The 10 Greatest Empires in the History of the World

In this semester long course, students will learn in great detail about some of the world's most powerful empires, as well as its most prominent leaders. Students will learn how these empires were formed, how long they lasted, the influence they had on the world, and how/why they fell apart. This course will suit anyone who has an interest in history and wants to learn more about our history's major superpowers!

No background knowledge in history is needed for this class, as we will go through all the major background information needed to dive deep into the subject.

The following questions will be explored:

1. How was each empire established?
2. Who established/founded each empire?
3. What made each empire so powerful/great?
4. What led the the fall of each empire?
5. How does it compare to other empires studied in this course?


1. The British Empire- (Largest empire the world has ever seen.)
2. The Mongol Empire- (Largest contiguous empire established by Genghis Khan.)
3. The Russian Empire- (Lasted almost 200 years.)
4. The Spanish Empire- (One of the first global empires)
5. The Qing Dynasty- (China's last dynasty)
6. The Yuan Dynasty- (Founded by grandson of Genghis Khan)
7. The Roman Empire (Part 1 & Part 2)- (The long-lasting Empire)
8. The Umayyad Caliphate- (Elevated Islam as a world religion)
9. The Achaemenid Empire- (The first "global" empire)
10. The Ottoman Empire- (The most powerful in 15th and 16th centuries)

My classes are a mix of lecture and discussion. I like to create a class environment which is a place of dialogue and discussion. 

Each class will consist of a powerpoint presentation pdf, which is posted at the end of each class. Additionally, homework worksheets/questions will be posted for students to complete. At the beginning of each lesson, we will go over the questions collectively as a class in order to review each empire studied thoroughly. I also will post sources (interesting books, films) as recommendations for students to read if they would like to further their knowledge on these major empires.

I encourage participation on the classroom dashboard as well, where a discussion question will be posted after each class.