- by peter frankopan
- hellenism eastward, hand dynasty westard, roman empire, persia
- buddhism, zoroaster, christian, christian eastward (orthodox church),
islam, islan westward (good relationship with christian), islam eastward
- steppe, rus river sailors, bzantine rise, turk rise, crusade, italian
city states
- mongol, black death, social upheaval, ottoman
- protuguese indian ocean, spanish pacific ocean, european arms race
- dutch invention, english maritime power, colonies
- russian challenge, german rise, world war 1
- persian oil, ukraine wheat, world war 2, soviet rise
- middle eastern breakaway, iranian revolution, afghanistan invasion,
gulf war in iraq, soviet fall
- american intervention, the terror and the war