Is commerce a factor of peace? What are the limits of diplomacy?

How does climate change affect the stability of the global order?

Are conflicts one of the universal sins of power?

In an era when the threat of nuclear war is emerging again, Jonathan Holslag's World Political History offers us a panorama of international relations that is absolutely essential for those who want to understand the background of contemporary developments.

This book examines a total of 3,000 years of history, from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC to the early 21st century. Each chapter covers two to three centuries and focuses on the geographical region for which historical evidence shows it was the most important at that time: either because of its population size, its power, or its leadership role in international affairs. In this way, the focus shifts from east to west, from north to south, as it follows the constantly shifting centers of power.

Overall, the book shows great interest in the impact of global politics on the lives of ordinary people. Beyond the effects of economic changes, it is often the outbreak of wars that has the greatest consequences, and therefore the causes and results of conflicts are traced, how some conflicts were won and how others were lost, and how the conflicting parties perceived them. We also witness the desperate efforts of diplomats to stop them.

Even if our goal is to try to extract abstract, timeless patterns from the history of war and peace, above all, this history must remain a story of human beings, their hopes and fears, their capacity for violence, and their pain. This is the only way to understand the difficult choices that define the nature of true leadership.