Historical factor
Factionalism
Factionalism refers to the division of a ruling elite into rival groups whose struggles for power paralysed government and often led to civil war. It weakened many states, including the Mamluk Sultanate through rivalries among mamluk households, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth through noble factions, the Sikh Empire after Ranjit Singh's death and the Ming Empire through conflict between officials and eunuchs.
Mentioned in 16 profiles
Abbasid CaliphateMilitaryAztec EmpireDeclineEmpire of JapanGovernanceFatimid CaliphateMilitary, DeclineIlkhanateDeclineKaabu EmpireGovernanceKongo EmpireMilitary, DeclineMajapahit EmpireDeclineMamluk SultanateMilitary, GovernanceMaurya EmpireDeclineMing EmpireDeclinePolish-Lithuanian CommonwealthGovernanceSikh EmpireGovernance, DeclineSong DynastyGovernanceUmayyad CaliphateDeclineYuan DynastyDecline
See also
Cite this entry
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Factionalism. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/factionalism
- MLA
- “Factionalism.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/factionalism. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Factionalism.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/factionalism.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Factionalism’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/factionalism (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻