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| Cast of Characters | |
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| Map of an Age of Empires, 1200-1750 | |
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| Introduction: Days of Empire | |
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| Golden Khan, Golden Reins, Golden Horde: The Mongols Ride Out | |
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| Horse Sense and Hard Lives | |
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| Conquering the World | |
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| Anonymous, The Secret History of the Mongols, 13th century | |
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| Who's Next? The Mongols Reach Their Limit | |
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| Assassins, Brides, and the Tartar Yoke | |
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| A Nomadic Army Loses Its Grip | |
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| Marco Polo, The Travels of Marco Polo, 13th century | |
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| Twice as Powerful: Poland and Lithuania Unite | |
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| Fighting Christians and Pious Pagans | |
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| Flowers Before the Flood | |
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| Guillaume Le Vasseur Beauplan, A Description of Ukraine, 1744 | |
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| Troubled Times, Troubled Tsars: The Russian Empire | |
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| Fear and Rage: The Rule of Ivan the Terrible | |
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| Russia Looks Westward | |
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| Sophia, electress of Hanover, letter about Peter the Great, 1687 | |
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| The Real Mughals, Not the Reel Moguls: Empire in India | |
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| Babur the Tiger Takes India | |
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| An Empire Withers | |
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| Francois Bernier, Travels in the Mogul Empire, 1670 | |
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| Triumph of the Turks: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire | |
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| Rule by the Sword | |
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| The Sack of Constantinople | |
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| Evliya Celebi, Book of Travels, 17th century | |
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| When Tents Become Towers: The Sultans Settle Down | |
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| Suleyman Eludes the Poisoned Shirt | |
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| Spring Tulips, Wilting Empire | |
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| Anonymous, archives of the Turkish prime minister, 1749 | |
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| Stocking the Royal Spice Cabinet: The Portuguese Empire | |
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| Henry, Armchair Navigator | |
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| Running out of Wind | |
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| Gomes Eannes de Zurara, Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, 15th century | |
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| "Go Further!": Spain Expands across an Ocean | |
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| 1492, A Remarkable Year | |
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| Enemies at Every Turn | |
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| Reginaldo de Montesinos, sermon delivered in a Dominican church, 1511 | |
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| The Wedding Ring Empire: Europe under the Habsburgs | |
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| Out of Many, One | |
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| The Queen of Common Sense | |
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| Emanuel Tarouca, Letter to Empress Maria Theresa, 1740 | |
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| Teenagers Take the Throne: Manchu China | |
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| The Civilized Barbarians | |
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| The Celestial Suns: Kangxi and Qianlong | |
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| Cheng Panch'io, a letter to his brother, 1732 | |
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| EPILOGUE: Remembering the Conquests | |
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| Glossary | |
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| Timeline | |
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| Further Reading | |
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| Websites | |
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| Index | |