Political and state sovereignty in Europe in 1000 CE was mostly fragmented between a large number of elites who used private armies for coercion but did not regulate life in the ways that modern states do. Kingdoms and city-states that existed had little control of events that were outside of their immediate territories.

After the fall of the Tang dynasty in the early tenth century, the Chinese state fragmented into several smaller kingdoms. The largest of these was the Song, but they were never able to reunify China. China would finally be reunified in the thirteenth century under the rule of Kublai Khan and the Mongol Yuan dynasty.

The circle of justice was first developed in the Middle East during the classical era and was reinforced by the emergence of Islam in the seventh century. According to the circle of justice, a ruler owed justice to his subjects, his subjects paid taxes to the treasury, the treasury provided funding for the army, and the army protected the authority of the ruler. Collectively, it delineated the social duty and responsibility of all members of society and provided a unifying social force and justification for the rule of caliphs and emperors.

During the Heian period of Japanese history (usually referred to as Japan’s classical era), the emperor possessed almost no real power. He was a symbolic figurehead and a chancellor ruled in his place. The Fujiwara clan gained control of the chancellorship in the ninth century and ruled as Japan’s de facto ruling family until near the end of the Heian period.

During the High Middle Ages, England and France were the two most stable nations in Europe. In this case, “stable” means able to resist barbarian invasion and subject to fewer civil wars and power struggles between the upper classes.

Russia’s dynastic system is quite unique among the global history of dynasties, ruling families, and other related monarchical systems. Only two dynasties have ever ruled Russia: the (now infamous and much romanticized) Romanov dynasty and the Ruriks, who ruled the country before the Romanovs’ ascendency. The historical record is a bit murky as to the truth of the Rurik dynasty’s origins but they ruled over Russia for several centuries and are credited with establishing the tsarist system of government. This tsarism was later inherited by the Romanovs, who succeeded the Ruriks in 1613 and saw fit to maintain much of the Ruriks’ authoritarian tendencies.

Charlemagne's title as "Holy Roman Emperor" meant that his authority and empire were blessed by the Pope. This title asserted the power of the empire above other realms, and afforded them special privileges with regards to the pope and Catholic church. The Emperor had authority over legal and military affairs while the Pope maintained authority of spiritual matters.

The Holy Roman Empire was formed from the fragments of Charlemagne’s empire. It was an ethnically diverse and multicultural empire that stretched across much of central Europe. It was comprised of hundreds of small duchies and principalities, each of which retained some degree of autonomous power. It was not, however, ruled by a hereditary monarch until the Hapsburgs took effective control over the empire in the fifteenth century. Instead rulers were generally elected by those members of the nobility who were endowed as imperial electors.

The English Parliament first emerged in the decades after the signing of the Magna Carta. It grew in influence over the thirteenth century and soon began competing for power with the monarchy. By the seventeenth century, the situation had become untenable and the English Civil War broke out. After the English Civil War, the supremacy of Parliament was firmly and finally established by the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the Bill of Rights in 1689.

The Tsars' power largely rested on the support of the Orthodox Church and the military.

The sans-culottes were a social group in revolutionary France.

Certain nomadic groups, such as the Cossacks, were oftentimes allied with the Tsar but they were not indigenous to Central Asia.

Although throughout history, certain Muslim fighters from Chechnya and Dagestan may have fought for the Russian Tsar, they were the exception rather than the rule.

Throughout history merchants from all over the world have traded in Russia, but they were never a main pillar of support for the Russian Tsars.