World History

Covering nearly 2500 years, from 480 BC to 11 September 2001, Days that Changed the World tells the stories of 50 days that truly made history. Included are the Crucifixion, the Battle of Waterloo, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the fall of the Berlin Wall. For each, Days that Changed the World explains the events of the day and their causes, providing an insight into the era and an understanding of wider themes of world history.

The Belgrade Offensive of 1944, while not considered one of the greatest and most important battles of the Second World War, was definitively an important moment of the war in the Balkans and marked the final defeat of the Axis in Southeastern Europe.

Durante más de seis siglos, el imperio fue posiblemente el imperio musulmán más fuerte del mundo, dominando a sus rivales en Europa y Asia durante muchos años. Abarcando tres continentes y controlando tierras en los Balcanes, el Cáucaso, Crimea, Anatolia, Oriente Próximo, Levante, Egipto y el norte de África, el Imperio otomano fue una de las potencias más amenazadoras en el apogeo de su poder en el siglo XVI. Era temido por otros grandes imperios de Europa.

What does Joan of Arc have to do with your modern mobile app product? How does Genghis Khan relate to you as CEO of your own business venture? These questions are at the heart of this audiobook, a collection of 40 gripping stories from world history expanding upon the drama of the greatest characters from the past. Each chapter engages the listener to look at history through the eyes of a modern entrepreneur, driving relevant capitalist lessons from the stories of our ancestors.

Discover World War 2's hidden heroes and villains. Spies, Code Breakers, and Secret Agents explores the intriguing world of spycraft and shows you what goes on behind the scenes in war. From spy schools and ciphers to sneaky tools and secret armies, this guide takes you on a declassified tour of the undercover operations that helped decide the outcome of World War 2. There's also more than a dozen short spy-ographies that cover some of the most famous (and infamous!) agents that were active during the war.

Throughout much of the 19th century, both secular and Catholic leaders assumed that the Church and the modern world were locked in a battle to the death. The triumph of modernity would not only finish the Church as a consequential player in world history; it would also lead to the death of religious conviction. But today, the Catholic Church is far more vital and consequential than it was 150 years ago.

From a small Turkish principality to a global superpower, the Ottoman Empire’s role in world history is certainly undeniable. For over six centuries, the empire was arguably the world’s strongest Muslim empire, dominating its rivals in Europe and Asia for many years.

La Revolución francesa es increíblemente compleja e involucra a muchas partes móviles, desde la monarquía hasta los clubes políticos, desde la intelectualidad hasta el campesinado hambriento que protesta en las calles. Este libro, te lo describe de forma sencilla. En efecto, la Revolución francesa se presenta como una paradoja increíblemente desconcertante. ¿Qué ocurrió? ¿Qué salió mal? En este libro, exploramos las posibilidades.

World War II did more than just change the fate of world history—in just six years, every corner of the globe became involved in some of the most violent crimes against humanity to ever occur. Whether you have a great fascination for history, or you’re just looking to uncover new facts, The Greatest Battles of World War II paints a picture of the battles of World War 2 and the impact of each on the course of the war and the future of global affairs.

For centuries in the Western world, during what is known as the Middle Ages, written knowledge was guarded closely and hidden away in private repositories, usually by the religious classes. The lack of libraries in the West has helped contribute to the popular imagination of the ancient Library at Alexandria and all the myths and legends that have come to be associated with it, but the Library of Alexandria deserves its reputation.

Discovering ancient shipwrecks hasn't been a novelty for thousands of years, but when artifacts were salvaged from a Roman shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1900, the discovery of one set off one of the great mysteries of antiquity. When sponge divers investigated the shipwreck, they found the kinds of items often associated with such discoveries, including marble statues, pottery, jewelry, and coins, but they also discovered a strange object, the likes of which nobody had ever seen before.

A comprehensive and thought-provoking investigation into one of the most polarizing words in the English language. Few words in the English language are as misunderstood as “like.” Indeed, excessive use of this word is a surefire way to make those who pride themselves on propriety, both grammatical and otherwise, feel compelled to issue correctives.

In this one-hour history book, discover the main events that led to World War I and how this first global conflict unfold from the Western front, to Africa, the Middle East, and Asia as it became one of the bloodiest war of all time. It was dubbed “the war to end all wars,” but as anyone alive today can clearly attest, this was most certainly not the case. World War I was indeed an ending point in world history, but rather than ending wars, it could be said to be the war that ended the “fraternity of wars.”

Travel back in time over 1,000 years and meet the first and only female emperor of China. Born Wu Zhao and given the reign title "Zetian" just weeks before her death in AD 705, she was the unwanted daughter of Chancellor Wu Shihuo—too bright, too educated, and too politically focused to make a good wife according to contemporary interpretations of the Analects of Confucius. Explore the life of Empress Wu and discover why the world is a vastly different place because she dared what no woman in China before or since ever dreamed of.

Best known as Henry V's Agincourt bride from Shakespeare's Henry V, Catherine de Valois was an extraordinary woman of faith, courage, and conviction in an age of politically powerful women.

The 11th century was a dangerous time to be of the line unbroken of King Æthelred II Unread and his first queen, Æfgifu of York. Born in Hungary after King Canute III's failed attempt to murder her father, Edward the Exile, Margaret found her life turned upside down by King Edward the Confessor's discovery of her father's survival—and the resulting recall of her family to England.

The World Cup is the largest sports event outside the summer Olympics: the progress of the 32 countries which qualify for the finals is watched by billions all over the globe. Since the very first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, there have been 18 finals, held every four years (with a 12-year break over the World War II period). The World Cup in South Africa will be the 19th. Brian Glanville, the distinguished journalist and World Cup historian, has written a fascinating history of the event.

With his delicate phraseology and deft massaging of truth and deception, Joseph Goebbels was the mouthpiece of a monstrous regime, dishing out propaganda for Nazi Germany throughout World War II. It was his mission to entirely subsume the consciousness of the German people with the warped ideals of the Nazi Party. Through this means, he convinced everyday Germans to look the other way while some of the worst atrocities in history were committed.

After the last shots of World War II were fired and the process of rebuilding Germany and Europe began, the Western Allies and the Soviet Union each tried to obtain the services of the Third Reich's leading scientists, especially those involved in rocketry, missile technology, and aerospace research. Naturally, this was a delicate affair due to the fact many of the German scientists were not only active Nazis but had helped the Nazi war machine terrorize the world. At the same time, by the late war period, the Anglo-American Allies formed a clear picture of the Soviet state.

"The deck, that is the floor of their rooms, was so covered with the blood and mucus which had proceeded from them in consequence of the flux, that it resembled a slaughter-house. It is not in the power of the human imagination to picture a situation more dreadful or disgusting. Numbers of the slaves having fainted, they were carried upon deck where several of them died and the rest with great difficulty were restored. It had nearly proved fatal to me also." - Dr. Alexander Falconbridge, an 18th century British surgeon