The political history of the world is the history of the various political entities created by the human race throughout their existence and the way these states define their borders. Throughout history, political systems have expanded from basic systems of self-governance and monarchy to the complex democratic and totalitarian systems that exist today. In parallel, political entities have expanded from vaguely defined frontier-type boundaries, to the national definite boundaries existing today.
After the invention of agriculture around the same time (7,000-8,000 BCE) across various parts of the world, human societies started transitioning to tribal forms of organization.[3] Food surpluses made possible the development of a social elite who were not otherwise engaged in agriculture, industry or commerce, but dominated their communities by other means 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 of endemic warfare.[5] This could have been caused by theft of livestock or crops, abduction of women, or resource and status competition.[6]
The Three-age system of periodization of prehistory was first introduced for Scandinavia by Christian 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 in Assyriology. The development of 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 of fresh water, fertile soil, and temperate 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 of tectonic plates.[10]
The Indus 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 in Mesopotamia, where the Tigris and Euphrates did the same with the Zagros Mountains.[12]Ancient Egypt was helped by the Nile depositing sediments from the East African highlands of its origins, while the Yellow River and Yangtze 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 with irrigation 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 first empires were those of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.[9] Smaller kingdoms existed in North China Plain, Indo-Gangetic Plain, Central Asia, Anatolia, Eastern Mediterranean, and Central America, while the rest of humanity continued to live in small tribes.[9]
The first states of sorts were those of early dynastic Sumer and early dynastic Egypt, which arose from the Uruk period and Predynastic Egypt respectively at approximately 3000BCE.[19] Early dynastic Egypt was based around the Nile River in the north-east of Africa, the kingdom's boundaries being based around the Nile and stretching to areas where oases existed.[20]Upper and Lower Egypt were unified around 3150 BCE by Pharaoh Menes.[21] This process of consolidation was driven by the crowding of migrants from the expanding Sahara in the Nile Delta.[22] Nevertheless, political competition continued within the country between centers of power such as Memphis and Thebes.[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 by Nubia in the smaller southern oases of the Nile unreachable by boat, as well as by Libyan warlords operating from the oases around modern-day Benghazi, and finally by raiders across the Sinai 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 of Tigris and Euphrates, and the first political power in the region was the Akkadian Empire starting around 2300 BCE.[24] They were preceded by Sumer, and later followed by Babylon, and Assyria. They faced competition from the mountainous areas to the north, strategically positioned above the Mesopotamian plains, with kingdoms such as Mitanni, Urartu, Elam, and Medes.[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 the Late Bronze Age collapse, with Cimmerians, Arameans, Dorians, and the Sea Peoples migrating among others.[25] Babylon never recovered following the death of Hammurabi in 1699 BCE.[25] Following this, Assyria grew in power under Adad-nirari II.[26] By the late ninth century BCE, the Assyrian Empire controlled almost all of Mesopotamia and much of the Levant and Anatolia.[27] Meanwhile, Egypt was weakened, eventually breaking apart after the death of Osorkon 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, a coup d'état was staged in 745 by Tiglath-Pileser III.[30] He raised the army from 44,000 to 72,000, followed by his successor Sennacherib who raised it to 208,000, and finally by Ashurbanipal who raised an army of over 300,000.[31] This allowed the empire to spread over Cyprus, the entire Levant, Phrygia, Urartu, Cimmerians, Persia, Medes, Elam, and Babylon.[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 the Median empire as the main power of the region following the Battle of Carchemish (605) and the Battle of the Eclipse (585).[33] The Medians served as the launching pad for the rise of the Persian Empire.[34] After first serving as vassals, under the third Persian king Cambyses I their influence rose, and in 553 they rose against the Medians.[34] By the death of Cyrus the Great, the Persian Achaemenid Empire reached from Aegean Sea to Indus River and Caucasus to Nubia.[35] The empire was divided into provinces ruled by satraps, 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 King Cambyses II's death, Darius the Great took over power.[38]
Built around the Indus River, by 3300 BCE the Indus Valley civilization, located in modern-day India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, had formed. The civilization's boundaries extended to 600 km from the Arabian Sea.[69] After its cities Mohenjo-daro and Harappa 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 of Kuru Kingdom which was first state level administration in Indian subcontinent. In 6th century BCE with the emergence of Mahajanapadas.[71] Out of sixteen such states, four strong ones emerged: Kosala, Magadha, Vatsa, and Avanti, with Magadha dominating the rest by the mid-fifth century.[72] The Magadha then transformed into the Nanda Empire under Mahapadma Nanda (345–321), extending from the Gangetic plains to the Hindu Kush and the Deccan Plateau.[73] The empire was, however, overtaken by Chandragupta Maurya (324–298), turning it into the Maurya 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 grandson Ashoka's rule, the empire stretched from Zagros Mountains to the Brahmaputra 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 in Pataliputra.[75]
Beginning in the eighth century BCE China fell into chaos for five centuries during the Spring and Autumn (771–476) and Warring States periods (476–221).[84] During the latter period, the Jin dynasty split into the Wei, Zhao and Han states, while the rest of the North China Plain was composed of the Chu, Qin, Qi and Yan 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 the Battle of Changping.[86] The other states tried to form an alliance against the Qin but were defeated.[87] In 221, the Qin dynasty was established with a population of about 40 million, with a capital of 350,000 in Linzi.[88] Under the leadership of Qin Shi Huang, the dynasty initiated reforms such as establishing territorial administrative units, infrastructure projects (including the Great Wall of China) and uniform Chinese characters.[89] However, after his death and burial with the Terracotta Army, the empire started falling apart when the Chu and Han started fighting over a power vacuum left by a weak heir, with the Han dynasty rising to power in 204 BCE.[90]
Under the Han, the population of China rose to 50 million, with 400,000 in the capital Chang'an, and with territorial expansion to Korea, Vietnam and Tien Shan.[91] Expeditions were also sent against the Xiongnu and to secure the Hexi Corridor, the Nanyue kingdom was annexed, and Hainan and Taiwan conquered.[92] The Chinese pressure on the Xiongnu forced them towards the west, leading to the exodus of the Yuezhi, who in turn pillaged the capital of Bactria.[93] This then led to their new Kushan Empire.[77] The end of the Han dynasty in 220 CE came following internal upheavals, with its split into the Shu, Wu and Wei states.[44] Following a brief unification under the Jin dynasty (266–420), China was divided again in 304 due to the rebellion of the Five Barbarians (304–316). Northern China and Sichuan were ruled by the Sixteen Kingdoms, while the Jin relocated south of the Yangtze River. By 439, the Xianbei-led Northern Wei unified the north while the Jin was usurped by the Liu Song, transitioning into the Northern and Southern dynasties period. China would be unified by the Sui dynasty in 589 CE.[94]
The Tiwanaku Polity in western Bolivia based in the southern Lake Titicaca Basin. Its influence extended into present-day Peru and Chile and lasted from around 600 to 1000 AD.[101]Chimor was the political grouping of the Chimú culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru beginning around 850 and ending around 1470. Chimor was the largest kingdom in the Late Intermediate period, encompassing 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of coastline. The Aymara kingdoms in turn were a group of native polities that flourished towards the Late Intermediate Period, after the fall of the Tiwanaku Empire, whose societies were geographically located in the Qullaw. They were developed between 1150 and 1477, before the kingdoms disappeared due to the military conquest of the Inca Empire.
Beginning around 250 AD, the Maya civilization develop many city-states linked by a complex trade network. In the Maya Lowlands two great rivals, the cities of Tikal and Calakmul, became powerful. The period also saw the intrusive intervention of the central Mexican city of Teotihuacan in Maya dynastic politics. In the 9th century, there was a widespread political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities, and a northward shift of population. The Postclassic period saw the rise of Chichen Itza in the north, and the expansion of the aggressive Kʼicheʼ kingdom in the Guatemalan Highlands. In the 16th century, the Spanish Empire colonised the Mesoamerican region, and a lengthy series of campaigns saw the fall of Nojpetén, the last Maya city, in 1697.
The Aztec Empire was formed as an alliance of three Nahuaaltepetl city-states: Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco, and Tlacopan. from the victorious factions of a civil war fought between the city of Azcapotzalco and its former tributary provinces. These three city-states ruled the area in and around the Valley of Mexico from 1428 until the combined forces of the Spanish conquistadores and their native allies under Hernán 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 from Tenochtitlan, while the other partners in the alliance had taken subsidiary roles. The Tarascan state was the second-largest state in Mesoamerica at the time.[103] It was founded in the early 14th century.
When China entered the Sui dynasty,[104] the government changed and expanded in its borders as the many separate bureaucracies unified under one banner.[105] This evolved into the Tang dynasty when Li Yuan took control of China in 626.[106] By now, the Chinese borders had expanded from eastern China, up north into the Tang Empire.[107] The Tang Empire fell apart in 907 and split into ten regional kingdoms and five dynasties with vague borders.[108] Fifty-three years after the separation of the Tang Empire, China entered the Song dynasty under the rule of Chao K'uang, although the borders 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 neighboring Tartar (Mongol) people known as the Khitan tribes.[109]
The Mongol Empire emerged from the unification of several nomadic tribes in the Mongol homeland under the leadership of Genghis 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 out invading armies in every direction.[110][111] The vast transcontinental empire connected the East with the West, the Pacific to the Mediterranean, in an enforced Pax Mongolica, allowing the dissemination and exchange of trade, technologies, commodities and ideologies across Eurasia.[112][113] The Mongol invasion halted China's economic development for over 150 years, decisively changing the balance of power in the Eastern 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 heir Ögedei or from one of his other sons, such as Tolui, Chagatai, or Jochi. The Toluids prevailed after a bloody purge of Ögedeid and Chagataid factions, but disputes continued among the descendants of Tolui. After Möngke Khan died (1259), rival kurultai councils simultaneously elected different successors, the brothers Ariq Böke and Kublai Khan, who fought each other in the Toluid 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 the Chagatayid and Ögedeid families. By the time of Kublai's death in 1294 the Mongol Empire had fractured into four separate khanates or empires, each pursuing its own separate interests and objectives: the Golden Horde khanate in the northwest, the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Ilkhanate in the southwest, and the Yuan dynasty in the east, based in modern-day Beijing.[117]
In 1304, the three western khanates briefly accepted the nominal suzerainty of the Yuan dynasty,[118][119] but in 1368 the Han ChineseMing dynasty took over the Mongol capital. The Genghisid rulers of the Yuan retreated to the Mongolian homeland and continued to rule there as the Northern 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 in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia, Yunnan, and Vietnam.[120] Naval voyages were also sent, with the Ming treasure voyages reaching Africa.[120] These also intervened militarily in Java, Sumatra, and Sri 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 the Grand Duchy of Moscow while the Chagatai Khanate lasted in one form or another until 1687.
The Byzantine–Sasanian Wars of 572–591 and 602–628 produced the cumulative effects of a century of almost continuous conflict, leaving both empires crippled. When Kavadh II died only months after coming to the throne, the Sasanian Empire was plunged into several years of dynastic turmoil and civil war. The Sasanians were further weakened by economic decline, heavy taxation from Khosrau II's campaigns, religious unrest, and the increasing power of the provincial landholders.[122] The Byzantine Empire was also severely affected, with its financial reserves exhausted by the war and the Balkans now largely in the hands of the Slavs.[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]
In 1095, Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. He encouraged military support for Byzantine EmperorAlexiosI against the Seljuk 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 four Crusader states in the Near East: the County of Edessa; the Principality of Antioch; the Kingdom of Jerusalem; and the County of Tripoli. The crusader presence remained in the region in some form until the city of Acre fell in 1291, leading to the rapid loss of all remaining territory in the Levant. After this, there were no further crusades to recover the Holy Land.
The Seljuk dynasty was founded by Osman I (1200–1323), leading to the Ottoman Empire.[145] In 1345, the Ottomans entered Europe across the Dardanelles, conquering Thessaloniki in 1387, and advancing to Kosovo by 1389.[146] The Fall of Constantinople followed in 1453.[146] The Fall of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, and effectively the end of the Roman 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 the Late Middle Ages and is considered the end of the Medieval period.
Indian subcontinent
Indian politics revolved around the struggle between the Buddhist Pala Empire, the Hindu Gurjara-Pratihara dynasty, the Jainist Rashtrakuta dynasty, as well as the Islamic caliphate.[147] The Pala Empire had risen around 750 in Bengal under Gopala I, while the Rashtrakutas had emerged around the same time in the Deccan Plateau and the southern coast under Dantidurga.[148] The Pratiharas first united the Indo-Gangetic Plain under Nagabhata 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, the Ghaznavids, a breakaway from the caliphate, arose after taking advantage of the others' internal weaknesses.[149]
The Chola dynasty arose as the one of Asia's strongest trading powers before invading Sri Lanka at the end of the 900's.[150] In 1025, they attacked rival commercial kingdom of Srivijaya in Southeast Asia.[150] Their enemies in India included an alliance of Pandyan princes and the Chalukya dynasty.[150] However, the Ghurid dynasty invaded the northern parts of the subcontinent 1175 to 1186, conquering much of them.[151][152] In 1206, Qutb al-Din Aibak founded the Delhi Sultanate.[152] By the 14th century, it controlled the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Deccan Plateau.[152] In the middle of the century, the latter saw the rise of the Vijayanagara 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 of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and gaining control over more territory for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America. The major empires of the American continents were defeated by much smaller Spanish forces. The Aztec Empire under Moctezuma II had 200,000 troops under its command, but was defeated by little over 600 conquistadors.[154] The Inca Empire under Atahualpa with 60,000 soldiers was defeated by 168 Spaniards, meanwhile.[154] In both cases, the Spanish used deception to capture the heads of state.[154]
The gunpowder empires were the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires as they flourished from the 16th century to the 18th century. These three empires were among the strongest and most stable economies of the early 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 from Central Europe and North Africa in the west to between today's modern Bangladesh and Myanmar in the east.
Under Sultan Selim I (1512–1520), the Ottomans defeated the Safavids in the Battle 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 invade Hungary and win in the Battle of Mohács (1526).[156] However, further advancement failed after the Siege of Vienna (1529).[158] Following naval victories in the Battle of Preveza (1538) and the Battle of Djerba (1560), the Ottomans also emerged as the dominant maritime power in the Mediterranean.[159] A sailing voyage even reached the Aceh Sultanate in 1565.[160] At the beginning of the 17th century, the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal 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 the Russian Empire put pressure on the Black Sea territories.[160] Meanwhile, Western powers began to overtake their maritime capabilities, with the Battle of Lepanto (1571) being a turning point.[160] In 1683, the Battle of Vienna halted an Ottoman invasion again, with the Christian Holy League driving the Empire back into the Balkans.[160] Despite the Venetian reconquest of Morea (Peloponnese) in the 1680s and it was recovered in 1715, while the island of Corfu 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 ruled Persia from 1501 to 1722 (experiencing a brief restoration from 1729 to 1736). It ruled from the Black Sea to the Hindu Kush, with more than 50 million inhabitants.[161] Originating from Caucasian warriors called the Qizilbash, they conquered Armenia in 1501, most of Persia by 1504, parts of Uzbekistan in 1511, and unsuccessfully fighting over Caucasus and Mesopotamia 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]
Under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), China's population and economy grew.[168] While the Portuguese 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 at Macau in 1554.[169] Northern Mongol and Jurchen people established a coalition to invade the country, reaching Beijing in 1550.[169] In 1592, the Japanese invaded Korea, while rebellions emerged in China.[170]
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire, Prussia, Russia, and several other monarchies. They are divided in two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–97) and the War 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 the Italian Peninsula, the Low Countries and the Rhineland in Europe and was retroceded Louisiana in North America. French success in these conflicts ensured the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.
The French colonial empire was the second largest empire in the world behind the British Empire
The Peninsular War with France, which resulted from the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, caused Spanish Creoles in Spanish America to question their allegiance to Spain, stoking independence movements that culminated in various Spanish 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 to Brazil during Portugal's French occupation. After the royal court returned to Lisbon, the prince regent, Pedro, remained in Brazil and in 1822 successfully declared himself emperor of a newly independent Brazilian Empire.
Inspired by the rebellions in the 1820s and 1830s against the outcome of the Congress of Vienna, the Italian unification process was precipitated by the revolutions of 1848. It reached completion in 1871, when the Papal Stateswere captured and Rome was officially designated the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.[182][183] After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Prussia, under Otto von Bismarck, brought together almost all the German states (excluding the Austrian Empire, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein) into a new German Empire. Bismarck's new empire became the most powerful state in Continental Europe until 1914.[184][185] Meanwhile, Britain had entered an era of "splendid isolation", avoiding entanglements that had led it into the Crimean War in 1854–1856. It concentrated on internal industrial development and political reform, and building up its great international holdings, the British Empire, while maintaining by far the world's strongest Navy to protect its island home and its many overseas possessions.
Comparison of Africa in the years 1880 and 1913
The Berlin Conference of 1884, which regulated European colonization and trade in Africa, is usually accepted as the beginning of the Scramble for Africa. In the last quarter of the 19th century, there were considerable political rivalries among the empires of the European continent, leading to the African 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]
The conditions of economic hardship caused by the Great Depression brought about an international surge of social unrest. In Germany, it contributed to the rise of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, which resulted in the demise of the Weimar Republic and the establishment of the fascist regime, Nazi Germany, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. Fascist movements grew in strength elsewhere in Europe. Hungarian fascist Gyula Gömbös rose to power as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1932 and attempted to entrench his Party of National Unity throughout the country. The fascist Iron Guard movement in Romania soared in political support after 1933, gaining representation in the Romanian government, and an Iron Guard member assassinated Romanian prime minister Ion Duca. During the 6 February 1934 crisis, France faced the greatest domestic political turmoil since the Dreyfus Affair when the fascist Francist Movement and multiple far-right movements rioted en masse in Paris against the French government resulting in major political violence.
World War II changed the political alignment and social structure of the globe. The United Nations (UN) was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts, and the victorious great powers—China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States—became the permanent members of its Security Council. The Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century-long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia. Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery and expansion. Political integration, especially in Europe, began as an effort to forestall future hostilities, end pre-war enmities and forge a sense of common identity.
Détente collapsed at the end of the decade with the beginning of the Soviet–Afghan War in 1979. The early 1980s was another period of elevated tension. The United States increased diplomatic, military, and economic pressures on the Soviet Union, at a time when it was already suffering from economic stagnation. In the mid-1980s, the new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced the liberalizing reforms of glasnost ("openness", c. 1985) and perestroika ("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.
Following the end of the global competition between real socialism and market democracies, many Third Way politicians emerged. In the United States, a leading proponent of this was 42nd President Bill Clinton, who was in office from 1993 to 2001.[190] In the United Kingdom, Third Way social-democratic proponent Tony Blair claimed that the socialism he advocated was different from traditional conceptions of socialism and said: "My kind of socialism is a set of values based around notions of social justice. [...] Socialism as a rigid form of economic determinism has ended, and rightly".[191]
Between 7 April and 15 July 1994, during the Rwandan Civil War, the Rwandan genocide occurred. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, 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 the Democratic Republic of the Congo), home to exiled leaders of the former Rwandan government and many Hutu refugees, starting the First Congo War and killing an estimated 200,000 people. The subsequent Second 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]
Under Jiang Zemin's leadership, China experienced substantial economic growth with the continuation of market reforms, saw the return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom in 1997 and Macau 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 the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis a series of missile tests conducted by the People's Republic of China in the waters surrounding Taiwan 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 the Vietnam War,[197] while on May 7, 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, U.S. guided bombs hit the People's Republic of Chinaembassy in the Belgrade district of New Belgrade, killing three Chinese journalists and outraging the Chinese public.[198]
Hu Jintao was the paramount leader of China from 2004 to 2012. and the first leader of the Communist Party from a generation younger than the founders of the republic. Along with his colleague PremierWen Jiabao, he presided over nearly a decade of consistent economic growth and development that cemented China as a major world power. Hu sought to improve socio-economic equality domestically through the Scientific 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 the unrest in Tibet and the passing of the Anti-Secession Law. In foreign policy, Hu advocated for "China's peaceful development", pursuing soft 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.
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 of Confucius and other ancient Chinese sages, and thus rejecting the anti-Confucius campaign of Party chairmanMao Zedong.[230] Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014 as a member of the Rashtriya 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 Minister Shinzō Abe (in office from 2012 to 2020), a member of the right-wing organisation Nippon Kaigi, also promoted ideas of new nationalism.[233] The Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte (assumed office in 2016) and his party PDP-Laban adopted Filipino nationalism as a platform as well.[234]
^Fukuyama, Francis. (2012). The origins of political order : from prehuman times to the French Revolution (Kindle ed.). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 53. ISBN978-0-374-53322-9. OCLC1082411117.
^Fukuyama, Francis. (2012). The origins of political order : from prehuman times to the French Revolution (Kindle ed.). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. p. 55. ISBN978-0-374-53322-9. OCLC1082411117.
^Holslag, Jonathan, author., A political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace, p. 26, ISBN978-0-241-38466-4, OCLC1080190517((citation)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Holslag, Jonathan, author., A political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace, ISBN978-0-241-38466-4, OCLC1080190517((citation)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^(Karl von Rotteck, Karl Theodor Welcker, Das Staats-Lexikon (1864), p. 774
^Oriental Institute Communications, Issues 13–19, Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1922, p. 55.
^ abcdHolslag, Jonathan, author., A political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace, pp. 24–25, ISBN978-0-241-38466-4, OCLC1080190517((citation)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ abHolslag, Jonathan, author., A political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace, pp. 33–34, ISBN978-0-241-38466-4, OCLC1080190517((citation)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Holslag, Jonathan, author., A political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace, pp. 34–35, ISBN978-0-241-38466-4, OCLC1080190517((citation)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ abcHolslag, Jonathan, author., A political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace, pp. 39–40, ISBN978-0-241-38466-4, OCLC1080190517((citation)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Holslag, Jonathan, A political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace, McMillan, Roy, 1963-, [Place of publication not identified], p. 46, ISBN978-0-241-38466-4, OCLC1080190517
^ abHolslag, Jonathan, author. (3 October 2019). Political history of the world : three thousand years of war and peace. pp. 42–43. ISBN978-0-241-39556-1. OCLC1139013058. ((cite book)): |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^Howard-Johnston (2006), 9: "[Heraclius'] victories in the field over the following years and its political repercussions ... saved the main bastion of Christianity in the Near East and gravely weakened its old Zoroastrian rival."
^Mawer, Allen (1913). The Vikings. Cambridge University Press. p. 1. ISBN095173394X. The term 'Viking' is derived from the Old Norse vík, 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...
^Sawyer, Peter H. (1995). Scandinavians and the English in the Viking Age. University of Cambridge. p. 3. ISBN095173394X. 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...
^Richards, John F. (1995), The Mughal Empire, Cambridge University Press, p. 2, ISBN978-0-521-56603-2 Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the dynasty and the empire itself became indisputably Indian. The interests and futures of all concerned were in India, not in ancestral homelands in the Middle East or Central Asia. Furthermore, the Mughal empire emerged from the Indian historical experience. It was the end product of a millennium of Muslim conquest, colonization, and state-building in the Indian subcontinent."
^Stein, Burton (2010), A History of India, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 159–, ISBN978-1-4443-2351-1 Quote: "The realm so defined and governed was a vast territory of some 750,000 square miles [1,900,000 km2], ranging from the frontier with Central Asia in northern Afghanistan to the northern uplands of the Deccan plateau, and from the Indus basin on the west to the Assamese highlands in the east."
^Laurent Dubois and Richard Rabinowitz, eds. Revolution!: The Atlantic World Reborn (2011)
^Collier, Martin (2003). Italian unification, 1820–71. Heinemann Advanced History (First ed.). Oxford: Heinemann. p. 2. ISBN978-0-435-32754-5. The Risorgimento is the name given to the process that ended with the political unification of Italy in 1871
^Rich, Great Power Diplomacy 1814–1914 pp. 184–217
^A. J. P. Taylor, Struggle for Mastery of Europe: 1848–1918 pp 171–219
^Compare: Killingray, David (1998). "7: The War in Africa". In Strachan, Hew (ed.). The Oxford Illustrated History of the First World War: New Edition (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press (published 2014). p. 101. ISBN978-0-19-164040-7. Retrieved 2017-02-21. In 1914 the only independent states in Africa were Liberia and Abyssinia.
^da Cruz, Jose de Arimateia (2015). "Strategic Insights: From Ideology to Geopolitics: Russian Interests in Latin America". Current Politics and Economics of Russia, Eastern and Central Europe. 30 (1/2). Nova Science Publishers: 175–185.
^ abIsbester, Katherine (2011). The Paradox of Democracy in Latin America: Ten Country Studies of Division and Resilience. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. xiii. ISBN978-1442601802. ... the populous of Latin America are voting in the Pink Tide governments that struggle with reform while being prone to populism and authoritarianism.
^Jhaveri, Ashka; Soltani, Amin; Parry, Andie; Braverman, Alexandra; Ganzeveld, Annika; Tyson, Kathryn; Mills, Peter (18 December 2023). "Iran Update, December 18, 2023". Critical Threats. Institute for the Study of War. Archived from the original on 19 December 2023. Retrieved 18 December 2023.
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