The History of the World: The Story of Mankind from Prehistory to the Modern Day

by Alex Woolf

Overview

Humankind has come a long way since our ancestors first stood up on two feet, but how did we get to where we are today? This book tells our story, through conflict and intrigue, power won and lost, and great empires built and destroyed.

Award-winning author Alex Woolf brings you an accessible, enjoyable exploration of human history. Whether you want to uncover the secrets of the first civilizations, follow marauding Mongols on their quest to conquer, find out what made colonial empires tick, or the more modern origins of current conflict, the answers lie within these pages.

Looking to our recent history, the last section focuses on the great themes of the 21st century so far: population growth, technology, climate change, and religious extremism. Whatever the future may hold for us, we have much to learn from our past.

• Illustrated throughout
• Timelines for easy reference
• Feature information panels

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781398844803
Publisher:	Arcturus Publishing Limited
Publication date:	09/03/2024
Pages:	512
Product dimensions:	6.02(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alex Woolf studied history at the University of Essex. An award-winning author, he has written more than 30 books on a variety of topics, including the Romans, the Vikings, the Middle Ages, the Great Depression, Nazi Germany, the Battle of Britain and the Arab-Israeli conflict. In 2019, he won the Fiction Express Award for his book Mystery at Moon Base One and in 2021 he won the Association for Science Education award for his non-fiction book Think Like a Scientist. His horror novel, Soul Shadows, was shortlisted for the Falkirk Red Book Award. He lives in North London, England.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 9

THE PREHISTORIC WORLD: 7,000,000-10,000bc
Human Origins 7,000,000-2,000,000bc................................................................................ 11
Peopling the Earth 2,000,000-40,000bc............................................................................... 13
Human Development 40,000-8000bc................................................................................... 16
THE ANCIENT WORLD: 10,000-500bc
From Hunting to Farming 8000-3000bc.............................................................................. 19
Early Farming Communities 8000-2000bc........................................................................... 22
The Dawn of Civilization 4500-2000bc................................................................................. 24
Early Cultures of the Middle East 9000-4300bc................................................................... 27
Sumer 4300-2334bc............................................................................................................... 30
The First Empires of Mesopotamia 2334-1595bc................................................................ 32
Kingdoms and Empires of Mesopotamia 1595-1000bc....................................................... 35
The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires 1000-539bc............................................................. 37
The Hebrews 1200-539bc...................................................................................................... 41
The Achaemenid Empire 559-480bc.................................................................................... 43
Early Egyptian Civilization 6000-2040bc.............................................................................. 46
Middle Kingdom Egypt 2040-1532bc................................................................................... 50
New Kingdom and Late Period Egypt 1532-332bc.............................................................. 52
The Indus Valley Civilization 3300-1700bc.......................................................................... 55
Vedic Period India 1700-500bc............................................................................................. 57
The First Civilizations in East Asia 6000-221bc.................................................................... 60
Peoples of Central Asia 6000-400bc..................................................................................... 62
Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe 6500-500bc................................................................... 66
The Rise of Aegean Civilization 3000-1100bc...................................................................... 68
The Rise of Greece 1100-480bc............................................................................................ 71
Phoenicians and Carthaginians 900-480bc.......................................................................... 73
Peoples of the Americas 4000-200bc.................................................................................... 76
Peoples of Africa 7000-500bc................................................................................................ 79

THE CLASSICAL WORLD: 500bc-ad500
Classical Greece 500-435bc................................................................................................... 83
Greece and Macedon 435-336bc.......................................................................................... 86
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic World 336-30bc.................................................. 89
Parthian and Sasanian Persia 238bc-AD636........................................................................ 92
The Etruscans and the Rise of Rome 800-290bc................................................................. 95
The Later Roman Republic 290-27bc.................................................................................. 98
The Roman Empire 27bc-ad300......................................................................................... 101
The Fall of the Western Roman Empire ad300-476.......................................................... 104
The Celts 500bc-ad500........................................................................................................ 107
Germans and Steppe Peoples 400bc-ad500....................................................................... 110
The Early Byzantine Empire ad480-629............................................................................. 113
Mauryan India 500bc-ad50.................................................................................................. 116
Kushan and Gupta India ad50-550..................................................................................... 118
The Han Empire 221bc-ad220............................................................................................ 121
China and Japan ad220-589................................................................................................ 124
South-east Asia and the Pacific 300bc-ad500..................................................................... 127
The Maya 200bc-ad900........................................................................................................ 131
Mexico and South America 200bc-ad700........................................................................... 133
Africa 500bc-ad500.............................................................................................................. 136
Advances in Technology 500bc-ad600................................................................................ 138
Religions of the East 600bc-ad500...................................................................................... 141
Religions of the West 500bc-ad500..................................................................................... 144

THE MEDIEVAL WORLD: 500-1500
The Carolingian Empire 600-814...................................................................................... 147
Europe in the Age of the Vikings 793-1100....................................................................... 150
The Holy Roman Empire 962-1806................................................................................... 153
Christendom 500-1300....................................................................................................... 156
Feudal Europe 1000-1300................................................................................................... 159
War and Plague in Medieval Europe 1000-1400............................................................... 161
The Rise of Europe's Towns and Cities 1000-1500........................................................... 165
The Birth and Spread of Islam 622-750............................................................................. 167
The Abbasid Empire 750-1037........................................................................................... 170
The Byzantine Empire 629-1453........................................................................................ 173
Turkish Empires 1037-1453................................................................................................ 175
The Crusades 1095-1291..................................................................................................... 179
Renaissance Europe 1400-1500.......................................................................................... 182
Africa 500-1500.................................................................................................................... 185
India 550-1500..................................................................................................................... 188
Sui and Tang China 589-907.............................................................................................. 192
Song China 907-1279.......................................................................................................... 194
The Mongol Empire 1204-1405......................................................................................... 197
Japan and Korea 600-1500.................................................................................................. 201
South-east Asia 500-1500.................................................................................................... 203
North America and the Pacific 500-1500........................................................................... 206
Toltecs and Aztecs 800-1520............................................................................................... 208
South America and the Incas 1000-1533........................................................................... 210
World Religions 500-1500................................................................................................... 215

THE EARLY MODERN WORLD: 1500-1783
Dawn of a New Era 1494-1559............................................................................................ 218
The Age of European Exploration 1415-1600.................................................................. 221
The Reformation in Europe 1517-1618............................................................................. 224
Europe in the Time of the Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 ................................................. 227
Swedish Expansion in the Baltic 1521-1721...................................................................... 230
The Expansion of Russia 1492-1783.................................................................................. 232
Europe in the Age of Absolute Monarchs 1648-1715....................................................... 235
18th-Century Europe 1715-1783........................................................................................ 238
The Rise of European Capitalism 1492-1775.................................................................... 240
The European Enlightenment 1650-1800......................................................................... 243
The Rise of the Ottoman Empire 1492-1640.................................................................... 245
The Decline of the Ottoman Empire 1640-1783.............................................................. 248
Safavid Persia and the Rise of Mughal India 1500-1779................................................... 250
Mughal India 1605-1765..................................................................................................... 254
Ming China 1368-1644........................................................................................................ 257
The Rise of Manchu Qing China 1644-1783..................................................................... 259
Japan 1500-1800.................................................................................................................. 262
South-east Asia 1500-1800.................................................................................................. 265
African Kingdoms 1500-1800............................................................................................. 268
Spanish Colonization of the Americas 1550-1783............................................................. 271
European Exploration of North America 1500-1700....................................................... 274
Colonial North America 1650-1775................................................................................... 276
The American Revolution 1763-1783................................................................................ 279
THE 19th-CENTURY WORLD: 1783-1914
The French Revolution 1789-1799..................................................................................... 282
Napoleonic Europe 1800-1815........................................................................................... 285
The Industrial Revolution 1770-1914................................................................................ 288
Consequences of the Industrial Revolution 1800-1914.................................................... 291
The Growth of Nationalism in Europe 1815-1849............................................................ 294
German and Italian Unification 1815-1871....................................................................... 297
The Russian Empire 1783-1917.......................................................................................... 300
The European Alliance System 1871-1914........................................................................ 302
The Demise of the Ottoman Empire 1783-1923............................................................... 305
The Westward Expansion of the United States 1783-1910............................................... 308
The American Civil War 1861-1865................................................................................... 310
The Industrial Expansion of the United States 1800-1914............................................... 314
The Development of Canada 1763-1914........................................................................... 316
Independence in Latin America 1783-1830...................................................................... 319
Latin America Post-independence 1830-1910................................................................... 321
The British in India 1765-1905.......................................................................................... 325
The Decline of Manchu Qing China 1783-1911............................................................... 328
The Modernization of Japan 1800-1914............................................................................ 331
Colonialism in South-east Asia 1790-1914......................................................................... 334
Colonialism in Australia and New Zealand 1788-1914..................................................... 337
Africa 1800-1880.................................................................................................................. 340
The Scramble for Africa 1880-1914................................................................................... 343
Science and Technology 1783-1900................................................................................... 345
Medicine 1783-1900............................................................................................................ 348

THE MODERN WORLD
World War I 1914-1918....................................................................................................... 352
The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union 1917-1939............................................... 355
Europe Between the Wars 1918-1939................................................................................ 358
The USA and Canada 1914-1945....................................................................................... 362
World War II in Europe 1939-1945.................................................................................... 364
The Holocaust 1942-1945................................................................................................... 367
Japan 1914-1941.................................................................................................................. 370
World War II in the Pacific 1941-1945............................................................................... 373
The Republic of China 1911-1949..................................................................................... 376
Independence in India 1905-1949..................................................................................... 379
The Cold War 1945-1989.................................................................................................... 383
The USA and Canada 1945-1999....................................................................................... 386
The Soviet Union and Post-Soviet Russia 1945-1999........................................................ 389
Europe 1945-1999............................................................................................................... 392
The People's Republic of China 1949-1999...................................................................... 396
Japan and Korea 1945-1999................................................................................................ 399
South-east Asia 1914-1999.................................................................................................. 403
The Indochina Wars 1954-1979......................................................................................... 406
Central and South Asia 1948-1999..................................................................................... 408
Australia and New Zealand 1914-1999............................................................................... 411
The Middle East 1923-1999................................................................................................ 414
The Arab-Israeli Conflict 1948-1999.................................................................................. 417
The Rise of Islamism 1979-1999......................................................................................... 420
Africa 1914-1999.................................................................................................................. 424
Latin America 1910-1999.................................................................................................... 427
Environmental Challenges 1900-1999............................................................................... 430
Advances in Science and Technology 1900-1999.............................................................. 433
Advances in Medicine 1900-1999....................................................................................... 436

THE 21st-CENTURY WORLD
The USA and Canada 2000 onwards.................................................................................. 440
Putin's Russia 2000 onwards................................................................................................ 443
Europe 2000 onwards.......................................................................................................... 446
China 2000 onwards............................................................................................................ 449
Japan and Korea 2000 onwards........................................................................................... 452
South-east Asia 2000 onwards............................................................................................. 454
Central and South Asia 2000 onwards................................................................................ 459
The War in Afghanistan 2001-2014.................................................................................... 462
Australia and New Zealand 2000 onwards.......................................................................... 465
Islamism 2000 onwards........................................................................................................ 467
The Middle East, North Africa and the Arab Spring 2000 onwards ................................ 470
The Arab-Israeli Conflict 2000 onwards............................................................................. 473
The War in Iraq and the Rise of Islamic State 2000 onwards ........................................... 475
Sub-Saharan Africa 2000 onwards....................................................................................... 478
Latin America 2000 onwards............................................................................................... 480
The Environment 2000 onwards......................................................................................... 483
Globalization, Population Growth and Movement 2000 onwards.................................... 485
The Banking Crisis and the Global Recession 2007-2012................................................ 488
Science and Technology 2000 onwards.............................................................................. 491
Medicine and Disease 2000 onwards.................................................................................. 494
Into the Future..................................................................................................................... 497

Timeline................................................................................... 500
Index........................................................................................ 507