Inner Eurasia as a Unit of World History

W are the basic units of world history? For those interested in what used to be the Soviet Union, this question involves several others: Are there large units of analysis that are simple but capable of illuminating the history of this entire region over long periods? Can such units also help explain the crisis the region is undergoing today? Can they reveal the larger shape of the region’s history? Now is a good time to pose these large questions, for the breakup of the Soviet Union has devalued many old units of analysis. It forces us to look for fresh ways of approaching old questions. This essay is a contribution to what will doubtless be a long and complex discussion. In it I describe a large historical unit that I call “Inner Eurasia.” I argue that “Inner Eurasia” constitutes one of the basic units of Eurasian and of world history.1 Ever since history emerged as a distinct discipline in nineteenth-century Europe, most historians have treated the national state as their main unit of analysis. This is hardly surprising, for history emerged as a scholarly discipline in a period of violent