How do empires rise? Why do they fall? And how have they shaped the world around us today? William
Isfahan, half of the world. It had been a city for years, but at the end of the 16th century Shah Ab
How did the great divide within Islam, the split between Sunni and Shia, develop? We trace how the g
After conquering much of Eurasia, Timur showed no interest in building institutions and so after his
Timur, known to many as Tamburlaine the Great from the iconic Marlowe play. Despite having a limp an
After the Arab conquest, Persia was turned upside down. Patronage went to Islam as opposed to Zoroas
As the timber creaked under the pressure of the Antarctic ice, Shackleton knew his voyage aboard the
Antarctica, the great land of ice. It was first spotted in the early years of the 19th century but i
With Alexander Dalrymple sidelined, Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks are ready to set off on an e
In the 1760’s a clever, young, ambitious Scotsman named Alexander Dalrymple began advocating a theor
In the 15th century, Admiral Zheng He, on the orders of the Emperor of China, embarked upon a series
With the Sassanian Empire defeated and the Byzantine Empire exhausted, there is a power vacuum in th
Eurasia is divided into two great superpowers. Khusrow II rules the Sassanian Empire. Maurice, the l
Three great religions have come out of Persia and all of them have influenced world history. First t
Darius has already been defeated by Alexander. His wife has been kidnapped and has now died in child
Darius III rules Persia and he has already demonstrated his heroism and skill in battle. The Empire
Leonidas and the 300 have been defeated at Thermopylae, leaving the way to Athens open. With the Per
August 480BC; the might of the Persian army, roughly 100,000 soldiers, face down a few thousand Gree
Ionia has revolted and so Darius turns his gaze away from India and towards Greece. He crushes the r
The Persian Empire that Darius took control of was already mighty and powerful; his predecessor, Cam
Born the son of a khan, a tribal chieftain, Cyrus would go on to be a titanic figure of world histor
