Hendrik Loon - The Story of Mankind

Here I give you the key that will open the door.

When you return, you too will understand the reason for my enthusiasm. HENDRIK WILLEM VAN LOON.

CONTENTS

1. THE SETTING OF THE STAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2. OUR EARLIEST ANCESTORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3. PREHISTORIC MAN BEGINS TO MAKE THINGS FOR HIMSELF. . .13

4. THE EGYPTIANS INVENT THE ART OF WRITING AND THE RECORD OF HISTORY BEGINS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

5. THE BEGINNING OF CIVILISATION IN THE VALLEY OF THE NILE .22

6. THE RISE AND FALL OF EGYPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

7. MESOPOTAMIA, THE SECOND CENTRE OF EASTERN CIVILISATION .29

8. THE SUMERIAN NAIL WRITERS, WHOSE CLAY TABLETS TELL US THE STORY OF ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA, THE GREAT SEMITIC MELTING-POT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

9. THE STORY OF MOSES, THE LEADER OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE. .38

10. THE PHOENICIANS, WHO GAVE US OUR ALPHABET . . . .43

11. THE INDO-EUROPEAN PERSIANS CONQUER THE SEMITIC AND THE EGYPTIAN WORLD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44

12. THE PEOPLE OF THE ÆGEAN SEA CARRIED THE CIVILISATION OF OLD ASIA INTO THE WILDERNESS OF EUROPE . . . . .48

13. MEANWHILE THE INDO-EUROPEAN TRIBE OF THE HELLENES WAS TAKING POSSESSION OF GREECE . . . . . . . . . . . .54

14. THE GREEK CITIES THAT WERE REALLY STATES . . . . . . .59

15. THE GREEKS WERE THE FIRST PEOPLE TO TRY THE DIFFICULT EXPERIMENT OF SELF-GOVERNMENT . . . . . . . . . . .62

16. HOW THE GREEKS LIVED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66

17. THE ORIGINS OF THE THEATRE, THE FIRST FORM OF PUBLIC AMUSEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71

18. HOW THE GREEKS DEFENDED EUROPE AGAINST AN ASIATIC INVASION AND DROVE THE PERSIANS BACK ACROSS THE ÆGEAN SEA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

19. HOW ATHENS AND SPARTA FOUGHT A LONG AND DISASTROUS WAR FOR THE LEADERSHIP OF GREECE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

20. ALEXANDER THE MACEDONIAN ESTABLISHES A GREEK WORLD EMPIRE, AND WHAT BECAME OF THIS HIGH AMBITION. . . . . . .83

21. A SHORT SUMMARY OF CHAPTERS 1 TO 20. . . . . . . . . .85

22. THE SEMITIC COLONY OF CARTHAGE ON THE NORTHERN COAST OF AFRICA AND THE INDO-EUROPEAN CITY OF ROME ON THE WEST COAST OF ITALY FOUGHT EACH OTHER FOR THE POSSESSION OF THE WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN AND CARTHAGE WAS DESTROYED. . .88

23. HOW ROME HAPPENED. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

24. HOW THE REPUBLIC OF ROME, AFTER CENTURIES OF UNREST AND REVOLUTION, BECAME AN EMPIRE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

25. THE STORY OF JOSHUA OF NAZARETH, WHOM THE GREEKS CALLED JESUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

26. THE TWILIGHT OF ROME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

27. HOW ROME BECAME THE CENTRE OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. . 131

28. AHMED, THE CAMEL DRIVER, WHO BECAME THE PROPHET OF THE ARABIAN DESERT, AND WHOSE FOLLOWERS ALMOST CONQUERED THE ENTIRE KNOWN WORLD FOR THE GREATER GLORY OF ALLAH, THE ``ONLY TRUE GOD''. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

29. HOW CHARLEMAGNE, THE KING OF THE FRANKS, CAME TO BEAR THE TITLE OF EMPEROR AND TRIED TO REVIVE THE OLD IDEAL OF WORLD-EMPIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

30. WHY THE PEOPLE OF THE TENTH CENTURY PRAYED THE LORD TO PROTECT THEM FROM THE FURY OF THE NORSEMEN . . . . . 150

31. HOW CENTRAL EUROPE, ATTACKED FROM THREE SIDES, BECAME AN ARMED CAMP AND WHY EUROPE WOULD HAVE PERISHED WITHOUT THOSE PROFESSIONAL SOLDIERS AND ADMINISTRATORS WHO WERE PART OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. . . . . . . . . . . 155

32. CHIVALRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

33. THE STRANGE DOUBLE LOYALTY OF THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE AGES, AND HOW IT LED TO ENDLESS QUARRELS BETWEEN THE POPES AND THE HOLY ROMAN EMPERORS . . . . . . . . . . . 162

34. BUT ALL THESE DIFFERENT QUARRELS WERE FORGOTTEN WHEN THE TURKS TOOK THE HOLY LAND, DESECRATED THE HOLY PLACES AND INTERFERED SERIOUSLY WITH THE TRADE FROM EAST TO WEST. EUROPE WENT CRUSADING . . . . . . . . . . 168

35. WHY THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE AGES SAID THAT CITY AIR IS FREE AIR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

36. HOW THE PEOPLE OF THE CITIES ASSERTED THEIR RIGHT TO BE HEARD IN THE ROYAL COUNCILS OF THEIR COUNTRY. . . 184

37. WHAT THE PEOPLE OF THE MIDDLE AGES THOUGHT OF THE WORLD IN WHICH THEY HAPPENED TO LIVE. . . . . . . . . . 191

38. HOW THE CRUSADES ONCE MORE MADE THE MEDITERRANEAN A BUSY CENTRE OF TBADE AND HOW THE CITIES OF THE ITALIAN PENINSULA BECAME THE GREAT DISTRIBUTING CENTRE FOR THE COMMERCE WITH ASIA AND AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

39. PEOPLE ONCE MORE DARED TO BE HAPPY JUST BECAUSE THEY WERE ALIVE. THEY TRIED TO SAVE THE REMAINS OF THE OLDER AND MORE AGREEABLE CIVILISATION OF ROME AND GREECE AND THEY WERE 80 PROUD OF THEIR ACHIEVEMENTS THAT THEY SPOKE OF A RENAISSANCE OR RE-BIRTH OF CIVILISATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

40. THE PEOPLE BEGAN TO FEEL THE NEED OF GIVING EXPRESSION TO THEIR NEWLY DISCOVERED JOY OF LIVING. THEY EXPRESSED THEIR HAPPINESS IN POETRY AND IN SCULPTURE AND IN ARCHITECTURE AND PAINTING, AND IN THE BOOKS THEY PRINTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

41. BUT NOW THAT PEOPLE HAD BROKEN THROUGH THE BONDS OF THEIR NARROW MEDIÆVAL LIMITATIONS, THEY HAD TO HAVE MORE ROOM FOR THEIR WANDERINGS. THE EUROPEAN WORLD HAD GROWN TOO SMALL FOR THEIR AMBITIONS. IT WAS THE TIME OF THE GREAT VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY. . . . . . . . . 224

42. CONCERNING BUDDHA AND CONFUCIUS. . . . . . . . . . . 241

43. THE PROGRESS OF THE HUMAN RACE IS BEST COMPARED TO A GIGANTIC PENDULUM WHICH FOREVER SWINGS FORWARD AND BACKWARD. THE RELIGIOUS INDIFFERENCE AND THE ARTISTIC AND LITERARY ENTHUSIASM OF THE RENAISSANCE WERE FOLLOWED BY THE ARTISTIC AND LITERARY INDIFFERENCE AND THE RELIGIOUS ENTHUSIASM OF THE REFORMATION. . . . . . . . 251

44. THE AGE OF THE GREAT RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES . . . . 262

45. HOW THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS AND THE LESS DIVINE BUT MORE REASONABLE RIGHT OF PARLIAMENT ENDED DISASTROUSLY FOR KING CHARLES II . . . 279

46. IN FRANCE, ON THE OTHER HAND, THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS CONTINUED WITH GREATER POMP AND SPLENDOR THAN EVER BEFORE AND THE AMBITION OF THE RULER WAS ONLY TEMPERED BY THE NEWLY INVENTED LAW OF THE BALANCE OF POWER . . . 296

47. THE STORY OF THE MYSTERIOUS MUSCOVITE EMPIRE WHICH SUDDENLY BURST UPON THE GRAND POLITICAL STAGE OF EUROPE. . . . . 301

48. RUSSIA AND SWEDEN FOUGHT MANY WARS TO DECIDE WHO SHALL BE THE LEADING POWER OF NORTHEASTERN EUROPE . . . 308

49. THE EXTRAORDINARY RISE OF A LITTLE STATE IN A DREARY PART OF NORTHERN GERMANY, CALLED PRUSSIA . . . . . . . . . . 313

50. HOW THE NEWLY FOUNDED NATIONAL OR DYNASTIC STATES OF EUROPE TRIED TO MAKE THEMSELVES RICH AND WHAT WAS MEANT BY THE MERCANTILE SYSTEM. . . . . . . . . . . . . 317

51. AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY EUROPE HEARD STRANGE REPORTS OF SOMETHING WHICH HAD HAPPENED IN THE WILDERNESS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT. THE DESCENDANTS OF THE MEN WHO HAD PUNISHED KING CHARLES FOR HIS INSISTENCE UPON HIS DIVINE RIGHTS ADDED A NEW CHAPTER TO THE OLD STORY OF THE STRUGGLE FOR SELF- GOVERNMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

62. THE GREAT FRENCH REVOLUTION PROCLAIMS THE PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY, FRATERNITY AND EQUALITY UNTO All THE PEOPLE OF THE EARTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

53. NAPOLEON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 349

54. AS SOON AS NAPOLEON HAD BEEN SENT TO ST. HELENA, THE RULERS WHO SO OFTEN HAD BEEN DEFEATED BY THE HATED CORSICAN MET AT VIENNA AND TRIED TO UNDO THE MANY CHANCES WHICH HAD BEEN BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361

55. THEY TRIED TO ASSURE THE WORLD AN ERA OF UNDISTURBED PEACE BY SUPPRESSING ALL NEW IDEAS. THEY MADE THE POLICE-SPY THE HIGHEST FUNCTIONARY IN THE STATE AND SOON THE PRISONS OF AIL COUNTRIES WERE FILLED WITH THOSE WHO CLAIMED THAT PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO GOVERN THEMSELVES AS THEY SEE FIT . . . . . . . . . . . 373