Japan was opened to foreign trade in the 1850s, before the Meiji Restoration period of 1867-1912. This period saw the restoration of imperial rule and the end of the shogunate, and a number of sweeping political, economic, and social reforms that included the abolition of the feudal social system that existed under the shogunate. The restored imperial regime oversaw relatively rapid modernization of Japan, and this included industrialization of the economy. These changes also allowed Japan to develop a modern military that enabled it to defeat both China and Russia in wars in this period, and emerge as the dominant power in East Asia.

The Meiji Restoration refers to the moment in 1868 when the authority of the Emperor of Japan was renewed over the authority of the Shogunate, which had effectively ruled Japan since 1603. Due to authoritarian disputes with lesser nobles, the Shogun was pushed out of a position of power. In the process of taking back power, the Meiji Emperor also sought to rapidly industrialize and modernize the nation, creating a western style industry, military, and government.

The Mughal emperors came from a nomadic group in present day Uzbekistan, but over the course of the sixteenth century they conquered almost all of the Indian subcontinent. The Mughals adopted Persian culture, and they sought a syncretic cultural and religious approach that attempted to unify their various ruled peoples. The Mughal Empire ruled most of the Indian subcontinent for 250 years and was still ruling an area around Delhi until 1857.

The Sepoy Rebellion was the precursor to the creation of the British Raj in 1857 in the Indian subcontinent. Prior to 1857, the British had ruled India in a comparably relaxed manner, focusing on establishing economic networks and propping up existing power structures; however, when the Indian troops of armies controlled by the British (Sepoys) rebelled in 1857, the British took direct control of India and tightened their grip on the political and social life of the people. 

The Mughal empire conquered much of Northern and Western India in the sixteenth century. The Mughals established a capital at Delhi and governed India through a time of relative peace and economic expansion. They were displaced by the British after the arrival of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent.

The First Indian War of Independence took place in 1857. It began when Indian and Muslim troops serving British authorities rebelled against those authorities and tried to overthrow British influence in India. The most significant consequence of the rebellion was that the British government decided to drop the pretense and take direct control of the Indian subcontinent. For the next ninety years, Britain would govern India as a colony, until India gained full independence in 1947.

Prior to the arrival of the British, the Mughal Empire controlled much of the Indian subcontinent—particularly northern India. Their capital city was Delhi. The Mughal rulers claimed descent (although this is disputed by historians) from Genghis Khan and the other notable Mongolian Khans, but it is fairly certain they were Central Asian people with a mixture of Turkish and Mongolian ethnicity. They arrived in the Indian subcontinent in the sixteenth century. 

The Seven Years' War is often referred to by historians as the first truly global war. At the time, the colonial possessions of France and Britain were extensive, spanning North America, Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Central America. The war resulted in a victory for the British, and the French ceded certain territorial possessions on the Indian subcontinent, agreeing to recognize British economic superiority on the subcontinent. This is the beginning of British domination over India, which would last until Indian independence, two centuries later.

The Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in June of 1914 by Gavrilo Princip. After his assassination the Austrian Empire implicated much of the Serbian high command and used the incident as a pretext to invade Serbia. This action disturbed the entangled alliances of Europe and lead directly to the outbreak of World War I a few months later. 

During World War One German U-boats were actively engaged in preventing the British and French from receiving reinforcements and economic assistance from America and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. The most well-known incident occurred in 1915 when a German U-boat sank an American passenger ship called the Lusitania and killed some 200 American civilians in the process. The action was widely condemned, but it never directly lead to a German suspension of its unrestricted submarine warfare. Instead its primary consequence was to help encourage American and Brazilian public opinion to turn in favor of aiding the allies in the Great War.