“Palestine” was a common name used until 1948 to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River. In its history, the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, among others, have controlled Palestine at one time or another. The Ottoman Empire ruled the region from the 1500s through 1917.

One effective way to approach the tremendous breadth and depth of world history is to break it into digestible bits of information. Here are four approaches to putting the many millennia and decades in perspective by looking at civilizations and societies as they changed, at ruling dynasties, at advances in science and technology, and at the deadliest wars.

Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power at the end of the eighteenth century led to two decades of change not only in France, but in all of Europe. From the Napoleonic Wars to progressive reforms in law, education, and human rights, Napoleon left a legacy that forever changed the politics and culture of Europe.The seven coalitions of the Napoleonic warsThe often-used term Napoleonic Wars implies that Napoleon was the instigator in every military campaign of the period.

The history of the world isn’t easily condensed, but the timeline here does a good job of hitting the high notes and most significant events of roughly 4,000 years from the beginnings of Hinduism to the freeing of Nelson Mandela. After Columbus sailed and Constantinople fell, Europeans continued to search out trading routes and thinkers and doers around the globe made history in their various ways.

Australian history — well, that kind that’s been written down — begins some 400 years ago when European traders and explorers first started coming up against the coast of a continent they hadn’t found before. From 1788, following British settlement of New South Wales, the dates start coming thick and fast. The following timeline of significant events begins with that initial cross-cultural encounter and goes right up to the election of Australia’s first woman Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, in 2010.

You can get a better understanding of the Vietnam War by taking a look at the leaders of North Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh) and South Vietnam (Ngo Dinh Diem). Getting to know more about the two leaders in Vietnam will help you better understand their reactions to the United States as it became more involved in Vietnam.

After military successes in Egypt, Napoleon was treated as a returning hero of mythic proportions in 1799. To the French people, he was Caesar and Alexander rolled into one. The streets were full of his admirers. The Council of Ancients (one of France's legislative bodies) gave him a standing ovation when he appeared before them.

Waterloo is a small town a few miles south of Brussels, Belgium. It's an unassuming place, with a church, a few inns, and some homes surrounded by old stone farmhouses and lots of open fields. Those farms and fields are its claim to fame, because one of the most famous battles in history was fought on them. The Battle of Waterloo, as it has come to be known, is always included on lists of battles that changed the course of history.