The Dutch Republic is slowly being retaken by Alexander Farnese. The Dutch form the Union of Utrecht to unite the remaining provinces, and then finally declare independence with the Act of Abjuration. And we see the end of William the Silent.

The Spanish under Alba had crushed the revolt, but William gained a new foothold in Holland and Zeeland. Alba was gone, the Spanish were mutinous, and William took advantage, while the Dutch scrambled for a new royal figurehead

William the Silent tries to arrange an invasion of the Netherlands. He succeeds in raising forces, but in the end the Dutch Rebels are beaten back. They do establish a foothold in Holland and Zeeland, though, thanks to the Sea Beggars

As King Philip II of Spain attempts to destroy heresy in the Low Countries, and tramples on the rights and privileges of the people there, the Dutch nobility have begun to push back. Philip responds by sending his greatest general, the Duke of Alba, while the Dutch people have their own responses in mind.

William the Silent, Prince of Orange-Nassau, was a leading noble in the Habsburg Netherlands. King Charles V split his empire in two, and gave the low countries to Spain, despite its cultural and religious similarities to the Holy Roman Empire. William would find his new sovereign, King Philip II of Spain to be a harsh and uncompromising ruler who would help sow the seeds of revolt in the territory.

Roger II consolidated all of the Norman holdings in Sicily and Southern Italy into one united and long lasting kingdom. His ability as an administrator and statesman helped propel him past the other Norman leaders to become the first king of the Normans in Italy.

Norman Robert Guiscard, entered at the dawn of the Norman conquest of Italy, defeated his enemies and pushed aside his competing family members to take the whole of southern Italy, much of Sicily, and parts of the Balkan Peninsula.

Queen Seondeok of Silla, helped lead the kingdom to eventually unite the Korean peninsula within a few decades of her reign

Ardashir rose from being the commander of a fortress in southern Persia to leading the overthrow of the Parthian dynasty. He created the Sassanid Empire, which lasted 4 centuries, and greatly influence culture in the region even to this day.

The greatest king of the Hittites, Suppiluliuma helped turn the Anatolian kingdom into perhaps the most powerful empire in the world, for a time