The Rise and Fall of Empires

How great powers emerge, expand, and collapse. 14 posts from Sargon’s Akkad to the American century.

  1. Sargon’s Akkadian Empire: Around 2334 BC, Sargon of Akkad conquered Sumerian city‑states and created Mesopotamia’s first empireen.wikipedia.org. At its height (24th–22nd centuries BC) it stretched from the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf and is often called the world’s first empireen.wikipedia.orgen.wikipedia.org.
  2. Egypt’s New Kingdom Empire: In the 16th–11th century BC, pharaohs like Thutmose III expanded Egypt into the Levant and Nubiaen.wikipedia.org. The New Kingdom (1550–1069 BC) marked Egypt’s golden age – its wealthiest, most powerful eraen.wikipedia.org – before later fragmentation and invasion led to decline.
  3. Achaemenid Persian Empire: Beginning in 550 BC, Cyrus the Great united Medes, Lydians, and Babylonians into Persia’s first empireen.wikipedia.org. By 480 BC it spanned from the Balkans to the Indus, making it the largest polity of its timeen.wikipedia.org. The Achaemenids fell when Alexander the Great conquered Persia in 330 BCen.wikipedia.org.
  4. Alexander’s Hellenistic Empire: Alexander III of Macedon (r.336–323 BC) swept through Asia. By his death he ruled an empire from Greece through Egypt to northwest Indiabritannica.com. Though vast, it fractured at his death, birthing successor Hellenistic kingdoms that preserved Greek culture across Asiabritannica.combritannica.com.
  5. Han China: After the short Qin dynasty, Liu Bang founded the Han in 202 BC and unified China. Over four centuries (Western and Eastern Han) it became a golden age of Chinese civilizationen.wikipedia.org. Han rule standardized government and culture; though it collapsed in 220 AD amid internal strife, the Han dynasty shaped China’s identity for millennia.
  6. Maurya India: In the 4th–3rd centuries BC, Chandragupta Maurya overthrew regional kings to unite northern Indiaen.wikipedia.org. His grandson Ashoka (r.268–232 BC) added most of the subcontinent, promoting Buddhism after the bloody Kalinga Waren.wikipedia.org. The Maurya Empire dissolved after Ashoka’s death (c.185 BC), leaving a legacy of centralized rule and trade networks.
  7. Umayyad Caliphate: After Muhammad’s death (632 AD), Arab armies rapidly conquered across three continents. By the 8th century the Umayyads ruled an empire from Iberia to the Indushistoryguild.org. This made it one of history’s largest unitary states (extending into Europe, Africa, and Asia)historyguild.org. The Umayyad dynasty fell in 750 AD due to revolution, though a branch survived as Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain).
  8. Abbasid Caliphate: The Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads (750 AD) and moved the capital to Baghdad. Under Harun al-Rashid (9th c.) Baghdad became a world center of learning and culture – the apex of the Islamic Golden Ageen.wikipedia.org. Abbasid power waned over centuries; finally in 1258 Mongol armies sacked Baghdad and executed the caliph, ending the classical Abbasid stateen.wikipedia.org.
  9. Mongol Empire: In 1206 Genghis Khan united Mongol tribes and launched conquests across Eurasia. By his death (1227) the Mongol Empire spanned from the Pacific to the Caspian – the largest contiguous land empire everen.wikipedia.org. Under his successors it reached its zenith (Kublai Khan) but soon fragmented into separate khanates by the late 13th centuryen.wikipedia.org.
  10. Ottoman Empire: Originating around 1300 in Anatolia, the Ottomans spread into the Balkans and Anatolia, finally capturing Constantinople in 1453en.wikipedia.org. Under Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–1566) it became a major global poweren.wikipedia.org, ruling Southeast Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The empire slowly unraveled in the 18th–19th centuries amid nationalist revolts and military losses, collapsing after World War I (sultanate abolished 1922)en.wikipedia.org.
  11. Spanish Empire: Kicking off the Age of Discovery (1492 onward), Spain (and Portugal) built the first modern global empires. Spain conquered the Americas, the Philippines, and parts of Europe and Africaworldatlas.com. By the 16th century it was a dominant world power; over the next 300 years its vast overseas territories spread Hispanic culture and Catholicism worldwide. (Its decline began with the 17th century and accelerated in the 19th after losing Latin American colonies.)
  12. British Empire: By the 19th century, Britain became the leading colonial power. At its 1920s peak it covered ~13.7 million sq mi (about 25% of Earth’s land)worldatlas.com – the largest empire in history (hence “the sun never set on the British Empire”). After World War II Britain decolonized rapidly, granting independence to most colonies; its legacy remains in the Commonwealth of Nations.
  13. Soviet Union: Born in 1922 from the Russian Revolution, the USSR grew to 22.4 million km² – the largest country ever (covering one-sixth of Earth’s land)en.wikipedia.org. It created a single-party socialist empire spanning Eastern Europe and Asia. Superpower status (vs. USA) was achieved by WWII; internal economic problems and nationalist movements eventually led to its peaceful dissolution in 1991.
  14. United States (Modern Hegemony): In the 20th century the US emerged as a globe-spanning superpower. It established hundreds of overseas military bases and maintained millions of troops worldwidecambridge.org. During the Cold War the US led a Western bloc of client states and alliances, rivaling the USSR. After 1991 American influence was unchallenged globally, though recent history raises questions about “imperial overreach” in economics and military commitmentscambridge.org.