Empires & Collapse
How empires rose and fell, from the Mongols and Byzantium to the Ottomans and the collapse of 1914–1918.
The Mongol Empire: How Steppe Conquerors Learned to Govern
How Chinggis Khan's confederation became the largest contiguous land empire in history, how it was organized and run, and why it split into rival khanates within two generations.
Read · 8 min read →Empires & CollapseThe Byzantine Empire: How Rome's Eastern Half Endured a Millennium
A narrative history of the empire that called itself Roman, from Constantine's new capital through Justinian, Iconoclasm and 1204 to its last centuries, with the debates along the way.
Read · 8 min read →Empires & CollapseThe Fall of Constantinople, 1453: Siege, Sources and Aftermath
The 1453 siege of Constantinople told step by step, from Mehmed II's preparations to the final assault, with a close look at where the eyewitness and later accounts disagree.
Read · 9 min read →Empires & CollapseThe Rise of the Ottomans: From Frontier Emirate to World Power
How a small Turkish principality on the Byzantine frontier grew into a world power by 1566, the institutions that held it together, and the debate over its obscure origins.
Read · 9 min read →Empires & CollapseThe July Crisis of 1914: How Five Weeks Led Europe to War
The decisions of June 28 to August 4, 1914, from Sarajevo to Britain's declaration of war, and the century-long historians' argument over who bears responsibility.
Read · 8 min read →Empires & CollapseThe Collapse of Four Empires, 1917–1923: How the Old Order Ended
How the Russian, German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires each came to an end between 1917 and 1923, what the collapses shared, and where historians still disagree.
Read · 9 min read →