In the Shadow of Great Powers is the second volume of Christoph Baumer's History of the Caucasus. It covers the period from the Seljuk domination of the South Caucasus around 1050 AD to the modern era. After the golden age of the Kingdom of Georgia in the 12th and early 13th centuries, the Caucasus was conquered by the Mongols and soon fragmented into countless smaller kingdoms, principalities, and khanates. At the same time, an Armenian kingdom in exile maintained a fragile independence in Cilicia, present-day southern Turkey, following a triple diplomatic policy balanced between the Mongol Ilkhanate, the Crusader states and, to a lesser extent, the Byzantine Empire. The following four centuries saw the highly fragmented states of the North and South Caucasus become political pawns of the regional great powers, mainly the Ottomans, Iran, and Russia. At the beginning of the 20th century, the South Caucasus enjoyed a brief independence while its northern neighbors plunged into Russian civil wars. However, in 1921 the Soviet Union re-imposed Russian rule across the region and the area was 'lost' behind the iron curtain. Nevertheless, the Caucasian nations maintained their strong identities even under Soviet rule, leading to a series of internal conflicts during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. While the Russian Federation retained its supremacy in the North Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia managed to gain more or less control over their destinies. Of these three republics, only Azerbaijan secured extensive independence thanks to its mineral fuel resources. Subsequently, after Russian intervention, Georgia lost control over two of its provinces, while Armenia remains dependent on Russian support due to its fraught relations with neighboring Azerbaijan and Turkey over the unresolved issue of Karabakh. In the Shadow of Great Powers includes approximately 200 color images and maps that further illuminate the tumultuous history of this region.