Table Of ContentBY THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT OF DUKE UNIVERSITY
H I S T O R I C A L
B A C K G R O U N D
of the World Today
R I N E H A R T & C O M P A N Y , I N C O R P O R A T E D
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE WORLD TODAY
A Synopsis
BY THE HISTORY DEPARTMENT OF DUKE UNIVERSITY
H I S T O R I C A L
B A C K G R O U N D
of the World Today
E D I T E D B Y
HAROLD T. PARKER
and THEODORE ROPP
R I N E H A R T & C O M P A N Y , I N C O R P O R A T E D
1 9 4 7
Copyright, 1947, by William B. Hamilton
Printed in the United States of America by
A P C ., I .
PPEAL RINTING O NC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PREFACE
This book is a synopsis of the introductory course in history at
Duke University.
The profound changes which have shaken our society in this gen
eration seemed to the staff at Duke to demand a fresh point of view in
teaching “The Historical Background of the World Today.” A new
orientation has become especially necessary for students in the United
States. Furthermore, it is particularly the last three or four decades
that challenge the interest and the intelligence of the student. To treat
of this period properly, or to draw its background in due perspective,
it is not enough to add a few chapters to the orthodox textbook in
European (or American) history.
Accordingly, we have re-examined both subject matter and emphasis
from the vantage point of the topics or themes we thought most impor
tant in the present world. A survey course for one year cannot touch
on everything. The themes we have chosen are
The rise of the national states and the conflict between liberty and
authority within them;
The problems of peace and war among these states;
The economic practices and theories of modern times, especially
the changing face of capitalism and the challenges to it;
And the faiths men live and die by, not by any means confined
to faiths ordinarily called religious.
Underlying the treatment of these four themes is the pregnant premise of
The expansion of Europe, whose institutions, technologies, and
faiths have been exported to all corners of the globe, where they have
awakened mutual reactions.
The following, who teach in the two undergraduate liberal arts
colleges of Duke University (Trinity College and the coordinate
Woman’s College), have written the synopsis: Frances Aconib, John S.
Curtiss, Arthur B. Ferguson, William B. Hamilton, W. T. Laprade,
Alan K. Manchester, Ernest W. Nelson, Harold T. Parker, Dorothy
M. Quynn, Theodore Kopp, and Richard L. Watson. It represents a
meeting of minds through a year and a half of vigorous discussion
and criticism.
Since some of the topics sketched for one class hour obviously
cannot be covered in that length of time without an unnecessary shock
to the academic psyche of the teacher whose favorite topic is being thus
outraged, we have left unscheduled ten or twelve hours in each of the
v
normal college semesters. This breathing space the instructor may use
to express his personality, to introduce different topics, or simply to
catch up with his colleagues. Those topics that carry two numbers
deserve, in our opinion, at least two lectures.
The course as here sketched is designed to fit particular text
110
book. Rather, any text or book of readings can be pruned and stretched
to lit the synopsis, which in any event is the central guide for the
student to both lectures and text.
The course at Duke is accompanied by assignments designed to
teach the student how to study history critically. In the first semester
he reads at least three books and writes a critical review of them. In
the second, he performs an exercise, preferably a library paper, designed
to elicit critical thought, the art of interpreting scattered and perhaps
conflicting data, and the ability to set down in plain English what he
finds out.
W B. H
ILLIAM AMILTON
Supervisor of
Freshman Instruction
Durham, North Carolina
August, 1947
vi
LIST OF TOPICS
page
Preface
V
Part I: MODERN TIMES TO 1871
TOPIC
3
I. Medieval Society .....................................................
II. The Rise of Towns, a Middle Class, and a
Money Economy....................................................... 5
III. The Rise of National Monarchies........................... 8
IV. The Reformation and Counter Reformation. 9
V. Secularism, Humanism, and the Growing
Command over Nature ............................................ 10
VI. The First Colonial Empires: Portugal.................... 12
VII. The First Colonial Empires: Spain......................... 13
VIII–IX. Spain Wins and Loses the Hegemony of the
Continent and the Monopoly of Overseas
Empire ....................................................................... 15
X. Absolutist France .................................................... 16
XI–XII. Parliamentary England ............................................ 19
XIII. French and English Colonial Empires Con
trasted and Compared ............................................. 22
XIV. England and France Clash in a World-Wide
Struggle: First Phase 22
XV. Central Europe: Austria and Prussia...................... 23
XVI. Eastern Europe: Russia............................................ 25
XVII. England and France Clash in a World-Wide
Struggle: Second Phase .......................................... 26
XVIII. The Intellectual Foundation of the Struggle
for Liberty: The Enlightenment.............................. 27
XIX. The First Radical Application of the Ideas of
the Enlightenment: The American Revolution 31
vii
page
TOPIC
XX. Reform by the Enlightened Despot Is Tried
in Europe with Partial Success outside France
and with Almost No Success within France 33
XXI. The Second Radical Application of the Ideas
of the Enlightenment: The French Revolution 34
XXII. Napoleon Guarantees Moderate Reform in
France and Sows Seeds of Reform in Europe 37
XXIII. Conservatives Back Reaction ................................ 38
XXIV. Reaction Fails in the Field of International
Relations, Notably in an Attempt to Suppress
the Third Radical Application of the Ideas of
the Enlightenment: The Spanish-American
Revolutions ............................................................... 39
XXV. The Growth of a World Economic Com
munity, and Its Philosopher, Adam Smith 42
XXVI. The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain 44
XXVII. Changes in British Industry Lead to Reform 47
XXVIII. Alteration of British Policy Extends to the
British Empire .......................................................... 49
XXIX. The United States Crosses the Continent,
Maintaining Constitutionalism and, by Force,
National Unity ......................................................... 50
XXX. On the European Continent: The Revolu
tions of 1830 and 1848 and the Unification of
Italy ........................................................................... 51
XXXI. On the European Continent: Germany Be
comes a National State and a Dominant
Great Power Controlled by Conservatives;
France, after a Half Century of Vacillation,
Becomes a Republic................................................. 53
XXXII. On the European Continent: Austrian and
Russian Monarchs Introduce Reforms...................
57
viii
Part II:
FROM 1871 TO THE PRESENT
page
TOPIC
I. Changing Faiths and Loyalties............................... 60
II. The Spread of the Industrial Revolution .... 61
III–IV. The Movement for Social Reform.......................... 62
V–VI. Overseas Expansion Continues............................... 66
VII. European Political Penetration in the Far
East ............................................................................ 67
VIII. European International Relations .......................... 69
IX–X. The First World War................................................ 71
XI. The League of Nations ............................................ 73
XII. The Peace Treaties .................................................. 75
XIII. American Isolationism............................................. 78
The Pacific Settlement ............................................ 79
XIV.
XV–XVI. Soviet Russia............................................................. 81
XVII. Fascist Italy............................................................... 88
XVIII. Germany: The Rise of Hitler................................... 90
XIX. Germany: The Totalitarian State............................ 95
XX. Central Europe and the Balkans............................. 97
XXI. France ........................................................................ 100
XXII. Great Britain............................................................. 104
XXIII–XXIV. The British Commonwealth and Empire 108
XXV–XXVI. The United States .................................................... 111
XXVII. Latin America .......................................................... 117
XXVIII–XXIX. The Outbreak of the Second World War 118
XXX–XXXI. The Second World War........................................... 119
XXXII. The Bases of the Peace Settlements....................... 126
ix
