Raiders, rulers, and traders: the horse and the rise of empires

Domesticated for milk: the entanglement begins, 40,000-2000 BCE

Horses for heroes: horse herders enter the settled world, 2000-500 BCE

Engines of empire: Iran and India, 500 BCE-400 CE

Desperately seeking heavenly horses: China, 200 BCE-400 CE

Silk road or horse road: China and India, 100 BCE-500 CE

Equine mania: China, the Turks, and the world, 500-1100 CE

Hunting for supremacy: Eurasia, 900-1200 CE

As far as our horses' hooves run: Genghis Khan's empire, 1206-1368

Riding the whirlwind: Timür and his descendants, 1370-1747

The empires strike back: China and Russia, 1584-1800

The great game: British India and Russia, 1739-1881

March, trot, gallop, charge: the last horse powers, 1890-1919

Epilogue: a royal Buzkashi game, 1950-1973.