Our Twentieth Century World

The milestones of the twentieth century have been of two sorts: first, scientific or technological changes that have revolutionized the lives of ordinary people; second, moments when the leaders of the nation states of the world have attempted to grapple with the direct political consequences and the long-term effects of those innovations.

This epoch will doubtless be recalled as one during which the pace of scientific change outran the capacity of political society to organize these developments within viable, humane and predictable systems.

Hugh Thomas, editor
(from the introduction)

1903: Wings over Kitty Hawk – Charles Gibbs-Smith

Orville Wright’s brief flight over North Carolina sand dunes realizes one of man’s oldest dreams and revolutionizes transportation

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Age of Optimism

If “progress” destroyed formal slavery and combated illiteracy, it also substituted top hats and frock coats for the colorful costumes of the Japanese samurai and made white collars and sober ties the symbol of social standing in the towns of southeast Asia. The nineteenth century was the Age of European Primacy, a span of four generations in which the smallest of continents molded the world in its image – barely noticing, in its aggressive ebullience, that in doing so it was selling its soul to industry and materialism.

– Alan Palmer, editor
(from the introduction)

1803: Beethoven’s Rededicated Masterpiece – H.C. Robbins Landon

A brilliant young German composes a vast new symphony that both fascinates and bewilders its first audiences

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Twilight of Princes

“Kings are absolute lords and have full authority over the people”, wrote Louis XIV…. His opinion was shared by Peter the Great and Frederick the Great, different though their concepts of autocracy were. Catherine the Great, who continued Peter’s work in modernizing and westernizing Russia, insisted…that while all men were equal before the law, the sovereign was absolute: “The extent of the empire necessitates absolute power in the ruler. Any other form of government would bring it down in ruins.”

But although they strode across the years with such vitality, setting their mark for good and ill upon the history of their times, those absolute monarchs provide but one fitting title for their era – Twilight of Princes. For the Age of Absolutism was also the Age of Reason, the Age of Enlightenment and the Age of Scientific Revolution – an age in which Newton’s discoveries were more important than the conquests of Frederick the Great, and Diderot’s Encyclopédie was more influential than the triumphs of Louis XIV.

– Christopher Hibbert, editor
(from the introduction)

1601: A Play for All Seasons – Ivor Brown

William Shakespeare’s reworking of a familiar folk legend gives the stage its most famous tragedy

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The Expanding World of Man

Although European events dominate the first half of Volume III, the theme of the whole – as the title makes plain – is The Expanding World of Man. Accordingly, milestones in the history of Russia, China, the Americas, and India have been included. And despite Sir Edward Creasy’s assertion…..that all milestones of history are necessarily military or naval actions, no more than seven of the sixteen essays in this book are primarily concerned with warfare….

Dynasties fall, boundaries change, enterprise supplants the chivalric ideal, and written languages take shape in this era. There is a new urgency about man’s quest for fulfillment as he attempts to explore the unknown, exploit his environment, understand the purpose of life and come to terms with reality – and in so doing, “expand” the world of man.

– Neville Williams, editor
(from the introduction)

1215: Agreement at Runnymede – J.C. Holt

England’s King John signs the Magna Carta, and unwittingly speeds the decline of “divine right” monarchs.

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The Fires of Faith

The fires of faith, the bright lights of destruction, the explosion of fanaticism, the everlasting wars and feuds that filled this era – was there even one year when their reigned a peace comparable to the pax romana that Augustus had envisaged or the pax mongolica that the great Mongolian khans created at the height of their power? All the undoubted devastation should not make us forget that the fires of faith brought life as well as destruction.

– Frederich Heer, editor
(from the introduction)

312: In This Sign Thou Shalt Conquer – Robert Browning

Constantine’s victory at the Milvian Bridge ensures the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire

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Ancient Empires

The great German historian Leopold von Ranke (1795-1886) defined the historian’s task as being that of describing the past “as it really happened” (wie es eigentlich gewesen). His definition will doubtless always stand as the ideal of scientifically objective history, and as a warning against the writing of history as propaganda or apologia for some nationalist, political, or religious end. But it has come to be realized that this represents an ideal that can never be wholly achieved…. History inevitably implies selection and interpretation of the facts considered to be relevant. Both activities ultimately depend on human minds, which are conditioned by many factors such as education, religion, and nationality, quite apart from personal interests and consciously conceived aims.

– S.G.F. Brandon, editor
(from the Introduction)

3000 BC: The Gift of the Nile – Leonard Cottrell

The lands of the Delta and the lands of the cataracts are united to form the first political state Continue reading →

Back in my youth, the family wanted us kids to be well educated. Part of this was accomplished by getting a couple of those sets of books covering certain topics for the average intelligent reader. Yes, we did have an encyclopedia (Collier’s) as well as a general “encyclopedia” for children (The Book of Knowledge (1952 edition)). The one I most vividly remembered was a six volume set from Newsweek called Milestones of History.

Published in 1970, the set contained a neat one hundred essays in total – from “The Gift of the Nile” (the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt) to “Man on the Moon (duh) written by prominent historians of the time. Lavishly illustrated, the milestones covered not just military and political matters, but scientific and cultural milestones as well. Connecting essays between the main chapters filled in the time between the “milestones”. A diligent selection and editing process allowed for the occasional combination of milestones. For example, to discuss the Protestant Reformation, they didn’t just write about Luther’s posting of his 95 Theses – they instead chose his publication of a German New Testament, which allowed them to include the development and spread of printing as well.

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