Civilization: Is the West History?

The first episode begins in 1420 when Ming China had a credible claim to be the most advanced civilization in the world: 'All Under Heaven'. England o...

In 1683 the Ottoman army laid siege to Vienna, the capital of Europe's most powerful empire. Domination of West by East was an alarmingly plausible sc...

Ferguson asks why North America succeeded while Latin America for so many centuries lagged behind. The two had much in common (not least the subjugati...

The French Empire consciously set out to civilize Africa by improving public health as well as building a modern infrastructure. Yet in other European...

Today the world is becoming more homogenous and, with increasingly few exceptions, big-name brands dominate main streets, high streets and shopping ma...

The sixth element that enabled the West to dominate the rest was the work ethic. Max Weber famously linked it to Protestantism, but the reality is tha...