Publisher Description

This is the first world history of empire, reaching from the third millennium BCE to the present. By combining synthetic surveys, thematic comparative essays, and numerous chapters on specific empires, its two volumes provide unparalleled coverage of imperialism throughout history and across continents, from Asia to Europe and from Africa to the Americas. Only a few decades ago empire was believed to be a thing of the past; now it is clear that it has been andremains one of the most enduring forms of political organization and power. We cannot understand the dynamics and resilience of empire without moving decisively beyond the study of individual cases orparticular periods, such as the relatively short age of European colonialism. The history of empire, as these volumes amply demonstrate, needs to be drawn on the much broader canvas of global history.Volume Two: The History of Empires tracks the protean history of political domination from the very beginnings of state formation in the Bronze Age up to the present. Case studies deal with the full range of the historical experience of empire, from the realms of theAchaemenids and Asoka to the empires of Mali and Songhay, and from ancient Rome and China to the Mughals, American settler colonialism, and the Soviet Union. Forty-five chapters detailing the history ofindividual empires are tied together by a set of global synthesizing surveys that structure the world history of empire into eight chronological phases.

Author Biography

Peter Fibiger Bang is Associate Professor of History at the University of Copenhagen.C. A. Bayly was the Vere Harmsworth Professor of Imperial and Naval History at the University of Cambridge.Walter Scheidel is the Dickason Professor in the Humanities, Professor of Classics and History, and a Kennedy-Grossman Fellow in Human Biology at Stanford University.

Table of Contents

Vol. II - The History of EmpiresList of ContributorsProlegomenaPETER FIBIGER BANGPart 1. Bronze to Iron AgeThe Near-Eastern "Invention" of Empire (3rd Millennium to 300 BCE)PETER FIBIGER BANG1. Egypt, Old to New Kingdom (2686-1069 BCE)JUAN CARLOS MORENO GARCÍA2. The Sargonic and Ur III EmpiresPIOTR STEINKELLER3. Empires of Western Asia and the Assyrian World EmpireGOJKO BARJAMOVIC4. The Achaemenid Persian Empire: From the Medes to AlexanderMATTHEW W. WATERS5. Ancient Mediterranean City-State Empires: Athens, Carthage, Early RomeWALTER SCHEIDELPart 2. The Classical AgeThe Formation of Large World Empires on the Margins of Eurasia: The Mediterranean and China (323 BCE-600 CE)PETER FIBIGER BANG6. Hellenistic Empire: The Dynasties of the Ptolemies and the SeleucidsCHRISTELLE FISCHER-BOVET7. The Mauryan EmpireHIMANSHU PRABHA RAY8. The First East Asian Empires: Qin and HanMARK EDWARD LEWIS9. The Roman EmpirePETER FIBIGER BANG10. The Parthian and Sasanian EmpiresMATTHEW P. CANEPA11. The Kushan EmpireCRAIG BENJAMINPart 3. The Ecumenic TurnEclipse of the Old World and the Rise of Islam (600-1200)PETER FIBIGER BANG12. The CaliphateANDREW MARSHAM13. The Tang EmpireMARK EDWARD LEWIS14. SrivijayaJOHN N. MIKSIC15. The Khmer EmpireMICHAEL D. COE16. The Byzantine Empire, 641-1453 ADANTHONY KALDELLIS17. Charlemagne, the Carolingian Empire and Its SuccessorsROSAMOND McKITTERICKPart 4. The Mongol MomentThe Rise of Ghenghis Khan and the Central Asian Steppe Followed by Regional ReassertionPETER FIBIGER BANG18. The Mongol Empire and the Unification of EurasiaNIKOLAY KRADIN19. The Ming EmpireDAVID M. ROBINSON20. The Delhi Sultanate as EmpireSUNIL KUMAR21. Caliphs, Popes, Emperors, Kings and Sultans: The Imperial Commonwealth of Medieval Islam and Western ChristendomJACOB TULLBERG22. The Venetian EmpireLUCIANO PEZZOLO23. The Mali and Songhay EmpiresBRUCE S. HALLPart 5. Another WorldThe Separate but Parallel Path of Imperial Formations in the Precolonial AmericasPETER FIBIGER BANG24. The Aztec EmpireMICHAEL E. SMITH AND MAËLLE SERGHERAERT25. The Inca EmpireR. ALAN COVEYPart 6. The Great ConfluenceThe Culmination of Universal Empires and the Conquest of the New World: Agrarian Consolidation and the Rise of European Commercial and Colonial Empires (1450-1750)PETER FIBIGER BANG26. The Ottoman EmpireDARIUSZ KOLODZIEJCZYK27. The Mughal EmpireRAJEEV KINRA28. The Habsburg Monarchy and the Spanish Empire, 1492-1757JOSEP M. DELGADO AND JOSEP M. FRADERA29. The Qing Empire: Three Governments in One State and the Stability of Manchu RulePAMELA KYLE CROSSLEY30. The Portuguese Empire (1415-1822)FRANCISCO BETHENCOURT31. The Dutch Seaborne Empire: Qua Patet OrbisLEONARD BLUSSÉ32. The First British Empire: Atlantic Empire and the Peoples of the British Monarchy, 1603-1815NICHOLAS CANNYPart 7. The Global TurnThe Age of European Colonialism, Subjection of Old Agrarian Empires to the European-Led World Economy and Nationalist Secessions (1750-1914)PETER FIBIGER BANG33. Deconstructing the British Empire: Between Repression and ReformC. A. BAYLY34. An Imperial Nation-State: France and Its EmpiresDAVID TODD35. The Russian Empire, 1453-1917DOMINIC LIEVEN36. Late Spanish Empire: Reform and Crisis, 1762-1898JOSEP M. FRADERA37. US Expansionism during the Nineteenth Century: "Manifest Destiny"AMY S. GREENBERG38. The Kinetic Empires of Native American NomadsPEKKA HÄMÄLÄINEN39. Ottoman Turkey and Qing China: Response and Decline, 1774-1937MICHAEL A. REYNOLDS AND RANA MITTER40. The Sokoto CaliphateMURRAY LASTPart 8. The 20th CenturyThe Collapse of Colonial Empires and the Rise of Super-PowersPETER FIBIGER BANG41. The German and Japanese Empires: Great Power Competition and the World WarsDANIEL HEDINGER AND MORITZ VON BRESCIUS42. Decolonization and NeocolonialismSTUART WARD43. The Soviet UnionGEOFFREY HOSKING44. "America's Global Imperium"ANDREW PRESTON45. Epilogue: Beyond Empire?FREDERICK COOPERIndex of Places, Names and Events

Review

The two volumes that form The Oxford World History of Empire successfully provide a nuanced and critical understanding and analysis of the empire project. The impression left with the reader at the end of the two volumes is a crucial understanding of imperialism. By shifting the gaze away from Eurocentric frameworks, we are provided with a significant insight into the formation of new empires and dynasties across the globe and throughout time. Perhaps of most significance, these volumes, by placing European colonialism into a global context reveal not only its short-lived and fragile nature, but also point out that imperialism was not a recent phenomenon, in fact the impact of empire has been strong and enduring throughout history. * History: The Journal of the Historical Association *
The second volume is a tour-de-force narration and analysis of empire building. Through providing a history of history, the second volume successfully not only places the history of empire in the context of other imperial formations, forming to provides the reader with a thorough world history of empire. This is a significant historiographical work that successfully dispels myths about the stagnation of the non-European world, and the dominance of Europe, and yet collectively these chapters allow us to trace and identify deep commonalities in the imperial condition harking back to the third millennium BCE and spanning across the globe and through time. * History: The Journal of the Historical Association *
The juxtaposition of various empires makes fascinating reading. These very engaging volumes will be a delightful read for any scholars interested in the history of empires. They will also make an excellent addition to any collection as a good general study of empires and an excellent starting point for research into specific empires. Highly recommended. * CHOICE *
A veritable milestone-a project bringing together the top authorities in academe for a discussion on divergence and commonality of empires across history. The dimensions here are truly global unlike the Eurocentric framework that blighted empire studies from 30 years ago. In that sense and in many other ways, this History is unsurpassed. * Explorations in World History *

Long Description

This is the first world history of empire, reaching from the third millennium BCE to the present. By combining synthetic surveys, thematic comparative essays, and numerous chapters on specific empires, its two volumes provide unparalleled coverage of imperialism throughout history and across continents, from Asia to Europe and from Africa to the Americas. Only a few decades ago empire was believed to be a thing of the past; now it is clear that it has been andremains one of the most enduring forms of political organization and power. We cannot understand the dynamics and resilience of empire without moving decisively beyond the study of individual cases or particular periods, such as the relatively short age of European colonialism. The history of empire, asthese volumes amply demonstrate, needs to be drawn on the much broader canvas of global history.Volume Two: The History of Empires tracks the protean history of political domination from the very beginnings of state formation in the Bronze Age up to the present. Case studies deal with the full range of the historical experience of empire, from the realms of the Achaemenids and Asoka to the empires of Mali and Songhay, and from ancient Rome and China to the Mughals, American settler colonialism, and the Soviet Union. Forty-five chapters detailing the history of individual empiresare tied together by a set of global synthesizing surveys that structure the world history of empire into eight chronological phases.

Review Text

"The two volumes that form The Oxford World History of Empire successfully provide a nuanced and critical understanding and analysis of the empire project. The impression left with the reader at the end of the two volumes is a crucial understanding of imperialism. By shifting the gaze away from Eurocentric frameworks, we are provided with a significant insight into the formation of new empires and dynasties across the globe and throughout time. Perhapsof most significance, these volumes, by placing European colonialism into a global context reveal not only its short-lived and fragile nature, but also point out that imperialism was not a recent phenomenon,in fact the impact of empire has been strong and enduring throughout history." -- History: The Journal of the Historical Association"The second volume is a tour-de-force narration and analysis of empire building. Through providing a history of history, the second volume successfully not only places the history of empire in the context of other imperial formations, forming to provides the reader with a thorough world history of empire. This is a significant historiographical work that successfully dispels myths about the stagnation of the non-European world, and the dominance of Europe, andyet collectively these chapters allow us to trace and identify deep commonalities in the imperial condition harking back to the third millennium BCE and spanning across the globe and through time." --History: The Journal of the Historical Association"The juxtaposition of various empires makes fascinating reading. These very engaging volumes will be a delightful read for any scholars interested in the history of empires. They will also make an excellent addition to any collection as a good general study of empires and an excellent starting point for research into specific empires. Highly recommended." -- CHOICE

Review Quote

"The two volumes that form The Oxford World History of Empire successfully provide a nuanced and critical understanding and analysis of the empire project. The impression left with the reader at the end of the two volumes is a crucial understanding of imperialism. By shifting the gaze away from Eurocentric frameworks, we are provided with a significant insight into the formation of new empires and dynasties across the globe and throughout time. Perhaps of most significance, these volumes, by placing European colonialism into a global context reveal not only its short-lived and fragile nature, but also point out that imperialism was not a recent phenomenon, in fact the impact of empire has been strong and enduring throughout history." -- History: The Journal of the Historical Association "The second volume is a tour-de-force narration and analysis of empire building. Through providing a history of history, the second volume successfully not only places the history of empire in the context of other imperial formations, forming to provides the reader with a thorough world history of empire. This is a significant historiographical work that successfully dispels myths about the stagnation of the non-European world, and the dominance of Europe, and yet collectively these chapters allow us to trace and identify deep commonalities in the imperial condition harking back to the third millennium BCE and spanning across the globe and through time." -- History: The Journal of the Historical Association "The juxtaposition of various empires makes fascinating reading. These very engaging volumes will be a delightful read for any scholars interested in the history of empires. They will also make an excellent addition to any collection as a good general study of empires and an excellent starting point for research into specific empires. Highly recommended." -- CHOICE

Feature

Selling point: Unparalleled coverage of the phenomenon of empire in world history, reaching either further back or across a greater expanse of space than any predecessorSelling point: A daring synthesis of the imperial experience across the full span of historySelling point: An important paradigm for the study of empire, generating a non-Eurocentric world historySelling point: A unique combination of syntheses, comparative thematic discussions, and in-depth treatment of a very wide range of individual empires, from Asia, Europe, Africa, and the AmericasSelling point: Against the backdrop of world history, European colonial powers emerge unexpectedly as an especially unstable form of imperialism

New Feature

Vol. II - The History of Empires List of Contributors Prolegomena PETER FIBIGER BANG Part 1. Bronze to Iron Age The Near-Eastern "Invention" of Empire (3rd Millennium to 300 BCE) PETER FIBIGER BANG 1. Egypt, Old to New Kingdom (2686-1069 BCE) JUAN CARLOS MORENO GARCA 2. The Sargonic and Ur III Empires PIOTR STEINKELLER 3. Empires of Western Asia and the Assyrian World Empire GOJKO BARJAMOVIC 4. The Achaemenid Persian Empire: From the Medes to Alexander MATTHEW W. WATERS 5. Ancient Mediterranean City-State Empires: Athens, Carthage, Early Rome WALTER SCHEIDEL Part 2. The Classical Age The Formation of Large World Empires on the Margins of Eurasia: The Mediterranean and China (323 BCE-600 CE) PETER FIBIGER BANG 6. Hellenistic Empire: The Dynasties of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids CHRISTELLE FISCHER-BOVET 7. The Mauryan Empire HIMANSHU PRABHA RAY 8. The First East Asian Empires: Qin and Han MARK EDWARD LEWIS 9. The Roman Empire PETER FIBIGER BANG 10. The Parthian and Sasanian Empires MATTHEW P. CANEPA 11. The Kushan Empire CRAIG BENJAMIN Part 3. The Ecumenic Turn Eclipse of the Old World and the Rise of Islam (600-1200) PETER FIBIGER BANG 12. The Caliphate ANDREW MARSHAM 13. The Tang Empire MARK EDWARD LEWIS 14. Srivijaya JOHN N. MIKSIC 15. The Khmer Empire MICHAEL D. COE 16. The Byzantine Empire, 641-1453 AD ANTHONY KALDELLIS 17. Charlemagne, the Carolingian Empire and Its Successors ROSAMOND McKITTERICK Part 4. The Mongol Moment The Rise of Ghenghis Khan and the Central Asian Steppe Followed by Regional Reassertion PETER FIBIGER BANG 18. The Mongol Empire and the Unification of Eurasia NIKOLAY KRADIN 19. The Ming Empire DAVID M. ROBINSON 20. The Delhi Sultanate as Empire SUNIL KUMAR 21. Caliphs, Popes, Emperors, Kings and Sultans: The Imperial Commonwealth of Medieval Islam and Western Christendom JACOB TULLBERG 22. The Venetian Empire LUCIANO PEZZOLO 23. The Mali and Songhay Empires BRUCE S. HALL Part 5. Another World The Separate but Parallel Path of Imperial Formations in the Precolonial Americas PETER FIBIGER BANG 24. The Aztec Empire MICHAEL E. SMITH AND MALLE SERGHERAERT 25. The Inca Empire R. ALAN COVEY Part 6. The Great Confluence The Culmination of Universal Empires and the Conquest of the New World: Agrarian Consolidation and the Rise of European Commercial and Colonial Empires (1450-1750) PETER FIBIGER BANG 26. The Ottoman Empire DARIUSZ KOLODZIEJCZYK 27. The Mughal Empire RAJEEV KINRA 28. The Habsburg Monarchy and the Spanish Empire, 1492-1757 JOSEP M. DELGADO AND JOSEP M. FRADERA 29. The Qing Empire: Three Governments in One State and the Stability of Manchu Rule PAMELA KYLE CROSSLEY 30. The Portuguese Empire (1415-1822) FRANCISCO BETHENCOURT 31. The Dutch Seaborne Empire: Qua Patet Orbis LEONARD BLUSS32. The First British Empire: Atlantic Empire and the Peoples of the British Monarchy, 1603-1815 NICHOLAS CANNY Part 7. The Global Turn The Age of European Colonialism, Subjection of Old Agrarian Empires to the European-Led World Economy and Nationalist Secessions (1750-1914) PETER FIBIGER BANG 33. Deconstructing the British Empire: Between Repression and Reform C. A. BAYLY 34. An Imperial Nation-State: France and Its Empires DAVID TODD 35. The Russian Empire, 1453-1917 DOMINIC LIEVEN 36. Late Spanish Empire: Reform and Crisis, 1762-1898 JOSEP M. FRADERA 37. US Expansionism during the Nineteenth Century: "Manifest Destiny" AMY S. GREENBERG 38. The Kinetic Empires of Native American Nomads PEKKA HMLINEN 39. Ottoman Turkey and Qing China: Response and Decline, 1774-1937 MICHAEL A. REYNOLDS AND RANA MITTER 40. The Sokoto Caliphate MURRAY LAST Part 8. The 20th Century The Collapse of Colonial Empires and the Rise of Super-Powers PETER FIBIGER BANG 41. The German and Japanese Empires: Great Power Competition and the World Wars DANIEL HEDINGER AND MORITZ VON BRESCIUS 42. Decolonization and Neocolonialism STUART WARD 43. The Soviet Union GEOFFREY HOSKING 44. "America''s Global Imperium" ANDREW PRESTON 45. Epilogue: Beyond Empire? FREDERICK COOPER Index of Places, Names and Events

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