A short world history

Front matter

E.M.WILMOT-BUXTON

Qass Jl^4J.

Book _:

Section I The Ancient Empires Of The World

CHAP. PAGE

I. Before the Days of History . . . . i

II. The Ancient Civilizations of the East . . 7

Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Persia, Phcenicia, Jud/EA

III. The Far East . . . . . , 30

China, India

IV. The "Glory of Greece" . . . . 41 V. The " Splendour of Rome " .. . . .53

Section II The Medieval World

" VI. The Fall of the Roman Empire

The First Six Centuries of the Christian Era

VII. The Empire of Islam ....

VIII. The New Nations . . . .

IX. The Eastern World in the Middle Ages

X. The Later Mediaeval World of Europe .

XI. The Later Medieval World of Asia viii A SHORT WORLD HISTORY

Section III The Modern World

CHAP. PAGE

XII. The Growth of Nations .... 138

XIII. The Disruption of Europe . . . .148

XIV. New Worlds for Old. . . . . 157 j

America and India

XV. The Era of Colonization .... 168 I

XVI. "Great Powers" and "Benevolent Despots" . 178 j

XVII. Revolution— Industrial and Political . . 189 I

XVIII. The Era of Progress and Reform . . . 199

XIX. The World of To-day . . . •. 209 ij

Chapter I Before The Days Of History

IF you who read this book have visited the British Museum, you will have seen some of those wonderful friezes of Ancient Greece, which show in a series of pictures the life of heroes and the everyday deeds of the people of that land. Back through the ages they take us to the days of men and women and children very much like ourselves, though living under different conditions in lands far distant from our own. To us they stretch their hands, to us they seem to speak, reminding us of the strong links that bind together all races and tribes and peoples into one connected whole.

In tr}dng to realize the story of the past, it will perhaps help us if we study in imagination a gigantic frieze long enough to embrace the circumference of the earth. On it we may note the figures o^ men and women who played some striking part in the history of their lands, and, more often, men and women who are merely typical of their race and period. These differ much from time to time, but they still form part of one continuous and gigantic whole, part of the great human family, always affecting one another, bringing certain characteristics to bear upon the common stock. Sometimes they help, sometimes they hinder, the progress of the race towards its common goal ; always they I count for something, and the world would have been different in some particular way if they had never appeared upon the stage of human life. And always these figures progress in one direction ; seeing that the goal is the same for the prehistoric man as for us who read about him nowadays ; and that goal is Human Happiness.

Prehistoric Man — The first figures that appear upon the frieze are grouped in packs like animals, for reasons of defence against unknown dangers. They are clothed in skins, and in their hands they carry a rough stone tool or weapon, shaped like a hammer ; for their first impulse towards happiness arises from the need of slaying a wild animal for their meals and of making a shelter of some kind from the cold. Long before the days of history these wolfmen appeared in the midst of a world upheaved by volcanoes and torn by glaciers, in which a struggle for bare life was taking place among vast animals, mammoth ox and bison and woolly-haired rhinoceros, fighting for their existence not only with one another but with the powers of nature. And among the huge bones and skeletons, embedded in caves far below the surface of the earth, we find the skulls of Primitive Man of the Old Stone Age.

Primitive he was indeed, but still he was true man ; for he had thought out the use to which he might put his stone hammer when made, and how and why he should shape a handle for it. He knew how to make a fire and how to cook his meal, which is more than the wisest beast could ever do.

. One of his temporary abiding - places found in recent times in Germany, shows the very charcoal that he used, the smoke-stained fire-place, and the bones of the slain beasts. No trace of clay vessel is there, nor of domestic animal. If he kept a dog, he did so for its flesh, which he tore from the bones with a stone knife or the lower jaw of a bear before sucking the marrow from them. We find there, too, the arrowhead with which he killed the bear, harpoons of reindeer horn for catching fish, and cups made from a reindeer's skull.

BEFORE THE DAYS OF HISTORY 8

At the end of this earliest period of man's existence he was beginning to find some of his happiness in " dressing up " ; for we find a horse's tooth perforated for hanging round his neck, pierced shells for decoration, bone needles with " eyes," and scrapers for dressing skins. At this period man was evidently a hunter and a fisherman, holding property, in the shape of the creatures that he killed, in common with the " pack," with the members of which he herded round the fire at night, and slaked his thirst in the dew-pond among the hills at dawn.

New Stone Age — In the next period, the New Stone Age, primitive man had taken a step forward. He still knew nothing of agriculture or cattle-rearing, but he could make clay vessels for cooking and storing food ; he could "point " his needles of bone, and make small bone combs for combing out sinews into thread. He could even make a kind of boat from which to catch fish. But he was still only a " squatter " or trapper, with no fixed abode, and his ideal of happiness was little more than a hearty meal.

Then come signs of advance in civilization, for his wants had evidently increased in number. Excavations show us implements for spinning and weaving ; and ornaments, beads of pierced clay, plates decorated with stags' heads, round buttons, bracelets of mother of pearl, combs of boxwood, hairpins. By his side appear the dog, the horse, the cow, the goat. His pottery was now made of finer clay, smoothed by hand, and baked through instead of only burnt on the outside ; a handle appeared, and a shaped jar or jug.

In the later Stone Age man had become an agriculturist, as well as a huntsman and fisherman. He had a settled home, generally in a hut built with many others on piles in the middle of a lake, which afforded him protection against hostile tribes or wild beasts. Among the remains of these we find the millstones with which he ground his corn, the twirling sticks for butter-making, and the strainers for cheese. Mats, baskets, combs, even toy ships for his children, were among his possessions. He had become a farmer of sorts. His wants were no longer bounded by his bodily needs. He began to realize, dimly enough, that he also had a soul, which survived death. So when his relations and friends were laid to rest under the huge '"barrows" or mounds still to be found both in Europe and America, he laid beside the dead body a supply of weapons and food for use in the next world.

The Bronze Age and the Iron Age — The next stage of man's development is marked by the use of metals. In place of mud huts we now find the remains of wooden dwellings and indications of metal work in bronze. There are the casting moulds, the melting pots, sure indications of the development of man's intellect, since he had discovered that a mixture of copper and tin in a certain proportion would give him hard and durable metal known as bronze.

Then comes the period when man discovered the use of iron. Excavations at Olympia in Greece show us, swords with blades of iron and handles of bronze. By this time the twilight period is nearly over and we are emerging into the light of history. But before we leave the story of primitive man, let us glance for a minute at the remains of the once famous city of Troy, now known as Hissarlik, on the western shore of Asia Minor.

The Stones o! Troy — Here we get an extraordinary illustration of the different periods of man's growth shown in cities, found in layers, " one upon the other like the leaves of a bud, so that you can read them as from the leaves of a book." Seven or eight distinct towns, erected one on top of another, give us the connexion between the Stone Age and the most brilliant period of Greek and Roman history.

The earliest city, built probably four thousand years before the Christian era, shows rough clay vessels and stone weapons among the remains of a small and primitive settlement.

The next marks a startling change in development. It belongs to the first period of the glory of Ancient Troy, and shows mighty walls, and fine gateways replacing the old narrow entrances. A citadel and hall were built of bricks made with straw, amongst which a miser had hidden a treasure, found some three thousand years later. The tools

BEFORE THE DAYS OF HISTORY 5

were made partly of stone, partly of bronze, showing how the two periods overlapped. Pots turned on a wheel mark the influence of Oriental civilization. This city, the scene of the great legendary siege, was evidently destroyed by fire.

No new features mark the next three towns, and a long period of stagnation must have followed the early glory of Troy. But the sixth town shows another great advance. The walls were built of large, smooth blocks ; fine gates, terraces, and stately mansions appeared, and in these were found vessels of shining colours, highly ornamented.

A barbaric wave seems to have passed over the seventh and eighth cities, and Troy deteriorated into a mere village, until it was rebuilt by Lysimachus in the days of history.

Even more wonderful are the revelations of an early civilization at Knossos in Crete, and at Mycenae and Tiryns in Greece. But as these belong more particularly to the history of Greece, we will read of them in that connexion.

Let us for a moment glance at the progress primitive man had made on what is called the " economic " side of civilization. Originally he was one member of a tribal family, holding property of the simplest kind in common with those who were descended from the same ancestor or " patriarch." Different forms of activity, however, began to mark out rough distinctions ; and " classes " of huntsmen, fishermen, hut-builders, and so on began to appear. Presently other tribes approached and members intermarried ; the family instinct developed, and the " family " drawing apart from the rest, was allowed to claim the fruits of its own toil under certain conditions. Later on, the advantages of exchanging a surplus of skins or logs for one of shells or good sound flints for hammer-heads became evident. And when work was done outside the family circle in return for some gift of arrow-heads or corn, the right of the individual to hold that reward as his own marked the growth of the idea of personal property. Still, however, the claim of the community was strong, and the whole family, or clan, was held responsible for the actions of individual members. Then the idea of " law '* began to develop, first out of a kind of blind instinct for justice, then out of settled custom, sometimes out of the ideals of isolated " lawgivers."

The idea of a " State " now began to dawn upon prehistoric man, as strange tribes, on conditions of paying tribute and service, settled near his own. The Chieftain took the place of the Patriarch ; and if the tribe was warlike in its tastes, a " militant " class split off from the shepherd or farmer class, and the members of this devoted their time to fighting with their neighbours for supremacy.

Sometimes a great leap towards civilization was made under the pressure of some revolt against oppression, or the influence of some unusual personality. And so, during an immensely long period of time, primitive man had gradually developed from the state of a savage until he stepped upon the stage of actual history as a rudimentary citizen.

1. What are the chief points which mark off prehistoric from historic man ?

2. What are the main stepping-stones towards civilization during the prehistoric period ?

3. Describe with pen or paint-brush your own idea of st prehistoric scene.

Chapter II The Ancient Civilizations Of The East

EGYPT, BABYLONIA, ASSYRIA, PERSIA,

PHCENICIA, JUDiEA

FOLLOWING the thin vague line of prehistoric figures upon our imaginary frieze, we see certain groups of men and women cut in bold relief and painted in brilliant colours. The first group shows a fair-haired, olive-skinned race, with oval face and shghtly projecting lips. The long beards of the men turn stiffly up at the points ; both men and women wear short hair, ihe second group has more distinctly African characteristics, with low forehead, heavy jaw and lips. In the midst of them stands a full-length figure, stiffly holding a stick m his hand. He is evidently the Great Man, lord of a district, and the smaller figures, digging, hunting, temple-buildmg are his slaves In the background flocks of sheep are treadmg seed into soft mud on either side of a wide river ; and above m the distance looms a pyramid. A«.;or.+

Ancient Egypt-The scene takes us back to Ancient Egypt, somewhere about four thousand years before the ^ristian era, at a time when Menes, first king of the whole land of the Nile, had established his capital at Memphis.

Concerning the early civihzation of Egypt we have an immense amount of information. The results of excavation tell us plainly what was the daily life of the people, even to such details as the dolls which the children played with and the fairy tales they read. But as to how this extraordmarily advanced civilization developed scarcely anything is known. It is thought that the earhest people were of a pigmy race like those still found at the sources of the Nile; the period between their occupation of the land and that of the dwellers under the Ancient Empire is a blank.

The Ancient Empire of Egypt (e. 4000 B.C.)-— The whole story of Egypt is one of glowing dynasties separated by periods of darkness. Thus we see first in full blaze of history the ten dynasties of the Ancient Empire, with their Pyramids and Temple Builders, and their seat of rule at Memphis, on the site of which Cairo now stands. The people were ruled by despotic kings, nominally aided by a council of nobles ; in later days, colleges of priests, owning lands and money, held much power in the land, besides holding control over its literature and learning.

On the rocks of Egypt is portrayed the figure of one of these early rulers, Seneferu, in the act of crushing a fallen foe with a huge hammer. The inscription speaks of him as " the great god, subduer of foreign lands, giver of power, stability, life, all health and joy for ever." He was the personification of the Sun God Ra, the midday sun, who controlled the flow and ebb of the Nile, the river on which the life of Egypt depended, so that the people reckoned their new year from the day on which it began to rise. The faith of the people was also closely bound up with their famous river.

As the day waned, crowds of worshippers followed the course of Tum, the setting sun, as he floated on his journey to the regions of the Under World. Thither also descended the souls of the dead, to be judged by Osiris, who sent them forth to the lands of bliss, or through the House of Truth, to reappear again upon the earth in the form of animals.

Religion was the very breath of these people of the Nile. A host of other gods held sway over them, as well as a crowd of sacred animals — the bull, fish, cat, and crocodile — which were " incarnations " of the spirits of the gods. Guarding the land, with its face of mystery turned towards the East, crouched the Sphinx, probably the image of Harmachis, Sun of the Under World, combining in its man's head and lion's body the ideas of intellect and strength. The P3n:amids, those mighty cemeteries of kings, are an abiding witness to the belief in the importance of the preservation of the body that it might be a fit habitation for the returning soul.

The Middle Empire (? 2500 B.C.)— During the four dynasties of the Middle Empire, Thebes replaced Memphis as the capital, and its temple of Amen at Karnak, one of the suburbs of the city, became the centre of Egyptian religion. During this period the tomb inscriptions show us the building of a fleet, and caravans bringing gums and spices from Arabia. The caravan routes between Egypt and the Red Sea were opened up by the provision of wells ; reservoirs were freely built, canals constructed, and good roads made. In the earlier days, the kings, occupied with their own personal glory, employed their people to build pyramids that should perpetuate their names for ever. Under the kings of the Middle Empire, temples were built instead, and the land was guarded well from invasion. Of Amen-em-hat, that mighty hunter, who " brought back the crocodile a prisoner," it was well and simply said : " He stood on the boundaries of the land to keep watch on its borders ; and all the people loved him."

It was during this period that the famous Book of the Dead took its final form. It was the Egyptian Bible, and contained not only a history of the doctrines and faith of the land, but also a code of morals for everyday life.

The Hyksos Kings (? 1750 B.C.)— Quite suddenly this state of comparatively advanced culture collapsed before the onslaught of a horde of Eastern tribes, who established the rule of what is known as the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings. Says the Egyptian historian Manetho : "There came up from the East in strange manner men of an ignoble race who easily subdued our country by their power. They burnt our cities and demolished the temples of the gods, and inflicted every kind of barbarity upon the inhabitants, slaying some, and reducing the wives and children of others to a state of slavery."

Of the events of this calamitous wave of barbarism no inscription remains. It was but one of the constantly recurring episodes of history, the collapse of a race grown soft with overmuch civilization and a luxurious manner of life before the strength of a simply Uving nomad race. But it is interesting to note that it was probably owing to his pastoral origin that Joseph, son of Jacob the Patriarch, owed his advancement to be Vizier under one of the kings of this Shepherd dynasty.

The New Empire (c. 1700 B.C.)— The beginning of the New Empire (about 1700 B.C.) saw the expulsion of the alien kings at the hands of Amasis I, a Theban prince, and the spirit of invasion taking possession of his grandson, Thothmes. The inscription on the monument of the latter speaks glowingly of this young conqueror : "He has taken tribute from the nations of the whole earth ; he has laid hold of the barbarians, he has not let one of them escape his grip upon their hair ; all the nations of the entire earth are prostrate under his feet."

The Egyptian historians were always grandiloquent ; but Thothmes was of importance as a maker of his country, since, by the rough-and-ready mode of conquest of some part of South- Western Asia, where the power of Babylon and Assjnria and of the mixed races of Palestine was now rearing its head, he brought Egypt into touch with the outer world from which she had so long held herself aloof. His daughter, the famous Hatasu, carried on the work by building a great fleet of merchant ships wherewith to explore the shores of the Red Sea. On the temple of Amen (or Ammon) near Thebes we see portrayed the return of the fleet, packed full of incense trees, gums, and spices, bringing the Queen of Sheba, or Punt, to pay a state visit to the Egyptian princess.

The Golden Age 0! Egypt — The Golden Age of Egypt had now dawned. It needed only that she should win herself a name for military glory. Under the rule of Thothmes HI this was achieved by victories over the armies of Palestine and by yearly campaigns against Syria. Babylon and Assyria sent Thothmes gifts, if not tribute. His fleet of warships is said to have penetrated even to the coasts of Greece. At the end of his reign Egypt was recognized as the chief military power of the known world ; and the obelisk, called by a queen of much later days " Cleopatra's Needle,"

was probably one of the pillars of a portico of his temple set up to record the fact.

The Empire of Thothmes, which extended as far into Western Asia as the mountains of Armenia, was lost under his successors. It seemed, indeed, as though the glory of Egypt was to be won through her internal development rather than by conquest. In the days of Seti I and Rameses II we hear indeed of great victories over the " Kheta " tribe — probably the Hittites — ^but they were never very lasting in their effects. More important achievements of Setis were the great wall built by him to repel invasion across the isthmus which connects Egypt with Asia, and the wonderful Hall of Pillars at Karnak.

As for Rameses, he is memorable to modern readers as being in all probability the Pharaoh who " oppressed " the Israelites, who " made their lives bitter in mortar and in brick and in all manner of service in the field." The reason of this oppression may well have been that this little group of shepherd people dwelling on his borders had so rapidly increased, that they bade fair to threaten the exclusiveness of a kingdom from which all Asiatics were to be rigidly shut out. On the great rampart separating Egypt from Asia were built the " treasure cities," Pithom and Rameses-; and on their building the subject shepherds were probably employed. Of their dehverance at the hand of Moses, the protege of the court of Menepthah, we have no mention in Egyptian history.

The Decline of Egypt (c. 1130-750 B.C.)— The decline of Egypt was as rapid as her rise. At a time when the kingdoms of Judah and Israel were rising and falling under Saul and David, Rehoboam and Jeroboam, Ahab and Jehu, the land of the Nile was divided up under various rulers and sinking into apathy and ruin. And as the great war-cloud of the Assyrian nation darkened in the East, threatening to overwhelm all the empires of Central and Western Asia, Egypt became, sometime during the century that saw the foundation of the city of Rome, the battle-ground and the prize of the Assyrian kings, and in later years the tributary of Babylon and Persia.

She has left to the world at large a remarkable literature, in itself a testimony to the esteem paid to the world of ideas rather than of facts by this, one of the most highly civilized nations of antiquity. At Karnak we may still see the " Hall of Books," out of which lead nine smaller libraries, which originally contained a wealth of writing on rolls of papyrus. This writing was in hieroglyphics or priestly script, to which the Rosetta Stone, with its translations both into Greek and into the ordinary writing of the people, gave the Modern World the key. Romance, fairy tales, adventure stories, moral sayings, and poems are found among the treasures hidden in the tombs, as well as treatises on astronomy, arithmetic, and geometry. We still use the Egyptian division of the year into twelve months and the hour into sixty minutes ; and in the British Museum may be seen to-day the very instrument by which the night hours were determined by the course of the stars. On the handle of the plummet used is inscribed the words : " I know the course of the sun, the moon, and of all the stars in their places."

The Legacy of Egypt — As " thinkers," then, especially in the realms of literature and science ; as mighty builders, canal-makers, and agriculturists, the Egyptians move with stiff dignity across the frieze of history, owing little to outside influences, but affecting with their own civilization the western lands of the Mediterranean to a marked degree. That this influence was only temporary is perhaps due to one striking weakness in Egyptian rule. Her army might be equipped with the most perfect weapons in the shape of chariots, battering rams, and scaling ladders, her fleet imposing with galleys and transports ; but her people as a whole, the " producers," the weavers, painters, sculptors, masons, and workers in wood and metal, were kept in such subordination that they were little better than slaves. The husbandmen, moreover, had no rights over the land they tilled, but paid heavy toll of its produce, which left nothing but a bare livelihood for themselves. There is one other thing to remember. The native Egyptian had nothing of the military spirit in his veins, and the great armies of which we read were composed of foreigners, mostly professional soldiers from Syria and Nubia. Under those kings who sought their country's welfare by means of the industry of their people and the native resources of the land, Egypt was a strong progressive state, with the ability to build monuments throughout her borders which astound the skilled engineer of to-day.

It was the sacrifice of these resources for the " imperial " ambitions of the kings of the Middle Empire that brought economic and political disaster upon the land and ended in her subjection.

It is interesting to note that the women of Egypt held a far higher position than was usual in the Eastern World. They were not kept in seclusion nor treated as slaves, and were considered almost, though not quite, on an equality with their husbands. In the upper classes we find men and women living in the married state in their two-storied brick houses, in much comfort, possessing sofas, chairs, ornamented cushions, and other signs of luxury. Outside, the slaves drive the plough, and the processes of wine-making and Hnenweaving are portrayed. The many pictures of richly decked ships bearing merchandise speak of a flourishing commerce with the countries of the Mediterranean.

Egypt, with her many dynasties, her vast organization, her self -development, stands somewhat apart from the other civilizations of the Ancient World. The empires that are crowded, Hke outposts round a citadel, about the district known as Middle Asia are far more closely connected.

Influence o! Central Asia— Whether this part of the world saw the origin of the human race or not matters little. What is certain is that the higher civiUzation, which marked the development of mankind, came from this quarter, and that by means of great caravan routes, early estabhshed, it spread by way of Babylon to China, India, Egypt, and so to the lands of the Western Sea. And when civiUzation died down and almost vanished, it was this same district that sent forth streams of warhke nomads to shake the foundations of the known world.

Ancient Babylonia — In the " land between the Rivers,"

still known as Mesopotamia, bounded by the Tigris and Euphrates, lay the kingdom of Babylon. Its first inhabitants were the mysterious Sumerians, who, though they themselves have disappeared from the pages of history, yet left behind them a highly developed religious system and a language which, like Latin in Christendom, survived as the sacred tongue of the religion of their successors. All else we know of them is comprised in the fact that they were a pastoral people, though they knew well how to construct waterways, use metals, make bricks, and build some kind of dwelling. When the Babylonians of history appear upon our frieze we see in them the characteristics of the Semitic race, such as are found in the Jew of to-day. Some of them are occupied in making canals, building temples of bricks instead of the stone we should expect ; others are examining the stars or writing on clay tablets ; m^any are engaged in lading caravans or travelling the high roads to distant lands.

For Ancient Babylon was not a great military power, nor a political state of importance. Her high position was due to her development as an industrial state, and thus to her trade with nations lying East and West. The great trade routes to China, India, and Egypt were in her hands, and when she fell before the onslaught of the Assyrian, the city of Babylon was destroyed in order that its vast trade and industries might be secured for Nineveh, the city of Sennacherib.

The Code of Hammurabi (? 2213 B.C.) — A flood of light has been thrown in recent years ^ on the civilization of Babylonia during her Golden Age, by the discovery of a great block of diorite on the mound of the citadel of Susa inscribed with the " Code " of Hammurabi, the first king of the whole land of Babylonia. In his lifetime he was famous as the Wise King, who built not only temples but waterworks and embankments against the inundations of the Tigris, and who began the Royal Canal, connecting the Euphrates and Tigris, which, as he says himself, " he caused