Introduction 7 Part I: The Ancient World 11 1. Human Cousins Fail to Survive 2. Indus Valley Civilization Collapses 3. Akhenaten Founds a New Religion No One Likes 4. The Bronze Age Collapse 5. Failure to Stop Leaves Falling in Water Causes a Trade War 6. Xerxes Invades Greece and Loses Spectacularly 7. Alexander Fails to Name an Heir and Causes Civil War 8.
Hannibal Misses His Chance to Destroy Rome 9. Assassins Leave Mark Antony Alive - and Suffer His Vengeance 10. The Romans Lose at the Teutoburg Forest 11. Steam Power is Used for Toys, not Industry 12. Roman Persecutions Fail to Suppress Christianity 13. Julian Invades Persia - It Goes Badly 14. The Chinese Fail to Find Immortality Part II: The Middle Ages 89 15. The Norse Abandon North America 16.
The White Ship Sinks, Leading to Civil War 17. Erfurt Latrine Disaster 18. The Crusaders Fail to Reach Jerusalem 19. Inalchuq Fails to Show Hospitality 20. A Divine Wind Sinks the Mongol Fleet - Twice 21. Mansa Musa Crashes Egypt''s Economy 22. China Turns its Back on Exploration, and Declines 23. Urban the Hungarian is not Hired by Constantinople 24.
Columbus Miscalculates the World 25. Muslim Kingdoms Lose Iberia 26. Europeans Diseases Ravage the New World 27. The Catholic Church Fails to Reform 28. The Spanish Armada Gets Blown Off Course 29. The Songhai Empire Falls Because Cattle Charge The Wrong Way 30. The Wanggongchang Explosion Part III: The Modern World 173 31. Dutch Tulip Mania Costs Millions 32.
The Darien Scheme Fails 33. Britain Taxes its Colonies and Provokes War 34. The Flight to Varennes Dooms the French King 35. Napoleon Invades Russia and Destroys his Own Empire 36. Darwin Drops Out of Medical School 37. General D. H. Hill Loses Special Order 191 38.
Alexander Graham Bell Makes a Mistranslation and Invents the Telephone 39. Sloppy Lab Work Leads to Sweet Discoveries 40. Russia Sells Alaska for a Pittance 41. Franz Ferdinand''s Driver Takes a Wrong Turn 42. Tsar Nicholas II Takes Control and Loses Everything 43. Soviet Collectivization Kills Millions 44. Alexander Fleming Fails to Keep his Samples Clean 45. Cane Toads are Unleashed on Australia 46.
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor and Causes a War it Cannot Win 47. Hitler''s Wonder Weapons Waste Material 48. Thomas Midgley''s Disastrous Genius 49. Stanislav Petrov Fails to Follow Protocol and Saves the World 50. Failure in Communication Brings Down the Berlin Wall Afterword 277 Acknowledgements 279 Select Bibliography 280 Index 281.