Having ascended the throne aged just 28, the Prussian King Frederick II was one of the leading figures of his time. His contemporaries gave him the epithet "the Great" just several years into his reign on account of Prussia rising to become a major power under his rule.

The Byzantine Empire was one of the most significant and powerful states in the Middle Ages. It emerged from the eastern part of the Roman Empire, which was split into two in AD 395. The modern name "Byzantine Empire" is derived from the ancient Greek city of Byzantium. The Byzantines, however, considered themselves Roman. Constantinople, now Istanbul, was the capital of their empire. Its namesake, the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (306-337), refounded the city on the site of Byzantium.

When Parisians stormed the Bastille on 14 July 1789, the face of Europe was changed forever. At this time, France was ruled by Louis XVI, king by divine right. He reigned in the tradition of the Sun King Louis XIV and exercised almost absolute power. The country was in turmoil. Large swaths of the population were impoverished while the nobility enjoyed a life of excess. It was on that fateful day that tensions erupted.

The Bundesbank has two stand-alone representative offices – one in New York and the other in Tokyo and many Bundesbank representatives, who are posted at German embassies or consulates general all over the world.

Spain's colonial empire spanned vast parts of Central and South America. These lands, rich in gold and silver, were an important resource for the kings of Spain. The Spanish established mints in their American colonies to produce coins from the precious metals extracted in the New World. The oldest mint on the American continent is the Mexican Mint, which was set up in 1535. Twice a year, the famous silver fleet sailed from the New World back to Spain fully laden with treasures.

The Macedonian king Alexander the Great is considered to this day to be a great general and conqueror. At the head of his army, he invaded the Persian Empire, the largest and most powerful of its time, which stretched from the eastern coast of the Mediterranean to the Indian subcontinent.