The dreadnought was the dominant type of battleship in the early twentieth century, named after HMS Dreadnought, which the Royal Navy launched in 1906. Her design had two revolutionary features: an all-big-gun armament of heavy guns of a single calibre and steam turbine propulsion. Her arrival renewed the naval arms race between Britain and Germany, and dreadnought races spread around the world, including in South America. Within five years new battleships had outclassed her, and they were called super-dreadnoughts. Most of the original dreadnoughts were scrapped after the First World War under the Washington Naval Treaty, while many super-dreadnoughts served through the Second World War. The only major battle between large dreadnought fleets was Jutland in 1916, which ended without a decisive result.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.