preface
  1. 1Chapter 1. The First True Men
  2. 2Chapter 2. Primitive Thought
  3. 3Chapter 3. The Beginnings of Cultivation
  4. 4Chapter 4. Primitive Neolithic Civilisations
  5. 5Chapter 5. Sumeria, Early Egypt and Writing
  6. 6Chapter 6. Primitive Nomadic Peoples
  7. 7Chapter 7. The First Sea-going Peoples
  8. 8Chapter 8. Egypt, Babylon and Assyria
  9. 9Chapter 9. The Primitive Aryans
  10. 10Chapter 10. The Last Babylonian Empire and the Empire of Darius I
  11. 11Chapter 11. The Early History of the Jews
  12. 12Chapter 12. Priests and Prophets in Judea
  13. 13Chapter 13. The Greeks
  14. 14Chapter 14. The Wars of the Greeks and Persians
  15. 15Chapter 15. The Splendour of Greece
  16. 16Chapter 16. The Empire of Alexander the Great
  17. 17Chapter 17. The Museum and Library at Alexandria
  18. 18Chapter 18. The Life of Gautama Buddha
  19. 19Chapter 19. King Asoka
  20. 20Chapter 20. Confucius and Lao Tse
  21. 21Chapter 21. Rome Comes into History
  22. 22Chapter 22. Rome and Carthage
  23. 23Chapter 23. The Growth of the Roman Empire
  24. 24Chapter 24. Between Rome and China
  25. 25Chapter 25. The Common Man’s Life under the Early Roman Empire
  26. 26Chapter 26. Religious Developments under the Roman Empire
  27. 27Chapter 27. The Teaching of Jesus
  28. 28Chapter 28. The Development of Doctrinal Christianity
  29. 29Chapter 29. The Barbarians Break the Empire into East and West
  30. 30Chapter 30. The Huns and the End of the Western Empire
  31. 31Chapter 31. The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires
  32. 32Chapter 32. The Dynasties of Sui and Tang in China
  33. 33Chapter 33. Muhammad and Islam
  34. 34Chapter 34. The Great Days of the Arabs
  35. 35Chapter 35. The Development of Latin Christendom
  36. 36Chapter 36. The Crusades and the Age of Papal Dominion
  37. 37Chapter 37. Recalcitrant Princes and the Great Schism
  38. 38Chapter 38. The Mongol Conquests
  39. 39Chapter 39. The Intellectual Revival of the Europeans
  40. 40Chapter 40. The Reformation of the Latin Church
  41. 41Chapter 41. The Emperor Charles V
  42. 42Chapter 42. The Age of Political Experiments; of Grand Monarchy and Parliaments and Republicanism in Europe
  43. 43Chapter 43. The New Empires of the Europeans in Asia and Overseas
  44. 44Chapter 44. The American War of Independence
  45. 45Chapter 45. The French Revolution and the Restoration of Monarchy in France
  46. 46Chapter 46. The Uneasy Peace in Europe that Followed the Fall of Napoleon
  47. 47Chapter 47. The Development of Material Knowledge
  48. 48Chapter 48. The Industrial Revolution
  49. 49Chapter 49. The Development of Modern Political and Social Ideas
  50. 50Chapter 50. The Expansion of the United States
  51. 51Chapter 51. The Rise of Germany to Predominance in Europe
  52. 52Chapter 52. The New Overseas Empires of Steamship and Railway
  53. 53Chapter 53. European Aggression in Asia, and the Rise of Japan
  54. 54Chapter 54. The British Empire in 1914
  55. 55Chapter 55. The Age of Armament in Europe, and the Great War of 1914-18
  56. 56Chapter 56. The Revolution and Famine in Russia
  57. 57Chapter 57. The Political and Social Reconstruction of the World

Cuneiform Tablet Hg

This cuneiform tablet is an illustration of some of the earliest forms of writing. This one dates to ca. 2400 BC and is held in the Jewish section of the Library of Congress.

Credit: Library of Congress.

Preface

This Short History of the World gives in the most general way an account of world history from the earliest times until just after World War I. It has been amply illustrated and everything has been done to make it vivid and clear. From it the reader should be able to get that general view of history, which is so necessary a framework for the study of a particular period, or the history of a particular country.

It is based upon the book by H G Wells, which was published just after the end of the First World War, with updates by Dynamic Learning Online.

Please select the first link below to go to the start of the title. Alternatively, select any Chapter link to go to that Chapter.

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