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But the crucial fact of the equilibrium age was that no power in Europe was strong enough to dominate the others completely, or to embark upon a career of overseas conquest safe from the challenge of its European rivals.
John Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
Ming rule represented a vehement reaction against what was seen by its original supporters as the corruption, oppression and overtaxation of the Mongol Yuan.
John Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
On the eve of the close encounter with the West, China’s distinctive political trajectory (still dominated by its symbiotic relationship with Inner Asia) propelled it not towards an all-powerful oriental despotism (imagined by Europeans) – which might have permitted drastic change in the face of external challenge – but instead still further
... See moreJohn Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
In the two centuries that followed the death of Tamerlane, Eurasia remained divided between the three civilized worlds we have explored so far, and a number of others, Buddhist and Hindu, that we have passed over in silence. There was little to show that their cultural differences were narrowing. If anything, the energetic state-building that was
... See moreJohn Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000

The repeated cycle of mass military invasion, large-scale destruction, transient unity and imperial breakup gave the Islamic world a ‘medieval’ history starkly different from that of Europe or China.
John Darwin • After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400-2000
