupta governance was similar to that of the Maurya.[79] Following wars with theHephthalites and other problems, the empire fell by 550.[80]
In theNorth China Plain, theYellow River allowed the rise of states such asWei andQi.[81] This area was first unified by theShang dynasty around 1600 BCE, and replaced by theZhou dynasty in theBattle of Muye in 1046 BCE, with reportedly millions taking part in the fighting.[81] The victors were however hit by internal unrest soon after.[82] The main rivals of the Zhou were theDongyi inShandong, theXianyun inOrdos, theGuifang inShanxi, as well as theChu in the middle reaches of theYangtze.[83]
Beginning in the eighth century BCE China, fell into chaos for five centuries during theSpring and Autumn (771–476) andWarring States periods (476–221).[84] During the latter period, theJin dynasty split into theWei,Zhao andHan states, while the rest of the North China Plain was composed of theChu,Qin,Qi andYan states, while the Zhou remained in the centre with largely ceremonial power.[85] While the Zhao had an advantage at first, the Qin ended up defeating them in 260 with about half a million soldiers fighting on each side at theBattle of Changping.[86] The other states tried to form an alliance against the Qin but were defeated.[87] In 221, theQin dynasty was established with a population of about 40 million, with a capital of 350,000 inLinzi.[88] Under the leadership ofQin Shi Huang, the dynasty initiated reforms such as establishing territorial administrative units, infrastructure projects (including theGreat Wall of China) and uniformChinese characters.[89] However, after his death and burial with theTerracotta Army, the empire started falling apart when the Chu and Han started fighting over a power vacuum left by a weak heir, with theHan dynasty rising to power in 204 BCE.[90]
Under the Han, the population of China rose to 50 million, with 400,000 in the capitalChang'an, and with territorial expansion toKorea,Vietnam andTien Shan.[91] Expeditions were also sent against theXiongnu and to secure theHexi Corridor, theNanyue kingdom was annexed, andHainan andTaiwan conquered.[92] The Chinese pressure on the Xiongnu forced them towards the west, leading to the exodus of theYuezhi, who in turn pillaged the capital ofBactria.[93] This then led to their newKushan Empire.[77] The end of the Han dynasty in 220 CE came following internal upheavals, with its split into theShu,Wu andWei states.[44] Following a brief unification under theJin dynasty (266–420), China was divided again in 304 due to therebellion of the Five Barbarians (304–316). Northern China and Sichuan were ruled by theSixteen Kingdoms, while the Jin relocated south of theYangtze River. By 439, theXianbei-ledNorthern Wei unified the north while the Jin was usurped by theLiu Song, transitioning into theNorthern and Southern dynasties period. China would be unified by theSui dynasty in 589 CE.[94]
TheOlmecs were the first majorIndigenous American culture, with some smaller ones such as theChavín culture amongst mainly hunter-gatherers.[95] The Olmecs were limited by the dense forests and the longrainy season of theOlmec heartland, as well as the lack of horses.[96]
The coast ofEast Africa contained a string of trading cities connected to kingdoms in the interior.[97] TheHorn of Africa was dominated by theEthiopian Empire by the 13th and 14th centuries.[97] South from it were theSwahili cities ofMogadishu,Mombasa,Zanzibar,Kilwa, andSofala.[98] By the 14th century, Kilwa had conquered most of the others.[98] It also engaged in campaigns against the inland power ofGreat Zimbabwe.[98] Great Zimbabwe was itself overtaken in trade by its rival, theKingdom of Mutapa.[98] Towards the north, the Empire of Kitara dominated theAfrican Great Lakes in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.[99] Towards the Atlantic coast, theKingdom of Kongo was of regional importance around the same time.[99] TheGulf of Guinea had theKingdom of Benin.[99] To the north, in theSahel, there was a tripartite competition between theMossi Kingdoms, theSonghai Empire, as well as theMali Empire, with the latter declining in the fifteenth century.[100]
TheTiwanaku Polity in westernBolivia based in the southernLake Titicaca Basin. Its influence extended into present-dayPeru andChile and lasted from around 600 to 1000 AD.[101]Chimor was the political grouping of theChimú culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru beginning around 850 and ending around 1470. Chimor was the largest kingdom in theLate Intermediate period, encompassing 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of coastline. TheAymara kingdoms in turn were a group of native polities that flourished towards theLate Intermediate Period, after the fall of the Tiwanaku Empire, whose societies were geographically located in theQullaw. They were developed between 1150 and 1477, before the kingdoms disappeared due to the military conquest of theInca Empire.
Beginning around 250 AD, theMaya civilization developed manycity-states linked by a complextrade network. In theMaya Lowlands two great rivals, the cities ofTikal andCalakmul, became powerful. The period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city ofTeotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a widespreadpolitical collapse in the central Maya region, resulting ininternecine warfare, the abandonment of cities, and a northward shift of population. The Postclassic period saw the rise ofChichen Itza in the north, and the expansion of the aggressiveKʼicheʼ kingdom in the Guatemalan Highlands. In the 16th century, theSpanish Empire colonised the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall ofNojpetén, the last Maya city, in 1697.
TheAztec Empire was formed as an alliance of threeNahuaaltepetl city-states:Mexico-Tenochtitlan,Tetzcoco, andTlacopan. from the victorious factions of a civil war fought between the city ofAzcapotzalco and its former tributary provinces. These three city-states ruled the area in and around theValley of Mexico from 1428 until the combined forces of the Spanishconquistadores and their native allies underHernán Cortés defeated them in 1521. Despite the initial conception of the empire as an alliance of three self-governed city-states,Tenochtitlan quickly became dominant militarily.[102] By the time the Spanish arrived in 1519, the lands of the Alliance were effectively ruled fromTenochtitlan, while the other partners in the alliance had taken subsidiary roles. TheTarascan state was the second-largest state inMesoamerica at the time.[103] It was founded in the early 14th century.
WhenChina entered theSui dynasty,[104] the government changed and expanded in its borders as the many separate bureaucracies unified under one banner.[105] This evolved into theTang dynasty whenLi Yuan took control of China in 626.[106] By now, theChinese borders had expanded fromeastern China, up north into the Tang Empire.[107] The Tang Empire fell apart in 907 and split intoten regional kingdoms and five dynasties with vague borders.[108] Fifty-three years after the separation of the Tang Empire, China entered theSong dynasty under the rule ofChao K'uang, although theborders of this country expanded, they were never as large as those of the Tang dynasty and were constantly being redefined due to attacks from the neighboringTartar (Mongol) people known as theKhitan tribes.[109]
TheMongol Empire emerged from the unification of severalnomadic tribes in theMongol homeland under theleadership ofGenghis Khan (c. 1162–1227), whom a council proclaimed as the ruler of all Mongols in 1206. The empire grew rapidly under his rule and that of his descendants, who sent outinvading armies in every direction.[110][111] The vast transcontinental empire connected theEast with theWest, thePacific to theMediterranean, in an enforcedPax Mongolica, allowing the dissemination and exchange of trade, technologies, commodities and ideologies acrossEurasia.[112][113] The Mongol invasion halted China's economic development for over 150 years, decisively changing the balance of power in theEastern Hemisphere.[114]
The empire began to split due to wars over succession, as the grandchildren of Genghis Khan disputed whether the royal line should follow from his son and initial heirÖgedei or from one of his other sons, such asTolui,Chagatai, orJochi. The Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes continued among the descendants of Tolui. AfterMöngke Khan died (1259), rivalkurultai councils simultaneously elected different successors, the brothersAriq Böke andKublai Khan, who fought each other in theToluid Civil War (1260–1264) and also dealt with challenges from the descendants of other sons of Genghis.[115][116] Kublai successfully took power, but civil war ensued as he sought unsuccessfully to regain control of theChagatayid andÖgedeid families. By the time of Kublai's death in 1294 the Mongol Empire hadfractured into four separate khanates or empires, each pursuing its own separate interests and objectives: theGolden Horde khanate in the northwest, theChagatai Khanate in Central Asia, theIlkhanate in the southwest, and theYuan dynasty in the east, based in modern-dayBeijing.[117]
In 1304, the three western khanates briefly accepted the nominalsuzerainty of the Yuan dynasty,[118][119] but in 1368 theHan ChineseMing dynasty took over the Mongol capital. The Genghisid rulers of the Yuan retreated to the Mongolian homeland and continued to rule there as theNorthern Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty, the largest army in the world, with almost a million soldiers.[120] It was therefore able to conduct military campaigns inManchuria,Inner Mongolia,Yunnan, andVietnam.[120] Naval voyages were also sent, with theMing treasure voyages reachingAfrica.[120] These also intervened militarily inJava,Sumatra, andSri Lanka.[121] The Ilkhanate disintegrated in the period 1335–1353. The Golden Horde had broken into competing khanates by the end of the 15th century and was defeated and thrown out of Russia in 1480 by theGrand Duchy of Moscow while the Chagatai Khanate lasted in one form or another until 1687.
TheByzantine–Sasanian Wars of 572–591 and602–628 produced the cumulative effects of a century of almost continuous conflict, leaving both empires crippled. WhenKavadh II died only months after coming to the throne, theSasanian Empire was plunged into several years of dynastic turmoil and civil war. The Sasanians were further weakened by economic decline, heavy taxation fromKhosrau II's campaigns, religious unrest, and the increasing power of theprovincial landholders.[122] TheByzantine Empire was also severely affected, with its financial reserves exhausted by the war and theBalkans now largely in the hands of theSlavs.[123] Additionally, Anatolia was devastated by repeated Persian invasions; the Empire's hold on its recently regained territories in the Caucasus, Syria, Mesopotamia, Palestine and Egypt was loosened by many years of Persian occupation.[124] Neither empire was given any chance to recover, and according to George Liska, the "unnecessarily prolonged Byzantine–Persian conflict opened the way for Islam".[125]
TheQuraysh ruled the city ofMecca, and expelled their memberMuhammad from it to the city of Medina in 622, from where he began spreading his new religion,Islam.[126] In 631 Muhammad marched with 10,000 to Mecca and conquered it before dying the next year.[126] His successors united most of Arabia in theRidda wars (632–633) and then started theMuslim conquests of the Levant (634–641),Egypt (639–642) andPersia (633–651), the latter ending the Sasanian empire.[126] In less than a decade after his death, the IslamicRashidun Caliphate extended its reach fromAtlas Mountains in the west to theHindu Kush in the east.[127] However, theFirst Fitna led to its replacement by theUmayyad Caliphate in 661, moving the centre of power toDamascus.[127] At its height, the Umayaads ruled a third of the world's population.[128] In 750, theAbbasid Caliphate replaced the Umayyads in theAbbasid Revolution.[129] In 762, they moved the capital toBaghdad.[130] TheEmirate of Córdoba remained under Umayaad rule, while in 788 theIdrisid dynasty broke away inMorocco.[131] TheFatimid Caliphate started taking over North Africa from 909 onwards, and theBuyid dynasty broke away in Persia and later Mesopotamia starting in the 930's.[131]In 711, theUmayyad conquest of Hispania began, and in 717 they crossed thePyrenees into theEuropean Plain.[132] They were met by theMerovingian dynasty, which had been established byClovis I (481–511), which was in decline, leadingCharles Martel to seize power and defeat the invasion force at theBattle of Tours in 732.[132] His sonPepin the Short established theCarolingian dynasty in 751.[132]Charlemagne (768–814) turned it into theCarolingian Empire, being crowned Emperor of the Romans in 800 by the Pope, with this forming the basis for the laterHoly Roman Empire.[133] Meanwhile, in Eastern Europe,Krum (795–814) expanded theBulgarian Empire.[134] TheTreaty of Verdun divided Carolingian Empire intoWest,Middle andEast Francia.[135]
During theViking Age (793–1066 AD),Norsemen known asVikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe, and reached North America.[136][137] Voyaging by sea from their homelands inDenmark,Norway andSweden, the Norse people settled in theBritish Isles,Ireland, theFaroe Islands,Iceland,Greenland,Normandy, theBaltic coast, and along theDnieper andVolga trade routes in eastern Europe, where they were also known asVarangians. They also brieflysettled in Newfoundland, becoming the first Europeans to reach North America. The Vikings founded several kingdoms and earldoms in Europe: thekingdom of the Isles (Suðreyjar),Orkney (Norðreyjar),York (Jórvík) and theDanelaw (Danalǫg),Dublin (Dyflin),Normandy, andKievan Rus' (Garðaríki). The Norse homelands were also unified into larger kingdoms during the Viking Age, and the short-livedNorth Sea Empire included large swathes of Scandinavia and Britain.
In 1095,Pope Urban II proclaimed theFirst Crusade at theCouncil of Clermont. He encouraged military support forByzantine EmperorAlexios I against theSeljuk Turks and an armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Across all social strata in western Europe there was an enthusiastic popular response. Volunteers took a public vow to join the crusade. Historians now debate the combination of their motivations, which included the prospect of mass ascension into Heaven at Jerusalem, satisfying feudal obligations, opportunities for renown, and economic and political advantage. Initial successes established fourCrusader states in theNear East: theCounty of Edessa; thePrincipality of Antioch; theKingdom of Jerusalem; and theCounty of Tripoli. The crusader presence remained in the region in some form until the city ofAcre fell in 1291, leading to the rapid loss of all remaining territory in theLevant. After this, there were no furthercrusades to recover the Holy Land.
Following the end of theCarolingian Empire, the largest polities in Western Europe were theHoly Roman Empire, theByzantine Empire,Kingdom of France, and theKingdom of England.[138] TheCatholic Church also wielded tremendous power.[138] In Eastern Europe, theMongol invasion of Europe killed half the population 1237 to 1241.[139] The resulting power vacuum helped theTeutonic Order, while theKingdom of Poland and theKingdom of Hungary became the main Catholic realms.[140] Further east, theKievan Rus' continued to prosper.[140] The main power to the south meanwhile was theByzantine Empire.[140] However, by 1180, theRepublic of Venice had changed the balance of maritime power in the Mediterranean.[141] In theGreater Middle East, power was divided between theSeljuk Empire, theFatimid Caliphate, theBuyid dynasty, and theGhaznavids.[142] No Islamic power was able to hold Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Persia at the same time again.[143] In 1258, the MongolSiege of Baghdad pushed the Islamic world into disarray.[144]
TheSeljuk dynasty was founded byOsman I (1200–1323), leading to theOttoman Empire.[145] In 1345, the Ottomans entered Europe across theDardanelles, conqueringThessaloniki in 1387, and advancing toKosovo by 1389.[146] TheFall of Constantinople followed in 1453.[146] The Fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, and effectively the end of theRoman Empire, a state which dated back to 27 BC and lasted nearly 1,500 years. The conquest of Constantinople and the fall of the Byzantine Empire was a key event of theLate Middle Ages and is considered the end of theMedieval period.
Indian politics revolved around the struggle between the BuddhistPala Empire, the HinduGurjara-Pratihara dynasty, the JainistRashtrakuta dynasty, as well as the Islamic caliphate.[147] The Pala Empire had risen around 750 inBengal underGopala I, while the Rashtrakutas had emerged around the same time in theDeccan Plateau and the southern coast underDantidurga.[148] The Pratiharas first united theIndo-Gangetic Plain underNagabhata I (c. 730–760), who has defeated an Islamic invasion of northern India.[148] The struggle between the four lasted for almost 200 years.[149] By the ninth century, theGhaznavids, a breakaway from the caliphate, arose after taking advantage of the others' internal weaknesses.[149]
TheChola dynasty arose as the one of Asia's strongest trading powers before invadingSri Lanka at the end of the 900's.[150] In 1025, they attacked rival commercial kingdom ofSrivijaya in Southeast Asia.[150] Their enemies in India included an alliance ofPandyan princes and theChalukya dynasty.[150] However, theGhurid dynasty invaded the northern parts of the subcontinent 1175 to 1186, conquering much of them.[151][152] In 1206,Qutb al-Din Aibak founded theDelhi Sultanate.[152] By the 14th century, it controlled theIndo-Gangetic Plain and theDeccan Plateau.[152] In the middle of the century, the latter saw the rise of theVijayanagara Empire, which ruled much of southern India as a federation.[153] The Sultanate and the Empire engaged in continuous warfare without either being able to defeat the other.[153]
Beginning with the 1492 arrival ofChristopher Columbus in the Caribbean and gaining control over more territory for over three centuries, theSpanish Empire would expand across theCaribbean Islands, half of South America, most ofCentral America and much ofNorth America. The major empires of the American continents were defeated by much smaller Spanish forces. TheAztec Empire underMoctezuma II had 200,000 troops under its command, but was defeated by little over 600conquistadors.[154] TheInca Empire underAtahualpa with 60,000 soldiers was defeated by 168 Spaniards, meanwhile.[154]
Following an earlier expedition toYucatán led byJuan de Grijalva in 1518, Spanish conquistadorHernán Cortés led an expedition (entrada) to Mexico. Two years later, in 1519, Cortés and his retinue set sail for Mexico.[155] Cortés made alliances with tributary city-states (altepetl) of theAztec Empire as well as their political rivals, particularly theTlaxcaltecs andTetzcocans, a former partner in the Aztec Triple Alliance. Other city-states also joined, includingCempoala andHuejotzingo and polities borderingLake Texcoco, the inland lake system of theValley of Mexico. TheSpanish campaign against the Aztec Empire had its final victory on 13 August 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and nativeTlaxcalan warriors led by Cortés andXicotencatl the Younger captured the emperorCuauhtémoc andTenochtitlan, the capital of theAztec Empire. Thefall of Tenochtitlan marks the beginning ofSpanish rule in central Mexico, and they established their capital ofMexico City on the ruins of Tenochtitlan.
After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168Spanish soldiers underconquistadorFrancisco Pizarro, his brothers, and theirindigenousallies captured theSapa IncaAtahualpa in the 1532Battle of Cajamarca. It was the first step in a long campaign that took decades of fighting but ended in Spanish victory in 1572 and colonization of the region as theViceroyalty of Peru.
TheSpanish conquest of the Muisca took place from 1537 to 1540. Meanwhile, theCalchaquí Wars were a series of military conflicts between theDiaguita Confederation and theSpanish Empire in the 1560–1667 period. After manyinitial Spanish successes in theArauco War against theMapuche, theBattle of Curalaba in 1598 and the followingdestruction of the Seven Cities marked a turning point in the war leading to the establishment ofa clear frontier between the Spanish domains and the land of the independent Mapuche.
Thegunpowder empires were theOttoman,Safavid, andMughal empires as they flourished from the 16th century to the 18th century. These three empires were among the strongest and most stable economies of theearly modern period, leading to commercial expansion, and greater patronage of culture, while their political and legal institutions were consolidated with an increasing degree of centralisation. The empires underwent a significant increase in per capita income and population, and a sustained pace of technological innovation. They stretched fromCentral Europe andNorth Africa in the west to between today's modernBangladesh andMyanmar in the east.
Under SultanSelim I (1512–1520), the Ottomans defeated the Safavids in theBattle of Chaldiran (1514).[156] His successor,Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566), the Ottoman Empire marked the peak of its power and prosperity as well as the highest development of its government, social, and economic systems.[157] Already controlling the Balkans, it was able to invadeHungary and win in theBattle of Mohács (1526).[156] However, further advancement failed after theSiege of Vienna (1529).[158] Following naval victories in theBattle of Preveza (1538) and theBattle of Djerba (1560), the Ottomans also emerged as the dominant maritime power in the Mediterranean.[159] A sailing voyage even reached theAceh Sultanate in 1565.[160] At the beginning of the 17th century, the empire contained32 provinces and numerousvassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy over the course of centuries.[note 1]
However, the Ottomans began to face many challenges. The failure to conquer the Safavid Empire forced it to keep forces in the east, while the expansion of theRussian Empire put pressure on theBlack Sea territories.[160] Meanwhile, Western powers began to overtake their maritime capabilities, with theBattle of Lepanto (1571) being a turning point.[160] In 1683, theBattle of Vienna halted an Ottoman invasion again, with the ChristianHoly League driving the Empire back into the Balkans.[160] Despite the Venetianreconquest of Morea (Peloponnese) in the 1680s andit was recovered in 1715, while the island ofCorfu under Venetian rule remained the only Greek island not conquered by the Ottomans. The Ottoman Empire still remained the largest power in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.[161]
The Safavid dynasty ruledPersia from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736). It ruled from theBlack Sea to theHindu Kush, with more than 50 million inhabitants.[161] Originating fromCaucasian warriors called theQizilbash, they conqueredArmenia in 1501, most of Persia by 1504, parts ofUzbekistan in 1511, and unsuccessfully fighting over Caucasus andMesopotamia until 1555.[162] However,Baghdad was recaptured in 1623.[162] The expansion of Russia in the north eventually started to pose a threat.[163] The Empire was finally defeated by and divided between the Ottomans and the Russians in 1722–23.[164]
TheMughal Empire, was an empire inSouth Asia.[165] For some two centuries, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus basin in the west, northernAfghanistan in the northwest, andKashmir in the north, to thehighlands of present-dayAssam andBangladesh in the east, and the uplands of theDeccan Plateau inSouth India.[166] In 1505, Central Asian invaders had entered theIndo-Gangetic Plain and established the Empire underAkbar (1556–1605).[164] The neglect of northern defences allowed the Persians underNader Shah to invade in 1739, with the capitalDelhi sacked.[167]
Under theMing dynasty (1368–1644), China's population and economy grew.[168] While thePortuguese Empire was at first successfully kept out,Japanese pirates began to attack the coast, forcing co-operation with the Portuguese who established a trading settlement atMacau in 1554.[169] NorthernMongol andJurchen people established a coalition to invade the country, reachingBeijing in 1550.[169] In 1592, theJapanese invaded Korea, while rebellions emerged in China.[170]
In 1700,Charles II of Spain died, namingPhillip of Anjou,Louis XIV's grandson, his heir. Charles' decision was not well met by the British, who believed that Louis would use the opportunity to allyFrance andSpain and attempt to take over Europe. Britain formed theGrand Alliance withHolland,Austria and a majority of theGerman states and declared war against Spain in 1702. TheWar of the Spanish Succession lasted 11 years, and ended when theTreaty of Utrecht was signed in 1714.[171]
Less than 50 years later, in 1740, war broke out again, sparked by the invasion ofSilesia, part ofAustria, by KingFrederick the Great ofPrussia. TheBritish Empire, theDutch Republic, and theKingdom of Hungary supportedMaria Theresa. Over the next eight years, these and other states participated in theWar of the Austrian Succession, until a treaty was signed, allowing Prussia to keep Silesia.[172][173] TheSeven Years' War began when Theresa dissolved her alliance with Britain and allied withFrance andRussia. In 1763, Britain won the war, claimingCanada and land east of theMississippi. Prussia also kept Silesia.[174]
Interest in the geography of theSouthern Hemisphere began to increase in the 18th century.[175] In 1642,DutchnavigatorAbel Tasman was commissioned to explore theSouthern Hemisphere; during his voyages, Tasman discovered the island ofVan Diemen's Land, which was later namedTasmania, theAustralian coast, andNew Zealand in 1644.[176] CaptainJames Cook was commissioned in 1768 to observe asolar eclipse inTahiti and sailed intoStingray Harbor onAustralia's east coast in 1770, claiming the land for theBritish Crown.[177] Settlements inAustralia began in 1788 when Britain began to utilize the country for the deportation ofconvicts,[178] with the first free settles arriving in 1793.[179] Likewise New Zealand became a home for hunters seekingwhales andseals in the 1790s with laternon-commercialsettlements by theScottish in the 1820s and 1830s.[180]
TheAtlantic Revolutions were arevolutionary wave in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It took place in both the Americas and Europe. Following theAge of Enlightenment, ideas critical ofabsolutist monarchies began to spread, spreadingliberalism. The first of these was theCorsican Revolution (1755–1769), which led to thefirst modern constitution and lead tofemale suffrage, inspired by the thought ofJean-Jacques Rousseau. In theAmerican Revolution (1765–1783), Americancolonies of theBritish Empire rose againsttaxation without representation and declared thatall men are created equal. Other revolutions included theGeneva Revolution of 1782,Revolt of Dutch Patriots (1785),Liège Revolution (1789–1795),Brabant Revolution (1790),Haitian Revolution (1791–1804),Batavian Revolution (1795),Slave revolt in Curaçao (1795),Fédon's rebellion (1796),Scottish Rebellion (1797),Irish Rebellion (1798),Helvetic Revolution (1798), andAltamuran Revolution (1799),1811 German Coast uprising (1811), and theNorwegian War of Independence (1814). There were smaller upheavals in Switzerland, Russia, and Brazil. The revolutionaries in each country knew of the others and to some degree were inspired by or emulated them.[181]
TheFrench Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from theFrench Revolution. They pittedFrance against Great Britain, theHoly Roman Empire,Prussia,Russia, and several other monarchies. They are divided in two periods: theWar of the First Coalition (1792–97) and theWar of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in theItalian Peninsula, theLow Countries and the Rhineland in Europe and was retrocededLouisiana in North America. French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.
TheCoup of 18 Brumaire brought GeneralNapoleon Bonaparte to power asFirst Consul ofFrance and in the view of mosthistorians ended theFrench Revolution. TheNapoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major conflicts pitting theFrench Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array ofEuropean powers formed into various coalitions. It produced a brief period of French domination over most of continental Europe. The wars stemmed from the unresolved disputes associated with theFrench Revolution and itsresultant conflict. The wars are often categorised into five conflicts, each termed after the coalition that fought Napoleon: theThird Coalition (1805), theFourth (1806–07), theFifth (1809), theSixth (1813–14), and theSeventh (1815).
ThePeninsular War with France, which resulted from theNapoleonic occupation of Spain, causedSpanish Creoles inSpanish America to question their allegiance to Spain, stoking independence movements that culminated in variousSpanish American wars of independence (1808–33), which were primarily fought between opposing groups of colonists and only secondarily against Spanish forces. At the same time, the Portuguese monarchy relocated toBrazil during Portugal's French occupation. After the royal court returned toLisbon, theprince regent,Pedro, remained in Brazil and in 1822 successfully declared himself emperor of a newly independentBrazilian Empire.
Revolutions during the 1820s included theCarbonari inItaly, theTrienio Liberal inSpain, theLiberal Revolution of 1820 in theKingdom of Portugal, theGreek War of Independence, and theDecembrist revolt in theRussian Empire. Followed by these, theRevolutions of 1830 were an included theBelgian Revolution in theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands, theJuly Revolution inFrance, theNovember Uprising in theCongress Poland, and theUstertag inSwitzerland. TheRevolutions of 1848 in turn were the most widespreadrevolutionary wave inEuropean history. They included theMarch Revolution,French Revolution,German revolutions, theRevolutions in the Italian states,Greater Poland uprising,March Unrest,Revolutions in the Austrian Empire,Praieira revolt,Revolution in Luxembourg,Moldavian Revolution,Wallachian Revolution,Chartism, and theYoung Ireland rebellion.
Inspired by the rebellions in the 1820s and 1830s against the outcome of theCongress of Vienna, theItalian unification process was precipitated by the revolutions of 1848. It reached completion in 1871, when thePapal Stateswere captured and Rome was officially designated the capital of theKingdom of Italy.[182][183] After theFranco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Prussia, underOtto von Bismarck, brought together almost all the German states (excluding theAustrian Empire,Luxembourg, andLiechtenstein) into a newGerman Empire. Bismarck's new empire became the most powerful state inContinental Europe until 1914.[184][185] Meanwhile, Britain had entered an era of "splendid isolation", avoiding entanglements that had led it into theCrimean War in 1854–1856. It concentrated on internal industrial development and political reform, and building up its great international holdings, theBritish Empire, while maintaining by far the world's strongestNavy to protect its island home and its many overseas possessions.
TheBerlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is usually accepted as the beginning of theScramble for Africa. In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries among the empires of theEuropean continent, leading to theAfrican continent being partitioned without wars between European nations. As late as the 1870s, Europeans controlled approximately 10% of the African continent, with all their territories located near the coasts. The most important holdings were Angola and Mozambique, held by Portugal; the Cape Colony, held by Great Britain; and Algeria, held by France. By 1914, only Ethiopia and Liberia remained independent of European control, with the latter having strong connections to the United States.[186]
In theSpanish–American War of 1898, the United States intervened in theCuban War of Independence, leading it to emerge as the predominant power in theCaribbean region,[187] and resulting in U.S. acquisition ofSpain's Pacific possessions. It also led to United States involvement in thePhilippine Revolution and later to thePhilippine–American War. The Banana Wars were a series of conflicts that consisted ofmilitary occupation,police action, andintervention by the United States inCentral America and the Caribbean following the end of the Spanish–American War in 1898, after which the United States proceeded to conduct military interventions inCuba,Panama,Nicaragua,Mexico,Haiti, and theDominican Republic.
World War I saw the continent of Europe split into two major opposing alliances; theAllied Powers, primarily composed of theUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, theUnited States,France, theRussian Empire,Italy,Japan,Portugal, and the many aforementioned Balkan States such as theKingdom of Serbia andMontenegro; and theCentral Powers, primarily composed of theGerman Empire, theAustro-Hungarian Empire, theOttoman Empire andBulgaria. Though Serbia was defeated in theSerbian Campaign of 1915, andRomania joined the Allied Powers in 1916,only to be defeated in 1917, none of the great powers were knocked out of the war until 1918. The 1917February Revolution in Russia replaced theRussian Empire with theProvisional Government, but continuing discontent with the cost of the war led to theOctober Revolution, the creation of theSoviet Socialist Republic, and the signing of theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk by the new government in March 1918, ending Russia's involvement in the war. One by one, the Central Powers quit: first Bulgaria (September 29), then the Ottoman Empire (October 31) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (November 3). With its allies defeated,revolution at home, and the military no longer willing to fight,Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated on 9 November and Germany signed anarmistice on 11 November 1918, ending the war.
Thepartitioning of the Ottoman Empire after the war led to the domination of theMiddle East by Western powers such as Britain and France, and saw the creation of the modernArab world and the Republic ofTurkey. TheLeague of Nations mandate granted theFrench Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, theBritish Mandate for Mesopotamia (laterIraq) and theBritish Mandate for Palestine, later divided intoMandatory Palestine and theEmirate of Transjordan (1921–1946). The Ottoman Empire's possessions in theArabian Peninsula became theKingdom of Hejaz, which theSultanate of Nejd (todaySaudi Arabia) was allowed to annex, and theMutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen. The Empire's possessions on the western shores of thePersian Gulf were variously annexed by Saudi Arabia (al-Ahsa andQatif), or remainedBritish protectorates (Kuwait,Bahrain, andQatar) and became theArab States of the Persian Gulf.
TheRevolutions of 1917–1923 included political unrest and revolts around the world inspired by the success of the Russian Revolution and the disorder created by theaftermath of World War I. In war-tornImperial Russia, the liberalFebruary Revolution toppled the monarchy. A period of instability followed, and theBolsheviks seized power during theOctober Revolution. In response to the emergingSoviet Union,anticommunist forces from a broad assortment of ideological factions fought against the Bolsheviks, particularly by thecounter-revolutionaryWhite movement and the peasantGreen armies, the various nationalist movements inUkraine after the Russian Revolution and other would-be new states like those in SovietTranscaucasia andSoviet Central Asia, theanarchist-inspiredThird Russian Revolution and theTambov Rebellion.[188] TheLeninist victories also inspired a surge byworld communism: the largerGerman Revolution and its offspring, like theBavarian Soviet Republic, the neighbouringHungarian Revolution, and theBiennio Rosso in Italy, in addition to various smaller uprisings, protests and strikes, all of which proved abortive. The Bolsheviks sought to coordinate this new wave of revolution in the Soviet-ledComintern.
The conditions of economic hardship caused by theGreat Depression brought about an international surge of social unrest. In Germany, it contributed to the rise of theNational Socialist German Workers' Party, which resulted in the demise of theWeimar Republic and the establishment of the fascist regime,Nazi Germany, under the leadership ofAdolf Hitler. Fascist movements grew in strength elsewhere in Europe. Hungarian fascistGyula Gömbös rose to power as Prime Minister ofHungary in 1932 and attempted to entrench hisParty of National Unity throughout the country. The fascistIron Guard movement inRomania soared in political support after 1933, gaining representation in the Romanian government, and an Iron Guard member assassinated Romanian prime ministerIon Duca. During the6 February 1934 crisis,France faced the greatest domestic political turmoil since theDreyfus Affair when the fascistFrancist Movement and multiple far-right movements rioteden masse in Paris against the French government resulting in major political violence.
In the Americas, theBrazilian Integralists led byPlínio Salgado claimed as many as 200,000 members although following coup attempts it faced a crackdown from theEstado Novo ofGetúlio Vargas in 1937. In the 1930s, theNational Socialist Movement of Chile gained seats inChile's parliament and attempted a coup d'état that resulted in theSeguro Obrero massacre of 1938.
World War II is generally considered to have begun on 1 September 1939, whenNazi Germany, underAdolf Hitler,invaded Poland. TheUnited Kingdom andFrance subsequentlydeclared war on Germany on the 3rd. Under theMolotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and theSoviet Union had partitioned Poland and marked out their "spheres of influence" acrossFinland,Romania and theBaltic states. From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series ofcampaigns andtreaties, Germany conquered or controlled much ofcontinental Europe, and formed theAxis alliance withItaly andJapan (along with other countries later on). Following the onset of campaigns inNorth Africa andEast Africa, and thefall of France in mid-1940, the war continued primarily between the European Axis powers and theBritish Empire, with war in theBalkans, the aerialBattle of Britain,the Blitz of the UK, and theBattle of the Atlantic. On 22 June 1941, Germany led the European Axis powers inan invasion of the Soviet Union, openingthe Eastern Front, the largest land theatre of war in history and trapping the Axis powers, crucially the GermanWehrmacht, in awar of attrition.
Japan, which aimed todominate Asia and the Pacific, wasat war with theRepublic of China by 1937. In December 1941, Japan attacked American and British territories with near-simultaneousoffensives against Southeast Asia and the Central Pacific, including anattack on the US fleet at Pearl Harbor which forced the US to declare war against Japan; the European Axis powers declared war on the US in solidarity. Japan soon captured much of the western Pacific, but its advances were halted in 1942 after losing the criticalBattle of Midway; later, Germany and Italy weredefeated in North Africa and at theBattle of Stalingrad in the Soviet Union. Key setbacks in 1943—including a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, theAllied invasions of Sicily andthe Italian mainland, and Allied offensives in the Pacific—cost the Axis powers their initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Alliesinvaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Unionregained its territorial losses and turned towards Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945, Japan suffered reversals in mainland Asia, while the Allies crippled theJapanese Navy and captured key western Pacific islands.
The war in Europe concluded with the liberation ofGerman-occupied territories, and theinvasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in thefall of Berlin to Soviet troops,Hitler's suicide and theGerman unconditional surrender on8 May 1945. Following thePotsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender on its terms, the United Statesdropped the first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities ofHiroshima, on 6 August, andNagasaki, on 9 August. Faced with an imminentinvasion of the Japanese archipelago, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, and the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and itsinvasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August, then signed the surrender document on2 September 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies.
World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the globe. TheUnited Nations (UN) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts, and the victoriousgreat powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States—became thepermanent members of itsSecurity Council. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rivalsuperpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century-longCold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering thedecolonisation of Africa andAsia. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towardseconomic recovery and expansion. Political integration, especiallyin Europe, began as an effort to forestall future hostilities, end pre-war enmities and forge a sense of common identity.
TheCold War was a period ofgeopolitical tension between theUnited States and theSoviet Union and their respective allies, theWestern Bloc and theEastern Bloc, which began following World War II. The Western Bloc was led by the United States as well as the otherFirst World nations of the Western Bloc that were generallyliberal democratic but tied to a network of theauthoritarian states, most of which weretheir former colonies.[189][A] The Eastern Bloc was led by the Soviet Union and itsCommunist Party, which had an influence across theSecond World. The US governmentsupported right-wing governments and uprisings across the world, while the Soviet governmentfunded communist parties and revolutions around the world. As nearly all the colonial statesachieved independence in the period 1945–1960, they becameThird World battlefields in the Cold War.
The first phase of the Cold War began shortly after the end of the Second World War in 1945. The United States and its alliescreated theNATO military alliance in 1949 in the apprehension of a Soviet attack and termedtheir global policy against Soviet influencecontainment. The Soviet Union formed theWarsaw Pact in 1955 in response to NATO. Major crises of this phase included the 1948–49Berlin Blockade, the 1927–1949Chinese Civil War, the 1950–1953Korean War, the1956 Hungarian Revolution, the 1956Suez Crisis, theBerlin Crisis of 1961 and the 1962Cuban Missile Crisis. The US and the USSR competed for influence inLatin America, theMiddle East, and thedecolonizing states of Africa andAsia.
Following theCuban Missile Crisis,a new phase began that saw theSino-Soviet split between China and the Soviet Union complicate relations within the Communist sphere, while France, a Western Bloc state, began to demand greater autonomy of action. The USSRinvaded Czechoslovakia to suppress the 1968Prague Spring, while the US experienced internal turmoil from thecivil rights movement andopposition to the Vietnam War. In the 1960s–70s, an internationalpeace movement took root among citizens around the world.Movements againstnuclear arms testing and fornuclear disarmament took place, with largeanti-war protests. By the 1970s, both sides had started making allowances for peace and security, ushering in a period ofdétente that saw theStrategic Arms Limitation Talks and the USopening relations with thePeople's Republic of China as a strategic counterweight to the USSR. A number of self-proclaimed Marxist regimes were formed in the second half of the 1970s in theThird World, includingAngola,Mozambique,Ethiopia,Cambodia,Afghanistan andNicaragua.
Détente collapsed at the end of the decade with the beginning of theSoviet–Afghan War in 1979. Theearly 1980s was another period of elevated tension. The United States increaseddiplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when it was already suffering fromeconomic stagnation.In the mid-1980s, the new Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev introduced the liberalizing reforms ofglasnost ("openness", c. 1985) andperestroika ("reorganization", 1987) and ended Soviet involvement in Afghanistan. Pressures for national sovereignty grew stronger in Eastern Europe, and Gorbachev refused to militarily support their governments any longer.
In 1989, the fall of theIron Curtain after thePan-European Picnic and apeaceful wave of revolutions (with the exception ofRomania andAfghanistan) overthrew almost all communist governments of the Eastern Bloc. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union itself lost control in the Soviet Union and was banned following anabortive coup attempt in August 1991. This in turn led tothe formal dissolution of the USSR in December 1991, the declaration of independence ofits constituent republics and the collapse of communist governments across much of Africa and Asia. The United States was left as the world's only superpower.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, manypost-Soviet conflicts took place across its former territory.Secessionist movements fought against their new host governments in theFirst Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994),Transnistria War(1990–1992),South Ossetia War (1991–1992),War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), and in theFirst Chechen War (1994–1996).Civil conflicts over power within the new states were fought inGeorgia (1991–1993), inTajikistan (1992–1997), and inRussia in 1993.Czechoslovakia broke apart peacefully in 1993, while thebreakup of Yugoslavia starting in 1990 led to the bitter inter-ethnicYugoslav Wars of the rest of the decade.
Following the end of the global competition betweenreal socialism andmarket democracies, manyThird Way politicians emerged. In theUnited States, a leading proponent of this was 42nd PresidentBill Clinton, who was in office from 1993 to 2001.[190] In theUnited Kingdom, Third Way social-democratic proponentTony Blair claimed that thesocialism he advocated was different from traditional conceptions of socialism and said: "My kind of socialism is a set of values based around notions ofsocial justice. [...] Socialism as a rigid form ofeconomic determinism has ended, and rightly".[191]
FollowingGerman reunification,European integration continued, led byChancellor of GermanyHelmut Kohl andPresident of FranceFrançois Mitterrand. On 1 November 1993, theMaastricht Treaty became effective, creating theEuropean Union with itspillar system, formalisingEuropean Political Cooperation as theCommon Foreign and Security Policy and adding the new area ofJustice and Home Affairs.[192][193] On 1 January 1994 theEuropean Economic Area (EEA) entered into force, allowingEuropean Free Trade Association (EFTA) membersNorway andIceland to enter theSingle European Market (created the previous year) without joining the Union. TheSchengen Agreement later came into effect on 26 March 1995.
Between 7 April and 15 July 1994, during theRwandan Civil War, theRwandan genocide occurred. During this period of around 100 days, members of theTutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderateHutu andTwa, were killed by armed militias. The most widely accepted scholarly estimates are around 500,000 to 662,000 Tutsi deaths.[194][195] The genocide had lasting and profound effects. In 1996, the RPF-led Rwandan government launched an offensive into Zaire (now theDemocratic Republic of the Congo), home to exiled leaders of the former Rwandan government and many Hutu refugees, starting theFirst Congo War andkilling an estimated 200,000 people. The subsequentSecond Congo War began in August 1998, little more than a year after the First Congo War, and involved some of the same issues, with nine African countries and around twenty-five armed groups involved in the war.[196]
UnderJiang Zemin's leadership, China experienced substantial economic growth with the continuation ofmarket reforms, saw the return ofHong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997 andMacau from Portugal in 1999 and improved its relations with the outside world, while the Communist Party maintained its tight control over the state. However, during theThird Taiwan Strait Crisis a series of missile tests conducted by thePeople's Republic of China in the waters surroundingTaiwan from 21 July 1995 to 23 March 1996, leading the U.S. government responding by staging the biggest display of American military might in Asia since theVietnam War,[197] while on May 7, 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, U.S. guided bombs hit thePeople's Republic of Chinaembassy in theBelgrade district ofNew Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists and outraging the Chinese public.[198]
Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the co-founders of theBharatiya Janata Party and a member of theRashtriya Swayamsevak SanghHindu nationalist organisation, became the first Indian prime minister not of theIndian National Congress to serve a full term in office. During his tenure, on 28 May 1998, a few weeks after India's second nuclear test (Operation Shakti), Pakistan detonated five nuclear devices during operationChagai-I, becoming the seventh country in the world to successfully develop and test nuclear weapons.[199] TheKargil War was anarmed conflict fought betweenIndia andPakistan from May to July 1999 in theKargil district ofJammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along theLine of Control (LoC). The1999 Pakistani coup d'état was abloodlesscoup initiated by GeneralPervez Musharraf, who overthrew thepublicly electedPrime MinisterNawaz Sharif on 12 October 1999.
Following theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001 byAl-Qaeda, theAmerican-led intervention in Afghanistan led to the fall of theTaliban government in Afghanistan after the country had harboured the terrorists behind it. However, the US occupation of the country failed to quell the subsequentTaliban insurgency. During theIraqi conflict, the2003 invasion of Iraq by aUnited States-ledcoalition toppled thegovernment of Saddam Hussein, but the conflict continued as aninsurgency emerged to oppose the occupying forces and the post-invasion Iraqi government. The United States also conducted aseries of military strikes on al-Qaeda militants in Yemen since the War on Terror began.[200] Theinsurgency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa began in 2004 when tensions rooted in thePakistan Army'ssearch for al-Qaeda fighters in theWaziristan area escalated into armed resistance, with Pakistan's actions presented asits contribution to the War on Terror.[201][202][203]
Russia also engaged on its own, largely internally focused, counter-terrorism campaign during theSecond Chechen War and theInsurgency in the North Caucasus. Rising to leadership during this time,Vladimir Putin's first tenure as president saw theRussian economy grew on average by seven percent per year,[204] while Russia also experienceddemocratic backsliding and a shift toauthoritarianism, characterised byendemic corruption,.[205][206] Putin became during this time the second-longest serving contemporary European president after his close allyAlexander Lukashenko ofBelarus. In otherpost-communist states,colour revolutions against the local elites took place, including theFederal Republic of Yugoslavia'sBulldozer Revolution (2000),Georgia'sRose Revolution (2003),Ukraine'sOrange Revolution (2004), andKyrgyzstan'sTulip Revolution (2005). TheRusso-Georgian War place in August 2008 followinga period of worsening relations between the two countries.
In the 2000s, there was an active movement towards further consolidation of theEuropean Union, with the introduction of symbols and institutions usually reserved for sovereign states, such ascitizenship, acommon currency (used by 19 out of 27 members), aflag, ananthem and amotto (In Varietate Concordia, "United in Diversity"). An attempt to introduce aEuropean Constitution was made in 2004, but it failed to be ratified; instead, theTreaty of Lisbon was signed in 2007 in order to salvage some of the reforms that had been envisaged in the constitution. The largestexpansion of the European Union (EU), in terms of territory, number of states, and population took place on 1 May 2004 with the simultaneous accessions ofCyprus, theCzech Republic,Estonia,Hungary,Latvia,Lithuania,Malta,Poland,Slovakia, andSlovenia. Seven of these were part of the formerEastern Bloc. Part of the same wave of enlargement was also theaccession of Bulgaria and Romania in 2007.
Hu Jintao was theparamount leader of China from 2004 to 2012. and the firstleader of the Communist Party from a generation younger than the founders of the republic. Along with his colleaguePremierWen Jiabao, he presided over nearly a decade of consistent economic growth and development that cemented China as amajor world power. Hu sought to improve socio-economic equality domestically through theScientific Outlook on Development, which aimed to build a "Harmonious Socialist Society". Under his leadership, the authorities also cracked down on social disturbances, ethnic minority protests, and dissident figures which also led to many controversial events such as theunrest in Tibet and the passing of theAnti-Secession Law. In foreign policy, Hu advocated for "China's peaceful development", pursuingsoft power in international relations and a corporate approach to diplomacy. Throughout Hu's tenure, China's influence in Africa, Latin America, and other developing regions increased.
InLatin America, thePink tide was a political wave and perception of a turn towardsleft-wing governments inLatin American democracies moving away from theneoliberal economic model at the start of the 21st century. The ideology of such governments was variously described aspost-neoliberalism orsocialism of the 21st century. Leaders who have advocated for this form of socialism includeHugo Chávez ofVenezuela,Néstor Kirchner ofArgentina,Rafael Correa ofEcuador,Evo Morales ofBolivia andLuiz Inácio Lula da Silva ofBrazil.[207] Following itsBolivarian Revolution, Venezuela tried to export its ideology ofBolivarianism into other countries of the region,[208] establishing and seating regional organisations such asALBA, theCommunity of Latin American and Caribbean States, andPetrocaribe. Some pink tide governments have been varyingly characterized by some of its critics as being "anti-American"[209][210] andpopulist,[211][212][213] and, particularly in the case of Venezuela andNicaragua, asauthoritarian.[212][214]
TheArab Spring was a series of anti-government protests, uprisings, and armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in response to corruption andeconomic stagnation and was influenced by theTunisian Revolution.[215][216] From Tunisia, the protests then spread to five other countries:Libya,Egypt,Yemen,Syria, andBahrain, where either the ruler was deposed (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali,Muammar Gaddafi,Hosni Mubarak, andAli Abdullah Saleh) or major uprisings and social violence occurred including riots, civil wars, or insurgencies. Sustained street demonstrations also took place inMorocco,Iraq,Algeria,Lebanon,Jordan,Kuwait,Oman, andSudan. The wave of initial revolutions and protests faded by mid-2012, as many Arab Spring demonstrations met with violent responses from authorities, as well as from pro-government militias, counter-demonstrators, and militaries. Large-scale conflicts resulted: theSyrian Civil War;[217][218] the rise ofISIL,insurgency in Iraq and thefollowing civil war;[219] theEgyptian Crisis,coup, andsubsequent unrest andinsurgency;[220] theLibyan Civil War; and theYemeni Crisis andfollowing civil war.[221] Some referred to the succeeding conflicts as theArab Winter.[217][218][219] Among the effects of the conflicts were the2015 European migrant crisis.
The handling of theEuropean debt crisis led to the premature end of several European national governments and influenced the outcome of many elections. Following the earlyGreek legislative election, 2012 where the popularity ofPASOK dropped from 42.5% in 2010 toas low as 7% in some polls in 2012,[222] the termPasokification was subsequently coined to describe the decline ofcentre-leftsocial-democraticpolitical parties in European and otherWestern countries during the 2010s, often accompanied by the rise ofnationalist,left-wing andright-wing populist alternatives.[223][224] In Europe, the share of votes for such parties was at its 70-year lowest in 2015.[225]Populist and far-right political parties in turn proved very successful throughout Europe in the late-2010s. The2017 French presidential election caused a radical shift inFrench politics, as the prevailing parties ofThe Republicans andSocialists failed to make it to the second round of voting, with far-rightMarine Le Pen and political newcomerEmmanuel Macron instead facing each other.[226]
On 22 February 2014, Ukrainian presidentViktor Yanukovych was ousted from office as a result of theEuromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity, which broke out after his decision to reject theEuropean Union–Ukraine Association Agreement and instead pursue closer ties with Russia and theEurasian Economic Union. Shortly after Yanukovych's overthrow and exile to Russia,Ukraine's eastern and southern regions erupted with pro-Russia unrest. Simultaneously,unmarked Russian troops moved into Ukraine's Crimea and took control of strategic positions and infrastructure,including the Crimean Parliament on 27 February 2014, subsequentlyannexing the region. In April 2014, Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine proclaimed the establishment of theDonetsk People's Republic (in Ukraine'sDonetsk Oblast) and theLuhansk People's Republic (in Ukraine'sLuhansk Oblast) with direct Russian military involvement in the subsequentWar in Donbas against Ukraine.[227]
In the United Kingdom, as part of a campaign pledge to win votes fromEurosceptics,[228]Conservative prime ministerDavid Cameron promised to hold a referendum if his government was re-elected. His government subsequently held areferendum on continued EU membership in 2016, in which voters chose to leave the EU with 51.9 per cent of the vote share. This led to his resignation, his replacement byTheresa May, and four years of negotiations with the EU on the terms of departure and on future relations, completed under aBoris Johnson government, with government control remaining with the Conservative Party in this period. In the United States,Donald Trump won the2016 United States presidential election as theRepublican nominee againstDemocratic nomineeHillary Clinton.His political positions were described aspopulist,protectionist,isolationist, andnationalist.
In Asia, neo-nationalism spread successfully as well.Chinese Communist Partygeneral secretaryXi Jinping's concept of "Chinese Dream" was described as an expression of new nationalism.[229] It pride in the historic Chinese civilisation, embracing the teachings ofConfucius and other ancient Chinese sages, and thus rejecting theanti-Confucius campaign ofParty chairmanMao Zedong.[230] Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi assumed office in 2014 as a member of theRashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a right-wing paramilitary[231] organisation aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has also been said to advocate a neo-nationalist ideology.[232] In Japan, The 63rd Prime MinisterShinzō Abe (in office from 2012 to 2020), a member of the right-wing organisationNippon Kaigi, also promoted ideas of new nationalism.[233] The Philippine PresidentRodrigo Duterte (assumed office in 2016) and his partyPDP-Laban adopted Filipino nationalism as a platform as well.[234]
Theconservative wave emerged in the mid-2010s inLatin America as the influence of leftist governments declined inArgentina as theconservative liberalMauricio Macri succeeded thePeronistCristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2015; inBrazil, there wasDilma Rousseff'simpeachment process that resulted in Rousseff's departure and the rise of her Vice PresidentMichel Temer to power in 2016; inPeru the conservative economistPedro Pablo Kuczynski succeededOllanta Humala; inChile the conservativeSebastián Piñera succeeded thesocialistMichelle Bachelet in 2018 just as it was in 2010; and in 2018 thefar-right congressmanJair Bolsonaro became 38thPresident of Brazil.[235] However, a series of violent protests againstausterity measures andincome inequality scattered throughout Latin America have also recently occurred including the2019–20 Chilean protests,2019–2020 Colombian protests,2018–19 Haitian protests,2019 Ecuadorian protests and the2021 Colombian protests.[236][237] A resurgence of the pink tide, however, was kicked off byMexico in 2018 and Argentina in 2019.
In 2022,Russia invaded Ukraine and began severalmilitary and military-civilian administrations across captured regions. On March 2, Russiacaptured the city ofKherson, the capital ofKherson Oblast. After capturing the city, the Russian militarybegan a military occupation of the city. On April 26, Russia unseated MayorIhor Kolykhaiev and replaced him with formerKGB agentOleksandr Kobets as the mayor of Kherson.[238] Russia also appointedVladimir Saldo the new regional administrator for Kherson Oblast.[239]
In 2023, following theHamas attack onIsrael, Israelbegan a counter invasion of the Gaza Strip to unseat and removeHamas from political power and military control of theGaza Strip.[240][241][242] Near the end of 2023, Israelcaptured the city ofBeit Hanoun and removed Hamas from power in the city.[243][244] However, a week later, the Israeli military withdrew from the city, allowing Hamas to regain control militarily and politically.[245]
{{citation}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{citation}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{citation}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{citation}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{citation}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{citation}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link){{cite book}}:|last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)The term 'Viking' is derived from the Old Norsevík, a bay, and means 'one who haunts a bay, creek or fjord'. In the 9th and 10th centuries it came to be used more especially of those warriors who left their homes in Scandinavia and made raids on the chief European countries. This is the narrow, and technically the only correct use of the term 'Viking,' but in such expressions as 'Viking civilisation,' 'the Viking Age,' 'the Viking movement,' 'Viking influence,' the word has come to have a wider significance and is used as a concise and convenient term for describing the whole of the civilisation, activity and influence of the Scandinavian peoples, at a particular period in their history...
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)The Viking period is, therefore, best defined as the period when Scandinavians played a large role in the British Isles and western Europe as raiders and conquerors. It is also the period in which Scandinavians settled in many of the areas they conquered, and in the Atlantic islands...
TheRisorgimento is the name given to the process that ended with the political unification of Italy in 1871
The functional importance of the Risorgimento to both Italian politics and Italian historiography has made this short period (1815–60) one of the most contested and controversial in modern Italian history
In 1914 the only independent states in Africa were Liberia and Abyssinia.
... one finds as many local left-leaning governments as there are countries making up the so-called left turn, because they emerged from distinct institutional settings ... espoused distinct degrees of anti-Americanism ...
The wrong left, by contrast, was said to be populist, old-fashioned, and irresponsible ...
... the populous of Latin America are voting in the Pink Tide governments that struggle with reform while being prone to populism and authoritarianism.
However, these analytical and taxonomic efforts often led to new dichotomies ... democrats and authoritarians ...
