The Congress of Vienna was held in 1815, shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The purpose of the Congress of Vienna was to try and establish a post-war order in Europe that would preserve peace and address the issues of liberalism and republicanism raised by the French Revolution.

The following delegates were present at the Congress of Vienna: Prince Metternich, representing Austria; Tsar Alexander I, representing Russia; French foreign minister Charles Talleyrand; Prince Karl von Hardenberg, representing Prussia; and British foreign secretary Viscount Castlereagh.

The UN was formed as a result of WWII in an effort for international powers to cooperate and maintain international standards of peace and human rights, and to replace the ineffective League of Nations (which was founded after World War I). It was chartered in 1945. The Red Cross began in the late 19th century, NATO was formed in 1948 as a reaction to the growth of the USSR, and NAFTA was not negotiated until 1994.

Mao did not want China to be a satellite state under Moscow's tutelage; the Sino-Soviet split ensured Chinese independence.

Titoism was the Communist ideology named after Josip Tito, the leader of Yugoslavia, who broke away from Moscow's suzerainty, setting the example for Chinese independence, but not directly part of the process.

Watergate was a political scandal that resulted in President Richard Nixon leaving office. Nixon's administration opened relations with mainland China, but Watergate was an internal American issue that had nothing to do Chinese-Soviet relations.

The Great Leap Forward was a massive reorganizing of the Chinese economy that attempted to industrialize China. It had an effect on China's ability to be independent of the Soviet Union, but was more of an internal policy than external rebalancing of power.

The Cultural Revolution was a Maoist attempt at destroying Mao's perceived enemies within China; it was an internal Chinese policy and was not the process by which China attained independence from the Soviet Union.

Qatar has a ratio of men to women that is higher than 2-to-1. The number one reason for this is business—particularly, the oil industry that brings in migrant workers from all over, mostly male. Between 2011 and 2012, about 75% of the population consisted of migrants from other Middle Eastern countries.

The Federal Supreme Council is the United Arab Emirate's highest governing authority. The Federal Supreme Council deals mostly with foreign affairs, while each of the seven emirates deals with its own internal affairs individually. The UAE has a Constitution that is a little more than four decades old, but the distribution of powers between the federation and each emirate is not clearly defined.  

The Federal Supreme Council can not only create but also impose laws. All three branches of government—judiciary, legislative, and executive—are headed by the Federal Supreme Council.

Saudi Arabia is an authoritarian, absolute monarchy. The king in Saudi Arabia is the source of all legislative, executive, and judicial power. He is the ultimate decision maker; the royal family is vested with power.  

Political parties are outlawed due to the monarchy's control of government. The throne is not granted by election, but ascension (a prince becoming king).  

The Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1922 after World War I, and Turkey was recognized as a republic a year later. The Ottomans are regarded as one of the great empires, arguably peaking in the 1400s with the capturing of the Byzantine empire's capital Constantinople. Turkey established a new Constitution in 1924 and several steps towards secularizing the country were taken.

Although the Western Powers and Japan opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian, one by one they decided to establish relations with the Soviet Union once the Bolshevik victory became clear. Some countries, such as Great Britain, hoped to improve trade with the Soviet Union, while others, such as Germany, established diplomatic relations because they shared mutual resentment of the victorious allies with the Soviet Union. Most countries established relations with the Soviet Union in the 1920s. The United States was an exception, since it did not recognize the Soviet government until 1933. The delay in recognition was partially due to the strong anti-communist movement in the United States, and partially due to Russia's relative unimportance to America as a trade partner.

The United Nations was created on June 26, 1945, in the aftermath of World War II. In its charter it was designed as a bulwark against further global conflict by creating a space of open dialogue between nations. In its founding there were 53 member nations and today that number has grown to 193. Additionally, within the United Nations there are six major components, the Security Council, the General Assembly, the Secretariat, the Economic and Social Council, the International Court of Justice, and the United Nations Trusteeship Council.