War and Peace and War: The Life Cycles of Imperial NationsWhy do some nations, initially small and insignificant, go on to build mighty empires, while most nations fail to do so? And why do those successful empire-builders always eventually lose their empires? Peter Turchin, a leading thinker in the highly technical field of population dynamics, lucidly presents for the first time an approach to understanding the world's great powers throughout history--with powerful implications for nations today. Turchin shows how the edges of empires are the crucibles of new long-lived empires and how processes of decline inevitably follow on a 1000 year cycle. This sweeping work of social science culminates with a crisp declaration of the general principles of the science of history. A short final section considers Tolstoy and free will in a world of historical cycles, and includes an incisive look at the U.S. now. |
Contents
List of Maps | 1 |
A Band of Adventurers Defeats a Kingdom | 15 |
Life on the Edge | 31 |
Copyright | |
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action Alamanni American Arabs aristocrats army asabiya band battle became behavior Black Death Byzantine Empire century B.C. Chapter Cherusci Christian civil cliodynamics cohesion collapse common conquered conquest cooperation core Cossacks cultural decline defeated defense desert economic elites emperor enemy English ethnic Etruscans Europe European example fault line fighting force fourteenth century France Frankish Frankish Empire Franks French Gallic Gauls Germans Ghassanids Greek historians human Ibn Khaldun imperial nations income increased Indians inequality inhabitants internal Islam Italian Italy killed kin selection king Kuchum land Latin leader Maroboduus medieval Mediterranean metaethnic frontier military modern Mongols moralists Muscovite Muslim nobility noble nomads Odin peasants percent period political population pressure public goods game punishment raids region religion result Rhine Roman Empire Roman frontier Rome Russian secular cycle self-interest social society Spartans steppe Suebi Tatars territory theory tion tribal confederation tribes troops University Press Visigoths warriors wealth