The Borderlands are returning. The old fault lines of old empires have regained political relevance in world politics.

Alfred J. Rieber's ambitious book examines their formation and interaction with five imperial centers over five centuries, drawing on the Habsburg, Ottoman, Russian, Iranian and Chinese empires.

Rieber examines the period from the emergence of the great multicultural conquering empires at the end of the medieval - beginning of the modern period to their collapse at the beginning of the 20th century. He shows how these empires expanded along shifting military frontiers, competing with each other in war, diplomacy, and cultural practices, while conquered frontier peoples sought to preserve their culture and assert autonomy. The gradual and fragmented adaptation of Western constitutional ideas, military reforms, cultural practices and economic penetration began to undermine these ruling ideologies and institutions, leading to the collapse of all five empires through revolution and war within just over a decade from 1911 to 1923.

Alfred J. Rieber has been teaching and writing about Russian and Soviet history for the past fifty years. He is currently an honorary professor at the Central European University in Budapest.