War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of EmpiresFrom the author of End Times In War and Peace and War, Peter Turchin uses his expertise in evolutionary biology to offer a bold new theory about the course of world history. Turchin argues that the key to the formation of an empire is a society’s capacity for collective action. He demonstrates that high levels of cooperation are found where people have to band together to fight off a common enemy, and that this kind of cooperation led to the formation of the Roman and Russian empires, and the United States. But as empires grow, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, conflict replaces cooperation, and dissolution inevitably follows. Eloquently argued and rich with historical examples, War and Peace and War offers a bold new theory about the course of world history with implications for nations today. |
Contents
| 15 | |
| 31 | |
Contents | 45 |
Slaughter in the Forest | 57 |
Asabiya in the Desert | 89 |
The Myth of SelfInterest | 107 |
Born to Be Wolves | 139 |
A Medieval Black Hole | 171 |
A New Idea of Renaissance | 239 |
The Matthew Principle | 261 |
Wheels Within Wheels | 283 |
War and Peace and Particles | 311 |
The Bowling Alley in History | 325 |
The End of Empire? | 337 |
Notes | 357 |
Acknowledgments | 389 |
Common terms and phrases
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 dynamics 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 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