OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND BY CHARLES A. BEARD AND WILLIAM C. BAGLEY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1922 All rights reserved PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA fll* COPYRIGHT, 1922, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published June, 1922. NortoooU Set up and electrotyped by J. S. Gushing Co. Norwood, Mass., U. S. A. PREFACE THIS volume completes a series of books for the grade schools. The companion works are A First Book in American History and The History of the Amer- ican People. Although each volume is independent in itself, a unity of purpose knits them into one organic whole. We have kept always before us the problem of giving our boys and girls the best possible civic and cultural equipment, and have endeavored to contrib- ute something to the solution of that problem. On this point we need not add anything to what we have said in the prefaces to the companion volumes. As to this particular work, the argument for the form and subject matter is to be found in the first chapter. We have placed it there because we believe that the pupils should know why they are called upon to take up any line of historical study. The importance of European history for the under- standing of America has long been recognized by our colleges and high schools. The increase in the number of courses and books on that subject bears witness to the fact. Nevertheless, few attempts have yet been made to carry the idea into our grade schools. It is true that we have several books bearing some such title V 504903 PREFACE .3sV;l 'pAckgr.ound of American History," but all of them close European history virtually with the foun- dation of the American colonies. How inadequate is such a treatment of our past ! In order to appreciate this inadequacy one has only to consider the streams of immigration that have flowed into the United States from all parts of Europe since the seventeenth century, the influence of European literature, especially English, upon our thought, the thousand and one relations of the United States to Europe since the Declaration of Independence, the par- ticipation of America in every general European war since 1701, and the commanding position won by our country in Europe and "the Orient during our own time. To cut off European history at the opening of the seventeenth century is to deprive the great mass of our young citizens of all formal instruction in the modern world culture. Even the most superficial sur- vey of the situation to-day shows how serious has been our neglect of duty in this respect. In defense, of course, there may be urged the extreme difficulty of presenting the subject of world history to grade school pupils. It is far from our thought to min- imize that difficulty. It has weighed heavily upon our minds all through the preparation of this text. Im- pressed, however, by the urgent necessity of the oc- casion, we have labored hard to surmount it. As in our other books, we have sought to grasp the striking and essential ideas and movements of mankind, and PREFACE vii to present them in clear and simple form. W<; be- lieve that no pupils can go carefully through these pages without making important additions to their stock of ideas and without enlarging the horizon of their thought. We believe that they will all have a firmer grasp upon the history of our own country and a better understand- ing of their coming duties as citizens of this republic. We confess also to having more than a practical pur- pose in mind. The charge is often made that Ameri- cans are provincial in their outlook. We shall not reply by saying that, in our opinion, Europeans are still more provincial, or by saying that the American people know far more about world history than the mass of Europeans know about the history of the other con- tinents. Whatever may be the merits in this old dis- pute, we have deliberately aimed at helping to make Americans less provincial by introducing them early to two fundamental ideas : the unity of all history, and the importance of enriching our national life by the study of the best in all the past and in all nations. We are not attempting, therefore, to add another course of history to the grade school curriculum, or merely to enlarge one already given. We are inviting the cooperation of teachers in the pressing task of pre- paring the American people, in spirit and in understand- ing, for the imposing world destiny to which they are called by their enterprise, their wealth, and their power. Textbooks alone can do little. They are at best frail instruments. The teachers who grasp the idea and /.; :, ^ PREFACE fr ; inp the living word are the masters of the field. If our book only aids them in their work of carrying American culture to new heights, our re- ward will be beyond measure. When they remember with Maeterlinck that " there are no dead," let them remember also that all of us shall live forever. All the future is in the hands of the present. C. A. B. W. C. B. CONTENTS CHAPTER PACK I. AMERICA AND THE WORLD : ANCIENT AND MODERN . i America's Mixed Inheritance. The Changing Back- ground of American History. The Foreground of His- tory America to the Front. Conclusions. II. THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 26 The Prehistoric Ages from Stone to Metals. Life among Primitive Peoples. The Beginnings of Human Society. III. THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY .... 42 The Nations of the Orient. Greece and Rome. Social Classes in the Ancient World. The Great Cities of An- tiquity. IV. THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS ... 70 The Practical Arts. Architecture and Art. Literature and Education. Ancient Religions and Christianity. V. THE MIDDLE AGES: FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH . 112 Feudalism. The Medieval Church. VI. THE ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES . 137 Architecture, Art, and Learning. Town Life in the Middle Ages. VII. THE RISE OF NATIONS 161 The Rise and Growth of France. The Rise of Spain. The Making of the English Nation. VIII. THE GROWTH OF WORLD COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 186 The Growth of Trade from Early Times. European Attention Fixed upon the East. The Service of Science and Learning. Navigators, Explorers, and Conquerors. x CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE IX. THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 213 The Protestant Reformation in Germany. The Protes- tant Reformation in England. Results of the Protes- tant Revolt. X. THE GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND . .238 The Old Political and Social Classes in England. A Century of Revolution. The Results of the Revolutions. XI. THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS . . . .261 The Commercial Triumph of England. The Conflict between England and France in India and North America. The Balance of Power in Europe. XII. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 2$o The Old Order in France. The People Revolt. The Napoleonic Wars. XIII. THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY . . . .321 Steam Power. The Invention of Machinery. The Meaning of the Industrial Revolution. XIV. NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY . . -354 Unification of Germany and Italy. Nationalism in Eastern Europe. XV. THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 378 Democracy in France. Democracy in England. Democ- racy in Germany. Democracy in Southeastern Europe. Rise of Democracy in Russia. Democracy in the Orient. Democracy and Civil Liberty. XVI. THE IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS . . 407 Europe in the Orient. European Occupation of Africa. European Interest in Latin America. The World War 1914-1918. XVII. EUROPE IN OUR OWN TIME 444 The Domestic Affairs of th.? Nations. International Relations. XVIII. THE CULTURE OF THE MODERN AGE . . . . 467 Modern Knowledge. The Idea of Progress and Reform. Literature and Art. The Unity of the Modern World. LIST OF MAPS PAGE The World, to Illustrate Chapter I . 24 Ancient Oriental Empires 46 Ancient Greece 48 The Roman Empire about 400 A.D. 53 Europe about 1200 A.D. (in colors) .... facing 116 Trading Centers in the Middle Ages 152 The Empire of Charlemagne 164 France in the Fifteenth Century -. 167 Egbert's Kingdom 173 England under William the Conqueror 175 The Age of Discovery 203 European Settlements in America 226 Era of the Reformation -237 Chief European Rivals 263 Europeans in the Orient . . 271 British and French Rivals in North America 274 Western Europe in the Seventeenth Century 277 Europe about 1810 . . . . 312 European Railways 347 Europe in 1815 357 Nationalities in Austria-Hungary 371 Central Europe in 1871 391 Japan and China 400 Africa 415 The Caribbean Region . 418 South America 421 Europe after the World War (in colors) , facing 436 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND CHAPTER I AMERICA AND THE WORLD: ANCIENT AND MODERN THERE is no scene in all American history, there is no great name upon our roll of heroes, there is no book upon our shelves that does not awaken memories of Europe. Is it Washington triumphant over the British army at Yorktown ? Lo ! we behold the French general, Lafayette, at his side. We know that the French fleet is riding in the harbor and we remember that our minister, Benjamin Franklin, has been pleading America's cause at the court of the French king. Is it a humbler scene ; for example, a May-day picnic in Central Park in New York City ? There we see children of English, Irish, Italian, Jewish, German, Scandinavian, and other national origins - Americans all --playing about a high stone shaft, an OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Egyptian obelisk, more than three thousand years old, brought all the way across the sea to adorn a city's playground ! Is it a home scene with the family gathered around the lamp in the evening ? The books and magazines on the table may be in any one of a dozen languages and the news in the paper is gathered from the corners of the earth. The conversation may be about memories of the countries in the Old World from which the parents or grandparents came, or it may be about the latest events in London, Rome, Moscow, or Berlin. Is it a mothers' meeting in a modern city school to discuss with the teacher the education of their children ? Many races are certain to be represented and the customs of many lands are sure to be compared. Search high and low, far and wide, throughout the length and breadth of America, and you will see the truth in the saying : " The history of America is the history of Europe in the New World." Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York THE CENTRAL PARK OBELISK IN ITS EGYPTIAN HOME AMERICA AND THE WORLD Take the character of a great American, Abraham Lincoln, as another illustration. His parents were of English origin, his tongue was English, and his early religious training was that of a Christian denomination which was founded in Eng- land. Consider his edu- cation. As a farmer's boy, he was accus- tomed, on winter nights, to lie upon the floor before the hearth and pore over his books in the light of the blazing fire. In those quiet hours he was, without knowing it, preparing himself to teach and lead this nation in a time of great trouble. In the little library from which he gathered wisdom and understanding, were eight books. Three of them were by American writers. Five of them were from other lands. First among these was the Bible, one of the oldest books of the world. For hundreds and hundreds of years, the Bible had been read in many languages and had in- A MONUMENT TO LINCOLN IN LONDON 4 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND fluenced the lives of countless millions of people. Another one of Lincoln's books was Aesop's Fables, a collection of stories said to have been made by a Greek writer five hundred years before the birth of Christ. The stories themselves were still older. Some of them have even been traced back to ancient Egypt. Lincoln also had The Arabian Nights, " a thousand and one " marvelous tales that had come down from the earliest days of Persia, Arabia, and India. His other books were by English writers. One was Pilgrim** Progress, by the famous preacher, John Bunyan, who based it all upon the Bible. The other was Robinson Crusoe, written in 1719 by Daniel Defoe. Lincoln was a true American ; but who can say from what ancient times and distant lands came the ideas that guided him and the hopes that inspired him ? America gave him opportunity ; the Old World gave him an inheritance so great that the human mind can scarcely measure it. Of nearly all Americans, as of Lincoln, it may be said : " The Old World is their motherland and teacher." AMERICA'S MIXED INHERITANCE The People. From the very beginning of American history, many races have played a part. With the pass- ing years, the number of different peoples coming to our shores has increased. John Cabot, whose voyage gave the king of England a claim to North America, AMERICA AND THE WORLD was an Italian (A First Book in American History, pp. 26-29). O ne f tne American colonies, New Nether- land (New York), was founded by the Dutch, and another, Delaware, by the Swedes. Even in those (g> Keystone, View Co.. Inc. THE MAYFLOWER colonies founded by the English, there were also to be found Welsh, Germans, Irish, Scotch, French, and Jews. Although English became the language of the land, the nation was not to be wholly English in blood. In time, the descendants of the original English were OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND outnumbered by other races. Moreover, the English blood itself had become mixed with that of many nationalities. Theodore Roosevelt, certainly an Amer- ican of the first rank, boasted that among his ancestors were Dutch, English, Scotch, Irish, and Germans. Our Language. Although English is the language of the American people, it is made up of and mixed with words from many tongues, especially Greek, Latin, and French. Of Latin origin are nearly all our words about government, such as presi- dent^ senate, and constitution. From the Greek come a great number of terms used in the schools, such as geography, and physiology. Most of our scientific words are of Greek or Latin origin; To telegraph, for instance, means in Greek simply "to write from a distance." Some people say that it is better to use short and simple words of English origin. Doubtless this is wise wherever possible, but even by the greatest effort one can hardly avoid using words taken from other lan- guages. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address shows how many Latin words crept into the language of a man who was accustomed to use the purest English. From cm old print } CICERO, THE ROMAN ORATOR AMERICA AND THE WORLD 7 Our Government. We have learned much from Europe, especially England, about how to govern ourselves. When the English founded the thirteen col- onies in America, they provided that each one should have a legislature to make the laws, a governor to enforce them, and judges to explain and apply them. When the colonies became independent states, they kept these three branches of government. This is the origin of our state government of to-day. Changes have been made, of course, but the important parts remain. The idea of government by elected officers, instead of kings alone, came to America from England. Our federal government, or union of the states, however, was created by the Americans themselves. It was planned by a convention of citizens who met at Philadelphia in 1787 (First Book, pp. 149-154). Among them were George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. In drawing up the plan of the federal government, these men thought a great deal about governments of other countries and other times. James Madison, for example, studied. carefully the history of the ancient world, as well as of England, before he even went to the convention. His notebooks have been kept and can be read to-day. Other delegates were familiar with the history of Greece, Rome, and England. Again and again they spoke of the governments of these countries and tried to profit from the lessons of olden times. 8 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND For example, one member of the convention said that at the head of the American government there should be three officials, instead of one President. At once another member replied : " One man will be more responsible than three. Three will contend among themselves until one becomes the master." He pointed out how this very thing had happened in ancient Rome when that country was governed by three men called a triumvirate. On other important points the lessons of Greece were cited. As the members of the conven- tion were nearly all of English descent, they naturally spoke often of things to be learned from the history of England. Our Civilization. Religion. The Christian religion, which is the faith of most of the American people, arose in Palestine on the distant shores of the Medi- terranean Sea two thousand years ago. Of the many branches of the Christian Church in the United States, all except a few were founded in the Old World. The Jewish religion also came from Palestine. Books. Of the books studied in our schools or read in our homes, very many are of foreign origin. The English poet, Shakespeare, and the English novelist, Dickens, are in most private libraries. In our high schools, pupils study the Latin language and learn to read the writings of the Romans, Caesar and Cicero. American writers often follow foreign models. Daniel Webster (First Book, pp. 284-288), perhaps our greatest orator, constantly studied the speeches of Greek and AMERICA AND THE WORLD Roman orators. Our first poets and novelists imitated European examples. They wrote of knights and ladies, kings and princes, as if there were nothing in America to write about. Very slowly did American writers venture to choose American people and scenes for their novels, poems, and dramas. Schools. American schools and colleges, at first, were like those in Europe. The first teach- ers came from the Old World. The first text- books were written and printed in Europe. It was a long time before school children had ge- ographies, spellers, and histories printed in Amer- ica. Thomas Jefferson, founder of the University of Virginia, got many of his ideas of education from France. Science and Invention. Although Americans have themselves invented many wonderful machines, a great deal of our knowledge about such matters came from across the sea. Spinning and weaving are even older than the oldest nation on the earth. A MONUMENT TO SHAKESPEARE IN NEW YORK 10 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The Egyptians mapped the heavens and began the science of astronomy. The compass was invented long before the day of Christopher Columbus. The first printing press was built almost two hundred years before the English landed at Jamestown. The steam Metropolitan Museum AN ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MAP OF THE STARS engine, as a working machine, came from England. Electricity was known to the Greeks. In fact, it was by using knowledge from the past that Americans were able to make astonishing progress and to give to the world the reaper, the telegraph, and the tele- phone. If you will read the lives of our inventors you will find that they began where other inventors left off. THE CHANGING BACKGROUND OF AMERICAN HISTORY The Expansion of Europe. In speaking of our inheritance from the Old World, we must remember that, through all the years of our history, Europe itself has been changing too. When Columbus set AMERICA AND THE WORLD II out upon his daring voyage, Europeans knew nothing of the Western Hemisphere and little of Asia. They had no colonies. Their trade was mainly among themselves. During the four centuries that have passed since then, Europeans have spread to all parts of the earth. In some instances, they have swept away the natives and founded new states, as in the case of Canada and Australia. In other instances, they have mingled with the natives and mixed Old World ideas with theirs. This is what the Spanish did in Mexico, Central and South America, and many islands of the seas. In still other places, the Europeans made themselves rulers over natives. In this way, the British built up their vast empire in Asia and in Africa. So, too, the French, the Germans, the Belgians, and the Italians formed their empires in Africa, bringing millions of the natives under their flags. Thus it happened that, between 1492 and our day, all of North America and South America, nearly all of Africa, all of Australia, and huge portions of Asia fell under the sway of Euro- peans. The Awakening of the Orient. Where the Europeans have not conquered, they have shaken other races out of their old ways of living. They have forced them or induced them by example to adopt European ideas of government, trade, and war. This is what happened in the case of China and Japan. These countries are older in civilization by thousands of 12 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND years than either England or France, but it was under the influence of Europeans and Americans that they adopted gunpowder, the steam engine, the railway, the factory, and many ideas of democratic government. Under European influence, the Japanese created a parliament elected by voters and established daily newspapers. It was not until about 1855 that Japan opened her doors to the world, but within fifty years she had rapid-fire guns, railways, factories, and vast in- dustrial cities of her own. Within fifty years she defied one of the most powerful nations of Europe, Russia, and defeated her on the field of battle. Having all the inventions of the West, from steam engines to battle- ships, she is now the first power in the Far East. During the same period, the Chinese cut off their queues and put on trousers. They threw off the rule of their ancient imperial family and tried to found a republic. So the slumbering giants of the East have been stirred from their long sleep, and stand alert and ready for coming events. They are Europeanized. The Trade of Europe. While conquering by the sword and arousing natives by their enterprise, the Europeans have spread their trade everywhere. There is not a nook or cranny of this old earth that they have not visited with their wares. They trade and bargain with the dusky Eskimo of the frozen North, the swarthy African of the tropics, the wandering Arab of the desert, as well as with the civilized people of every clime. AMERICA AND THE WORLD 13 Whether it is the port of Hongkong in distant China, La Paz twelve thousand feet high in the mountains of Bolivia, or Libreville under the blazing sky of Africa, the Europeans are there with their goods to sell. The Turks dozing away in Anatolia, the nomad tribes- men of Persia lolling in their tents, are aroused by the call of the European merchant who cries abroad his wares and offers to buy in exchange. The ships that dock at Liverpool, Boulogne, and Hamburg come from every country that borders on the sea and every climate under the shining sun. In addition to trading with the peoples of every land and race, the Europeans lend them money to build railways, factories, and telegraph lines. Eng- land alone has lent five billion dollars to Asiatics and Africans. French bankers have lent billions to Egyp- tians, Turks, Brazilians, Africans, Chinese, and in fact all the other peoples of the earth. Wherever we go on the broad surface of the globe, we meet Europeans and see the signs of their work. The geography of Europe remains the same. The same seas wash the coasts of France and Spain as in the days of Columbus. But the civilization of Europe has spread all over the world. There is no ocean that is not plowed by European merchant vessels and battleships. There is no port that they have not visited. There is no people that they have not stirred to new thought and action. The European background of American history has become a world background. 14 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND THE FOREGROUND OF HISTORY AMERICA TO THE FRONT American Influence on Europe. Great is the debt of Americans to the old yet ever changing Europe ; but we must not forget that there is another side to the story. From the day that Captain John Smith set foot on the shores of Virginia to the day that General John Pershing set foot on the shores of France, there was not an hour in which European statesmen did not have to reckon with America. American Government. The American example of a people governing themselves without kings and nobles was always before the people of Europe. French soldiers, like Lafayette, who came over to aid Wash- ington in the American Revolution (First Book, pp. 141-142), carried back with them American ideas about government. A few years later they helped to overthrow the French king in the great French Revolu- tion which broke out in 1789. The state constitutions which the Americans drew up for themselves after 1776 were translated into French. They were spread broadcast and read in every European country. Books about America. Able men and women from Europe visited America and studied our ways of living, working, and governing. They wrote books about the things they saw, and European people read these accounts. In 1744 Peter Kalm, a German, published the story of his travels in America for the AMERICA AND THE WORLD 1 6 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND benefit of the German people. In 1786 a French noble- man published for his countrymen an interesting book about the new American republic. Years after- wards, in 1835, a still abler Frenchman, Alexis de Tocqueville, issued a work, entitled Democracy in America, which set all Europe thinking. A little later a thoughtful Englishwoman, Harriet Martineau, printed a volume on America for her fellow citizens to read. If we should give here a list of important European books about America it would fill ten or fifteen pages of this little volume. Influence of Immigrants. It was not only the writers who carried back to the Old World American ideas. Thousands of immigrants from all parts of Europe, after living here for a while, returned home to visit or to stay. They told their neighbors how people lived and worked in America. The millions who did not go back to their native lands wrote letters to their families and friends across the sea. In this way they put American ideas into European heads. There are no scales in which to weigh the influence of all these things on European life ; but we know that Europe became a different Europe on account of America. American Trade with the World. Since the early days of American history the well-being and prosperity of millions in Europe have depended upon the produce drawn from American fields and plantations. Owing to wheat and corn from America, Europeans had AMERICA AND THE WORLD 17 more bread to eat. The vast cotton spinning and weaving industry of England, employing millions of people, was for a long time almost entirely supplied with raw cotton from our Southern states. Whenever a war stopped the flow of raw materials to Europe, the" people of Europe suffered, as well as American farmers and planters. Within recent times, Americans have been sending large quantities of manufactured goods abroad. There are few distant countries that do not use our reapers, sewing machines, and typewriters. Our merchants are to be found in all the great cities of the world advertis- ing and selling manufactured goods. European busi- ness men find them shrewd and energetic in the search for customers. The Growth of American Territory. In addition to spreading their trade far and wide throughout the world, Americans have also carried their flag to distant lands. Alaska came under our control in 1867. The United States now holds Porto Rico and the Virgin Islands in the West Indies. It owns the canal strip, or zone, across the Isthmus of Panama. Cuba, Haiti, Santo Domingo, and Nicaragua are under American protection. The American flag has been planted in the Pacific. It waves over the Hawaiian Islands, over a part of the Samoan group, over Guam, and over several other small islands. Since 1898 it has floated over the Philippine Islands near China and Japan. So the 1 8 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND United States has territory in the same regions as the English, French, and Dutch. Anything important that happens in Asia becomes a matter of interest to America. The United States has indeed become a " world power." America in the Wars of the Old World. Europe has had many wars in which nearly all the great nations have taken part. During the past two hundred years there has not been one of these " general " wars in which America has not joined in one way or another. In colonial times, when England and France were struggling for the mastery in North America (First Book, pp. 83-101), the American colonies were drawn into the quarrel. Even after winning their independence, Americans could not keep out of European conflicts. The long war from 1793 to 1815, in which France and England took the lead, interfered with American trade. Ameri- can citizens took sides and thus the quarrel in Europe stirred up a quarrel here (First Book, pp. 154-160). French and English warships captured our goods and ships at sea. The English stopped and searched our vessels for English-born sailors. If they found any, they took them off. For a long time our government did not know what to do. Finally, in 1812, it declared war upon England (First Book, pp. 181-194). A hundred years later, when Europe was at war again, the United States was deeply stirred by the contest. At length, it threw its sword into the scale, helping to put an end to the German empire (First AMERICA AND THE WORLD 19 Book, pp. 439-449). In other parts of the world the power of American armies had already been felt. Even an uprising in distant China, in 1900, led our govern- ment to join with the governments of Europe in putting down a native rebellion (First Book, pp. 380-384). So American ideas, American trade, and American arms are powerful factors in the affairs of the world. American Relations with European Countries. In all the troublous times of our history, Americans have looked to Europe for counsel and aid. Within two years after the Declaration of Independence, the United States made an alliance with France (First Book, pp. 136-143). It even drew Holland and Spain, as well, into the contest against King George III. When the Civil War burst upon our country, President Lincoln and President Davis both turned at once to the countries of Europe to see which side they would favor. The South even hoped that England and France would aid it against the North. Long afterward, in 1899 and 1907, the Czar of Russia, hoping to put an end to all war, called conferences at The Hague. The United States sent able delegates who played a leading part in those debates. In. our time, after the defeat of Germany in 1918, President Wilson went to Paris to speak for our government in the conference that sought to settle the disputes between nations. The Climax in American Power. From the World War, America emerged the richest and most powerful 20 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND nation on the earth. Once it borrowed money and bought its manufactured goods in Europe. Now Eng- land, France, Russia, and Italy owe the United States billions of dollars. Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, and even European cities borrow American money to pay their bills. American business and industrial concerns have established branches in every leading European and Asiatic city. In one of the public squares of Paris, where stands a great monument to the warrior, Napo- leon, are to be found the offices of two of America's richest banking houses. Kingsbridge, a famous street in London, is almost lined with the displays of American merchandise. A forme'r Chicago boy owns the largest department store in the capital of King George. Once America depended mainly upon English ships to carry her goods over the seas. Now America has a splendid merchant marine of her own and American captains steam into the ports of Egypt for cargoes of cotton destined for the spinning mills of England. The sun that follows the British empire around the world finds everywhere signs of American energy and Ameri- can .power. The grand climax came in 1921 when, on the call of President Harding, the leading naval and military powers of the world sent delegates to a conference in Washington to consider ways of peace. What a sweep is this from the tiny colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth to the mighty nation that has now become AMERICA AND THE WORLD 21 the center of the world ! What a heritage we have ! What grave duties the possession of such power lays upon the people of this nation ! CONCLUSIONS 1. The background of American history is not the history of the Indians who inhabited this con- tinent before the Europeans came. 2. It is not merely the history of Europe down to the founding of the English colonies in America. 3. The background of American history is in very truth the history of the world down to the landing of the last boatload of immigrants on our shores and the sailing of the last ship from an American port for some distant land. 4. The important events of every day in all parts of the world are matters of concern for American citizens. Busy in their fields, shops, and homes, they may not think so, but it is true. The United States has ties binding it to every section of the globe in peace and war. American trade is carried on in all markets. American business men vie with those of Europe in hunting for new oil lands, coal fields, and iron mines in far-off countries. There is always danger that war in Europe may summon American boys from farm and shop to fight and die on land or sea. In fact, the graves of American soldiers and seamen are already scattered among the battlefields of many lands. 22 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND 5. That nation is greatest which gathers the best from all times and all countries, improves upon its heritage, and makes the noblest use of its powers and talents at home and abroad. It is not enough, therefore, for American citizens to study the history of our country alone. It is not enough to know about American ideals and achieve- ments. To understand how our nation came to be what it is, and to serve it wisely, we must study the history of the wide world of which it is a part. We must even learn about our earliest ancestors and their long and toilsome way upward from barbarism to civilization, from ignorance to knowledge. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. How many Old World countries are represented among the pupils of your schoolroom? Let each pupil find out from what country or countries his family originally came. Make a list of these countries and locate them on the map. 2. Read the newspapers to learn from what Old World countries news is reported. Let two or three pupils read different papers each day if possible, and make reports. At the end of a week make a list of the countries from which news is most frequently reported. Locate these countries on the map, and think of reasons why news from them is of interest to Americans. 3. Which of the books named on p. 4 have you read in whole or in part ? II. i. What is meant by the statement that Japan and China have been "Europeanized" ? Tell what you know about the way in which the Japanese and Chinese have lived in the past. How did their way of living differ from the way in which Europeans AMERICA AND THE WORLD 23 and Americans have been living ? 2. American merchants who sell goods in South America, in Africa, or in Asia must compete with European merchants; what does "compete" mean? Why is it well to know something of the history of the peoples with whom we compete in trade? 3. In your geographies you will find pictures of cities in Asia, Africa, and South America ; study these pictures to find out what European influences they show. For example, in what ways do the buildings, the streets, and the dress of the people show that " the civilization of Europe has spread all over the world" ? What things do you notice in these pictures that seem not to have been affected by European civilization ? III. I. What are the chief differences between a republican form of government and a monarchy? The United States was the first great modern republic. What European country first followed the example of the United States in becoming a republic ? What European countries have lately changed from monarchies to republics ? 2. How did troubles in Europe affect America in the French and Indian War ? In the War of 1812 ? Why have great European wars had so great an influence on our country ? Why would it probably be even more difficult in the future for our country not to become involved in any great war that might break out in the Old World ? What steps has our government taken to prevent future wars in the Old World? 3. What is meant by the " territorial expansion " of our country ? Name and locate the important possessions of the United States outside of North America. 4. Make a list of the most important ways in which our country has influenced the Old World in the past. 5. Study the newspapers to learn in what ways the United States is now influencing the Old World. IV. i. Tell why the history of the Indians who lived in America before the time of Columbus, even if they had left a his- tory, would not be the history of the American people. 2. Give as many reasons as you can to show why every American citizen should know something of Old World history. 2 4 AMERICA AND THE WORLD 25 GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES Study carefully the map on the opposite page. Most of the countries that we shall study about in this book are in Europe. Compare Europe with Asia and Africa as to size. Note how broken or irregular the coast line of Europe is as compared with the coast line of Asia or Africa. Name the principal seas, gulfs, and bays of Europe. In what ways have these been of advantage to the European peoples ? A number of cities and countries are men- tioned in this chapter ; locate all of these on the map. CHAPTER II THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND MANY an American farmer boy, while strolling along a river bottom or plowing a field, has picked up stone arrowheads or stone hatchets that were made long ago by American Indians. Such weapons have been found in nearly all parts of the United States. They Courtesy of American Museum of Natural History, New York RUDE STONE IMPLEMENTS tell us of human beings who lived in a crude and sav- age condition, without a knowledge of metals, without strong, well-lighted houses, without the comforts and the tools that make it so much easier for people to live and work to-day. Now it is an interesting fact that such stone weapons have been found also in other parts of the world ; 26 THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 27 indeed, in nearly every country. In Europe and Asia, however, they are not usually found near the surface of the ground. There they have been buried deep by drifting sand and by the ruins and rubbish left by many generations of people who had learned to use metals and had quit making stone weapons. By studying these stone weapons and the bones and various things found with them in rubbish heaps, scholars have learned much about the way people lived long ago before the invention of writing made written records possible. The long period before the inven- tion of writing is known as the prehistoric ages, " pre " being the Latin word for " before." THE PREHISTORIC AGES FROM STONE TO METALS The Old Stone Age. For many long centuries, all mankind lived very much as the North American Indians lived before white men came to this continent. In France and elsewhere in Europe, there have been discovered deep caves which had been closed for thousands of years. In these caverns, the bones of human beings have been found and, along with them, the bones of animals, like the woolly rhinoceros and the mammoth, that do not exist to-day. In these caverns, as well as in sand banks, there have been unearthed many rude implements made of stone. Owing to the fact that the implements found at the very bottom of these caves and sand banks were 28 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND scarcely more than rude flakes and chunks of stone, historians speak of the earliest part of the prehistoric period as the Old Stone Age. How long it lasted we do not know. The New Stone Age. In the upper layers of the rubbish in caves and in river drift were found better and better tools in ever greater variety ; hence the term, New Stone Age. Progress among primitive people was slow, very slow; but there was some advancement. The crude way of chipping stone was im- proved. Axes, spearheads, and arrowheads came to be made of stone that could be highly polished and brought to a sharper edge or finer point. In addition to weap- ons, there were bone needles, frag- ments of pots, scrapers, flint knives, and other things used in making clothing and preparing food. The Bronze Age. The New Stone Age gradually merged into what is called the Bronze Age. As primitive people became more and more expert in making stone implements, they began to take note of the differences among stones of various kinds. Whenever they discovered a new kind of stone, they doubtless tried to see what they could do with it. Natural History M useum A POLISHED FLINT THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 29 Now it happens that one of the few metals that is found in a state which permits immediate use is copper. In their hunts for useful stones, primitive people found chunks of copper and learned that it was malleable ; that is, it could be pounded into various shapes. They found also that they could polish it by rubbing EARLY STONE HAMMERS Natural History Museum it hard. As they loved to adorn themselves, they made ornaments of this shining metal. Since it was not very hard, however, it was not a good substance for axes and spears. The edge of copper would not keep its sharpness. In their search among the stones, primitive people also found another metal, tin. After a long time, they discovered that by melting tin and mixing it with copper they could make a hard alloy, called bronze. Then they had a metal that could be hardened 30 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND and polished and given a keen and lasting edge. It could be used for making tools, weapons, sheets of metal, pots, kettles, and many other useful things. This marked a wonderful advance in manufacture. Natural History Museum AN AMERICAN INDIAN IRON FORGE The Iron Age. Late in the prehistoric period, primitive people discovered the most wonderful metal of all, iron. This was still harder than bronze and could be worked up almost as easily into weapons, tools, and utensils. When mankind reached this stage THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 31 -the Iron Age,--\t was well on its way toward settled and civilized life. The Ages Overlap. In trying to picture to our- selves these long stages through which mankind passed in prehistoric times, we must keep some things firmly in mind. First, the ages overlapped even among the same races ; that is, they did not pass suddenly from one to the other. Secondly, different races passed through these ages at different times. Thirdly, some races skipped one or more of them. For example, the North American Indians were in the Stone Age when Columbus discovered the New World. They did not pass slowly upward through the Bronze and Iron Ages. They got tools, weapons, and cooking utensils from the white man, and leaped all at once, so to speak, into the age of iron and steel. So it has been with many other primitive peoples. Even in modern times, how- ever, there have been discovered some races that have advanced no farther in civilization than the cave dwellers of Europe who lived more than five thousand years ago. LIFE AMONG PRIMITIVE PEOPLES The Sad Plight of the Earliest People. One of the most interesting stories of all past ages is that which tells of primitive peoples beginning their long and toilsome struggle upward from savagery. Born into a world which they did not understand, they were 32 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND face to face with terrible foes cold, hunger, thirst, tempest, and wild beasts. They had to find for them- selves food, clothing, and shelter ; yet for this task they were far worse off than Robinson Crusoe when he was thrown upon a lonely island. Crusoe had saved many Natural History Museum AN EARLY LAKE DWELLING tools from the wrecked ship, and he had a knowledge of many other things which he did not actually possess. This knowledge enabled him to make clothing, build a suitable shelter, tame goats, plant grains, and culti- vate fields. The first peoples, on the other hand, had no tools, no knowledge of grains, no domestic animals, no iron THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 33 forges. But they had to live ; so they began to use their brains in two ways. First, they protected them- selves against the elements heat, cold, and storm. Secondly, they tried to understand the resources of nature and to provide themselves with food. Fortu- nately they had a friend, as well as a foe, in nature. They found shelter in caves and food in the forests and streams. As they made discoveries, they added to their knowledge. They began to build shelter and to grow food. Each step they took carried them farther along the way. Men, the Hunters and Warriors. In this upward struggle, there was a division of labor between the men and the women. Men became the hunters of animals for food and skins and the protectors against en- emies. They killed game in the forests and streams. They fought wild beasts and their own savage kind. Thus they became skillful in the arts of the chase and warfare. They made weapons of all kinds. In their Natural History Museum RUDE DRAWINGS ON THE WALL OF A CAVE 34 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND leisure hours, they polished and decorated their spear handles and bows. Sometimes they drew, on the walls of their caves, pictures of the animals they had hunted. They became artists after a fashion. Their eyes and ears were sharpened in the search for .prey. Their limbs became lithe and supple as they chased the deer. They tamed the dog to help them on the hunt and they learned the mysterious ways of wild animals. Women and the Arts of Peace. On the other hand, primitive women started the arts of peace industries of all kinds, agriculture, and homemaking. While the men were on the hunt, women studied grains, plants, and fruits. One writer has said : " One cannot, without profound thought, look upon the picture of a long train of Ute women (North American Indians) coming home with their drying baskets full of seeds upon their backs, supported by bands across their foreheads, holding also in one hand a gathering wand and in the other a winnowing and roasting tray. For these women are indeed the forerunners of all farmers and harvesters and threshers and common carriers and millers and cooks. The National Museum at Wash- ington possesses a collection of food plants used by savage women, and in the Royal Kew Gardens in London may be seen an exhibit arranged on the basis of plants. Unwittingly both these museums have erected monuments to the manual labor and skill of savage women." THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 35 Primitive women learned a great deal about cooking. They cut up and cured the meat killed by the hunters. They discovered how to parch and roast in pits filled with hot stones. They learned how to grind grain, to bake, and to boil. As this work fell to them, it was doubtless they who invented the first utensils - baskets to carry grain in and pots to cook in. They found out how to store provisions and they tamed the wild cat to protect their stocks from vermin. In their endless wanderings, they learned Natural History Museum. the qualities of plants. A PIECE OF PRIMITIVE POTTERY They found that some were good, some were poisonous, and others useful in sickness. They were therefore doctors and chemists, as they collected drugs and ground them for medicine. In our National Museum, there are hundreds of speci- mens of drugs that savage women used. Primitive women were also the first clothiers. They cut and sewed the skins of the animals caught in the hunt and made garments from them. They learned how to make threads from wool and from certain vegetables. They were the first spinners and weavers. As time passed, they became ever more skillful and artistic. They made dyes from the juices of the plants OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND they knew, and they made beads from bright-colored bits of stone. Thus domestic arts began. To prim- itive women we owe the beginnings of gardening, home music, pottery, sculp- ture, weaving, and embroidery. Finally there was the care of the baby. It was woman's great task to feed and care for the children. While the warrior de- stroyed life in battle, she protected life. While his spirit fed on hatred of his en- emies, her spirit was nourished by the love of her little ones. She not only cared for their physical needs. She taught them out of her store of knowl- edge how to guard A/atuml History Museum NAVAJO WOMAN WEAVING against things danger- ous to life. The girls she trained in her domestic arts. The boys, as they grew up, were trained by the father in hunting, fishing, and fighting. THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 37 THE BEGINNINGS OF HUMAN SOCIETY The Savage Society. In the earliest days of mankind people lived together in small groups. Their only ties were those of the family. Such a group is called a savage society. Its members were few. They had for a long time no domestic animal. They had no fixed homes but lived in forests and caves. They wandered about from place to place in small bands hunting for food and shelter. Human beings liv- ing in this early stage of society, known as Bush- men, were found in Australia when white men first went there. Domestic Animals and Tribal Society. Humanity took an immense stride forward when it discovered how to tame the goat, the cow, and the sheep. This knowledge made it possible to have milk, meat, and cloth without the uncertain and exhausting labor of the hunt. We do not know when this remarkable discovery was made ; but we do know that it was long before people learned to write any story of their Natural History Museum FINE ART IN SAVAGE SOCIETY 38 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND doings. It is thought that the dog or the cat was the first animal to be tamed. That may have been a step toward the taming of goats and other animals caught on the chase and kept alive for food. After the domestication of animals, life for man- kind became more certain and secure than when every- thing depended upon hunting and fishing. Property began to accumulate. Some men grew rich and power- ful as their flocks increased. Great tribes of people gathered around the possessors of huge herds of cattle. There was much work to be done watching and taking care of the animals. Slavery was introduced because the labor of captives became valuable to the captors. So some men were turned from hunting and fishing to join the women in peaceful pursuits. Stores of meat, cheese, skins, and wool were laid up against times of dearth. In short, mankind was lifted one stage above the perilous and uncertain life of the savage. At the same time, warfare became a regular thing, as tribesmen fought each other over cattle or grazing lands. If you will take your Old Testament and read the Book of Numbers, you will see how the Israelites attacked the Midianites and took from them their flocks and herds. Indeed, in many of the early books of the Bible there are accounts of tribes waging war on their neighbors and seizing their cattle. The Art of Planting and Reaping. Later in primitive times, long before the art of writing was discovered, there came a second wonderful discovery ; namely, THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 39 that seeds planted in the ground will take root and produce new supplies of grain. With some ancient peoples that discovery may have preceded the taming of animals, but generally it was much later. When and where the art of agriculture began, we know not. One ingenious student of primitive life explains it in the following way. Grain grew wild in the forests. Primi- tive women gathered it and made bread of it by mixing it with water and baking it on hot rocks. In a time of abundance some of the grain was hidden in the ground, and, lo and behold ! it was called to life a hundred fold by the spring rains. Once discovered, the process was easy to repeat. So the secret of the seeds was found out. This is, of course, sheer guesswork ; yet it may be a correct answer to the riddle. At all events, we know that thousands of years before there were any written records of history the art of planting and reaping was learned. The Beginnings of Settled Life. This art was des- tined to make another important change in the af- fairs of mankind, one even greater than that made by the domestication of animals. While people de- pended upon hunting and cattle raising for a livelihood, they had to be constantly on the move from one hunt- ing ground or pasture to another. This migratory, or nomadic, life was, in time, completely changed by the discovery of agriculture. When people learned the value of the soil, they began to settle down to till it. Houses took the place of tents. The land was claimed 40 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND as the property of the tribe or family that settled on it. More and more slaves were captured to till the fields. Scattered bands of savage hunters thus de- veloped into farmers. The nomadic shepherds were driven farther and farther into the hills as the farms spread out in every direction. Nations were founded. A mighty struggle for possession of the earth began. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. Why is it so difficult to learn how man lived during the long ages that preceded the historic period ? 2. To make and use fire is recognized as one of the great inventions of primi- tive man ; by what means could primitive man have discovered how to make fire ? In what ways did the control of fire help primi- tive man? 3. Imagine yourself left, like Robinson Crusoe, on a desert island, but without the tools that he obtained from the wreck. What would you do to enable yourself to live ? Even if you did not have tools, are there any ways in which you would be better off than a primitive man in the same position ? 4. Why are metal tools better than stone tools ? How did it happen that copper was used before iron ? For what purposes is copper used to-day ? 5. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin ; what is meant by an "alloy"? Modern coins are usually alloys; find out of what metals the one-cent piece, the five-cent piece, and the twenty- five-cent piece are alloys. Why is bronze not used much for tools and weapons to-day ? 6. Many of the inventions and discov- eries of primitive peoples were undoubtedly made by women; what modern inventions and discoveries have been made by women ? 7. Make a list of the important inventions and dis- coveries that were made before the time of recorded history. II. i. What animals were probably first tamed by primi- THE EARLY AGES OF MANKIND 41 tive peoples ? What animals do you know of that have been tamed or domesticated since recorded history began ? 2. What is meant by a "nomadic society" ? In what ways is a nomadic society, living on its herds of domesticated animals, an advance over a savage society, living chiefly by hunting wild beasts ? 3. How does a farming people differ from a nomadic people ? In what ways is this difference an advance toward civilization ? GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. Remains of people that lived in Europe in the Old Stone Age have been found chiefly in Spain and France ; locate these countries on the map facing p. 436. 2. Some scholars believe that these primitive peoples originally entered Europe from northern Africa ; study the outline of the Mediterranean Sea (p. 436) and note the places at which these peoples may have found it easiest to cross from Africa to Europe. It is believed by some that in very early times there was a land connection between Europe and Africa at two points. Gibraltar was one of these; where might the other "land bridge" have been ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING FOR PUPILS CLODD, EDWARD The Childhood of the World; Macmillan. The Story of Primitive Man; Appleton. VAN LOON, HENDRIK W. The Story of Mankind (School edition), i-iv ; Macmillan. WELLS, MARGARET E. How the Present Came from the Past, Book I, i-vi ; Macmillan. FOR TEACHERS OSBORN, N. F. Men of the Old Stone Age; Scribner. TYLER, J. M. The New Stone Age in Northern Europe; Scribner. WELLS, H. G. The Outline of History, I, viii-x ; Macmillan. CHAPTER III THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY AFTER mankind learned to tame animals and till the soil, the number of people on the earth increased. Rich grazing lands were made use of for flocks and herds. Fertile river valleys were laid out into fields for cultivation. Men who had once thought only of hunting and fishing settled down with the women to the arts of peace. Wealth in cattle and grain accu- mulated. Then those who had riches became a target for the tribes which kept their old fighting habits. Warriors found it easier to conquer and rob than to watch flocks or till the soil themselves. Warfare on a large scale came to plague the earth's multitudes. Out of war- fare sprang powerful military leaders who conquered vast territories inhabited by herdsmen and tillers of the soil. So began the making of kingdoms and em- pires, wide-reaching and long-enduring. THE NATIONS OF THE ORIENT Oriental Despotisms. The oldest nations of which we have written records rose in the fertile valleys of 42 THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 43 the Nile and Euphrates rivers, in the regions generally known as Egypt and Babylonia. There many a kingdom was set up, flourished, and vanished thousands of years before Christ. Indeed, the history of the earliest centuries about which we know anything is little more than a story of one mighty king after another. First, it seems, warriors from the regions of Babylonia conquered the lands east to the mountains and west to the Mediterranean. They ruled millions of subjects and were, in turn, themselves overthrown. Then the emperors, or Pharaohs, of Egypt extended their dominion by force of arms from the Sahara to the banks of the Euphrates. They governed their subjects with pomp and ceremony. Then they, too, were beaten in battles. After them came the Persian emperors, who overran all Asia Minor and Egypt and boasted of an empire greater than any the world had yet seen. They also had their day and left behind nothing but a few relics to tell of their riches and power. *,**** *** One modern scholar fixes the date A STATUE OF AN EGYP- of the first Egyptian king at more than 5000 years before Christ ; another places it at 3400 B.C. The earliest mention of Babylon is at least 3800 B.C. We know that about 2300 B.C. the borders 44 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND of the kingdom of Babylon reached the shores of the Mediterranean. We know that before the earliest kings of whom we have written records there were hundreds of minor rulers who built up great states and disappeared before new conquerors. The striking thing about these ancient kings is that THE RUINS AT THEBES (EGYPT) From an old print they were all despots, or absolute rulers. That the common people, who tilled the fields, wove the cloth, or guarded the herds, should have a voice in their own government was not thought of. The king stood above all. Everything was made to glorify his name. The mighty pyramids of Egypt were the tombs of kings. THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 45 The ruins of temples that still stand tell of their maj- esty. The pictures on the crumbling walls, the huge statues that once adorned imperial cities, the songs and ballads that have survived the wreck of ages, all From an old print Two GIANT GUARDIANS OF A VANISHED EMPIRE bear witness to the prowess and grandeur of the despot. Artists, architects, and writers vied with one another in praising the names and deeds of their royal masters. Some kings ruled more wisely than others, but practically all of them ruled without regard to the desires of their peoples. They levied taxes at will; 46 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND they imprisoned or put to death any who incurred their displeasure ; they waged war, whenever they liked, to gain territory or to add to their glory. Their strength lay in the ignorance and fear of their subjects ; their weakness lay in the fact that their subjects and slaves did not care much whether their rulers were overthrown in battle or not. ANCIENT ORIENTAL EMPIRES Under such a system, the people had no freedom of spirit. They had to flatter the king to secure his favor. They cringed before him to escape his ill-will. They said and wrote things to please him. As despot- ism was the chief mark of the government, so cowardice THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 47 and cringing were the chief marks of the subjects. Fraud and deceit became common ; for by deceit the king's taxes and penalties could be avoided. GREECE AND ROME The City-States of Greece. In strange contrast to the despotic empires of Egypt and Asia Minor were the governments of Greece. The Greeks were a marvelous shepherd people who in very ancient times moved down in search of pasture into the rugged peninsula that bears their name. They conquered the people who already dwelt there and at the same time learned much from their subjects. Their new homeland was broken into many small regions by the mountains and the sea. It had no great river like the Nile and no vast plains like those of Babylonia. Though the Greeks lived close together and wor- shiped the same gods, they could not be permanently united. Many alliances and leagues were formed among them, it is true, but none of these lasted for long. It is true also that the Greeks of Macedonia, under Alexander the Great, built up a huge empire extending from the Danube River to the borders of India ; but it did not survive his death in 323 B.C. The peoples of Greece were too independent to bow their necks to a single ruler. They were happiest when divided into tiny states or commonwealths, each man- aging its own affairs. In desperate battles they beat off Persian kings who tried to subdue them, and 4 8 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND not until many centuries had passed did they fall under the sword of the Romans. In the eighth century before Christ, there were in the Greek peninsula scores of these little countries known as city-states. Among them may be mentioned Corinth, Thebes, Miletus, and Argos. Most famous and important of all were Athens and Sparta. ANCIENT GREECE The Greek state was usually no larger than a county in Ohio or Iowa. It had a sort of capital city with shops, temples, dwellings, and market places. The coun- try around it was laid out into small villages and farms. Each community formed one great family. The mem- THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 49 From an old print THE PARTHENON THE FAMOUS TEMPLE AT ATHENS bers of it believed that they were the descendants of the same god and were thus related. The citizens of each little state were intensely patriotic. They were also enterprising, for they founded colonies all around the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Within their city-states the Greeks made many kinds of experiments in governing themselves. There were, however, three forms of government that were most common : the monarchy, or rule of one man ; the aristocracy, which meant in practice the rule of the few ; and the democracy, or rule of the many. Our very word " democracy " comes from the Greek and means " rule of the people." 50 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND A Greek democracy, however, differed very much from our modern notions. In Athens, for example, when the people ruled, the voters did not choose representa- tives to go to the capital and make laws. On the con- trary, the voters all assembled in the open air. They approved or rejected laws proposed to them, and they chose the magistrates or officials of the little state. A GREEK TEMPLE AT PAESTUM IN ITALY In another respect also the Greek city democracy differed from ours. In Athens, for instance, even in the democratic period, there were about as many slaves as there were Athenians. There were five or six slaves for every citizen who had a right to vote in the assembly. At its best, therefore, democracy in Greece was limited to a very small ruling class. The masses did not rule. They were slaves men and women, usually white, taken captive in war or bought somewhere in a slave market. THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY Rome : Kingdom, Republic, Empire. Of all the an- cient states, Rome became in time the most mighty. Yet it began most modestly. Sometime in the dim past there began to flourish on the banks of the Tiber a tiny kingdom inhabited by farmers. For more than two hundred years (753-5093.0.) its kings slowly ex- tended their power over the surrounding country. Metropolitan Museum A WAR CHARIOT OF THE ETRUSCANS, AN ITALIAN PEOPLE CONQUERED BY ROME While Rome was expanding, her last king was over- thrown and a republic was founded. Following the example of the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Persians, the Romans tried to conquer the known world. They defeated in wars all the other little 52 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND states in the Italian peninsula and made them subject to the republic. Then they began to fight beyond the borders of Italy. They conquered Carthage, Greece, Gaul, much of Britain, all of the eastern Mediter- ranean country, and Egypt. Their armies, led by generals like Julius Caesar, were invincible. The proudest princes, beaten by them in wars, were dragged to Rome to march as captives in triumphal parades. Cleopatra, the beautiful queen of Egypt, escaped them only by committing suicide. Owing to their victorious armies, the dominions of the Roman re- public finally stretched from Britain to Arabia. While Rome was growing, its government re- mained very much the" same. The vast republic was ruled by the city of Rome. It was, in fact, a city- state. The people of Greece, or Gaul, or Spain were given no voice in public affairs. They were governed with a stern hand by officers sent out from the capital. In the city itself, the government consisted of a senate, composed of nobles and rich men, two assemblies of citizens, and magistrates elected by the assemblies. Every male Roman citizen who was in the city of Rome at the time of the meetings could vote in the assembly. Was this not an amazing situation ? A few thousand men assembled in open meetings in Rome could deter- mine the fate of vast and distant dominions and millions of subjects. Untold wealth poured into Rome from the provinces. The little nation of farmers became a nation of reck- 53 54 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND less rich men and a city rabble. The rich grew richer ; the poor voters grew more and more corrupt and sold their votes to the highest bidder. Slowly the Roman republic was changed into an empire under the rule of one man. No exact date can be fixed for this change. It was brought about by victorious gen- erals like Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) who came back from the frontiers at the head of their armies and seized upon power at the city of Rome itself. Some- times these generals waged wars among themselves. At last in 3 1 B.C. one of them, Octavianus, From an old -prt'it i .1 r ,1 JULIUS CAESAR became the master of the so- called Roman republic. Four years later the Roman senate made the conqueror com- mander-in-chief of the army and head of the Roman religion, and gave him the title Augustus, which had hitherto been given only to their gods. In other words, they made him emperor. The old forms of government were not changed. The senate still met and the assemblies of citizens still gathered ; but the republic was dead in fact, if not in name. In the course of time, the august emperor became the absolute master. The republic was changed into an empire ruled by one man whose word was law from Spain to Pontus. The emperors, as they followed THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 55 one another in a long train, brought huge stores of treasures to the city of Rome. They built magnif- icent public buildings, massive triumphal arches, great highways, marvelous public baths, and vast amphitheaters for the entertainment of the people THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE of the city. They tried hard to keep the citizens at Rome contented. They gave bread to the masses and they amused them with shows in the amphitheater, where men called gladiators engaged in mortal com- bat or fought with lions and tigers " every form 56 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND of man or beast the broad empire of Rome could furnish." Never had the world beheld such splendid buildings, such wealth, such display of riches, such pomp and pride. For about four hundred years the empire of Rome lasted, but in the course of time it began to grow steadily weaker. Finally it was broken up like the older empires of the East (see p. 43). The citizens of Rome sank into luxury and sloth. A Roman writer lamented : " That majestic people which once controlled armies, high offices, and everything else, now limits its desires and its eager longings to two things only --bread and circus games ! " When the army failed, the empire fell. Rome could no longer rule the civilized world. Where august emperors once reigned in all their glory, we now behold the broken ruins of amphitheaters, fallen arches, and heaps of brick and stone. The struggle for the possession of the earth passed from the Romans to other races. We shall see later how they, in turn, played their part. SOCIAL CLASSES IN THE ANCIENT WORLD The Antiquity of Classes. Humanity had not gone very far on the path from savagery before it was divided into many classes. Tribes, kingdoms, empires, city- states, and republics all had classes. First of all were the priests, who had charge of the religious cere- monies. Next were the nobles, who united with THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 57 pride of birth the ownership of cattle and land in large amounts. Then there were the merchants, who traded far and wide, carrying goods from one section of a country to another and even from nation to nation. Below the merchants were the small farmers and the skilled artisans -- the metal workers, stone cutters, and other wielders of tools. At the bottom of the scale were the serfs and slaves, bound fast to the soil they tilled or to the master who owned them. Sometimes these classes were united in defense Metropolitan Museum A MODEL OF AN EGYPTIAN PALACE against a foreign invader. Sometimes they engaged in struggles among themselves over the division of land and cattle. Many a time did the slaves rise in terrible rebellion against their masters, only to meet, usually, with equally terrible punishment. The Nobles. Whether we turn to ancient Egypt, Greece, or Rome we find a class of wealthy and power- ful landowners men who held great estates tilled by slaves or bondmen of some kind. The fields of 58 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the Nile Valley were laid out into immense farms, each owned by a noble. To-day, historians dig up the ruins of their fine houses, visit their tombs, and read such of their books as have escaped the ravages of time. From the earliest days there existed in Athens and in Rome a class in most respects similar to the nobles of Egypt. In Rome, for instance, the most influential men were the nobles, owners of estates and members of distinguished families. The nobles were proud of their rank and looked upon themselves and their ancestors as superior beings. They were entitled to wear the purple stripe on their garments to mark them off from the common people and slaves. In the later days of the republic, when Rome had become rich, the nobles by birth found themselves rudely elbowed by men who had made great fortunes in trade and politics men who " broke into " the nobility by one method or another. All Italy was dotted with the fine houses and estates of Roman nobles. The house of one of them, we are told, had more " rooms than many cities embrace within their walls." These palaces were decorated with beautiful marbles and statues brought from Greece, Asia, and Egypt. The families that dwelt in them were waited on by slaves and their lands were tilled by slaves. They themselves scorned trading and all kinds of manual labor, and would do nothing except hold a government office or a command in the THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 59 army. Eager to enlarge their holdings, the nobles bought up or seized the lands of the small farmers. In the later days of the empire all Italy was a collection of huge estates worked by slave labor. The Farmers. In several of the Greek states and in early Rome there were many farmers who owned small farms and tilled them with their own hands. The plebeians, as these commoners were called at Rome, were citizens, but at first their rights were limited. They could vote in the assembly, but they could not hold high office. Though the king might transform a plebeian into a noble, marriage between the nobles and the plebeians was forbidden. Many and long were the conflicts between these two classes in Rome, until in the later days the dis- tinctions between the two were nearly all abolished. Plebeians were permitted to marry nobles, and most of the offices were opened to them. For a long time, the Roman farmers were able to hold their own. It was believed that the stalwart farmer, who left the plow to fight the battles of Rome, was the best kind of citizen. " Farmers furnish the brav- est men and ablest soldiers," wrote the Roman Cato " No other calling is so honorable, safe, and pleasant as this is." Efforts were sometimes made to multiply the number of farmers by breaking up great estates into small plots. Especially was it a common practice to grant farms to returning soldiers a kind of reward or bonus. As in the early days of the United States, 60 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND it was said that Rome was rich enough to give every man a farm. In the course of time, however, the number of free farmers became smaller and smaller. Their lands were often bought or seized by the nobles and changed into estates tilled by slaves. Many of them perished in battle. Thousands, unable to compete with slaves, drifted to the city of Rome or sank into the position of bondmen on the vast estates. As the republic gained new territories, it became the practice to grant the lands in huge plots to generals and politicians. A Roman writer tells us, for example, that six Romans owned half the province of Carthage and that the peasants of Africa were a wretched lot. He adds that he saw an ass and a woman harnessed together to drag a peasant's plow. The Artisans or Skilled Workmen. In Athens and in Rome, as indeed in all the cities of the ancient world, there were hosts of skilled workmen who were free in the sense that the small farmers were free. Along with them were found also numerous day laborers. When the city of Rome became the center of a great empire, there were perhaps 500,000 people within its gates, of whom probably one half were free. They usually lived in huge apartment houses, each family having a few dark rooms in a great building. As the number of slaves who could do skilled work increased, the free artisan found it difficult to make a living. Often he sank to the level of a beggar, haunting THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 61 the streets of the city. In both Athens and Rome, the free workman was regarded with contempt by the upper classes. Aristotle, the Greek philosopher, de- clared that " no man can practise virtue who is living the life of a mechanic or laborer." Cicero, the Roman orator, looked upon workmen as belonging to an in- ferior order, saying with scorn, " A workshop can have nothing respectable about it." Merchants and Professional Classes. Athens and Rome, like Egypt and Phoenicia before them, developed trading to a high pitch. Their ships plowed all the waters of the Mediterranean and in their markets were found traders from every clime. In addition to com- merce, there were other ways of making money. Tax- gathering was a very profitable business, for the pub- licans, or tax-gatherers, were permitted by law to gather about all they could wring from the people. Money-lending was also profitable. So was office- holding in Rome and in her provinces. Though merchants and bankers grew rich, the aristocracy con- tinued to look upon them with scorn. Cicero thought all retail merchants contemptible " because they can make no profit except by a certain amount of false- hood." Aristotle exclaimed that in the life of a mer- chant " there is no room for moral excellence." Never- theless, impoverished noblemen were often glad to marry their daughters to the sons of rich traders or money-lenders. Somewhat above the trading classes in the eyes of 62 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the Roman aristocracy were the professional classes ; but they too were of every degree. First among them, in the heyday of the Roman empire, were the archi- tects and engineers, the men who planned and built From an old print A ROMAN BRIDGE NEAR NIMES (FRANCE) the amphitheaters, palaces, and bridges. Musicians were in great demand for entertainments, public and private. Doctors, owing to the number of fraudulent fellows, or " quacks," had a hard time to win the esteem of the people. Some of them, however, rose to emi- nence. Such, for example, was Galen, who lived at the end of the second century after Christ. He was so famous that people from the ends of the empire THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 63 wrote him for advice and he told them by letter what medicine to take. Poets, historians, and teachers were frequently honored for their talents. In many cases, however, in the later days of Rome, the teacher was a slave in the house of the rich aristo- crat. Roman noblemen took pride in importing from Greece educated slaves as tutors for their children, or as reciters to amuse their guests. Some of the dis- tinguished writers of Rome were of this servile origin. The Slaves. The masses of people among all the great nations of antiquity were slaves. Slaves built the pyramids of Egypt, rowed the warships of Athens, and tilled the fields of Italy. The history of labor in antiquity is largely a history of bondage. As Rome grew, slavery multiplied. When the Romans conquered Italy, Greece, Africa, Gaul, Spain, Britain, and parts of Germany, they brought the captives into Rome by the thousands as slaves. It is estimated that Caesar in his conquest of Gaul took a million prisoners who were sold into bondage. In the slave markets of Rome could be found white-skinned Greeks and Germans penned up with swarthy Africans. Those who were sold as domestic servants usually had a fairly easy life ; but most of them passed into a servitude on the great estates that was truly horrible. They were worked in the fields in chain gangs and thrown into dungeons at night. The owner had the power of life and death over his slaves. Those who resisted their masters or ran away were frequently 64 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND crucified along the highways as terrible examples to their fellows. Toward the latter days of the empire, Italy was crowded with slaves and the descendants of slaves. Thousands of them had been freed by their masters. Some of them rose to positions of wealth and influence. Others swarmed into the cities, where they helped to swell the mobs so famous in Roman history. THE GREAT CITIES OF ANTIQUITY All the nations of antiquity had their great cities : Thebes and Memphis in Egypt, Nineveh on the Tigris, Babylon on the Euphrates, Jerusalem in Palestine, Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia, Athens in Greece, Rome in Italy, and Carthage and Utica in northern Africa. In the Bible we can read graphic accounts of the mighty cities of the East. The populations of these ancient places we can only guess, for there was no regular census such as we have to-day. Rome in its prime, as we have seen (p. 60), had about 500,000 people within its borders. Perhaps Babylon was even larger. The splendor of some of the cities dazzled all visitors. Babylon had its palace of terraces, rising one above another, and its " hanging gardens." It was reckoned by the Greeks as one of " the seven wonders of the world." In all the cities, temples, pal- aces, baths, wonderful official buildings, stores, and the luxurious homes of the rich testified to their wealth and magnifience. THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 65 Some of these cities have utterly vanished. Of Babylon nothing can be seen to-day except a few frag- ments of ancient walls and heaps of bricks crumbling into dust. Others have had continuous life. Athens is the capital of modern Greece, and many a stately ruin remains to tell of ancient days. Rome is the THE RUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM, THE GREAT AMPHITHEATER AT ROME capital of modern Italy. The palaces of the emperors are no more, but some noble buildings remain intact to this very hour. The Romans were indeed the master builders of antiquity. Their capital city was the wonder of man- kind. Around the Forum, or ancient market place, they erected public buildings, imperial palaces, beauti- ful temples, and splendid monuments. All over their 66 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND broad empire the Romans built magnificent cities. At Aries and Orange, in southern France, are to be found to-day splendid ruins that are visited annually by hundreds of Americans, curious to see the signs of Rome's world power. London stands on the site of an old Roman city, and here and there may be found a bit of wall or pavement that has escaped destruction. So, too, in Paris the traveler may see fragments of walls and arches and baths that have come down from the day when France was Gaul, a province of the Roman empire. It is in the cities of antiquity that we find much that resembles modern times._ There were immense public buildings, monuments erected in honor of victorious generals, banking houses in which business was carried on with the most distant countries, and huge theaters for public amusements. There great throngs gathered in the streets to cheer returning soldiers or to hear the news of some momentous event in a far-off country. There were the tenements of the poor and the man- sions of the rich, the artisan working at the flaming forge, the women buying at the market, and the politi- cian stirring the masses by an impassioned oration on some burning question of the day. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. Why can more people live in a country where farming is practiced than in one where hunting and fishing must be de- THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 67 pended upon for obtaining food ? 2. So far as we know, the first great nations grew up in the fertile valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates rivers, though the lands adjoining these valleys are very largely arid ; are there any reasons why such conditions should have been favorable to the development of these regions as the homes of people engaged in farming ? There are no great forests in these river valleys ; how did this help the farmers ? 3. The Nile River overflows its banks each year and the water spreads over its valley ; in what ways would this be an advantage to farming ? Why were people living under such conditions likely to be united under strong and powerful leaders? 4. What is meant by a "despot"? 5. Why do we know more about the wars and conquests of the ancient kings than we do about the millions of people whom they ruled? 6. The text mentions the "Pharaohs" as the rulers of ancient Egypt ; what other terms have been used by different countries for their rulers ?' II. i. How did the ancient Greeks differ from the people of the Nile and Euphrates valleys in their manner of living ? In government ? 2. How did the democratic government of Athens differ from our democratic government ? 3. Do the people of your town or city meet together to decide directly any ques- tions of government ? How many years elapsed between the supposed date of the first Egyptian kings (5000 B.C.) and the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.) ? How many years be- tween the death of Alexander and the present time ? 4. What was the form of government in Rome in the early days of its history? What changes took place later? 5. How many years elapsed between the death of Alexander the Great and the death of Julius Caesar ? 6. What changes took place in the way in which the Romans lived as they passed from the rule of kings to the rule of the people and then to the rule of emperors ? 7. Give as many reasons as you can to explain why the great Roman empire failed to endure. 8. The close of the Roman empire is usually placed at 476 A.D. ; how long was this after 68 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the first date that we associate with Rome (753 B.C.) ? How does this compare with the number of years that our present government has been in existence ? III. I. We have in our country to-day priests or clergymen, large landowners, merchants, farmers, skilled workmen, and un- skilled laborers; why are these groups not "classes" in the sense in which this word is used in the text ? t 2. We do not have in our country " nobles," " serfs," or " slaves " ; name those countries in which there is still a class of "nobles." What is the difference between a "serf" and a "slave"? 3. What occupations that are highly respected to-day were looked down upon as ignoble or dishonorable by the ancients? 4. In what ways are the great masses of people better off to-day than were the masses of the people in ancient times? 5. While some of the ancient cities were large, probably none was so large as are such modern cities as London, New York, Chicago, or Paris ; can you think of any reason explaining why such very large cities were probably impos- sible in the ancient world ? (Consider the problem of feeding so many people and the ways unknown to the ancients that we now have of producing foodstuffs, and especially of transporting food- stuffs quickly over long distances.) GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. I. Study carefully the maps showing the location of the Nile and Euphrates valleys. Note how the Nile Valley is protected. Where does the Nile River rise ? Trace the courses of the Tigris and Euphrates. When history began, these two rivers flowed into the Persian Gulf separately. Eridu (p. 46) was then a seaport. 2. Study the map of Greece (p. 48), and point out some important differences between this region and the regions of the Nile and the Tigris and Euphrates. What advantages would the Greeks have in a country such as theirs ? Why was the country favor- able to the development of small city-states rather than to the development of a united kingdom or empire ? Locate Athens, THE GREAT NATIONS OF ANTIQUITY 69 Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, Miletus. 3. Point out the extent of the Greek empire that was formed by Alexander the Great and endured only while he lived. 4. Locate Rome. Why was Rome admirably situated to be the center of a great empire ? (Note the ease with which the various parts of the Mediterranean basin could be reached by boats.) 5. Locate the regions that the Romans gradually conquered : Carthage, Greece, Gaul (France), Spain, Britain (England), Egypt, Asia Minor. 6. Locate the great cities of antiquity mentioned on p. 64. Find out which of these exist under their old names. Which of them occupy the sites under new names ? Which of them no longer exist except as ruins ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING FOR PUPILS ARNOLD, EMMA J. Stories of Ancient Peoples ; American Book. ASHLEY, R. L. Early European Civilization, i-iii ; Macmillan. BEST, S. M. Egypt and Her Neighbors; Macmillan. BROOKSBANK, F. H. Stories of Egyptian Gods and Heroes; Crowell. GOSSE, A. B. The Civilization of the Ancient Egyptians; Stokes. VAN LOON, HENDRIK W. Ancient Man; Boni and Liveright. The Story of Mankind (School edition), v-xxvi. WELLS, M. E. How the Present Came from the Past, Book I. FOR TEACHERS See bibliographies at close of Chapters ii and iii in BOTS- FORD'S A Brief History of the World; Macmillan. CHAPTER IV THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS THE peoples of the ancient world did more than found great cities, states, and empires. They carried for- ward the work of civilization begun by primitive men and women. They improved the old ways of tilling the soil. They raised a greater variety of fruits, grains, and vegetables. They raised better sheep and cattle. They built solid and handsome houses. They made beautiful drawings, paintings, and sculptures. They erected wonderful temples and public buildings. They brought many of the domestic arts to a high state of perfection. They learned how to prepare and cook excellent food and to make fine linens, embroideries, laces, and brocades. For sheer beauty their work has never been surpassed, and seldom equaled. They studied the heavens and made the beginnings of the science of astronomy. They studied the ways of nature and thought deeply about right conduct. They wrote poems, books, and plays. They wor- shiped gods and had religious rites. Finally, they came to the idea of one God, all-powerful and all-wise ; and one of the peoples of antiquity, the Jews, also gave to mankind Christianity. 70 THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 71 In the practical arts, such as domestic science and agriculture, the peoples of the ancient world made definite strides in advance of primitive life. In the fine arts, like architecture and sculpture, they pro- duced examples which the best artists of all later ages in the Western civilization admired and studied closely. In poetry, drama, oratoiy, and philosophy, they worked out such perfect models that all the world still marvels at them. Although our progress has been wonderful in material things, although we have the railway and the airplane, in all things of the mind we still have much to learn from the ancients. The English poet, Shelley, said of Greece : Her citizens, imperial spirits, Rule the present from the past ; On all this world of men inherits Their seal is set. Those writers are nearer the truth, however, who tell us that the Jews gave to the world religion, the Greeks art and literature, and the Romans law and order. Even there we must not draw sharp dividing lines between the ancient nations, because they borrowed so much from one another. For a long time after Rome fell, the people of western Europe knew no ancient language but that of the Romans, Latin. So they read mainly about what the Romans had done. Hence it was easy to give too much weight to the work of the Romans. About the day of Columbus, scholars began to study Greek with great earnestness ; then 72 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND they declared that the Greeks had done everything. Long centuries afterward, indeed almost within our own time, scholars learned to read the queer sign writing used by the still older Egyptians and Babylo- nians. Then they found out how deep was the debt of both Greece and Rome to nations thousands of years older than either of them. The life and thought of America are really linked in an unbroken chain with the life and thought of people whose homes and palaces were dust for ten centuries before Rome rose to great- ness on the banks of the Tiber. THE PRACTICAL ARTS Agriculture. In tilling the soil, as we have said, the ancients made remarkable advances over the Metropolitan Museum AN EGYPTIAN PICTURE SHOWING PLOWING AND SOWING methods followed by primitive people. They learned to irrigate dry lands. Perhaps they got the idea from the annual flooding of the Nile River. At all events, in both the Nile Valley and the Euphrates Valley, there were great irrigation works. The ancients also dis- covered the secret of fertilizers to enrich the soil. This enabled them to cultivate one spot for centuries. THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 73 Thus they could give up wandering in search of new lands, and could support large populations in a rela- tively small area. They also discovered the secret of plowing and harrowing the ground so as to break it into fine powder. This, too, increased the production per acre. The ancients discovered many aids to agriculture. They tamed the ox, the horse, and the ass. They in- vented plows, harrows, and carts that were dragged by their beasts of burden. They built granaries in which to store their crops. They made knives or sickles to cut the grain. They used the ox to tread out the grain and they winnowed it, or separated the chaff from the grain, by tossing it into the air. For grinding the grain they made heavy stone mills, which were turned by slaves or oxen. The ancients increased their food supply in many ways. They domesticated more animals, such as swine, sheep, ducks, geese, and cows. They learned to handle the wild bee and secure vast quantities of honey. They grew peas and beans as well as rye and wheat. The plains of Italy and the fertile valleys of the Nile and the Euphrates were the great grain- growing areas of the ancient world. In the rougher and more mountainous regions of Italy, Greece, and Palestine, vineyards and olive orchards flourished. The Domestic Arts. In all the home comforts, the ancients made great gains over primitive peoples who lived in caves or tents, or in brush and timber 74 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND huts. They learned how to build stone houses. The nobles and rich men had wonderful palaces with baths and hot-air furnaces. The homes of the masses were very much like some to be seen to-day in Italy or Greece. They were of stone and plaster, with flat roofs. There were no glass windows, but there were doors and wooden shutters. The floors were of stone Metropolitan Museum SOME PLAIN EGYPTIAN FURNITURE or dirt. But they had one great advantage they were cool in summer. The art of cooking bread-making, roasting, bak- ing, and stewing was so improved over primitive times that delicacies could be made for those who could afford them. Bread was the staff of life. Wine and olive oil came next in the diet of the masses. Fruit, fish, meats, and honey appeared on the best tables. But as the ancients ate with their fingers, they did not have sauces and desserts like ours. Indeed, it has been said that sauces mark the great difference between modern and ancient cookery. THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 75 In cloth-making, the ancients have never been sur- passed. In the Metropolitan Museum of New York City, there are linen sheets, taken from ancient Egyptian tombs, which have lasted all through these centuries. The Egyptians pictured their goddess, Isis, with a Metropolitan At useum AN INLAID ROMAN SEAT OF THE FIRST CENTURY AFTER CHRIST shuttle in her hand ; and the Romans pictured their goddess, Minerva, with a distaff for spinning, showing how greatly they prized the work of their women. On the walls of Babylon and Nineveh, as well as of other ancient cities, there were pictures illustrating the 7 6 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND cloth-making process all the way from the raising of sheep and the growth of flax to spinning and weaving. The ancients did more than make fine cloth. They made beautiful designs, wonderful tapestries, and embroideries. Especially in the lands of the eastern Mediterranean did the love of gorgeous decorations flourish. Owing to the mildness of their climate, the ancients spent much of their time out of doors. They got up early and went to bed early, as they had no brilliant lights for the house. Since they were an out-of-door people, they did not make as many kinds of furniture as we do to-day. They had chairs, couches, beds, and tables, though they were by no means as comfortable as ours. For what they lacked in com- fort and variety, they made up in decoration. The Egyptians, Assyrians, and Jews made wooden furniture, using much cedar and ebony and probably rosewood, walnut, and teak. They Metropolitan Museum EGYPTIAN JEWELRY THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 77 decorated their tables and chairs by inlaying the wood with gold, silver, ivory, and precious stones. The Greeks employed bronze in making furniture, adding decorations of gold and silver. All these things the Romans had also ; but they were especially fond of beautiful marbles. Most of our ornaments of to-day originated among the ancients. They had necklaces, rings, bracelets, brooches, earrings, diadems, mirrors, combs, and jewel boxes. Their work in precious stones and metals was so good that modern workers find it hard to equal it and cannot surpass it. Ancient artists could carve, solder, inlay, cast, and chisel with a subtle skill and a fine taste that make us marvel as we look upon their work. ARCHITECTURE AND ART Egyptian and Babylonian Architecture. We do not know what people it was that first came out of caves and huts and learned to build houses of stone and brick. We do know, however, that very early in their, history the Egyptians learned how to plan and erect great buildings. The pyramids, the towering tombs of their kings, and their temples have stood through thousands of years to bear witness to their skill. Moreover, they learned to decorate their buildings and to carve at the gates gigantic figures in stone. Of the buildings erected by the ancient peoples to the east of the Mediterranean, we know less, because OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 79 they used so much wood and unburnt brick which did not survive the wear and tear of centuries. Of their work we can only read in the books that have come down to us. Accounts of Babylon, for instance, tell us of buildings huge in size and gorgeous in design, such as the Temple of Baal, greater even than the pyramids. They tell of " wonderful walls around the city, and the hang- ing gardens of Semir- amis." In the Old Testament, we can read of the beautiful tombs arid temples of the Jews. In the third chapter of the second book of the Chronicles, there is Metropolitan Museum an account of the THE TOP OF AN EGYPTIAN COLUMN temple, or "House of God," built by Solomon at Jeru- salem. It was ceiled with fir, overlaid with gold, " gar- nished with precious stones for beauty," and decorated with carvings and ornaments. Of this temple not a stone or sign remains. So we can only behold its beauty in the mind's eye as we read of it in the Bible. Greek Architecture. We know a great deal more about the architecture of the Greeks. Examples of their work and many splendid ruins are scattered far and wide in Mediterranean lands. The most beautiful as well as the most enduring work of the Greek archi- 80 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND tects was the temple. It was small in size, simple in form, straight in line, and designed to house the statues of one or more gods. Only a few could worship at a time within the gloomy shadows of its narrow chamber. That, however, suited the Greek kind of religion, as we shall see. Several of these temples still stand, preserving to this day their delicate columns and graceful lines. The most perfect temple is at Athens. There is another fine structure at Paestum, near Naples in Italy, erected there by an ancient Greek colony. The Greeks also built tombs and theaters ; but on none of these struc- tures did they lavish such care and affection as on the temples. Roman Architecture. The Romans copied directly from the Greeks. They early adopted the Greek temple, along with the Greek gods, but they added to both. The majestic Pantheon of Rome, erected to all their chief gods, combines a Greek porch and columns with a huge structure surmounted by a mighty dome. This building has stood about 1800 years almost intact. In other ways, too, the Romans added to the designs of the Greeks. Their special creations were vast amphi- theaters, circuses, triumphal arches, palaces, aqueducts, baths, and civic buildings. They learned somewhere how to make strong mortar and to build arches. With the arch they were able to erect buildings of great height and size. When men can only pile blocks of stone and wood upon one another, their designs are THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 81 limited ; when they can use the arch and mortar, even the very stones become almost as clay in their hands. With lavish profusion the Romans erected huge buildings throughout the length and breadth of their empire. The gigantic amphitheater, or Colos- seum, opened 80 A.D., had, when completed, seats for more than 40,000 people. It was about 600 feet long and 500 feet wide. Its outer rim stood more than 150 feet above the ground. So solid was its masonry that most of its walls and arches have survived the ravages of earthquakes and time. Size, mass, and strength marked the work of the Romans ; but they sought for beauty also. They robbed Greece of her marbles and statuary; they brought monu- ments from ancient Egypt; and they collected artists and sculp- tors from the ends of the empire. As they became rich, they em- ployed Greeks for delicate work and drew upon the Orientals for gorgeous colors. Art under the Oriental Despots. The Egyptians, from the earliest day of which we have record, drew, , . _,, . Metropolitan Museum. painted, and carved. 1 he themes . , AN EXAMPLE OF THE BEST and forms of their art remained EGYPTIAN SCULPTURE 82 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND much the same for thousands of years, almost as fixed as the character of the Nile Valley in which they lived. Art was not free. That is, artists did not draw and paint and carve whatever pleased their fancy. The greatest artists were employed by the ruler, or despot, to glorify him, to picture his life and his deeds. They showed him in war, on the hunt, at the court, and in public ceremonies. Instead of art for its own sake, art was used to portray the spirit of servility to despots. Moreover, Egyptian artists were very limited in their imagination. To express wisdom, cunning, courage, and other traits, they often placed on the statues of their rulers and gods the heads of ani- mals supposed to have those qualities. Much of their work was unnatural and confined to straight lines ; but in later days they learned to carve in stone mar- velous, lifelike portraits. In their art, the Persians, Assyrians, Hebrews, and Babylonians were in many respects like the Egyptians. Greek Art. It was the Greeks who first worshiped beauty and gave living and natural form to painting and sculpture. While the Greeks learned, too, from the art of their neighbors, especially from the Egyptians, they were themselves creative. That is, they did not merely imitate. They had imagination and expressed their ideas in the spirit of their own freer society. Their matchless work, of which we have many examples, has been the model and envy of artists everywhere. Their chief subjects were gods rather than kings. As THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 83 Metropolitan Afusevm THE Discus THROWER 84 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the gods were supposed to be like men and women, the artists drew them in human form. Moreover, the Greeks made their own bodies beautiful by taking athletic exercise, and these served as the models for artists. Instead of carving rigid images like the Egyptians, the Greeks gave movement and grace to their statues. The Discus Thrower beautifully rep- resents this living art. Lovers of art tell us that Phidias, a Greek born about 500 years before Christ, was the greatest of all the Greek sculptors, and that in beauty his work has never been surpassed. Roman Art. In the field of art the Romans were copyists rather than creators. They saw about them in the old Greek colonies of Italy many examples of the finest Greek work. They welcomed Greek artists who came to Italy to seek their fortunes or were exiled from home. They brought Greeks from Athens to teach them, and they sent their sons to study in Greece. For fine and delicate things they relied mainly upon Greek skill. As the Romans grew rich, the sena- tors, emperors, and noble ladies took pride in having themselves portrayed in marble. Some of the best examples of art that have been preserved from the Roman period are the busts of eminent citizens. The Romans not only copied ; they also collected and preserved some of the best work of the ancient Greeks. Modern Studies of Ancient Architecture and Art. Modern admiration for Greek and Roman work is so great that the leading nations now have schools THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS at Athens and at Rome for the study of art and archi- tecture, as well as other antiquities. Some of these schools are supported by governments and others by private societies. The English, French, Germans, and Americans have been eager t seekers after the beauties of the ancient world. Their museums are filled with statues originals or models and other art ob- jects. In the eighteenth century the Europeans began to write serious and important books on ancient art and buildings. To- day there are whole libraries on the subject in many tongues. No one who desires to become a master builder or painter or sculp- tor can neglect the study of the ancients. Architects to-day use in our buildings the Greek columns and the Roman arches, as well as the spires of the later ages. In Amer- ica's own creation, the " sky- scraper," there appear many de- vices of the ancients. If an ancient Greek could come to life, like Rip Van Winkle, and stroll down the streets of New York City, he would be astounded to see the pillars of a Greek Courtesy of Bankers' Trust Co. GREECE AND EGYPT IN NEW YORK 86 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND temple perched hundreds of feet above the earth near the dizzy summit of a great office building. If an ancient Pharaoh could step out of his mummy case and accompany the Greek, he would be amazed to see the columns of the Greek temple surmounted by a huge pyramid towering high toward the clouds. Verily we may again say of the ancients : On all this world of men inherits Their seal is set. LITERATURE AND EDUCATION The Origin of Writing. Literature and education, like art, were matters of slow growth. They did not spring up overnight. Indeed, for countless ages man- kind got along without knowing how to write ; that is, how to express ideas by means of marks. The art of writing began with picture making. One may write " There is a house " merely by drawing a picture of a house. On the other hand, one may use a picture to convey an idea very different from the drawing itself. For example, a picture of an eye may mean not only an " eye," but " I." Picture writing easily grew into sign writing. It became possible to express even the most difficult ideas by means of symbols. All early writing in Egypt and Babylonia was based on pictures, and it took hundreds of different pictures or symbols to tell a long- story. To this day, the written language of China and Japan has the form of pictures. It is made THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS up of thousands of signs or separate characters. Even for the Chinese and Japanese it is difficult to learn. Out of picture writing grew the art of writing by marks, each of which stood for a sound. Finally, there were invented twenty or more marks or letters which in- cluded all the sounds of a spoken language. Three thousand years before Christ, the Egyptians had stumbled upon this device and had invented an alphabet of twenty-four letters. Long afterward the Phoenicians made the alphabet from which ours came. Thus phonetic spelling, or spelling by sound, took the place of picture writing. This was one of the most wonderful steps in the growth of human knowledge, be- cause in this way thoughts could easily be recorded and so passed on from one age to the next. It made possible widespread learn- ing the democracy of knowledge, so to speak. Knowledge could no longer be lim- ited to the few when anyone with a little leisure could learn to read the books of the wisest thinkers. China at this time is taking Metropolitan Museum this step in language development by intro- EGYPTIAN Pic- ... . ,,. -i i TURE WRITING ducmg phonetic spelling among her people. The Subject Matter of Early Literature. Long be- fore picture writing or phonetic spelling was invented, ancient peoples had stored up in their minds a great 88 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND deal of knowledge. It was in the form of ballads, songs, tales, fables, and laws. It was handed down from father to son by word of mouth. In each nation or tribe there were a few " wise " men whose business it was to memorize this store of learning. They also taught it to the young, who were in turn to pass it on. When the art of writing was invented, the first things set down were the old songs, ballads, stories, and laws. Thus literature began. The word itself is from the Latin litera, meaning merely a letter of the alphabet or symbol. The earliest of the Greek poets whose works have come down to us was Homer, who collected the song- stories that had long been sung in Greece. So among the English-speaking people, the earliest literature is the songs and legends of the Anglo-Saxon peoples brought together in the poem of Beowulf. In some- what the same way, our own poet Longfellow took the American Indian legends, wove them into Hiawatha, and gave us a picture of old Indian religion, life, and culture. Oriental Literature. The Egyptians, Jews, and other ancient peoples had many books long, long before the birth of Christ. They had war songs, stories of the great deeds of kings, medical books, and writings on moral conduct. The Egyptians had great libraries of books written on papyrus, that is, rolls of paper made out of reeds. At Nineveh there was a huge library of clay tablets. The Jews likewise had a vast THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 89 literature. Many of their writings, which were deemed sacred, were collected in that part of the Bible known as the Old Testament. In it we find stones of creation and of many wars ; there we can read the history of the Jews and other peoples of southwestern Asia, be- sides the famous laws written in the Ten Command- ments and poems, such as the Psalms. Greek Literature. Greek literature, as we have seen, opens with the poems of Homer. In his Iliad and Odyssey, he recounted many a myth and tale of ancient gods and men. When Homer lived indeed, whether he lived at all is uncertain ; but several hun- dred years before Christ, the stories that bear his name were known among the Greeks. As Greece grew older, there appeared many poets, orators, philosophers, and play writers. The great poetess Sappho was placed by the learned Greek, Aristotle, in the same rank with Homer. The historian Herodotus wrote fully about an important period of Greek history, and is regarded to-day as " the father of historical writing." The Greeks also wrote plays tragedies and comedies which were given in the large open-air theaters. Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides won immortality as playwrights. When Athenian citizens met to elect officers and decide public questions, they were addressed by orators who discussed the issues of the day. The most famous orator of all, Demosthenes, warned the Athenians in a famous oration that they were in danger of being 90 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND conquered by Philip, king of Macedon. In addition to poets, historians, playwrights, and orators, the Greeks had many philosophers. These men inquired into the meaning of life, the nature of the gods, and human con- duct. First among these were Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, whose ideas, after the lapse of more than two thousand years, are still studied by seekers after wisdom. In each of these fields of literature, the Greeks created a fine method, or technique, which serves as a guide for our own writers. They searched for the best style ; that is, for clearness, force, and accuracy. In the play, or drama, they learned how to make thrilling plots, to work audiences up to the climax, and to make a telling ending. Their orators studied deeply the art of persuasion and drew up certain im- portant rules for making a convincing speech. Roman Literature. The Romans conquered the Greeks by arms, but it may truly be said that the Greeks conquered the Romans by their art and lit- erature. The greatest Greek books were translated into Latin, often by Greek scholars. They were taught to Roman youths and imitated by Roman poets, historians, orators, and philosophers. The Romans were more than imitators in literature. Their poet Vergil will ever live beside Homer. Their Horace, who wrote about everyday Roman life, will compare in fame with the best poets of Greece. The Roman orator Cicero, even more than Demos- THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 91 thenes, perhaps, was the model of all later orators who sought to speak in the grand style. The philosopher Seneca, though he did not rival Aristotle in his wis- dom and understanding, was counted among the great thinkers of the ancients. As playwrights, however, the Romans could not excel, or even equal, the Greeks. The people preferred the crudest kind of comedies. Roman playwrights and actors could not think up anything as exciting as the gladiatorial combats in the Colosseum or the gorgeous parades arranged by the emperors. In writings on law and history, however, the Romans were path-breakers. They compiled their laws in great collections or codes. Many of these have come down to us and are carefully read by students of law. Indeed, Roman law, changed, of course, is still used in France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and many other countries. Rome also produced some historians of lasting fame. One of the finest models of historical writing is Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War. For simplicity, dignity, and accuracy, it is admirable. It is justly chosen as the first serious Latin book to be read in American high schools to-day. In the historical writings of Tacitus we have more than stories of battles and rulers ; we have wonderful pictures of life and customs. Tacitus did not seek merely to glorify his country. He tried to understand it and to find ways of protecting and saving it. 92 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The Influence of the Greek and Latin Languages. After Greece declined and the Roman empire fell to pieces, the books of the Greeks and Romans, like their art, remained to influence all future generations. There is only one Roman Forum, and one must go to Rome to see it ; but Caesar's Commentaries can be multiplied into millions of copies. The elegant Latin that Cicero spoke was no longer in daily use ; the Latin of the people slowly grew into modern Italian, French, and Spanish. While this change was taking place, educated people kept on studying and writing Latin. It became, as we shall see, the official language of the entire Christian Church for many centuries. The official documents of the Catholic Church are still published in it. So much wisdom was locked up in the writings of the Greeks and Romans that teachers once required all college and high school students to learn one or both of these ancient tongues. It is only within recent years that college students have been allowed to choose modern instead of ancient languages. Education in Ancient Times. As in our time, so in ancient Greece and Rome there were schools. Sometimes they were supported by the government, but usually they were conducted by private persons. As in our day, also, the rich Greeks and Romans often had private tutors to teach their children at home. In Rome, it was common for wealthy men to employ learned Greek slaves to teach their boys and girls. THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 93 Sparta affords us the best example of government control of education among the Greeks. In that state every son of a freeman was trained by officials to serve the government, especially in the art of war- fare. The education of the Athenian boy usually con- sisted of reading, writing, music, and gymnastics. To reading and writing, the Romans frequently added the study of the Greek language. This was because they relied upon Greek books for much of their wisdom. It appears that all the larger cities of Italy and most of the small towns also had schools, at least for elementary education. In the days of the great Roman empire, the government encouraged citi- zens to found schools in the provinces in order to spread the language and the culture of Rome. Roman nobles and rich men often had great libraries on their country estates ; and occasionally one of them gave money for a public library instead of giving a gladia- torial show. In addition to the lower schools there were univer- sities at Athens, Rome, and many other ancient cities. These were established by groups of teachers who gathered around some scholar and taught his ideas. Athens was the great university center of antiquity. To that city flocked students from Rome, Egypt, and all parts of the known world. There some of the wisest thinkers of all time, men like Socrates, Plato, and Aris- totle, won their fame as teachers. There was little learning outside of the schools. 94 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND There were no printed books, magazines, or newspapers. The masses of the people were slaves and received no education at all. Workmen and merchants were regarded as persons of a lower order, unworthy of education. The modern idea that every boy and girl should go to school was utterly unknown. Since labor was looked down upon, training for work with tools was treated as something beneath the dignity of the educated classes. Still the Greeks thought of themselves as masters of all things. Thus wrote the poet Sophocles, when Athens was in her glory : " Of all strong things, none is more wonderfully strong than man. He can cross the wintry sea and year by year compels with his plow the unwearied strength of the Earth, the oldest of the immortal gods. He seizes for his prey the aery birds and teeming fishes, and with his wit has tamed the mountain-ranging beasts, the long-maned horses, and the tireless bull. Language is his, and wind-swift thought and city-founding mind ; and he has learned to shelter himself from cold and piercing rain ; and has every device to meet every ill, save Death alone." Ancient Ideas about Government. In their schools, the ancients discussed the whole subject of govern- ment. They also thought a great deal about the best form of government. Socrates and Plato gave much attention to planning an ideal scheme. They decided that all land and property ought to be owned by people in common and that all people should work solely for THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 95 the common good. Aristotle, on the contrary, replied that this was impossible. He said that property should be, as a general rule, private; he thought that men would work harder if each one looked after his own business and reaped the results of his own labor. He taught that the best form of government was a kind of modified democracy. He said that farmers busy in their fields made the best citizens, and that an ideal government was one in which each family had a small amount of property. He feared the government of the few or the rich. He likewise feared the government of the many or the poor. In his scheme, women were to obey their husbands and keep silent, and slaves were to do most of the work. Aristotle believed that slavery was both natural and right. Some of the writings of these three philosophers have been kept all through the centuries, and have been translated into English. The founders of the American republic were familiar with them. Jefferson, for example, agreed 'with Aristotle in many things, especially that a nation of farmers was the best kind of nation (First Book, p. 157). ANCIENT RELIGIONS AND CHRISTIANITY Religion. All peoples in all times have believed in powers and forces outside of themselves, called gods or goddesses. With this belief has been coupled a feeling of duty toward the gods, which all must fulfill. All early races believed in many gods. "Our 9 6 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND than a man ! country is so peopled with divinities," exclaimed a Roman writer, " that you can find a god more easily The gods were to the ancients the spirit of mystery that lay in all the works of nature. They thought of them as in trees, vegetation, seeds, growth, the seasons, and death. Some gods were great and powerful and towered above all the rest. Others were minor and local. In Greece, each family and each community had its local deities. Then there were gods and goddesses com- mon to all Greeks. Chief among the latter were Zeus, the father of gods and men, ruler and lawgiver of the universe ; Athena, the goddess of wis- dom and handiwork ; Apollo, the god of light and beauty; Demeter, the goddess of the earth, fruits, and vege- tation ; Aphrodite, the goddess of AN EGYPTIAN GODDESS love . and Ares? the god Q f battles. The Romans likewise worshiped many gods. Ju- piter, like Zeus in Greece, was the greatest of them all, while Mars, like Ares, was the mighty god of battles. The goddess Vesta ruled over household affairs, and Venus was adored as the goddess of love. Besides these, the Romans had hundreds of minor gods for places and things. Silvanus, for example, THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 97 was the god of the woods, and Terminus, the guardian of the boundaries of land. Metropolitan Museum A RESTORATION OF THE INTERIOR OF THE PARTHENON SHOWING THE GODDESS ATHENA Among both the Greeks and the Romans there was set aside a special class of persons, known as priests 98 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND or priestesses. It was their duty to take charge of the worship of the gods. They were to keep the gods pleased, to avert their anger, and to find out what they wanted men to do. In Rome, for instance, it was the duty of six maidens, known as the Festal virgins, to guard the sacred fire that burned always in the temple erected to Vesta, the household goddess. There were in later days pontiffs, who had charge of all religious affairs. They performed the ceremonies at marriages and funerals and on other occasions. The chief pontiff was called " the judge of all things divine and human." In the days of the empire, the emperor himself was supreme pontiff. Indeed, he was worshiped by the people as one of the gods themselves. Ideas of Right Conduct. Very early in their history, both the Greeks and the Romans began to think about morals. They wrote books on the duties which people owe to one another, and some of their writings on this subject have come down to us. One of them, Aristotle (P- 9S)> taught that all persons should seek the best life and that the best life is a life of virtue. Among the Romans, none rose to nobler heights than Marcus Aurelius, who was the emperor from 161 to 1 80 A.D. In a book called Meditations, which can be had in many English translations, he wrote lofty rules for right conduct. He taught kindness, simple living, modesty, honest labor, generosity, and the spirit of forgiveness. " Respect that which is best in the universe," he said, " and in a like manner also THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 99 respect that which is best in thyself. ... I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. He is injured who persists in his error and ignorance." All good things, he said, he learned from his mother and his teacher, and in the midst of his trying duties as emperor he remembered them and sought to practice them in daily life. Often he was impatient with man- kind. " The things which are much valued in life," he once exclaimed, " are empty and rotten and trifling, and people are like little dogs biting one another and little children quarreling, crying, and then straight- way laughing." The wars and evil deeds of men filled him with grief. But he concluded : " Still it is no right way to be offended with men ; it is thy duty to care for them and bear with them gently." Never- theless, he found it hard to live up to the rules he chose for himself. Strange as it may seem, this very man was cruel to the Christians, the followers of One who also taught of mercy and love. The Idea of One God. The wisest among the an- cients believed that there was only one God, not many gods. The Hebrew prophets were among the first to take this view, and to proclaim Jehovah as their sole God. The masses of the Hebrews, however, had a hard struggle in trying to keep the one true faith. Continually they fell into idolatry and the worship of other gods. Whenever they did this, they were fiercely denounced by the prophets and called back to the worship of Jehovah. 100 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The Greeks in time began to exalt one of their gods, Zeus. The deepest of their thinkers were working toward the idea of one God, the wise and just ruler of the universe. Socrates was put to death for ques- tioning the belief in the old gods and teaching that there was but one God. The Romans in later days exalted Jupiter above all their other deities. Many of them, like the Hebrew and Greek teachers, learned to believe in one God, but Roman statesmen said that the people must honor all the gods. After the Romans came to rule over many lands and nations, they permitted every kind of belief that did not make trouble for their officers. By doing this, they grew more and more doubtful about their own gods. It is said that many a Roman priest laughed up his sleeve as he offered sacrifices to his many gods. A Roman in the days of the Emperor Nero flatly declared that " nowadays nobody believes in Heaven and nobody cares a straw for Jupiter ; everybody shuts his eyes and just keeps thinking about his own affairs." Through this decay of Roman religion, the way was prepared for a new faith, Christianity. The Origin of Christianity. In the reign of Augus- tus, Rome's first great emperor, there was born in Palestine, a distant part of his realm, Jesus Christ, the founder of the new religion. His life, his labors, his teachings, and his tragic end are all recorded in the first four books of the New Testament, the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In them we read THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 101 how he went about teaching in the highways and the byways, how he rebuked the Pharisees for their pride and haughtiness, how he performed miracles, how he delivered the Sermon on the Mount, how he preached the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, how he taught that the humblest who believed in him should have eternal life, and how he gathered his disciples around him to spread the gospel. Near the end of the story we are told that he was brought before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, and accused of trying to make himself king of the Jews, in defiance of the Roman emperor. Pilate was much puzzled by the conduct and words of Jesus, and at length turned him over to the mob to be cru- cified. Then comes the story of his resurrection, the Last Supper with his followers, and his ascension into heaven. Among the very last words of Jesus recorded by Mark was the command : " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." The Mission of the Apostles. The command was carried out by the followers whom Jesus left be- hind. In the Acts of the Apostles and in the letters of Paul to the Romans, the Corinthians, and his other brethren, we read of the labors of the disciples and missionaries. In the second chapter of the Acts it is written that the faithful apostles, who assembled at Jerusalem, were " gifted with tongues " so that they might preach the gospel to the peoples of the earth in all languages. There we learn about the formation 102 OUR OLD .WORLD BACKGROUND of the first church of the faithful at Jerusalem. There we read of the ceaseless journeys of the missionaries of Christ as they spread the gospel in many parts of the Roman empire and formed new churches of the faithful. There we read of Paul, converted suddenly on the road to Damascus and preaching the gospel far and wide, in Athens, Corinth, and Rome. In his many letters to the new congregations of Christians, Paul encourages them, chides them, advises them, explains the gospel, and exhorts them to holy living and good works. The Reasons for the Spread of the New Faith. With wonderful swiftness, the Christian faith spread among the masses everywhere in the Roman empire. There were many reasons for this. For one thing, it was a universal faith ; that is, it offered salvation and immortal life not only to Jews, but also to Greeks, Romans, and all the earth's multitudes. Again, it taught the equality of all men before God, that the soul of the most wretched Roman slave was as precious as the soul of the proudest emperor. Moreover, it offered the kingdom of heaven to all persons worn out by the labors, trials, and perils of this world. None was so humble that he was unwelcome in the new church. Had not Jesus himself said : " Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth " ? The working people, scorned and despised by the ruling class of Rome, found a home in the Christian congre- gations. Jesus had been a carpenter and his apostles THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 103 had been humble folk. On the Roman slave whipped to his dungeon at night, Christ's words of mercy fell like the dews of heaven. The lowly everywhere turned from the stern gods of war and hatred to the God of love and sweet charity. Persecution of the Christians. The Roman govern- ment at first tolerated Christianity as it tolerated all other religious beliefs. In a little while, however, Roman mobs began to stone the missionaries and preachers. In time of such disorders, minor Roman officers were called upon to punish Christians for dis- turbing the peace and preaching against the Roman religion. After a while the emperor himself began to take notice of the new sect and to look upon it as dangerous. The Christians refused to worship him as divine, as all Roman subjects were required to do. They would not preach toleration of the Roman re- ligion because they believed it to be utterly false. Moreover, they held many public and private meetings and formed brotherhoods among the faithful. The Roman emperor was in mortal terror of secret societies and " seditious " meetings. He began to fear that the Christians would try to overthrow him, especially as they grew more and more numerous. So at length he forbade Christian worship. He pun- ished with imprisonment or death thousands of Chris- tians who refused to obey. Some were burned at the stake ; others were thrown to wild beasts in the Colos- seum. Their churches were torn down ; copies of the 104 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Scriptures were destroyed by fire ; and their ceremonies were forbidden by law. Some emperors were worse than others, but by the end of the third century the persecution of Christians became widespread and terrible. In Rome they were forced to take refuge in caves and underground passages, known as catacombs. In several places in Rome and other cities, they dug vast tunnels and rooms deep underground. There, huddled together in the darkness, they held their religious services and buried their dead. To-day the traveler, by the dim light of candles, may journey through hundreds of miles of the gloomy catacombs of Rome. He may read on the grave- stones and on the walls of the low-vaulted chapels the solemn story of cruel days when Christianity was driven underground by the terrorism of the Roman government. The Triumph of Christianity. Yet persecution could not kill Christianity. On the contrary, it flourished in spite of prisons, executions, and mob violence. All over the Roman empire Christian churches sprang up ; and, in time, some rich and powerful people were drawn to the new faith. Finally, even the emperor was com- pelled to compromise with the Christians. In 311 A.D. he publicly gave them permission to worship as they desired. Before many more years passed the Emperor Constantine declared Christianity to be the one lawful religion of his empire. The third stage in the triumph of Christianity came THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 105 when the Roman emperors ordered every one to accept the Christian faith. Those people who refused were called heretics, and it was their turn to be severely punished. Thus, about three hundred years after the death of Christ, the Christian faith became the law of a vast empire. Rome, the old capital of the empire, had become the seat of the pope, the head of the Catholic Church, " Catholic " meaning universal. According to Catholic belief, the first pope was the Apostle Peter, to whom Christ had said : " Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church. . . . And I will give unto thee the keys to the kingdom of heaven." This, we are told, was the beginning of the Catholic Church. Under the leadership of the popes, the work of the Church was carried on even while the Roman empire was crumbling into ruins. Under their guidance earnest missionaries were carrying the gospel of Christ far and wide to the peoples of Europe, Asia, and Africa. In time the head of the once persecuted Church dared to write to the emperor himself : f There are two powers, august Emperor, by which the world is chiefly ruled, namely the sacred authority of the priests and the royal power. Of these, that of the priests is the more weighty because they have to render an account even for the kings of men in the divine judgment." Surely in all the history of mankind there is no story more amazing than this. From the shores of io6 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Galilee there came a religious faith that was to con- quer a vast empire, to live on after that empire had per- ished, and to spread to every land, even to new worlds yet undreamed of. Under the banner of Jesus, Colum- bus was sent forth by Queen Isabella in quest of new peoples to be brought to Christianity. " We are knit together as a body in a most sacred covenant of the Lord," exclaimed the leader of the Pilgrims, who, many years after Columbus, made the beginnings of New England on the coast of North America. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. Study the first paragraph of this chapter carefully and then try to tell what is meant by the word "culture" as used in the title of the chapter. 2. In the second paragraph, a distinction is made between "practical arts" and "fine arts" ; name as many practical arts as you can think of; as many fine arts. What would you say are the chief differences between the two ? 3. Irrigation of land is one of the important practical arts that have come down to us from very ancient times; what is meant by irrigating land ? In what parts of our country are farmers compelled to depend upon irrigation ? Find pictures of irrigating ditches in your geographies. 4. Why are fertilizers so important in farming ? What usually happens to farm lands that are used year after year for the same crops without the aid of fertilizers ? 5. Why is it important to break up the soil as finely as possible if crops are to be raised most profitably ? How does the modern farmer break up the soil ? 6. What animals are used by the farmers in your region as "draught animals" -that is, to pull loads ? What modern machinery is used also for this purpose ? For how long a time has such machinery been in general use ? 7. Certain farm animals are important as suppliers of food rather THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 107 than to draw loads ; name the most important of these. Are any animals used on farms to-day that were not known to the ancients ? 8. What are the most important changes that modern civilization has brought about in the domestic arts ? (In Chapter xiii you will be told some of the changes that have been brought about in the making of cloth.) How does the preparation of food in these days differ from that of ancient times ? What differences are there in "table manners"? What are the chief differences in furniture ? II. i. Study the picture of the Greek temple on p. 97. In what ways did this building differ from a modern church ? 2. Find out whether there are any buildings in your neighborhood that represent in any way the Greek architecture. (Wherever columns are used for porticoes or porches, the "capitals" or tops of the columns are often copied after the old Greek models.) 3. Compare the seating capacity of the Colosseum at Rome with that of the largest hall or auditorium with which you are familiar. 4. The ancients had no buildings like the great "sky-scrapers" of modern American cities ; .find out how it is possible to build these high buildings, and what materials modern builders use that were not known to the ancients. 5. Primitive artists living in the Old Stone Age drew much more lifelike pictures. of men and animals (see p. 37) than did the Egyptian artists (see p. 82) ; why are the Egyptian pictures so "stiff" and formal ? Why were the Greeks better artists than the Egyptians ? 6. What kinds of pictures do we have to-day that were unknown to the ancients ? III. I. Can you explain why the development of the art of writing was one of the greatest of all advances in civilization ? 2. Why was phonetic writing so great an advance over picture writing ? Experiment by trying to tell, entirely by pictures, of an experience that you have had and then by making a written account of the same experience. 3. How was knowledge passed on from person to person and from generation to generation before the invention of writing ? Why would this process make the pres- 108 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND ervation of accurate knowledge difficult ? What is meant by a myth ? What myths have you read ? 4. Why is so much of the early literature in the form of poetry ? (Which is the easier for you to memorize, prose or poetry?) 5. What are some of the important differences between the work of a poet and that of a playwright ? Between the work of a philosopher and that of an historian ? 6. What great invention of modern times has made possible a true "democracy of knowledge " (p. 87) that was impossible even among the ancient peoples who had developed the art of writing ? 7. Make a list of the ways in which education in ancient times differed from education as carried on to-day. 8. What great question of government did the Greek philosophers study and write about ? Which of the two views presented on pp. 94-95 seems to be the more generally favored to-day ? IV. I. What sentence in the second paragraph under the heading "Ancient Religions and Christianity" explains why the belief in many gods was so widespread among the ancients ? 2. What are the most important differences between the religions of the ancients and the religions of civilized people of to-day ? 3. In what country did the Hebrews originally live? How did their religion differ from that of most other ancient peoples ? 4. Under what government were the Hebrews at the time of the birth of Christ? 5. Why did the teachings of Christ spread so rapidly? 6. What is meant by "persecution," and why were the early Christians persecuted ? Do you know of any peoples in recent history that have been persecuted because of their re- ligion ? 7. Explain why the oldest and largest of the Christian denominations is known to-day as the Roman Catholic Church. GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. Make a list of all the names of places that occur in this chap- ter. Look them up on the maps on pp. 46, 48, and 53. Try to decide in advance which of these three maps you should consult THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS 109 before looking up each name. 2. Then consult the maps in your textbook in geography and see which places on the list are still known by the same names. For example, Nineveh occurs on the map on p. 46, but there is no modern city of that name; Rome, on the other hand, occurs both on ancient and on modern maps of Italy. SUGGESTIONS FOR REVIEW OF CHAPTERS I-IV 1 . Have a line seven feet in length drawn on the blackboard. Let this line represent the period of recorded history. Place at the left end 5000 B.C. as the date that scholars assign to the first Egyptian kings. Place at the right end of the line the date of the present year. The date of the birth of Christ will be placed five feet from the left end of the line, indicating the point that divides the "B.C." and "A.D." periods. Place at the proper points on the line the following dates, indicating what each stands for: 2300 B.C. (Babylon); 753 B.C. (beginnings of Rome); 323 B.C. (death of Alexander); 44 B.C (death of Caesar); 313 A.D. (the Roman empire officially accepts Christianity) ; 476 A.D. (fall of the Roman empire); 1492 A.D. ; 1776 A.D. If the black- board is long enough, it would be interesting to continue a dotted line to the left eighteen feet farther. The end of this dotted line would represent the date 23,000 B.C., which most scholars believe to be within the period of the Old Stone Age in Europe. It should be remembered, however, that the dotted line represents the prehistoric period, about which our actual knowledge is very slight. 2. The pupils who have studied carefully the four preceding chapters have now what might be called a "speaking acquaintance" with some very interesting and important persons. If they wish to become better acquainted with these persons, the class may well be divided into "reception committees," each of which will be responsible for bringing one of these historic characters to the class by finding and reporting the interesting facts about his life, 1 10 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND and especially the reasons which explain why his fame has lived for so long a time. The following are suggested : Homer ; Soc- rates ; Plato; Aristotle; Alexander the Great; Phidias; Julius Caesar; Paul the Apostle; Galen; Constantine the Great. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING FOR PUPILS Myths and Legends BAKER, EMILIE KIP Stories of Greece and Rome; Macmillan. BEST, S. M. Glorious Greece and Imperial Rome; Macmillan. BULFINCH The Golden Age; Stokes. CHURCH, A. J. The Aeneid for Boys and Girls; Macmillan. The Story of the Iliad; Macmillan. The Story of the Odyssey ; Macmillan. COLUM, PADRAIC The Golden Fleece; Macmillan. The Children's Homer; Macmillan. GAYLEY, C. M. Classic Myths in English Literature; Ginn. HARDING, C. H. and S. B. Stories of Greek Gods, Heroes, and Men; Scott Foresman. HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL The Wonder Book; Macmillan. KINGSLEY, CHARLES The Heroes; Macmillan. KUPFER, GRACE H. Stories of Long Ago; Heath. Greece ASHLEY, R. L. Early European Civilization, iv, viii. HALL, JENNIE Men of Old Greece; Little Brown. MACGREGOR, MARY The Story of Greece; Stokes. O'NEILL, ELIZABETH The Story of the World, iii-ix ; Putnam. TAPPAN, EVA M. The Story of the Greek People; Hough ton Mifflin.: VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), xiv-xvii. THE CULTURE OF THE ANCIENT NATIONS ill Rome ASHLEY Early European Civilization, ix, xii, xiii. HARDING, C. H. and S. B. The City of the Seven Hills; Scott Foresman. LOVELL, ISABEL Stories in Stone from the Roman Forum; Mac- millan. MACGREGOR, MARY The Story of Rome; Stokes. O'NEILL The Story of the World, ix-xvii ; Putnam. TAPPAN, EVA M. The Story of the Roman People; Hough ton Mifflin. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), xxii-xxvi. Christianity HODGES, GEORGE When the King Came ; Houghton Mifflin. SMITH, N. A. Old, Old Tales from the Old, Old Book; Doubleday Page. TAPPAN, EVA M. The Old, Old Story Book; Houghton Mifflin. The Christ Story; Houghton Mifflin. Education and School Life SMITH, D. E. Number Stories of Long Ago; Ginn. FOR TEACHERS BOTSFORD A Brief History of the World, iii-x. BREASTED, J. H. Ancient Times; Ginn. CHAPTER V THE MIDDLE AGES : FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH WHILE Christianity was spreading throughout Europe and the power of the pope at Rome was growing, the great Roman empire was falling to pieces. If you will look at the map showing Europe and western Asia in about the year 400 A.D.(p. 53), you will find that empire stretching all the way from Scotland through France, Italy, Greece, Palestine, and Arabia to the Persian Gulf. It embraced all Europe west of the Rhine and south of the Danube. Most of the region east and north of these rivers was inhabited by numerous tribes of whom little was known except that they were warlike and barbaric. If you will then contrast this map with the other one of the same territory, showing the state of things about 800 years later, namely 1200 A.D. (facing p. 116), you will be struck by the changes. The solid unit of the Roman empire has disappeared. The map of Europe looks instead like a piece of patchwork. Within the borders of the old Roman empire and to the northeast, there have come hundreds of independent states and principalities. Some of them are so small 112 FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 113 that they can be shown only on a large wall map. At the head of each one is a prince bearing some such title as king, duke, count, or margrave. The period between the fall of Rome and the rise of modern nations is called the middle ages or the medieval period. No exact date can be fixed for its beginning or its end. It is hard to say just when the Roman empire disappeared because it went to pieces so gradually. Neither is it easy to say when the modern period began. Roughly speaking, however, the period between 410 A.D. and the discovery of America may be called here the middle ages. FEUDALISM The Decline of Rome. What had happened in the intervening years to bring about such astounding changes as these shown on our maps ? First of all had been the decline and fall of the empire itself. The great line of Roman emperors died out and left no one powerful enough to carry on the task of governing the civilized world. The old Roman families that had once been leaders both in times of war and in times of peace had fewer and fewer children to follow in their steps. Finally they almost disappeared as a class, and no other leaders arose to take their places. The Roman farmers, who had once been the mainstay of the country, declined in numbers. Those that remained generally lost their lands and became bond- men or went into the cities to swell the ranks of the 114 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND poor. The army, formerly composed of free Roman citizens who loved their country, became a band of paid soldiers. Many of them had come from foreign lands and sold their services to the highest bidder. They sometimes even sold the office of emperor itself, for they finally became the masters of Rome. Moreover, the Roman people lost their old, simple ways of living and joined in a mad scramble for wealth and luxury. Sons and daughters of men who had once defended Rome or had faithfully served the government, came to think only of rich food, expen- sive clothes, exciting games, and idleness. At the very time the Romans were learning to prefer easy living, the supply of slaves to do the hard work fell off. As the army no longer conquered new peoples, the stream of bond servants which had flowed into the Roman slave market dried up. The Romans had become too spoiled by slavery to do the work that the slaves had done. Finally, the distant provinces began to revolt. They had been systematically robbed by their Roman governors and had grown to hate these masters. The army, which ceased to be able to defend Rome itself, was less able to defend Roman rule in far-off lands. When the provinces dropped off one by one, the merchants and bankers of Rome lost their business. Their magnificent buildings slowly decayed. No new public monuments and palaces were erected. Those that had once been the grandeur of the Eternal City FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 115 sank down to earth in hopeless wreckage. Rome ceased to produce poets, orators, historians, and great writers of every kind. The splendor of Rome was gone, leaving behind nothing but the magic of her great name. The Germanic Invasions. As the strength of Rome's armies fell off, her enemies grew in number. The Germanic tribes beyond the Rhine and the Danube had long beaten against Rome's bor- ders. Finally they broke into the empire in hordes. The barbarian invasion, however, did not occur all at once or in the same way. Thousands of Germans went into the Roman empire very much as immigrants come into the United States to-day, singly and in bands. They were attracted by the opportunities of Rome. Others went because they preferred the peace of the empire to the endless and cruel wars of their native lands. Thousands of Germans, organized as tribes Goths, Franks, Angles, and Saxons, -- invaded Roman terri- tory under powerful and daring chieftains. One of these bands, the West Goths, commanded by Alaric, even captured and looted the city of Rome itself in 410 A.D. Thus the very spot from which Roman armies had once gone forth to subdue the earth was itself in the hands of conquerors. " Nations innumer- able and savage beyond measure," exclaimed the Christian monk, St. Jerome, " have invaded all Gaul. The whole region between the Alps and the Pyrenees, Il6 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the ocean and the Rhine has been devastated. . . . O wretched empire !" Feudal Princes. There was now no Roman empire stretching from Scotland to Arabia. It is true that emperors long ruled with much pomp at the new capital, Constantinople, but they had little influence on affairs in Europe. In the place of the western empire there were hundreds of little kingdoms and principalities. There were hundreds of petty princes installed in stone castles and ruling tiny domains by the sword. The peace of the Roman empire had gone and with it Roman citizenship, once a thing of pride and power. The little states built amid the ruins of the empire were always at war with one another. The inhabitants of each were forced to obey the local prince, or feudal lord. The system of princely rule, born of warfare, arose in different ways. In some cases, a German warrior surrounded himself with fighting men. They con- quered a piece of Roman territory. The chief took a large part of the land for himself and divided the rest among his followers. Each of his men swore fealty and promised to help the overlord in defending their common domains. In other cases, the feudal chieftain was a former Roman citizen who, in the general smash of his country, rose to the top as a fighting man and leader of fighting men. Roman citizens, frightened at the general dis- order, flocked to him and placed themselves and their EUROPE about I20O FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 117 lands under his protection. He promised to defend them and they, in turn, pledged themselves to aid him with men and money. Sometimes one man with his followers swore fealty to another, and the latter with all his underlings would subject him- self to a still more powerful man. Thus it happened that B would hold land from A ; C from B ; D from C ; and so on, mak- ing a long line of lords under a single great leader. The chief busi- ness of the feudal lord was fighting to get land and to FEUDAL LORDS FIGHTING An old print keep it. Valor in battle and loyalty to his superior, if he had one, were his striking virtues. By warfare he added to his wealth and increased his renown. Therefore feudal princes were engaged in endless conflicts among themselves. For a thousand years and more Europe was given over to Il8 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND fighting and pillaging. Princely families rose, seized huge territories, and in turn were either conquered by stronger families or completely destroyed. Since it was chiefly the strong who were victorious, there slowly came to power a few masterful men. They made themselves the ruling monarchs of whole nations, like the English, the French, and the Spanish. Of these kings and their part in history, we shall say more later. The Serf and the Manor. The domain of a feudal lord, in any part of Europe during the middle ages, was a single village or collection of villages. It was inhabited by peasants who tilled the soil. Every village, moreover, belonged to a lord. The villagers were serfs. Each man and his family were bound to the village. They could not leave it and take up their abode elsewhere without the consent of the lord. No one could marry without his approval. Each family had a certain amount of land, in addition to a cottage or hut and garden. For the use of this land the serf family had to pay the lord in crops and in labor on the land which he reserved for himself. The serfs payment in labor was usually very heavy. Often it amounted to five days a week in harvest time. Thus little time was left for tilling his own soil. He could not sell any cattle without his lord's permission. If he committed an offense, he was likely to be tried and punished in a court held by the lord's bailiff or agent. In exchange for these heavy duties, the serf's family FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 119 had certain advantages. The lord was bound to pro- tect it against invaders. At all events, the serf and his sons did not have to render military services. The Metropolitan Museum THE ARMOR OF A FEUDAL WARRIOR family was, furthermore, sure of its cottage and plot of ground and a bare living if it could be had from the land. The old people were not turned out to starve or 120 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND carted off to the poorhouse. Certain holidays ordered by the Church broke the dull monotony of heavy labor and gave opportunities for rest and festivities, When toil remitting lent its turn to play And all the village train from labor free Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree. Still, at best, it was a crude and toilsome life. The cottage was merely four bare walls with a thatched roof. No books or papers enlivened the routine of life. Seldom, in fact, could a serf read or write. Little did he know about the great world beyond his horizon. Little did he know about the chemistry of the soil at his feet or improving the breed of his cattle. He was not a citizen ; merely a subject. He was not expected to take any interest in public affairs or to hope for any improvement in his lot. An old English couplet about the " squire " or landlord described his fate in simple words : God bless the squire and his relations And keep us all in our proper stations. The Village. There are many parts of Europe to-day where one may see a village practically as it was in the middle ages, with a feudal castle standing in its midst. From what we can observe and from books and pictures that have been saved, we can see through the mind's eye the medieval villages. Let us make an imaginary journey to one of them in France. It is on a plain at the foot of a high hill. FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 121 The cottages are all alike. They are small and built of stone or of wood and plaster. The roofs are made of thatched straw. They have no glass windows, only small openings in the walls fitted with heavy IN AN OLD FRENCH VILLAGE TO-DAY wooden shutters. The houses are all huddled together along a narrow unpaved lane. The barns are attached to the houses and the people live close neighbors to the cows, horses, pigs, and goats. In rainy weather the lane is a quagmire, and in summer the odors of the village are sickening. The rooms of each cottage are low and dark. On 122 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the ground floor there is a kitchen, dining room, and bedroom combined. In the smoky fireplace hangs an iron pot in which most of the family cooking is done. In a loft up under the thatch is a room in which the children sleep. When it rains, water leaks in upon them. At best, it is dark and airless. The food of EUROPEAN WOMEN STILL WASHING IN THE MEDIEVAL WAY the family is simple and coarse -- porridge, soup, bread, and wine. Often all the family eat out of the same pot. The housewife performs her labors in the very hardest way. She carries water from a distant well or stream. She has few pots and pans and dishes. She has to " break her back " washing clothes in a near-by stream, and is grateful if it is not dirtier than her weekly bundle. FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 123 To her household duties, she adds digging, sowing, and reaping with the men in the fields. All through the long ages woman has carried this double burden. She was carrying it when Caesar's legions marched through her village to conquer Britain. She carried it all through the middle ages. She carries it to-day as the American tourist, wrapped in a cloud of dust, rolls past in his automobile. Outside the village are the fields stretching away in small plots. There are also a meadow for the village cattle and a forest which supplies wood for winter time. From the hillside merrily tumbles a little stream of water, which renders the village a fourfold service. At the entrance of the village, some of it is drawn off to a wooden trough from which the household needs of the people are supplied. After crossing the narrow road under a stone bridge, it turns the landlord's mill at which the grain is ground. Then it spreads out over a pebbly bottom where the peasants' clothes are washed. Finally it winds through the meadow where graze the village flocks and herds. Near by is the village church standing in the yard where sleep the dead of many a century. On a moss- covered stone, perhaps, one may find a striking epitaph written in memory of some beloved one whose bones were dust long before America was discovered. In the early morning, the church bell announces the matin serv- ice. In the evening, it "tolls the knell of parting day." On Sundays, it summons all the village folk to service. 124 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The Castle. High on the rocks above the village looms the castle in which dwell the lord of the village, his family, and his warriors. On every side massive FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 125 walls rise straight from the steep rocks. At each of the corners is a high tower where sentinels watch for approaching enemies. At the entrance is a heavy draw- bridge which is let down over a deep ditch, or moat, filled with water. Within the fortress is the castle it- self. It is built around a courtyard. Its walls are eight or ten feet thick, pierced here and there by narrow slits which let in the only daylight the residents enjoy. In one corner of the castle is a great dining hall heated in winter by an immense fireplace. On one side is a chapel in which the lord's private chaplain performs religious services for the family. In another corner are the sleeping quarters of the lord and his family and followers, or retainers. Near the dining hall are the kitchen and the rooms of the army of servants. Life in this gloomy pile is by no means as happy as it often appears in fairy stories. Except in the warmest summer weather, the rooms are cold, damp, and cheer- less. Aching limbs are more common than joyful hearts. The only light at night is from candles that flicker and sputter in the ceaseless drafts of chilling air. Musicians may enliven the evening meals with merry strains, and a dance of the knights and ladies may follow the repast. On the whole, however, life is deadly dull. The fighting men are overjoyed when they are summoned to the walls to defend the castle against an advancing enemy, or are ordered in martial array to storm the stronghold of a neighboring lord, or to go on a long crusade to Jerusalem. 126 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH The Conversion of the Barbarians. While the feudal lords were building up their power, the Church was slowly uniting them in certain ways. As we have seen, the Christian religion was adopted by the Roman emperors and made the only lawful religion of the whole empire. The early apostles and teachers had succeeded beyond their dreams ; but they left to those who came after them the task of converting the rest of the known world. This work was carried on by missionaries. For more than two hundred years they kept heroically at it, suffering, for their great cause, hardships that beggar description. They went into the dark forests of Germany. They pressed northward till they reached the ice-locked lands of the Arctic circle. They journeyed westward, carrying the cross of Christ to the uttermost parts of Britain, Ireland, and the neighboring islands. Though the missionaries preached to the people in the highways and byways, they made a special effort to reach the hearts of the barbarian war leaders. Whenever a prince was converted, he ordered his subjects baptized in his faith. Thus, for instance, did Clovis, the king of the Franks, who invaded ancient Gaul. One day, in 496, while he was in a desperate battle, things were going badly for him. As his wife had been converted to Christianity by some mission- aries, it occurred to him that her God might help him FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 127 in his trials. Thereupon he appealed to Jesus for aid and declared that, if victorious in battle, he would accept the Christian faith. He flung himself with re- newed energy into the fray, and de- feated his enemies. Then, according to his pledge, he and his warriors, numbering, it is said, three thou- sand, were at once baptized. So it happened that the missionaries sub- dued the barba- rians and united them with Rome after the Roman armies had failed. About a hun- dred years later, a band of mission- aries under a fa- mous monk, Augustine, landed on the shores of Britain. That island, though once Roman, had now been conquered by the Angles and Saxons from the German forests. The monks were received by Ethelbert, king of Kent, who listened patiently to From an old print ETHELBERT LISTENING TO CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES 128 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND their sermons. When they asked him to forsake his old gods, he hesitated, saying : " Your words are fair, but they are of new and doubtful meaning." A year passed before he accepted the new religion. When he did decide at last in favor of Christianity, thousands of his subjects flocked to the monks to be baptized. Thus the conversion of the English was begun. By the year 1000 the work of the missionaries in western Europe was completed. Rome was again its ruler - the ruler of its mind and spirit. The Pope. At the head of all Western Christendom was the pope at Rome. His powers were immense. He could make laws which all Christians had to obey. He was a high judge to whom Christians could appeal in matters of religion. As the representative of God on earth, he claimed an authority far superior to that of mere earthly kings. Indeed, he could free a king's subjects from their oaths of allegiance and outlaw a king before the world. As head of the Church, he owned a vast amount of property and drew huge revenue from faithful Christians. He had territories and an army and waged war on kings and emperors in defense of his rights and powers. The Clergy. The affairs of the Church were managed according to carefully laid plans. All Christendom was laid out into large districts, known as archbishoprics, each presided over by an archbishop. This great domain was in turn subdivided into bishoprics, at the head of each of which was a bishop. The bishopric FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH I2 9 was, in turn, composed of villages, each with its church and parish priest. All those who labored officially in the Church, from the humblest village priest to the pope at Rome, were known as the clergy and formed a distinct class. No one could enter it without a special training and with- out having the ap- proval of church authorities. The powers of the clergy were numer- ous and important. They baptized, mar- ried, and buried all Christians. They could impose cer- tain penalties upon church members for disobedience. Ac- cording to the theory of the Church, they could, in effect, close the gates of heaven to the unfaithful and condemn wrong-doers to everlasting punishment. They alone could perform the religious services upon which the salvation of the people depended. The range of this vast power was From an old print THE SUPREMACY OF THE POPE: A KING AT HIS FEET 130 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND set forth in a celebrated document published by the pope in 1302 : " That there is one holy Catholic and apostolic Church we are impelled by our faith to believe and hold . . . and outside of this there is neither salvation nor remission of sins. . . . We, moreover, proclaim, declare, and pronounce that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human being to be subject to the Roman pontiff." In every country the clergy owned a great deal of property lands and houses given to the Church by pious donors. They collected tithes from the people for the support of the Church. They charged certain fees for marriages, burials, and other services. Taken together, their wealth rivaled that of kings and nobles. They held courts in which many matters, such as dis- putes over property left by dead men, were settled. They were the teachers in schools and they wrote nearly all the books. In whole communities they were the only people who knew how to read or write ; who knew anything outside the bare routine of living. They were the only class dedicated to the work of helping suffering mankind, and to them the poor and afflicted turned for aid and consolation. Because of their wealth, because of their control over the minds and hearts of people, and because of their services, the clergy were very powerful during the middle ages. The Monks and Nuns. In the early days of Christianity many men grew weary of the troubles of the world and withdrew to solitary places to live FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 131 simply and think only of religious matters. Such persons were known as monks a term derived from a Greek word meaning " solitary." Often a number of them would join in a brotherhood and build for them- selves a house or monastery in some secluded spot. From time to time there arose new leaders who preached a new gospel of Christian duty and collected followers about them. Among such leaders was St. Benedict, who founded the order of Benedictine monks in Italy about 529. Another was St. Francis of Assisi, who established the Franciscan order in 1210. A third was Ignatius Loyola, a Spanish soldier and priest, who planned in 1534 the Society of Jesus, the members of which are known as Jesuits. Somewhat in the same way, women often dedicated themselves to a religious life as nuns. They founded convents where they lived and worked. They too had many different orders as new teachers appeared from time to time. It is impossible to describe in a paragraph the work of the monks and nuns, for their labors varied according to their several purposes. Some took vows of poverty and devoted themselves to helping the unfortunate. Others were missionaries to the heathen. Others spent their time laboring on their lands, copying or writing books, or making beautiful tapestries and laces. To their care we owe the preservation of most of the books that have come down to us from Greek and Roman times. 132 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Only within the walls of the monastery or convent could those who were heartily sick of the endless feudal wars find peace. Only there could they have freedom to live lives of scholarship and helpfulness. In time, every country in Europe was dotted with monasteries and convents. The various orders grew rich with gifts made to them by pious persons. The Laymen. All the people outside the clerical class were known as laymen. They were all subject to the rules and laws of the Church. All were church members, for no one was allowed to choose his own faith or to say that he would have none at all. All had to attend church and to give money to its support. No one could dispute or even question the authority of the clergy. Any one who was bold enough to deny the Catholic faith was summoned before a court and tried as a heretic. If he confessed that he was in error, he was received back into the Church but forced to do a heavy penance. If he refused to confess that he was wrong, he was handed over to the government to be punished. In religion, therefore, as in other matters, the common people of the middle ages were subject to higher author- ities. They did not elect the lord of the village who governed them. Neither did they elect the village priest who had the care of their souls in his charge. Great teachers of the Church, like St. Thomas Aquinas, held that the people would begin to quarrel unless bound together by some one of superior rank. They FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 133 taught that " the rule of one is more beneficial than the rule of many." At the same time, they also said that it was the duty of the ruler to consider the good of his subjects. The Unity of Christendom. Per- haps the most re- markable feature of the medieval Church was its unity. All na- tions, all races, all sorts and condi- tions of people in western Europe were brought to- gether by this one religious bond. There was one head of the Church. There was onefaith. There was one language, both for the services of the Church and the learning of the clergy. That was Latin. Those who could speak Latin were equally at home with the priests of London, Paris, or Rome. There was one law of the Church for all Christians. There was one Christian ideal set before mankind. In From an old print ONE LAW FOR ALL CHRISTIANS 134 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND this respect, therefore, the Roman Catholic Church kept alive one idea of the Roman empire a world united under one great authority. The Church as a Check on the Government. Though the medieval clergy were friendly to kings and feudal princes, still they strongly held to their own rights and property. In this, Christianity differed from all the religions of antiquity. In Rome and Greece, the priests were servants of the government. They took orders ; they did not give orders. No Roman priest in pagan days ever thought of telling the emperor his duty. The popes and clergy of the middle ages, on the contrary, often assumed the right to criticize the conduct of kings and their officers and to call them to account for their misdeeds. In this way the Church became a sort of restraint on the government, a critic of the civil officers. This was a great departure from the state of things that had lasted for centuries among the nations of antiquity. In time, as we shall see, the clergy and some of the kings had a great quarrel on this point. This quarrel ended in breaking Western Christendom apart. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. i. Suppose that you had been a Roman citizen at the time of Rome's greatness, and suppose that you then knew what we now know of the causes that led to the decline and fall of Rome ; what advice would you have given to your countrymen ? 2. One of the great lessons that history teaches is that slavery is even worse for the masters than for the slaves ; why does slav- FEUDALISM AND THE CHURCH 135 ery have so unfortunate an effect upon slave owners ? Lincoln once said : "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a mas- ter. That is my idea of democracy." Can you think of any other things besides holding slaves that a true believer in de- mocracy would not do? 3. Try to imagine what life in your state would be like if the feudal system of the middle ages were still in existence. Think of yourself as a farmer living under such conditions. You would probably live in a village and go out with other farmers to work in the surrounding fields every day. How does this differ from the way in which most Ameri- can farmers live to-day ? Why did nearly every one live in towns or villages in feudal times ? What rights and privileges do free citizens have to-day that the serfs of feudal times did not have ? What duties do free citizens have that serfs did not have ? II. i. "While the feudal lords were building up their power, the Church was slowly uniting them in certain ways" (p. 126). Ex- plain this statement and tell in what ways the Church united the people living in western Europe. 2. Give as many reasons as you can explaining why the clergy had so much power in the middle ages. 3. What are the differences in the meanings of the following words : bishops, priests, monks, and nuns ; mon- asteries and convents; clergy and laymen? 4. In western Eu- rope during the middle ages there were many governments and many languages, but only one religion ; how does this condition contrast with the condition of our country to-day? 5. What is meant by the word Christendom ? (Think of other words that have the same ending, such as kingdom, earldom, dukedom.) Though all the nations of Europe to-day, except Turkey, are Christian nations, could we properly speak of Europe as Chris- tendom ? Give reasons for your answer. GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. i. Why can the Roman empire be shown on a one-page map while medieval Europe (a much smaller territory) requires 136 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND a two-page map? 2. On p. 112 you are asked to compare the map of the Roman empire (p. 53) with the map of medieval Europe facing p. 116. Compare it also with the map of modern Europe facing p. 436. Name the chief medieval and modern countries that are included in, or that include, the following prov- inces of the Roman empire : Gaul, Dacia, Illyricum, Italy, Thrace. 3. On p. 115 St. Jerome is quoted as complaining of the invasion of Rome by various barbarous tribes. Would you expect to be able to locate all these tribes on any one map ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING BENEZET, L. P. The Story of the Map of Europe, ii-vi ; Scott Foresman. BEST, S. M. The Nations of Western Europe; Macmillan. HALL, HAMMOND The Boy's Book of Chivalry, i-ix ; Partridge. O'NEILL, ELIZABETH The Story of the World, xvi-xx ; Putnam. TAPPAN, EVA M. When Knights Were Bold, i-ix ; Hough ton Mifflin. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), xxvi-xxxviii. CHAPTER VI THE ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES MORE than a thousand years lay between the sack of Rome by Alaric in 410 and the discovery of America by Columbus. During a large part of this time, all Europe was in the confusion that followed the barbarian destruction of the Roman empire. Man- kind was busy with migrations, wars, feuds, and the bare struggle for existence. In the midst of this chaos, the Catholic Church offered unity, order, and peace. The priests and others in the service of the Church found the means or the leisure for cultivating the finer things of the human spirit. In contrast to the varied interests of Greece and Rome, there' was in the middle ages one supreme interest the Christian re- ligion as interpreted by the Catholic Church. All art, all architecture, all literature, all learning, bore the stamp of religion. Everything was viewed from the standpoint of the Catholic Christian faith. That is the striking feature of the middle ages. ARCHITECTURE, ART, AND LEARNING Medieval Architecture. As the Greeks devoted their noblest energies to erecting temples, so the people of 137 138 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the middle ages devoted theirs to building beautiful churches. Christian congregations, as soon as their worship became lawful, moved into the temples of the Greeks and Romans after tearing down the statues ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 139 of the old gods and making alterations. When they began to build for themselves in western Europe, they frequently adopted Roman models ; and the style of many early Christian churches is for that reason called Romanesque. Such structures were marked by massive walls and low roofs. They were heavy and lacking in grace. In the course of time, architects devised a new style known as Gothic. They learned how to build high, thin walls, supported by buttresses on the outside. Their work thus became more flexible. They could construct lofty, vaulted roofs and towering spires that pointed heavenward. Instead of narrow slits for windows, they could make great openings and fill them with delicate traceries of stone, lead, and stained glass. Therefore we see great differences in the Gothic style. Some cathedrals were massive, severe, and stately. Others were slender and ornate, like fine lace work. In religious buildings, architects had the greatest opportunities for creative work, because the middle ages lavished money mainly upon beautiful churches. Yet there was other work to do. There were splendid castles to be built for feudal lords. Occasionally, also, they were called upon to build town houses for merchant princes. Wonderful examples of this form of architecture are to be found in Venice and Florence. Sometimes they were employed by unions, or gilds, of merchants, like the clothiers or goldsmiths, to erect 140 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND a gild hall in which the members could hold their meetings. There were some public buildings, too, like town halls and royal palaces. In planning them the medieval architect had a chance to make new designs. Whether the noblest work of the middle ST. MARKS, IN VENICE (SHOWING BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE) ages was better than that of the Greeks, each one can judge for himself by comparing a Gothic cathedral with a Greek temple. Art. In painting, as well as in architecture, the artists of the middle ages worked out many new and interesting ideas. This is true, even though in later ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 141 times they often copied the gorgeous colors, the gold and glitter, that came into Italy from Constantinople. In most cases they chose for their subjects Biblical characters and scenes. They took infinite pains in portraying their ideas of the Madonna, of Christ, and of interesting events in the growth of the Church. For color, form, and beauty, their work stands out among the splendid artistic achievements of all times. Moreover, there were so many painters of high grade and they painted so many pictures that it is hardly just to mention any of them without giving a long list. Giotto (1276-1337) is distinguished as the founder of the Florentine school of painters. Michael Angelo (1475-1564) is famous as the decorator of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, which may yet be seen in its fading, but still wonderful, splendor. Even in Angelo's time, the painting was mainly religious ; but more and more the artists were painting secular, or non-religious, scenes and portraits of eminent laymen. Literature. In literature, as in art and architecture, religion stood first. For many a century after the decline of Rome, there were no great poets and dram- atists. The educated people, nearly all of whom were priests, thought chiefly of religious subjects. They wrote lives of the saints and martyrs whose labors and sacrifices had helped to spread the gospel throughout the world. They compiled great works on the theories of religion and on the problems of Christian conduct. They composed long books on the Bible. They worked 142 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND out all sorts of theories as to the nature of angels and the doings of Satan. Even when they wrote on business matters, such as money-lending and selling goods, they looked at the subject from the religious point of view. This led them to treat fully " just prices " for goods and " the sin of usury," or high interest rates. When at length there appeared a great poet, the Italian Dante (1265-1321), his theme was still reli- gious. Dante's greatest work was his Divine Comedy, in which he drew vivid pictures of hell, purgatory, and heaven. This was at once hailed as a masterpiece. It is still read to-day. It was unique because it was written in the language of the people, Italian, instead of Latin, the language of the learned. Few European poets, certainly no medieval writers, are now more widely studied in the United States than is Dante. Two great translations have been made by American scholars, one of them by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who organized the first Dante society in America. Next in bulk to works on religion and the lives of saints stood histories and chronicles. Of these every European country produced a great quantity during the middle ages. Almost every monastery kept a chronicle or record of events by years ; from time to time some monk would undertake to compile a story of mankind from Adam to his own day. Most of these medieval historical works are queer mixtures of truth ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 143 and fiction. They tell of wars, of the work of the clergy, of the fortunes of kings and queens, of gifts to churches, and of the adventures of mythical heroes. Take, for example, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. It purports to be a history by years from about the birth of Christ to the twelfth century, telling especially about England. It was written by many men, partly from rumor, partly from books, and partly from actual knowledge. Most of it is devoted to wars among the Anglo-Saxons and to the affairs of the Christian Church in England. Some years the chronicler can find nothing important to write down, so he enters the year and leaves a blank space. In 671, he can only say : " This year was a great destruction among birds " ; but this at least is a change from tales of war and piracy. In 734, we are told : " This year the moon was as if it had been sprinkled with blood." In 793, some one wrote : " Fiery dragons were seen flying in the air." Other historical works were ballads reciting the brave deeds of kings. These were often sung at court to please the monarch who was praised by the bard. In none of them do we get a clear and full picture of all classes or of the life of the masses. It is mainly from laws, account books, tax records, and similar documents that we are able to form a correct idea of how the people of the middle ages lived in their towns and villages. Medieval history did not deal with the doings of the common people ; nor was it written for their benefit. 144 OUR .OLD WORLD BACKGROUND In addition to religious and historical works, there was some writing about the government of mankind. The poet Dante, though his fame rests almost entirely upon his poetry, was an able writer on politics. He believed that peace was necessary to draw out the noblest side of human beings ; so he advocated forming an empire again, in some respects like that of old Rome. At least he thought there should be one high imperial ruler who would restrain robbers and warriors and per- mit the people to live and work in comfort. In Dante's time there also lived another noted political writer, Marsiglio of Padua. This author startled the educated classes by saying (i) that the purpose of government was "the good of the people"; (2) that the whole body of the citizens " or the better part of them " should be the supreme law-makers ; and (3) that even popes should be elected by the people. Indeed, there were very few themes that were not touched upon by medieval writers in one form or another. Schools and Universities. It was a long time after the fall of Rome before there appeared in Europe schools, colleges, and universities with regular teachers, students, and courses of study. Practically all the teaching that went on during the dark days of the barbarian invasions was the work of individual priests and missionaries. They instructed a few followers in order to spread the knowledge of Christianity. The first schools that deserve the name seem to have been founded by wealthy bishops at their cathedrals. ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 145 The main purpose of such a school was to prepare for the priesthood ; but sometimes it was attended by young princes who wished to master the art of reading and writing. King Alfred (below, p. 172), we are told by a monk of his time, set a good example ; he sent his youngest son to a school to learn " the liberal arts before the manly arts, namely, hunting and such pur- suits as befit a gentleman." By the year 1500 Europe had scores of cathedral schools. Good bishops regarded it as both a duty and an honor to give money to them. To these institutions the sons of peasants and mer- chants came to prepare for the priesthood. That was the one career through which they could rise out of their classes into the higher ranks. When a serf became a priest he was freed from servitude. Feudal lords often became angry at losing their bondmen, but the bishops paid little heed. They were always glad to welcome bright boys from the peasantry because the Church had need of able and vigorous men to carry on its varied work. As the towns grew in size, rich merchants founded grammar schools to teach reading, writing, and arith- metic. These institutions were open to boys preparing for business as well as to those who planned to enter the ministry. With the passing years, schools for more advanced studies were also established. The college or univer- sity arose in the middle ages somewhat in this fashion. It was the practice of missionaries and learned men to 146 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND go about teaching, stopping in one town after another to instruct any who cared to listen. One taught the Old Testament, another grammar, and a third mathe- matics. In a very natural way, teachers of different subjects began to gather at certain centers, like Paris or Oxford. This was a great saving of time for students and masters, because all subjects could be studied at one place. The next step was easily taken. The teachers and students of a given city formed a society or union or gild known in Latin as a collegium or universitas. When that was once done, it was a simple matter to arrange a regular course of study through which any pupil had to pass in order to become a master himself. Indeed, one became " a master of arts " as one became a master mason, except that an apprenticeship was served in learning rather than in stone cutting. At first there were no splendid buildings. Each teacher would rent or find a vacant room and lecture there. The chief subjects of study were Latin, gram- mar, arithmetic, and the writings of the famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle (p. 95). There were no printed books for the students. The teacher simply read his lectures slowly while the pupils laboriously copied his sayings word for word. Nothing contrary to the teachings of the Church was allowed. Great pains were taken to show that there was nothing in the writ- ings of the pagan Aristotle that was contrary to the Bible or Christianity. Of the vast range of subjects ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 147 like chemistry, botany, physiology, geography, and history, very little was said in the medieval universities. The Revival of Ancient Learning. About the year 1400 there opened a new period in the history of learn- ing. The learning of the early middle ages, as we have seen, had nearly all been in the Latin language. Books were written in it ; it was the tongue used in the class- rooms all over western Europe. Some of the Greek writings were in constant use, but in Latin translations. Greek literature as a whole and most of the literature of the Romans had been allowed to lie buried in the dust of old buildings. The Greek language itself was not understood by students in western Europe. Many of the ancient writings were not approved by Christian teachers because they were the work of scholars who lived before Christ. Slowly this changed. The learning of the Greeks and Romans was made to live again. In the year 1396, a famous bishop went from Constantinople to Florence and began to teach the Greek language and literature. Pupils flocked to him ; soon some ventured to go to Constantinople itself to study. When that city fell into the hands of the Turks in 1453, Greek scholars fled in crowds to Italy, taking their precious books with them. The merchants of Venice and Florence were proud to carry cargoes of manuscripts along with their bales of silks and spices from the Far East. Soon the Italian cities were the homes of " a new 148 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND ammriad Uteuvt -.1/71 * cfci aiaio /Itfho* aicnr.i .1 ii)u tr( Metropolitan Museum PAGE OF A MEDIEVAL BOOK MADE BY HAND ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 149 learning." About the same time interest in the writ- ings of the ancient Romans was awakened. The books and papers of Caesar, Cicero, and Tacitus were rescued from the dust where they had long been buried, and spread far and wide in many editions. Thus a new world of ideas and historical events was opened to students everywhere. People began to care for ancient, or pagan, literature as well as for Christian writings. Scholars soon read the poems of Vergil as well as the Psalms of the Old Testament and the Sermon on the Mount. The stately orations of Cicero found a place by the side of the lives of early Christian saints and martyrs. The Invention of Printing. While the students of Europe were in a furor about Greek and Roman writ- ings, some patient workmen invented movable type and the printing press. Before that time every boo : had to be made laboriously by copyists with quill or brush. The process was slow and expensive. Innu- merable errors crept in as one copy was made from another. With movable type, any book could be put into type almost as quickly as the old copyist could write it down. Once in type and on the press, any number of copies could easily be printed. Just who it was that deserves the honor of inventing printing we know not. Gutenberg and Faust in Ger- many and Coster in Holland are among those to whom the credit has been given. As in the case of most inven- tions, the idea was in the air and many men were at ISO OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND work on it. We do know, however, that a Bible was printed at Mainz, Germany, in 1456. That year may well be taken as opening the age of the printing press. Within fifty years printing presses were set up in most of the leading cities, and it was estimated that eight million volumes had been printed. Books became cheap. In- terest in reading spread steadily among the people. Printers were eager to publish books on any sub- ject that might find a sale. Books on travel, on law, on Greek and Roman literature, on farm manage- ment, on geography, and on medicine began to flow from the presses. Learning was no longer confined to the clergy nor almost solely to religious subjects. After a while books were made even for children. OLD HOUSES IN ROUEN (FRANCE) ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 151 TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES Growth of Towns. It was mainly in the towns that the art and learning of the middle ages flourished. Many a Roman city had lived on after the fall of the empire, and in the course of time new centers of trade also had arisen all over western Europe. Sometimes the town was under the protection of a powerful feudal lord or even of a king. Sometimes it was under the rule of a bishop or archbishop. Again it happened that the city and its inhabitants were wholly in- dependent. In most cases, the people built a wall about their city and were ready to defend it against attack. In England, the towns of London, York, Lincoln, Winchester, and Bristol were leading centers of trade as early as the fourteenth century. In Germany, there were many wholly independent towns, or free cities, among them Cologne and Hamburg. For mu- tual aid, a score or more of them formed a union known as the Hanseatic League. Such trading cities grew more rapidly and easily in Italy than elsewhere. Because of their situation between the East and the West, the Italians early be- came the leading merchants of Europe. From India and China they brought spices, precious stones, and rich fabrics. They carried these goods by land or water to the trading towns of Spain, France, Germany, and England. On the east coast rose Venice, " the '52 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND queen of the Adriatic," built upon a group of small islands for protection against invaders ; Venice in time became rich and powerful. On the west coast there flourished a rival in Genoa, the nursery of hardy sail- ors, and the birthplace of Columbus. Pisa, Florence, TRADING CENTERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES and Milan were also centers of commerce, art, and literature. The Merchants. It was in the towns that there grew up the class of merchants and business men who were in time to have more wealth and influence than the feudal lords. As trade increased, the merchants ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 153 amassed great sums of money. They then began to take an interest in many things outside of business. They vied with bishops, popes, and princes in encourag- ing art. They gave money to painters and sculptors and thus enabled them to devote all their time to their work. Merchants also sent their sons to college. They bought books and the beautiful manuscripts made by monks. They founded schools and libraries. They lent money to hard-pressed kings and some- times became their advisers The Merchant Gilds. The power of the merchants was increased by their unions. In each town, they formed a society or gild (p. 140). Often it happened that the gild members were the only voters in the town ; in that case, they managed the town government. The gild was both a business and a charitable society. It laid down rules about the price and quality of goods and it aided its sick and unfortunate members. No one could carry on business in the town without its consent. No new shops could be opened without its approval. The Artisans. The towns were also the homes of the artisans -- weavers, smiths, and the like who made the goods which the merchants bought and sold. Though business had fallen off in the days of Rome's decline, the arts of manufacture were by no means lost. With the spread of Christianity, encourage- ment was given to craftsmen of every kind. The building of churches, cathedrals, and monasteries called 154 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND for great skill. The gorgeous robes of the priests and bishops and the decorations of the churches show how clever were the men and women who made them. Many of the monks spent all their time making locks, artistic iron work, or wood carvings. Moreover, the Christian Church promoted honest work by teaching the dignity of la- bor. The Greeks and the Romans had despised the artisan, as we "All by hired laborers," wrote Cicero, "are dishonorable and base." Christian- ity, on the other hand, exalted the workman. "To labor is to pray," taught the Church. Since they were favored by the Church and given markets for their wares by the merchants, craftsmen of have seen, gains made Metropolitan Museum A GORGEOUS CLERICAL ROBE ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 155 all kinds flourished. As time passed, they became very numerous. This is shown by the names of people - Smiths, Fullers, Weavers, Dyers, Carpenters, Tay- lors, and Potters. As soon as there were several artisans in a medieval town, they organized as the merchants did. Their society was known as a craft gild. Each trade had its gild, which fixed the wages of workmen and made sure that good materials were used in all articles. In addition to this the gild took care of sick and disabled gildsmen and their families. The Rise of Democracy in Towns. In the beginning, the town was often nothing more than an overgrown country village which belonged to the lord or the king. Its residents were serfs bound to render services, to their overlord just like the peasants. Its position on a sea, a river, or highway crossing, however, favored the rise of trade and industry. In the course of.time, the townsmen came to demand certain rights of their own. These were the easier to win as the rich men of the town had money to give in exchange for the favors they asked. When the townsmen got their rights they had them set forth in a charter. The word "charter" itself comes from the Latin word charta, meaning a sheet of paper. The charter of a town was a document recording the rights granted to the inhabitants by the overlord. As a rule, the townsmen had to pay for the privileges granted to them. 156 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND These charters varied from place to place. In general, they included the right of the townsmen (i) to elect a mayor and aldermen; (2) to hold courts for the trial of offenders against the law; (3) to hold town meetings ; (4) to collect their own taxes ; and (5) to be free from the interference of the lord's steward and bailiff. Here was the germ of self-government and democracy. Some of the men, at least, could vote and have a voice in making laws and laying taxes. Thus some of our modern notions of democracy already existed in the middle ages. Strange to say, the kings actually favored the rise of self-governing towns. They were glad to have help against powerful nobles. So they were ready to grant charters to townsmen and enlist them on the roya"! side in any dispute with the feudal lords. Progress in the Towns. The towns were the centers of new ideas and new enterprises, as well as the homes of budding democracies. The country, on the other hand, did not change much from century to century. Work went on there in the same way and with the same tools. Peasants did not travel or read. If one of them wanted to do something other than farm work, it was to the town that he went. The peasant's lord also clung fast to old-fashioned ways. He looked after his estate and waged wars as his father had done before him. He sometimes bought rugs or pictures, but he seldom changed his ideas or his habits. The merchant of the towns was the " progressive '' ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 157 158 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND element in every country. He had to read and under- stand arithmetic in order to do business. He traveled and saw strange parts of the world. He was interested in new goods, new inventions, and new markets. He was always eager to find other ways of making money. The nobleman wanted to fight the Turks because they were not Christians. The merchant was ready to do business with Turks, Arabs, Hindus, or Chinese --if it was profitable. Life in the city was more exciting than life in the country villages. To the city came merchants and travelers from distant lands, bringing stories of strange peoples along with their goods to sell. In the streets and market places of the towns, the people heard of new kinds of articles and new industries. So the no- tions of change, of invention, and of adventure stirred the minds of the townsmen. Slowly the world was getting ready for the modern age of discovery and business enterprise. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS I. I. Compare the Gothic and Byzantine cathedrals pictured on p. 138 and p. 140. Note the differences in the construction of the roof, the walls, the windows. Point out the buttresses on the Gothic structure. Which is to your mind the more fitting for a cathedral : a spire or a dome ? Also study the church buildings that you are familiar with and see how many evidences of Romanesque architecture you can find (p. 139). 2. Compare the picture of the castle on p. 124 with that of the Gothic cathe- dral. What are the important differences ? 3. Dante's Divine ARTS AND TOWN LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AGES 159 Comedy was one of the first great books written in a modern language ; how long after the fall of Rome did Dante live ? What language had been used by writers during all those years ? 4. What is meant by a "chronicle" ? By a "ballad" ? 5. Why did Marsiglio's theories of government "startle the educated classes" of his time ? How do they compare with the views of government that are generally held to-day ? 6. The first five hundred years of the middle ages are sometimes known as the "Dark Ages"; from a study of the text under the heading, "Schools and Universities," what reasons can you give for the use of the term "Dark Ages" ? What kind of "darkness" is referred to ? 7. Aside from the Bible, the principal writings studied in the schools of the middle ages were those of Aristotle, and his influence on the thinking of educated people was practically su- preme up to the time of the Revival of Learning, about 140x3. How long before this time had Aristotle lived ? 8. How did the colleges and universities of the later middle ages differ from the colleges and universities of to-day ? 9. What is meant by the Revival of Learning ? 10. Why is the date 1453 considered an important "key date" in history? u. The invention of printing is recognized as one of the most important events in human history ; give as many reasons as you can that will ex- plain its importance. Some one has compared the invention of writing to opening a door just a little so that "a mere line of light" comes "through the chink into a darkened room." "At last came a time . . . when the door, at the push of the printer, began to open more widely. Knowledge flared up, and as it flared it ceased to be the privilege of a favored minority." Ex- plain what this means. II. I. Why were most of the cities of medieval Europe sur- rounded by walls ? What effect would this have upon the growth of the cities ? Upon the way in which the people would have to live ? Upon the health of the people ? 2. What was meant in the middle ages by a "free city"? 3. Printing, as we have 160 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND seen, did something to break down the power of the clergy; in what way did the development of trade and the rise of commercial cities help to break down the power of the feudal lords ? 4. What is meant by a "gild" ? What associations or organiza- tions to-day have purposes similar to those of the "merchant gilds" of the middle ages? 5. What is the difference between a "merchant" and an "artisan" ? Between an "artisan" and an "artist" ? Name some of the important artisan trades of to-day. Why did the artisan trades develop more during the middle ages than in ancient times ? What organizations of to-day correspond to the "craft gilds"? 6. What is meant by a "charter"? American cities are usually governed under charters ; find out by what authorities these charters are granted. How does this differ from the way in which medieval charters were granted ? 7. What is meant by the statement that the government of the medieval cities was "the germ of self-government and democ- racy"? 8. How did life in the country villages in the middle ages differ from life in the large towns and cities? What are some of the important differences to-day in our country between country life and city life ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING CHURCH, A. J. The Crusaders ; Macmillan. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xxv. TAPPAN Heroes of the Middle Ages, xxiii-xxvi. When Knights Were Bold, x-xv. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), xxxviii-xli. CHAPTER VII THE RISE OF NATIONS The King's Part in History. In the middle ages -with the warlike lords and princes, the powerful Church, and the rival towns there was growing up a new force : the strength of kings. It was the king who finally put a stop to much of the local fighting that broke out after the fall of the Roman empire. It was the king who brought peace again to large sections of Europe and bridged the gap between the empire of Rome and the modern world. In the beginning of his career, the king was merely a powerful chieftain. Perhaps he was the head of a conquering tribe or a baron more skilled in fighting than any of his fellow barons. At all events, his power was at first in his sword ; later, after the invention of gunpowder in the fourteenth century, in his guns and cannon. He added to his territories as he conquered one feudal prince after another and broke down the walls of their castles with cannon balls. When a king had conquered a large area, he did a number of things that counted for progress. He kept peace among his subjects, which favored both agriculture and trade. He coined money and made it 161 1 62 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND circulate within his realm, thus aiding the merchants. In this way, he made it possible for them to trade all over his kingdom. He chartered towns. As we have seen, this favored the growth of city democracies. He battered down the castle walls of robber barons perched upon the crags. He thus made the highways open and safe for travelers and traders. He amassed a large treasury and so had the money to fit out ships for exploration. It must not be forgotten that all the early explorers who unveiled the New World had the aid of kings. The king set up a school at his court and encouraged scholars to write books and collect maps and records. He built highways that were useful for commerce as well as for his armies. He aided Christian missionaries, thereby helping in the spread of Christianity. As we shall see, more than one king quarreled with the pope at Rome, and so took the lead in bringing about the Protestant Reformation. One need not be blind to the cruelties of kings in order to see what a large part they played in making the modern world. It was around the kings that the nations of western Europe grew into strength and unity. First there was the unity brought about by the sword. Then came unity in language, literature, education, law, the administration of justice, the monetary system, com- merce, and the strong central government. The medieval dream of one European empire disappeared before national patriotism. Even the idea of one THE RISE OF NATIONS 163 church was later cast aside, as some nations definitely rejected the supremacy of the pope. All this made for more variety and many separate countries. At the same time, it led to terrible wars among nations, such as the Hundred Years' War between England and France ending in 1453, and the Thirty Years' War a general European conflict that closed in 1648. THE RISE AND GROWTH OF FRANCE The Prankish Kingdom. France was the first of the nations to appear. It derived its name from a band of Frankish warriors who broke through the northern border of the Roman province of Gaul about the middle of the third century. Long afterward there arose among them a leader called Clovis, who began, in 486, the conquest of Gaul. At his death some twenty- five years later, the work had been finished ; nearly all the territory now embraced in modern France had been subdued and united under his sword. In the mean- time he had been converted to Christianity (see above, p. 126), so that France was among the first Christian kingdoms of the world. For nearly two hundred years the descendants of Clovis reigned in France. Then the family grew weak and indolent and was thrust aside by one more powerful. The Carolingians. The new family, known as Caro- lingians, had been growing in wealth and power for a long time ; it counted among its members warriors of skill and bravery. Each of the new line of kings 164 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND was approved by the pope and thus had religious sanc- tion for his authority. Those who had once reigned by virtue of the sword now ruled " by the grace of God." The most famous of the line was Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, who reigned from 768 to 814. He THE EMPIRE OF CHARLEMAGNE extended his realm to include large portions of Germany and Italy as well as France. He was a fierce warrior when fighting his neighbors ; at the same time he was a friend to peace within his own dominions. He founded schools, aided in the conversion of the heathen to the east of his realm, built magnificent palaces, THE RISE OF NATIONS 165 1 66 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND and took pride in erecting beautiful churches. He was so deeply interested in learning that he tried to teach himself how to write after he became a man ; he kept tablets under his pillow so that he could practice whenever he had a little time to spare. Unhappily he began too late in life and could not master the art. The monks at his court, however, who could write, have left exciting stones of his valor and his deeds. The Holy Roman Empire. In the year 800 a wonder- ful thing happened in the life of Charlemagne. He was then on a visit to Rome, and on Christmas Day attended services at the great church of St. Peter's. While Charlemagne was kneeling before the altar, the pope, Leo III, placed a crown upon his head and hailed him as " Emperor of the Romans." By this act the king of the Franks was declared to be the successor of the great Roman emperors. In the streets of the Eternal City, where once the masses had cheered the victorious Caesar, the populace now did homage to a new master, who bore the grand old title of " Augustus." In this way there was established what was known as the Holy Roman Empire, which was to last until 1806. It had a stormy life. Since it was the pope who first placed the crown on Charlemagne's head, later popes claimed the right to decide who should wear it. Charle- magne's empire broke up a few years after his death, but the struggle among princes to secure the imperial crown went on for nearly a thousand years. There were also endless disputes between popes and emperors THE RISE OF NATIONS 167 over the question as to whether the religious or the imperial power was supreme. France under the Capetians. Charles the Great's family could not keep order in France, so that task passed to other hands. This time it was undertaken by Hugh Capet, a masterful baron who, from his seat FRANCE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY at Paris, began to conquer dukes and counts all about him. Under the Capetian family France was again united. Branches of the family ruled in France, except for a short time, until the nineteenth century. The French barons strove with might and main to keep their independence ; but year by year, with 1 68 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND THE RISE OF NATIONS 169 occasional setbacks, the power of the king increased. At length Louis XIV (1643-1715) could boast that he alone possessed all powers of government. Sons of barons who had once threatened kings with the sword were now glad to hold a napkin for a king as he sat at dinner. From time to time the French kings called parliaments composed of the clergy, the nobility, and the commoners. In 1614 even that restraint on the king was set aside. The king was absolute master, but the union of France was secured. THE RISE OF SPAIN Goths and Arabs in Spain. Even its fortunate position below the Pyrenees Mountains did not save the Spanish peninsula from the ravages of the barba- rian invasions. In 418 a German tribe of West Goths burst into Spain and established a kingdom there. For nearly three hundred years, the West Goths held their own against all enemies. Then in 7 11 they were utterly defeated by a great army of Arabs, or Moors, from Africa. The Moors were the followers of a zealous religious leader, Mohammed (died 632 A. D.). They were bent on conquering all Christendom. For seven hundred years the Moors maintained themselves in Spain. They built beautiful palaces and mosques, many of which still lend a peculiar charm to Spanish architecture. They brought with them the learning of the East. Above all they prized the study of natural science. 170 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The Formation of Modern Spain. The presence of the Mohammedans in Spain was a source of distress to the kings of France. Charlemagne set about the task of winning the country back to Christianity. By heroic efforts he was able to wrest a part of the land from the Moors and gain a foothold beyond the Pyrenees. Thereafter a few Christian princes in Spain, who survived the Moorish conquest, were able to throw off Moorish rule. So independent kingdoms a p- peared here and there in the north. Among these early kingdoms were Castile, Leon, Aragon, and Na- varre. Finally these Christian realms were united under Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, who were married in 1469. By this time all of Spain had been re- (g) Keystone View Co., Inc. COURT OF THE LIONS, ALHAMBRA (SPAIN) THE RISE OF NATIONS 171 covered from the Moors, except the kingdom of Granada in the far south. In 1492, the year that Columbus sailed on his fateful voyage, the Moors were driven from their last foothold in Spain. All Spain came under the rule of Ferdinand and Isabella. To the west, however, the little kingdom of Portugal was able to keep its independence for a long time. Spain, united and peaceful at home, soon launched upon a new career. It led in exploring and conquering the New World. THE MAKING OF THE ENGLISH NATION The Coming of the Anglo-Saxons. When the bar- barians were at the gates of Rome in 410, messengers were sent post haste to recall the Roman army from the distant province of Britain. That far country, which Caesar had visited and his successors had conquered, was now to fall a victim to other foes. The newcomers were Jutes, Angles, and Saxons Germanic warriors, who came from their homes in and near what is now the Danish peninsula. " Foes they are, fierce beyond other foes, and cunning as they are fierce," wrote a Roman poet ; " the sea is their school, war and storm their friend ; they are sea wolves that live on the pillage of the world." Angles and Saxons were, in 449 A.D., invited by the Britons to aid them against the still more savage Picts and Scots that came down from the north. Before many years had passed, the English, as we may now call the various tribesmen, turned against 172 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND their allies. They began the conquest of Britain for themselves. For a century or more the terrible contest went on. Wealthy Romans fled with their gold and silver or buried the treasure in the earth. One after another, the old Roman towns fell into the hands of the invaders. Christian churches were not spared the torch. Even the priests were slain at the altars. By the year 557, all southern and eastern Britain was subdued by the English, who had come in many bands under as many different war lords. Early English Unity. Yet the island was not to find peace. The conquerors turned against one another. For two and a half centuries English chieftains waged a deadly contest among themselves for supremacy. At length, in 828, one of them, Egbert of Wessex, brought all the English under his banner. In the meantime, Christian missionaries had been active and had converted the English to their faith. Churches and monasteries had risen all over the land, and monks were busy with their quills writing down laws and chronicles. Alfred the Great and the Danish Conquest. Unity had hardly been won before a fresh danger appeared. Bands of fierce warriors from Scandinavia, the Danes, swept down upon the English coasts in frightful array, burning and plundering. In a bitter struggle with them, Alfred, a grandson of King Egbert, was to win the love of his people and the title of " the Great." Coming to the throne in 871, he found his whole realm THE RISE OF NATIONS 173 in peril. By the most heroic efforts he saved a large part of it from the conquerors ; but all the northeastern part of England was wrested from him. In the realm that remained Alfred ruled with wisdom and justice. He won for himself a place in history as one of the noblest English sover- eigns. He was a brave warrior and knew how to lead an army in self-de- fense. He was a wise lawgiver. He compiled the laws of England, tak- ing, as he said, " those which seemed rightest to me." He was deeply interested in education. He had a school at his court, and wished that every freeborn boy should " abide at his book until he can well understand Eng- lish writing." Alfred was also a generous friend of the Church. He loved the English tongue and himself translated EGBERT'S KINGDOM 174 UR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND into it many works written in the Latin language. Not content with making mere translations, Alfred added many passages of his own. He wrote down his ideas of wise and just government and made clear his hatred for the cruelty and tyranny of Roman emperors. Day and night, one of his friends said, Alfred labored to correct injustice done to his subjects, " for in that whole kingdom the poor had no helpers, or few, save the king himself." At his death, in 901, Alfred had made the beginnings of English literature and had set an example of a king who wished to be " a father to his people." The Norman Conquest of England. About a hun- dred years after Alfred's death, all England was conquered by Danish warriors. One of their leaders, however, King Canute, tried to rule as well as Alfred had done. After he had made certain of his grip upon England, he paid a visit to Rome. There he vowed, he says, " to rule justly and piously my realm and subjects." After his death, wars filled the land again ; and, in 1066, another invader appeared in the Channel. This new soldier of fortune was William, the Duke of Normandy, from northern France. He was the de- scendant of a piratic Norse chieftain who had raided the coasts of France and then settled down there as a vassal of the French king. William himself was a born fighter of great strength and dreadful cruelty. " So stark and fierce was he," wrote a chronicler of his time, " that THE RISE OF NATIONS 175 none dared to resist his will." None was strong enough to bend his bow or wield his heavy battle-ax. As he looked about for more land and booty, William had fixed upon England. At the battle of Hastings, in 1066, he de- feated and killed the English king, Harold, and seized his realm. After a little while he ex- tended his stern rule to the borders of Wales and Scot- land. He divided the land among his warriors, who be- came the landlords of England. But he was careful to keep all the nobles well in hand, so that none could set himself up as king or defy , . ENGLAND UNDER WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR the royal power. Under the Norman kings, England became a united and powerful country. The king kept order in the land ; peasants and merchants could live and work in peace. An old monkish chronicler, writing of the deeds of William the Conqueror, said : " Among the good 176 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND things, is not to be forgotten the good peace that he made in his land ; so that a man who had any trust in himself might go over his realm with his bosom full of gold, unharmed. No man durst slay another, no matter how great might be the wrong done to him. . . . The king was very harsh and took from his subjects many a mark of gold and many a hundred pound of silver, all the which he took, by right and unright." Though the king was harsh, the land had peace. From the Norman con- quest to the pres- ent day, England has remained united. There were a few civil wars, but the land was not continually torn and ravaged by warring feudal princes. This good fortune was due in the beginning to the strong kings who kept the feudal lords from fighting one another. From an old print KING JOHN SIGNING MAGNA CARTA THE RISE OF NATIONS 177 King John and Magna Carta. Though the Norman kings and their successors were powerful in England, they were not allowed to rule just as they pleased. When King John undertook to tax, punish, imprison, and in other ways oppress his people, the barons and the high authorities in the Church united against him. They met at Runnymede in June, 1215, and forced the king to promise to abide by certain rules. These rules were written down in a Great Charter (Magna Carta) which is prized by the English-speaking people to-day along with such documents as the Dec- laration of Independence. By the charter, certain dues which the feudal lords had to pay the king were fixed at definite sums. The rights of the clergy, including their property, were protected. The citizens of all cities were to enjoy their ancient customs and priv- ileges undisturbed. No freeman was to be tried and imprisoned by the king in an arbitrary manner. Justice was not to be sold or delayed by the king's officers. Only those who knew the law of England and meant to observe it were to be appointed royal sheriffs and judges. Certain taxes -- though by no means all taxes -- were to be levied only with the consent of the landlords who had to pay them. In time a wonderful fiction grew up about the Great Charter. It was believed that Magna Carta guaranteed trial by jury to all persons arrested for crimes. It was also believed that, according to the Charter, no taxes could be laid without the consent of the people. 1 78 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND In after years, when any one did not like the king's deeds, he said that such ways were forbidden by the Great Charter. The fact is that the people often thus read into the Latin words of the Charter a meaning that was not really there. It cannot be said with truth that the mass of the English people, who were serfs, were meant to derive any special benefit from it. Still, the Great Charter is a justly famous landmark in English history. It did declare that the king could not do as he pleased in all matters. It also declared that in some cases he could not act without the consent of at least a few Englishmen. The Rise of the English Parliament. The son and the grandson of King John adopted a custom that also had a strong influence on all the later history of England and America. Since they were in dire straits for money, they called on certain of their subjects to help them get it. They asked the bishops, archbishops, and all the barons of high rank to meet them in person. They also invited each town and county to send repre- sentatives to the meeting. These representatives were chosen by the well-to-do men of the towns and the land- lords of the counties who had money to give the king. In time, such meetings between the king and certain of his subjects became a regular custom. So arose the English form of government. The lords and the higher clergy sat together during these sessions and were known as the House of Lords. The representa- tives of the towns and counties sat together and were THE RISE OF NATIONS 179 known as the House of Commons. The two houses together were called Parliament. The term itself comes from a French word meaning " to speak." Parliament spoke to the king about taxes and such matters. In the beginning, the chief business of Parliament was to settle upon taxes for the king's treasury. It was not long, however, before Parliament in return for the taxes that were paid began to petition the king for changes in the laws that had been made by him. If the king approved a petition, it was accepted as a law of the land. Thus Parliament began to make laws itself. Gradually the rule was fixed that, save on rare occa- sions, the king was to make no law and lay no tax without the consent of Parliament. After a while Parliament ceased even to petition the king for new laws. It drew up its own law in the form of a bill. If the king approved the bill, it became a law. If the king said, in Latin, Veto, " I forbid," then it did not become a law. Although the king kept this right of veto for many centuries, still he generally consulted Parliament, which represented the taxpayers, when he wanted new laws. Such was the origin of representa- tive government. Though other countries, as well as England, had this plan of government in the middle ages, it was brought to American soil directly from Eng- land by the first colonists (First Book, p. 55). It is our plan of government to-day. The Growth of the National English Literature. The uniting of English territory meant the uniting of l8o OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND English minds --the forming of a national mind, so to speak. This was, like everything else, a slow pro- cess. The efforts of Alfred the Great to create a national English literature had been almost forgotten in the turmoil that followed his death. The Norman conqueror, William, brought with him an army of priests to whom English was a foreign tongue. He himself and his barons spoke the French of Normandy ; so that language was the language of the royal castle and the law courts. Judges rendered their decisions in French. Children had to learn it in the schools. For royal decrees and legal documents, like Magna Carta, Latin was generally used. Even the accounts of merchants and stewards on the great estates were usually kept in Latin. When William compiled a record of the lands and property of Eng- land for taxation, known as the Domesday Book, everything was put down in Latin. Only for a few chronicles and stray writings was the English tongue used. Nevertheless the conquerors could not force their language on the masses. In field and workshop, Eng- lish was in daily use. Even the descendants of Nor- man barons had to learn English in order to deal with their subjects. By 1362, the use of French had become uncommon. In that year the order went forth that English should be used in the courts of law. In a few more years, it took the place of French in the schools and the acts of Parliament were written THE RISE OF NATIONS 181 in it. At length, sermons were preached in English. All that was then needed to make the humble language of the people a national language was its use in great poems and books. In time, these also appeared. Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales. First among the masters of English literature was Geoffrey Chaucer, the son of a London wine merchant, born about 1340. Unlike most learned men of that time, he was not a priest. He was, for a short period, a soldier ; then minister of the king on missions to various Italian cities ; and finally he was a member of Parliament and a government officer. His greatest work, Canterbury Tales, begun about 1384, is justly famous even to this day. It is a vivid picture of English life in that age. It purports to be a collection of stories told by some pilgrims stopping at an inn on their way to the shrine of a saint at Canter- bury. For the clergy as a class, a monk, a friar, a poor parson, and a " sweet prioress " speak ; a lawyer, a doctor, and a clerk spin their yarns ; a good wife from Bath, a merchant, a tailor, a plowman, a weaver, a miller, and other artisans add their tales to the common store. The language of the poem is English. Though many of the words are strange to us and the spelling seems queer, we can read it to-day with a little help from a dictionary of old English. High school students usually read passages from it. Here we have for the first time a great English poem which deals not with heroes or saints and martyrs, 1 82 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND but with the people of everyday life. The scholar who loved his Latin book could laugh over it, and so could the humblest person who could read English. In a little more than fifty years after Chaucer's death in 1400, the printing press was to spread copies of his stories broadcast over his native land. William Caxton and the Printing Press. It was in 1476 that the first printing press was set up in London. It was brought into England by William Caxton, who had spent many years as a merchant in Bruges and had there learned the art of printing. At first Caxton, besides printing for his customers, translated many books from French and Latin. He brought them out in the English form, employing as far as possible " the common terms that be daily used." School- boys could then get, for a few pence, copies of many of Cicero's writings in English as well as in Latin. But Caxton was more than a translator. He wanted to help perfect the English language and to give to readers the best writings in that tongue. In fact, he printed all the English poetry that was thought worthy in his day. Naturally, he brought out a fine edition of the Canterbury Tales. " That worshipful man, Geoffrey Chaucer," he said, " ought to be eter- nally remembered." In due time, books in English crowded aside those of Latin authors and French romancers. An English national literature was created. This English literary inheritance has had a powerful influence upon our own country. THE RISE OF NATIONS 183 QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. i. What does modern civilization owe to the kings of me- dieval Europe? 2. On p. 162 several bonds uniting people into nations are named : a common language, a common litera- ture, a common system of education, .a common system of laws, a uniform monetary system, a common religion, a strong central government, and means of carrying on commerce among all parts of a country. Which of these have been most important in making the United States a nation? 3. Some of these things tend to-day to unite the peoples of Europe; and yet Europe is made up of many nations. What would probably have to take place before all of Europe could be united in the sense in which our people are united ? II. i. Why is the name of Clovis remembered? 2. How long after the fall of Rome did Charlemagne die? 3. What is meant by the Holy Roman Empire ? In what ways did it differ from the ancient Roman empire ? 4. In what important ways did the early history of Spain differ from the early history of France? 5. Find out something about the religion of Moham- med and his followers. How does it differ from Christianity ? What city in Europe now follows the religion of Mohammed ? III. i. Why are the English people sometimes called the Anglo-Saxons ? Find on the map the regions from which the different peoples came that successively conquered England. 2. As England was invaded from the east and south, the original inhabitants were pushed to the west and north ; find on a map the regions in which they might have found refuge from the in- vaders. Perhaps you can think of some reasons that will explain why the people of Wales and Ireland and of the north of Scot- land are even to-day in many ways different from the people of England. 3. Why has the year 1066 somewhat the same im- portance in English history that the year 1776 has in American history ? 4. For three centuries after 1066 the French Ian- 1 84 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND guage was the official language of the English government; how would you explain this ? 5. What classes were chiefly bene- fited by the Magna Carta ? 6. How did the term "parlia- ment" originate? In what ways did the English Parliament in its early days differ from our Congress ? Why was develop- ment of the power of Parliament to control taxes so important ? 7. What is meant by "representative government"? In what respect is it true that the development of representative govern- ment in England is a part of American history ? 8. In what ways did Chaucer and Caxton help to unify the English peo- ple and thus to make the English nation ? GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES i. For the Holy Roman Empire (p. 166), see map on p. 277. Compare its extent with the extent of the ancient Roman empire (p. 53) and with the extent of modern France (map facing p. 436). 2. What modern countries are included in the territory covered by the empire of Charlemagne (map, p. 164) ? 3. What terri- tory belonged to France in the fifteenth century that now belongs to her neighbors ? Answer this question by comparing the map on p. 167 with the map facing p. 436. 4. Explain, by reference to the text, why the map of England on p. 175 is simpler than that on p. 173. 5. Make a list of the names of places in this chapter. Try to locate each name on one of the maps in this chapter. Which places cannot thus be located ? Why ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING BEST, S. M. Merry England; Macmillan. DALE, LUCY Landmarks of British History, i-viii ; Longmans. MACGREGOR, MARY The Story of France, i-xiv; Stokes. MARSHALL, H. E. A History of France, i-xxiv ; Hodder and Stoughton. MORRIS, CHARLES Historical Tales English; Lippincott. THE RISE OF NATIONS 185 QUENNELL, M. AND C. H. B. A History of Everyday Things in England, Parts I and II ; B. T. Batsford, London. TAPPAN, EVA M. England's Story, i-v ; Houghton Mifflin. Hero Stories of France, i-xiii ; Houghton Mifflin. Heroes of the Middle Ages, xix-xxii ; Harrap. WARREN Stories from English History, i-v, viii-xiv ; Heath. CHAPTER VIII THE GROWTH OF WORLD COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION AFTER securing their unity, the new nations, Spain, France, and England, were ready for the next historic task the great work of exploring, conquering, and settling a New World. North and South America were soon to be discovered, in a search for a water route to India and China. In time commerce and industry were to overshadow, in importance, agriculture the mainstay of the people in the middle ages. Business men and industrial workers were to rival in numbers landlords, clergy, and peasants. Industrial and trading cities were to spring up all over western Europe. In short, with the unity of the three nations, Europe was going over into a new epoch out of the middle ages into modern times. The history of Europe was now to pass beyond Europe itself to the uttermost parts of the earth, where new nations were to be founded and trade carried on. The governments of Spain, France, and England, especially, were to grant money to explorers, charter companies, and build fleets of ships. They were to engage in three hundred years 1 86 COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 187 of warfare for the possession of trade and lands beyond the seas. THE GROWTH OF TRADE FROM EARLY TIMES Commerce in Ancient Times. ever, did not burst upon man- kind all at once. It was like the flowering of a slowly grow- ing plant. Commerce among nations began in the distant past. All the great countries of antiquity had their ships, their warehouses, and their merchants. The people of Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome, Carthage, and other ancient states, each in turn, built up trade in the Mediterranean basin. East and West, adven- turous merchants and sailors looked for new markets and new supplies. King Solomon's men brought gold, silver, ivory, and peacocks all the way from India to Palestine. Alexander the Great, looking for more worlds to conquer, led his army to the very borders of This new age, how- Metropolttan Museum ANTIQUE SILK FROM THE FAR EAST 1 88 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND India. Though an early death cut short his plans, Greek merchants opened up a rich traffic in Indian goods. Herodotus, the Greek historian, said that India was the wealthiest and most populous country on earth. Even more distant China was known to the ancients, by the name of Seres. It was often mentioned in the legends of the Persians. Among the records of China is an account of a Chinese prince who, in the year 985 B.C., made a journey into the remote lands of the West and brought back with him skilled workmen and many curiosities. The Romans made much of their trade with the Far East. A Roman writer of the first century after Christ complained that Arabia, India, and China drained Rome of millions of dollars of gold annually to pay for silks and other luxuries. In the later days, when the Roman empire stretched from Britain to Arabia, the trade was immense. In the markets of the city of Rome could be seen tin, lead, and hides from Britain and iron from Gaul, as well as silks, spices, and precious stones from India and the distant East. We are told that one Roman merchant carried on the same voyage from Egypt to Rome a great obelisk, 200 sailors, 1200 passengers, 400,000 Roman bushels of wheat, and a cargo of linen, glass, paper, and pepper. In the cities of the Roman empire, there were to be found huge warehouses of the merchants who made princely for- tunes from trade. Commerce in the Middle Ages. As the Roman COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 189 190 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND empire fell to pieces, its vast trade decayed. Ware- houses closed their doors. The families of rich mer- chants became poor. The silks, spices, and precious jewels of the East were seen no more in the market places. The huge and bare stone castles of feudal lords took the place of luxurious Roman villas. Each locality came to depend upon itself for practically all the necessities of life and most of the few luxuries that were enjoyed. The merchants who ventured abroad were likely to be set upon by thieves and robbed of their goods. Still, in the worst of times, trade did not vanish altogether. Though the wide-reaching Roman roads were no longer kept in repair, they offered ways for the adventurous trader to journey from land to land. Even the most fortunate community could not supply all its wants. Iron and salt, at least, usually had to be brought from some place more or less distant. Some lands were better for grain, and others for cattle and swine. So it came about that even in the midst of the decline of old Rome a little traffic was kept going. In the course of time, new market towns arose. Some of the old Roman cities, too, after a period of idleness showed signs of life again, or new towns were built upon the ruins of the old. The monasteries inhabited by Christian monks, which dotted every country, became centers to which men journeyed from far and wide. In them the wayfaring merchant could always find a place to sleep and something to eat. COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 191 At certain favorable points, annual fairs were held, at which local goods were traded for iron, salt, and other merchandise. At other favorable points, market towns sprang up, often under royal protection. In the days of Alfred the Great, English merchants journeyed often to the continent to trade at the French fairs, even as far away as Marseilles. CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE From an old print The Crusades and Commerce. By a strange stroke of fortune, the trade of Europe was increased by the rise of the Mohammedans (p. 169), who threatened to overwhelm Christendom. All the eastern and south- ern shores of the Mediterranean, including Palestine with the tomb of the Savior, fell into their hands. 192 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND To rescue the Holy Land from the Mohammedans, the Europeans of all nations began, in 1096, a series of wars known as the Crusades. These lasted for more than two hundred years. Kings, princes, knights, common soldiers, monks, peasants, artisans, and even little children flocked to the armies that made the perilous journeys to the distant Palestine. In these crusades, thousands of people perished by the wayside or on the battlefield. Other thousands lived to make their way home, bearing stirring tales of their adventures and of the countries through which they had passed. The tomb of the Savior was not permanently won for Christendom by the crusaders. As often happens, the results were very different from what had been expected. Instead of hating the Mohammedans and all their ideas, the crusaders were deeply affected by their way of living. Men from England, France, Germany, and Spain acquired new wants and tastes as they beheld the luxuries of the East. They were no longer content with the rough life they had led. Henceforth they must have spices, silks, tapestries, rugs, gold and silver ornaments, and precious stones from the East. Their neighbors caught the spirit as they heard wondrous stories of far countries, rich in luxuries. Moreover, enterprising persons from western Europe had seen the splendor of Constantinople, where the remnants of Rome's former glory were to be found. Adventurers then learned how to traffic with the COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 193 merchants of the East and heard from them many tales of India and China. Especially did the Italians profit from the crusades. The mer- chants of Genoa and Venice heaped up great fortunes by selling supplies to the crusading armies. In the train of the vic- tors, they founded colonies and trad- ing centers on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. EUROPEAN ATTENTION FIXED UPON THE EAST The Steady Growth of Oriental Trade. For more than two hundred years after the seventh and last great crusade, in 1272, trade in eastern wares steadily grew in volume. During this period, the Italians abandoned the long overland route to England through France and adopted the plan of sending their goods by ships through the Strait of Gibraltar. The great mercantile houses of Genoa, Florence, and Venice From an old print SALADIN, A MOHAMMEDAN WARRIOR 194 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND had their branches in The Netherlands and England. They bought lead, tin, wool, and alum from the English and gave in exchange wines, tea, silks, spices, perfumes, porcelains, precious stones, tapestries, and rugs. In vain did English moralists lament that their country- men were trading useful things like tin and wool for spices, sweet wines, and other trifles " which fatally blur our eyes." Englishmen learned to like luxuries so much that preaching against " fancy goods " could not stop their sale. The Italians made great profits from this trade. They founded banks and lent money to kings engaged in wars. French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and English merchants looked with envy upon the gains of their Italian rivals and longed to get into " the golden East " themselves. Indeed, later in the fifteenth cen- tury English merchants began business for themselves in the eastern Mediterranean. By that time all western Europe was deeply stirred over Oriental and Indian trade. The Old Trade Routes. The goods which were enriching the Italians and delighting the purchasers in western Europe came to the West by many routes, all of which led through the Mediterranean. One or more overland lines extended all the way from Peking, China, to the Black Sea and Constantinople. Another line stretched from India through the Persian Gulf and the city of Bagdad to Constantinople. Still other routes ran through the Red Sea to ports on the Mediterranean. COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 195 196 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The overland journeys were made by long trains of camels heavily laden with boxes and bales of mer- chandise. These trips were, at best, perilous and expensive. Goods from India had to be packed and unpacked many times. For example, they were carried overland to the ports on the west coast of India ; there they were placed on board ship and carried to the headwaters of the Persian Gulf ; at that point they were put on camels and taken overland to the shores of the Black Sea ; thence they went by boat to the Constantinople market. At Constantinople the goods passed into the hands of Italian traders who shipped them, perhaps, to Venice. Venetian merchants then carried them to Marseilles and over- land through France to the English Channel, thence by boat to London, and from London often to a final destination in some inland town. The cost of freight for such a journey was necessarily heavy, and each merchant through whose hands the goods passed took his toll of profits. A pound of cinnamon often sold in an English or German market for twenty-five times its original cost in India. The losses, too, were great. The land was infested by robbers and the sea by pirates. Wars were constantly being waged between the Italians and the Turks. When the latter, in 1453, captured Constantinople, the greatest trading center of the Near East passed out of the hands of Christians and into the control of the hated " infidels." Long before that event, how- COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 197 ever, the Italians had begun a search for a water route around Africa. The Travelers to the East. Western people were not content merely to receive goods from the East. Naturally, they became curious about the countries from which silks and spices came. They wanted to know more about the fabled lands and to see them with their own eyes. Christian missionaries, daunted by no perils, went to convert the heathen. A writer of the third century, telling of successful missions, declared : " We can count up in our reckoning things achieved in India, among the Chinese, Persians, and Medes." In 1245 a missionary was sent by the pope far beyond the Black Sea into " the land of the Great Khan." On his return this man wrote a lively account of his visit. He praised highly the people of Cathay, as he named the land of the Chinese ; he vowed that their country was " very rich in grain, wine, gold, silver, silk, and everything which tends to the support of mankind." Ten years later another missionary, sent by the king of France, came back and told aston- ishing tales of " little fellows ?: with " very narrow eyes," some of whom lived in a town that had " silver walls and gold battlements." A few more years passed and two famous Venetian merchants, the Polo brothers, went overland to China and visited the emperor of the Mongols at Peking. On a later visit, they took with them young Marco Polo, who stayed many years in China. Marco jour- 198 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND neyed from city to city and learned about the trade and habits of the Chinese. When he returned to Venice in 1295 bringing dia- monds, rubies, and sapphires, he stirred the whole city by his stones. He boasted to his friends of his exploits ; these were set down in a book, which de- scribed at great length the land he had visited. He told of the Chinese emperor's splendid palace with its walls of burnished gold and silver, its jeweled panels, and its gorgeous tapestries. He told of his visit to the royal court where, he said, princes wore robes of silk and beaten gold and girdles set with precious stones. Never had such a tale appeared, except in fairy stories. Polo's book was in great demand. It aroused the interest of all who read it kings and princes, as well as merchants and sailors. The Spread of Knowledge about the East. After the Polos' day, many new books were written about Asia. In 1307, a monk from Armenia, who lived in France, wrote a geography of Asia with valuable his- torical notes. An Italian commercial agent, Pego- lotti, published a handbook and guide for merchants doing business with the Far East. He explained how goods were packed, money exchanged, and tariffs paid. He carefully described the trade routes and gave good advice about traveling in safety and comfort. This book shows clearly that the road to Cathay was often traveled and that a vast amount of goods was handled by the merchants. Among the things listed COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 199 by this writer were copper, pepper, cotton, madder, oil, flax, ermines, furs, pearls, almonds, sulphur, and nutmegs, cinnamon, and other spices. By 1350 there were probably merchants in every large town from London to Venice who could talk intelligently about the long routes to the East and about India and China. Monks in the monasteries, merchants in their shops, sailors and longshoremen at the docks, and many a scholar poring over his books by that time knew something about "the fabled East." THE SERVICE OF SCIENCE AND LEARNING The Making of Geographies. While merchants and travelers were going to and from the East, bearing tales of endless wonder, geographers were busy too. They pieced together bits of information and began to' draw maps of Asia. As the beginning for their work, they had the writings of the ancients. Greek scholars, long before the time of Christ, had taught that the world was round. Moreover, they had written many books about geography. Some fragments of Greek writings had been copied down by a famous geographer, Claudius Ptolemy, who lived in Egypt. In the second century after Christ, Ptolemy wrote a great deal about the lands and waters of the earth. Though Christian writers thought of the other world rather than of this, they did not by any means neglect geography. One of them, writing in the sixth century, seems to have been well acquainted with 200 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND India and shows a knowledge of the ancient Greek writings. Another, in 1306, drew a map which showed Africa ending in a point. Still another, Fra Mauro, a lay brother in a Venetian monastery, made, about 1459, his unique map of the world in which he used the knowledge gained by Marco Polo and other trav- elers. Mauro's map gave a very clear idea of the Mediterranean basin and western Europe. It also showed (i) Africa with the water route all around it, (2) the Indian Ocean, and (3) a rough outline of Asia with the Ganges River rudely drawn. With much truth, men mixed many errors and all kinds of absurd guesses ; but keen minds were slowly separating the truth from the rumors. Toscanelli. Perhaps the most famous of these early geographers was Toscanelli, an astronomer and librarian, who lived in Florence until his death in 1482. He early became interested in stories of travel, includ- ing those of Marco Polo. Through the busy years of a long life, he worked steadily at geography until his fame spread far and wide. Navigators went to talk with him and princes sought his advice. Toscanelli finally came to believe that the world was round and that India could be reached by sailing west. He wrote a letter and made a map giving his ideas. Though the map was lost, the letter was kept and from it we can see clearly what was in Toscanelli's mind. It is thought that Columbus had both the letter and the map when he sailed in 1492 ; but this is not known. COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 2OI Knowledge of the Earth's Shape. Naturally, as men studied geography they came to think more and more about the shape of the earth. It was the common view that the earth was flat. It seemed flat, and nearly From an old print PERILS OF THE DEEP everybody took the appearance for the truth. Still there had been, from very early times, a few scholars who believed it to be round (p. 199). Aristotle, as early as the fourth century B.C., taught that the earth was a globe. Nearly four hundred years later, the geogra- pher Strabo said that this theory was sound ; so also did Roger Bacon, an English monk who lived in the thirteenth century. He even went so far as to say that India could be reached by sailing west from Spain. 202 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The Science of Navigation. While the map-makers were busy tracing the shape of continents, other men of science were finding ways of guiding ships over pathless oceans. Sometime in the thirteenth century there appeared among the sailors of Europe a tiny instrument that made it possible for them to tell di- rections even on the darkest night. This tiny thing, the compass, was invented by some unknown genius. The date of the invention is likewise unknown. In English books written about 1180, we read of a " needle on a pivot which revolves until the point is north." In a little while every ocean-going ship had its compass. As the years passed, other sailing instruments were made. The astrolabe was improved so that the sailor could find his distance from the equator by taking the height of the sun. When the time came for the voyages which revealed the New World, sea captains could hold their ships to a given course and keep a record of their sailing. NAVIGATORS, EXPLORERS, AND CONQUERORS The Navigators. As travelers and scholars gained knowledge, men of affairs applied it. Italian sailors took the lead. They chafed at the expense of trade by the overland routes and wondered about a water route around Africa. They had found it easy to sail out through the Strait of Gibraltar and far north to England. It occurred to them, naturally enough, that it would be equally easy to sail south around Africa. THE AGE OF DISCOVERY 203 204 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND As early as 1292 they tried it; but at length they gave it up as hopeless. The Italians, however, aroused the interest of the Portuguese. On their way to and from the ports of The Netherlands and England, Italian seamen often put in at Lisbon. Many a one stayed to make his home in Portugal. The Portuguese were likewise moved by the huge profits which the Italians made on Oriental goods. They began to think about a new route to Persia, India, and China. So it happened that Portuguese sailors became the pioneers in the work of exploring the high seas. The way for this great work was made easier by the labors of a son of the From an oia print QUEEN ISABELLA, THE PATRONESS king, Prince Henry, famOUS in history as "the Navigator." Though brave in battle and skilled in military science, he turned from the arts of war to the arts of peace. He refused a high military command. He chose instead to live on the lonely cape of Sagres at the remotest point of Portugal looking out southwest to the sea. There he built a home and an observatory. There he brought together astronomers, geographers, and map-makers. COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 205 He sent expedition after expedition down the coast of Africa in search of the southern passage to the Indies. Out of his own purse he bought maps and books. He maintained a school in which seamen were trained to sail their ships according to the best plans that science could afford. Prince Henry's men discovered Madeira and the Azores. They rounded Cape Bajador, nearly a thou- sand miles to the south of Sagres on the African coast. They sighted the waters of the Senegal River flooding out to the sea. They swept away the myths about the dangers of long sea voyages. As a result Prince Henry, in putting aside military glory, found lasting fame as a helper of mankind. When he died, in 1460, he left behind a large band of skilled sailors who carried on the good work he had so nobly begun. The Great Explorers. The men who carried forward the work of Prince Henry the Navigator found a water route to India and discovered a new world (First Book, pp. 1-50). A Portuguese sailor, Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486 rounded the point of Africa and gave it the name of the Cape of Good Hope, a sign that the victory over the seas was soon to be won. Six years later Columbus, bearing the flag of Spain, made the first of his four famous voyages that were to unfold a new continent to European eyes. A little later came the astounding news that Vasco da Gama had rounded the Cape of Good Hope, sailed straight to India, and re- turned home safely to Portugal (1497-99). 206 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND About the same time, John and Sebastian Cabot, in the service of the English king, sailed to the coast of North America and gave to Eng- land a claim to its eastern shores. In 1507 the new con- tinents were chris- tened America in honor of the ex- plorer, Amerigo Vespucci, who, it was claimed, made four voyages of discovery to the New World. In 1519 Ma- gellan decided to outstrip his fellow explorers by sail- ing all the way around the world. He perished on the journey, but some of his sailors completed the historic voyage three years afterwards. A little more than ten years later, the king of France took a hand in the new enterprise. He sent out one of his bravest sailors, Cartier. This bold seaman ex- From an old, print COLUMBUS ON THE DECK OF His SHIP COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 207 plored the St. Lawrence River and laid claim to the St. Lawrence basin. Within fifty years of Columbus' first voyage, there was a lively trade between Europe and India. Hun- dreds of islands and two vast continents in the western hemisphere were rapidly being opened up. From an old print SPANISH CONQUERORS DESTROYING MEXICAN IDOLS The Spanish Conquerors. Leadership in exploring the mainland of North and South America was under- taken by warriors bearing the banner of Spain and by missionaries bearing the cross of Christ. One of the great Spanish warriors, Ferdinand Cortez, in 1519 discovered Mexico a vast empire with fertile farms, prosperous cities, and great stores of gold and silver. 208 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND In a short time he conquered Mexico, looted its treas- uries, and subjected it to Spanish rule. Another warrior, Pizarro, soon afterward heard of Peru, another rich country to the south. With a hand- ful of soldiers he overthrew the native king. In a short time, he raised the Spanish flag over the dazed and beaten natives, and carried off tons of precious metals. A third Spanish captain, De Soto, sought fame and wealth by making an expedition into Florida and the wilderness to the west. Instead of great cities, how- ever, he found a few native Indians living in wretched huts ; instead of fortune, he met his death on the banks of the Mississippi River. Other explorers, work- ing northward from Mexico, penetrated the territories now included in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico, planting the Spanish flag in many a trading post and mission which they founded. Before the sixteenth century was half over, the Spanish king had a vast empire in the two Americas. Streams of gold and silver were pouring into his country. The sails of Spanish galleons were seen amid the curi- ous junks in Chinese harbors ; in the strange waters of Java, Sumatra, and India ; in the ports of West India and both Americas ; and bending before the storms of two capes, Good Hope and the Horn. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. Why was a more extensive commerce possible in the days of the Roman empire than after the fall of the empire ? COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 209 (Think of the ways in which a large number of small, independent states would make the transportation of goods over long dis- tances a difficult undertaking.) 2. What effect, if any, did the supreme importance of religion during the middle ages have upon commerce ? (For example, would there be so great a demand for luxuries?) 3. The Romans built splendid roads throughout the empire ; how would these roads have been likely to fare when the empire was split up ? 4. How would the lack of a. strong law enforced by a central government affect the safety of travel ? 5. What were the " Crusades," and what was their most important influence on the life of Europe ? How long after the fall of Rome was the first crusade undertaken ? II. I. When trade between western Europe and the eastern countries had once been reopened, what decided advantage did the Italian cities have for controlling the trade ? 2. Trace on the map (p. 203) the routes by which goods from China and India were brought to Italy, Spain, France, and England. 3. How did the capture of Constantinople by the Turks affect this trade? In what other way have we found that this event influenced western Europe ? III. i. Why was it difficult for people living in the middle ages to think of the earth as a sphere ? What reasons have you learned from your study of geography to justify your belief that the earth is round ? Which of these reasons may Aristotle have thought of as a basis for his belief that the earth was round ? 2. Why was the compass so important an invention ? How had the Romans been able to manage their navigation of the Mediterranean Sea without such instruments ? 3. What advantage did the astrolabe give to the navigator ? IV. i. The Italians found it possible to sail their ships through the Strait of Gibraltar and thence north to England. Why was the southern route around Africa so much more difficult ? 2. Why is Prince Henry the Navigator remembered as one of the great benefactors of mankind ? What important events 210 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND grew out of the work of Prince Henry? 3. Who finally dis- covered the "ocean route" from western Europe to India? 4. In the attempts to discover this route, the Western world had been discovered. Which turned out in the end to be the more important event, and why ? Which was considered at the time the more important event, and why ? GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. Trace on the map on p. 203 as many as you can of the voy- ages described in this chapter; of the land journeys. 2. What line on that map separates the northern from the southern hem- isphere ? All the nations of any importance at the time of Co- lumbus lay entirely in the northern hemisphere. How, then, can you explain the fact that so many of the important voyages of discovery were partly or chiefly in the southern hemisphere ? 3. Would Columbus have seen the value of the Suez Canal ? Of the Panama Canal ? Would Magellan ? 4. What continent did Magellan just miss discovering? 5. Marco Polo's trip to China was entirely overland. He started from Acre (Akka) in Asia Minor and traveled through Persia, over the Pamir Plateau, through what is now eastern Turkestan, and across the Desert of Gobi to Shangtu, in northern China. Trace this route on the map on p. 203. Compare this map with the map of Asia in your textbook in geography, and estimate the great distance that Polo traveled, and see why it took him four years to make the journey. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING BLYTH, ESTELLE Jerusalem and the Crusades; Dodge. GRAY, G. Z. The Children's Crusades; Houghton Mifflin. HALL The Boy's Book of Chivalry, xi-xv. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xxi, xxiv, xxx. TAPPAN Heroes of the Middle Ages, xxvi-xxxvi. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), xxxiv, xxxviii, xli. WARREN Stories from English History, vii. COMMERCE AND EXPLORATION 211 SUGGESTIONS FOR REVIEW OF CHAPTERS V-VIII 1. If we think of the middle ages as beginning with the fall of Rome and ending about the time of the discovery of America, how many years did this period cover ? Compare this with the period covered by recorded history up to the fall of Rome ; with the period between the first Roman kings and the fall of Rome ; with the period between the discovery of America and the pres- ent time; with the period of our national history (from 1776 to the present time). 2. Make a list of ten events and topics occurring during the middle ages that you consider the most important ; for example, the spread of Christianity, the rise of nations, the invention of printing, and the journey of Marco Polo. Arrange these in the order of their happening, and then try to rearrange them in the order of their importance, giving reasons for the importance as- signed to each. Keep this list, for you may change your mind on some points as you go on with your study of modern history. 3. Let each pupil think of this question: Who are the prom- inent persons of medieval history that you would like best to know? Then take a vote and have "reception committees" appointed to gather information about these persons and through this information bring the persons themselves to meet the class. HISTORY STORIES, MYTHS, AND LEGENDS FOR CHAPTERS V-VIII BALDWIN, J. Stories of Siegfried; Scribners. The Story of Roland ; Scribners. BUTLER, ISABEL The Song of Roland; Houghton Mifflin. CHURCH, A. J. Stories of Charlemagne; Macmillan. DASENT, G. W. Norse Fairy Tales; Lippincott. DUTTON, MAUDE B. Little Stories of England; American Book. HAAREN, J. H., AND POLAND, A. B. Famous Men of the Middle Ages ; American Book. 212 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND LAMPREY, L. In the Days of the Guild; Stokes. Masters of the Guild; Stokes. LANIER, SIDNEY, (Editor) The Boy's Froissart; Scribners. LANIER, SIDNEY The Boy's King Arthur; Scribners. PYLE, HOWARD Robin Hood; Dutton. STEIN, EVALEEN Our Little Norman Cousin of Long Ago; Page. STEPHEN, JAMES Irish Fairy Tales; Macmillan. WINSLOW, C. V. Our Little Carthaginian Cousin of Long Ago; Page. CHAPTER IX THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION WHILE kings were building up their power in Europe and bold explorers were opening America for settle- ment, the old dispute between the pope and the monarch -Church and State broke out afresh. As you will remember, Christianity was at first the belief of small and persecuted groups of people. Three centuries later, it was made the official religion of the Roman empire. The pope at Rome became the head of the Church. After the downfall of the Roman empire, there appeared many kings in Western Christendom, who often quarreled with the pope, although they were loyal to the Catholic faith. For a time the quarrels ceased ; but in a little while after the year 1500 they were renewed. Before this new dispute was ended, several nations had denied altogether the right of the pope to control in religious matters, and a number of new religious denominations had come into being. These sects were known as Protestants because they protested against the Catholic faith. The religious movement which filled the sixteenth century with turmoil was known as the Protestant Reformation. 213 214 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND For more than a century, Europe was torn by religious wars between Catholics and Protestants. There were civil wars and there were wars between nations. The contending factions burned or otherwise cruelly punished many of their opponents. Thousands of people were driven by this religious persecution to seek refuge in America. The masses everywhere were aroused by the disputes of kings and preachers as well as by the disputes of kings and the pope. They began to take a deep interest in matters of the mind and to read the Bible for themselves and hold their own opin- ions. Thus popular education on a wide scale was started in the age of the Reformation. The people at large had never read anything before. So we may truly say that the sixteenth century is among the most important periods in the long history of mankind. THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN GERMANY Early Criticism of the Church. Although the Prot- estant revolt against the authority of the pope in the sixteenth century first took form in Germany, there had been criticism of the Church in other coun- tries. Indeed, from time to time during the middle ages, attacks had been made both on the pope and on the Catholic faith itself. The kings of France and England, though loyal Catholics, had many times complained bitterly because the pope had appointed Italian clergymen to high church offices within their realms. They had also complained because the pope THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 215 had collected so much money in fees and contributions from their subjects. In 1393 the English king had his parliament pass a law forbidding Englishmen to take offices in the Church without the king's consent. It declared that all who refused to obey should be punished. About the same time an English priest, John Wyclif, openly taught that all the property of the Church in England could be seized by the king and used for public purposes. He also said that the service of a priest was not neces- sary for salvation ; that any person could approach God directly, without the aid of anyone else. The followers of Wyclif were easily put down in England ; but, far away in Bohemia, John Huss spread similar ideas freely for a long time. At last, however, he was condemned and burned as a heretic. Protests against the Church then died away and its authority seemed unquestioned. Growth of Criticism. At the opening of the six- teenth century, there came another outburst of criticism against the officials and practices of the Church, this time in Germany. The attacks were at first confined to certain minor matters. It was said that the monks were often lazy and worthless fellows who lived by begging. It was alleged that the fees charged by priests for marriages, burials, and managing the prop- erty of deceased persons were too high. Complaints were made against the exemption of Church property from taxation ; it was said that its property should 216 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND be taxed like that of any citizen. The bishops and other high church officers who had great wealth were accused of living in luxury, while the poor village priests often had scarcely enough to keep soul and body together. Above all, the critics objected to the large sums of German money that were paid each year to the Church at Rome. The leaders in such criti- cism were sometimes priests themselves who attacked what they called the " abuses" in the Church. Among them was a gentle and witty scholar of Holland, Erasmus, who thought that there should be a reform but not an over- turning of the Church. In a little book called The Praise of Folly, he poked fun at the monks and laughed at scholars who disputed all day over some foolish ques- tion, such as " How many angels can stand on the point of a needle ? " Erasmus laid great stress on right living. He thought that selfish and corrupt men should be forced out of high places in the Church. He de- clared that men should care more about the teachings of Christ and less about his images. Yet Erasmus was loyal to the Catholic Church and wanted reforms to be brought about gradually and without anger. From ara old print ERASMUS THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 217 Martin Luther and the Revolt against the Pope. Far different from other reformers in the Church was a German monk, Martin Luther, who lived at the same time as Erasmus. Though the son of a slate-cutter, he had been able to obtain a university education and to devote himself to the study of law. Against the wishes of his parents he entered the priesthood and became an Augustine monk. Shortly afterward he was made a teacher of theology in the university of Wittenberg, in Prussian Saxony, some fifty miles southwest of Berlin. While Luther was busy teaching, a Dominican monk came to Wittenberg to raise money for the Church. Luther was stirred to anger by some things that were said and done by this monk. He thereupon wrote out ninety-five theses, or statements of ideas that he believed to be true. Among other things he said that any Christian who felt truly sorry for his sins would be forgiven. He added that a common man might very well ask why the pope, who was very rich, did not build St. Peter's with his own money instead of " taking that of the poor man." This was in 1517. Three years later Luther and his writings were con- demned by the pope. Luther answered by burning the decree which condemned him. The break had come. Luther denied the authority of the pope and declared that many beliefs taught by the Church were errors. Above all he thought that man was to be saved, not by good works, but by repenting of his sins 218 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND and by having faith that God's justice would save the repentant sinner. Luther kept on teaching his doctrines, protected by a powerful German prince, until his death in 1546. He made a translation of the Bible into the German language for the use of the common people. He wrote un old print MARTIN LUTHER AND THREE FAMOUS PROTESTANT SCHOLARS hundreds of letters and books on religion. He appealed to the German princes to bring about reforms in the Church. But he was strongly opposed to the idea that people should take the matter into their own hands. The Lutheran Church. At first, those who did not like Luther made fun of his followers by calling them THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 219 Lutherans. This term of scorn was finally accepted by them as a term of honor. As the years passed, many German princes adopted certain of Luther's teachings and defied the authority of the pope. They also seized much of the property of the Church and monasteries that lay within their realms. When an attempt was made to restore Catholic beliefs in Germany, a number of them signed a great " protest " against it. All efforts to bring about agreement between the pope and the Protestants were vain. In 1530 a docu- ment was drawn up, known as the Augsburg Confession, in which the main ideas of the German Protestants were fully set forth. This Confession became the basis of the new Lutheran faith and is so regarded by Lutheran churches everywhere to-day. Within ten years after Luther's death, the states of northern Germany and Norway, Sweden, and Den- mark had broken away from Rome and had become Protestant countries. All of them in adopting the new faith added to it the title Evangelical, which Luther himself had used to describe his doctrines. As evangel meant the " gospel," Luther said that he was merely going back to the gospel as taught by Christ himself. The two centuries which followed Luther's age were full of woe for Germany. There were many religious wars among the Germans themselves. The Catholic king of France waged war after war on the Germans in order to get more territories along the Rhine. In many 220 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND cases these territories were inhabited by Protestants. Beginning late in the seventeenth century, the Prot- estants turned, especially, to America as a refuge. Thousands of them fled across the ocean to the English colonies, mainly to Pennsylvania (First Book, p. 74). In the nineteenth century, after the religious causes for leaving their homeland had largely disappeared, Germans continued to come to America in great numbers. THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION IN ENGLAND Henry VIII and the Break with the Pope. When Martin Luther opened his stormy career as a reformer in Germany, England had a powerful king by the name of Henry VIII. Far from approving Luther's ideas, Henry wrote a book in which he sharply condemned them. In a few years, however, he himself was engaged in a desperate quarrel with the pope. He wanted to divorce his wife, Katherine of Aragon, and to marry a woman of his Court, Anne Boleyn. The pope refused his appeal for a divorce and Henry was very angry. Katherine's nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor, had just seized the city of Rome and really held the pope a prisoner. Henry charged that the pope was afraid to grant the divorce on that account. In his wrath, Henry declared that he, himself, would be sole master in England. So he got his divorce from an English court. Then, in 1534, he compelled his parliament to pass a law making him " the only THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 221 supreme head on earth of the Church of England." He thereupon seized the land owned by the monasteries and divided much of it among his favorites. He took to himself the right to appoint bishops and other high officials in the Church. He forced all the clergy to accept the new order. Those who refused were harshly treated. Some were banished, others were burned, and others were beheaded. In denying the authority of the pope over England, however, Henry at first made no important changes in the faith and services of the Catholic Church. Indeed, he treated those who wanted religious changes as savagely as he did those who did not want to disown the pope. The Growth of Protestantism in England. After Henry had cast off the rule of the pope, he found it hard to suppress those who began to cast off the Catho- lic faith too. In attempting to do this, he drove many of his subjects to Germany. There they learned the doctrines of Martin Luther and became converts. Fired with new zeal, they slipped back into England to spread his ideas. In a little while England, too, was affected by these preachers of reform. Some of them turned away from the leading ideas of the Catholic religion. Others declared that the images and stained windows in the churches were " idolatrous." Others denounced fast days and holy days. When Henry died and the crown passed to his son, Edward VI, in 1547, the Protestants triumphed. 222 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND New articles of religious faith were drawn up and all English people were forced to adopt them. Although the Catholic religion was later restored for five years under Queen Mary, it was impossible to hold to the old order. England was destined to be Protestant. The Established Church of England. In 1558 Queen Elizabeth came to the throne. Soon after she was crowned, the parliament adopted a form of Protestant faith for all Englishmen again. By a law known as the Act of Supremacy, the power of the pope over England was once more denied. The queen was declared to be supreme in religious matters. A creed of .thirty-nine articles of faith was written down and every one was ordered to accept it. A uniform service for all churches was prepared and all clergy- men were forced to follow it. In short, a Church of England was established by law. Its faith and services were fixed by law. All people were required to attend its services and believe in its doctrines. Punishments were fixed for those who refused to obey. Moreover, the power of the sovereign was greatly enlarged. The queen could appoint all bishops and archbishops and forbid the clergy to hold meetings without her consent. To call the queen a heretic was treason. To attend mass was made a crime. When a bishop complained to Queen Elizabeth against the seizure of some of his lands, she scornfully told him that she had made him and would unmake him if he did not yield the property at once. . Both Catholics THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 223 and Protestants who openly rejected the Established Church were cruelly punished. Having set up this new order, Elizabeth and her advisers thought that peace would come to the troubled realm. Puritans and Separatists. But there was to be no peace. The system was hardly agreed upon before some persons sought to change it. A very powerful group, which grew steadily in numbers, wanted to " purify " the new church. They wanted to do this by omitting parts of the service, taking images away from church buildings, and making other reforms. They were therefore nicknamed Puritans by their enemies, and they proudly adopted the title. This group, or party, did not, however, seek to overthrow the Church of England or to deny its authority. It was certain members of this body of reformers who, after struggling against the king and the church, fled to America in 1629 and founded the Massachusetts Bay colony (First Book, pp. 59-65). Even when the Puritans sailed away, they were counted members of the Church of England ; and -such they remained for a while after they reached America. In time, how- ever, they left the English church and formed little groups of their own congregations for religious worship. Such was the origin of the Congregational churches to be found all over New England and in other parts of the United States to-day. Along with the Puritans there sprang up in England another Protestant group that utterly rejected the 224 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Church of England. They flatly declared that it was no true church, that its services were idolatry, and that its bishops had no lawful power over Christians. They asserted that the rightful form of church was described in the New Testament as a simple congre- gation composed of all those who believed in Christ. A church, they said, " is a company or number of Christians or believers who by a willing covenant made with their God are under the government of God and Christ and keep his laws in one holy com- munion." Members of this sect were called Separatists, because they proposed to separate entirely from the Church of England and set up independent congrega- tions of their own. Of course, the king did not like the Separatists at all. They were always in danger of punishment. So many of them fled from the realm. It was the members of this group that founded the colony of Plymouth in 1620 (First Book, pp. 57-59). The Increase in Religious Sects. Some of those who drifted away from the Church of England believed that a certain form of baptism was necessary to sal- vation. John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim's Progress, held this view. So did Roger Williams, of Rhode Island (First Book, pp. 62-63). He is sometimes called the founder of the Baptist churches in America. From small beginnings sprang the Baptist congregations of the United States, which now have nearly ten million members. One powerful body of Separatists, or independents, THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 225 was the Presbyterians, who were especially strong in Scotland and the north of Ireland. They counted among their great teachers John Calvin of Geneva and John Knox of Edinburgh. Like the other inde- pendents, the Presbyterians were oppressed by the English government. Shortly after the English colo- THE COTTAGE OF JOHN BUNYAN IN ENGLAND From an old print nies were founded, they therefore flocked to the New World also. In New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the inland sections of the South they were very numerous. They took the lead in the western movement toward the Mississippi. Another sect that rejected the Established Church was the Quakers, or, as they called themselves, the oHillsboro o Raleigh NORTH CAROLINA EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS IN AMERICA THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 227 Friends. They followed the teaching of George Fox. One of their leaders, William Penn, founded the colony of Pennsylvania. There the Friends were free to wor- ship God according to " the light " which they had received. They granted this same religious freedom to others. The dissenters from the Established Church usually combined with their religious views a dislike for the government of England because it tried to force on them the religion made lawful by the parliament. So they carried with them to America political as well as religious ideas. They found it possible even to work with the Catholics, who had founded Maryland, in the great War for American Independence (First Book, pp. 55-56). RESULTS OF THE PROTESTANT REVOLT Religious Wars. For more than a hundred years Europe was filled with religious wars, civil and international. The Dutch in The Netherlands, then under the rule of the Catholic king of Spain, became Protestants. Soon afterward, they rejected the rule of their sovereign. In a terrible war they won their independence, which was recognized in 1648. In France, Protestants known as Huguenots began to appear shortly after Luther defied the pope, but by stern measures the government kept them from becom- ing very powerful. Still they were numerous enough to excite the alarm of the Catholics. France was 228 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND divided into two parties and civil wars followed. Finally, in 1598, the king issued the Edict of Nantes, which gave a certain toleration to the Protestants. This Edict was in force for nearly a hundred years. Then it was revoked by Louis XIV. All Frenchmen had to be Catholics or run the risk of punishment. Huguenots were persecuted. Thousands of them fled to England and Prussia. Others came to America. New Rochelle, in New York, was one of the places founded by Huguenots. It was named after their old home, Rochelle, in France. For a time after Luther's day the Protestant and Catholic princes in Germany managed to live on fairly good terms. Afterwards, however, they began a bloody strife known as the Thirty Years' War (1618- 48), which at length involved France, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark as well. This was a terrible war. Hun- dreds of German villages were utterly destroyed ; some cities lost half or more of their inhabitants ; and the whole country was left helpless and poverty- stricken. In the end neither party was victorious. Neither of them could master the other. As a result, toleration for all branches of the Protestant faith was granted in Germany. Religious Persecution. In addition to open religious wars there were persecutions within each of the coun- tries where religious disputes appeared. The Catholic Church had always required strict obedience to its authority. Long before Protestantism appeared, it THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 229 had turned heretics who would not repent over to the government to be punished. This practice the Catho- lics continued in those countries where they re- tained their power. Protestants, on the other hand, while they object- ed to such cruel treatment for them- selves, often re- sorted to it in their own time of tri- umph. Lutherhad no more thought of allowing every man to worship God according to his own conscience than had the pope at Rome. The very idea was hateful and dangerous in the sight of both parties in the sixteenth century. Catholics impris- oned, banished, and burned Protestants. In their turn many Protestant sects treated Catholics in the same way. They even punished with the same severity From an old print ENGLISH JUDGES CONDEMNING PROTESTANT DISSENTERS TO PRISON 230 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND other Protestants who differed from them. When Henry VIII in England broke with the pope he burned many sweet-spirited and noble Catholics, like Sir Thomas More, who were unable to accept him as the head of the Church. Likewise he put to death equally sweet-spirited and noble Protestants who would not do his will or who sought to make changes in religion which he did not approve. So it happened that thousands of men and women, Catholics and Prot- estants alike, were ready to flee to America when it was opened for settlement. When religious persecution died away in western Europe, it was kept up in eastern Europe. The Russians and Poles persecuted the Jews, and the Turks persecuted the Christians. Even in our own time, religious persecution goes on in many regions. Thus for more than three hundred years the desire to escape from religious oppression has been one of the powerful motives that sent emigrants to America. The Growth of Toleration. As we have said, few of the early Protestant sects believed that every one should have the right to choose his own religious faith or to belong to no church if he so decided. With some exceptions each sect was in fact as eager to compel every person to accept its faith as the Catholic Church had been in the middle ages. The idea of complete religious freedom seemed as distasteful to the early Lutherans and Puritans as it had to the Catholics. Nevertheless, after centuries of persecution the THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 231 spirit of toleration gained ground. Nobler ideas and gentler manners helped. People became weary of the turmoil and hatred born of persecution. Then, as the sects grew in numbers in spite of persecution, no one of them could suppress all the others. Finally, as interest in worldly affairs increased, religious dis- putes died down. As if by accident rather than by design, the enlightened people of every religious de- nomination gave up the idea of punishing those who differed from them. They finally adopted the modern notion that " every one has a right to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience." Though America did not at first escape entirely from the Old World heritage of religious intolerance, it did lead all mankind toward the ideal of religious freedom. The first amendment to our Constitution provided that Congress should make no law " respecting an estab- lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This clause, adopted in 1791, was a land- mark in the long struggle for religious toleration. Translations of the Bible. The Protestant Reforma- tion brought with it wars and persecutions, but it also aroused a new interest in reading the Bible and other religious books. The Old Testament had been written originally in Hebrew and the New in Greek - both languages which were utterly foreign to the peoples of western Europe. To overcome this diffi- culty, a translation of the Bible had been made into Latin about the end of the fourth century. This 232 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND edition, approved by the Catholic Church, was called the Vulgate, because it was in the tongue of the multi- tude vulgus meaning in Latin " the people." From time to time parts of the Bible had also been translated into German, English, French, and other languages. For example, many long passages had been done into Anglo-Saxon in the reign of Alfred the Great, and the whole Bible was translated about 1383 by the English reformer, John Wyclif. The revival of learning (p. 147), which gave stu- dents a special interest in the Greek language, led them to turn with new zeal to the life of Christ. It was to be found in the New Testament, written in Greek by those who knew him and had labored and suffered with him. Speaking of the Gospels, Erasmus, a leader of the "New Learning," wrote: " Were we to have seen him with our own eyes, we should not have so intimate a knowledge as they give us of Christ, speaking, healing, dying, rising again, as it were in our very presence." Then, in a burst of enthusiasm, he ex- claimed : " I wish that they were translated into all languages, so as to be read and understood not only by Scots and Irishmen but even by Saracens and Turks. I long for the day when the husbandman shall sing portions of them as he follows the plow, when the weaver shall hum them to the tune of his shuttle, when the traveler shall while away with their stories the weari- ness of the journey." The wish was fulfilled, but not always by translators belonging to the Catholic Church. THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 233 The great translations into German and English were made by Protestants, who naturally enough gave a Protestant meaning, wherever possible, to the Hebrew and Greek words. Martin Luther, as we have seen, prepared for his followers a German Bible in the lan- guage of the common people. About the same time several versions appeared in English. As some con- fusion arose from the various versions of the original tongues, an official English translation, under the di- rection of King James I, was published in 1611. This was the famous King James or Authorized version. For nearly three hundred years it was the accepted English edition of the Holy Scriptures and was used by all English Protestant denominations. The Roman Catholic clergy also brought out an official Catholic version in English known as the Douay Bible. It is impossible to overestimate the influence of the King James version of the Bible on English life and thought. The masses, who had known, the Old and New Testaments only through the teachings of priests, could now read for themselves. For a long time the Bible was almost the only book which the common people had. It was at once their guide to ancient history, their collection of marvelous stories, their record of human trials and sufferings. In it they found words of thanksgiving for joyous occasions and words of solace in hours of death and sorrow. That was not all. The very language of the English edition made a deep impress upon all English literature. 234 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The translators chose the clear and simple words of everyday usage, and so they set a model of style for English writers of all times. Leaders in American affairs as far apart in centuries as William Penn and Abraham Lincoln found inspiration in the noble thoughts and clear language of the Bible. When Lincoln opened his Gettysburg address with " Four score and seven years ago," he used the old and simple style of the Bible. The Spread of Education. The Bible was also a book of education. Thousands of humble folk, who had never been in school a day, learned to read in order that they might study it for themselves. An English bishop lamented that " cobblers, tailors, felt-makers and such-like trash " were taking it upon themselves to study the Bible and teach its message to their neigh- bors. Whoever has the power to read has open before him a gateway to. knowledge which is closed to illiterate persons. Those who learned their letters by poring over the Bible were later able to read the plays of the great Shakespeare, as well as books and pamphlets on politics and other subjects. By seeking knowledge in religious matters, they learned about " the mysteries " of kings and governments. Thus the translations of the Bible helped to prepare the people to govern them- selves. The Reformation also helped greatly in the spread of schools for the masses. In the middle ages, the THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 235 idea of giving every one an education was not looked upon as practicable or desirable. The schools were few and colleges were mainly for the training of men who wished to enter the priesthood. As the various Prot- estant congregations sprang up, however, the members of each were careful to bring up their children in their own faith. Schools were founded to teach children to read the Bible and to instruct them in religious doc- trines. Thus the ability to read became more wide- spread than ever before in human history. Puritans, Presbyterians, Baptists, and other denominations, in- cluding the Catholics, all established schools in which their religious views were taught. Every college founded in America in colonial times, except the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, was established by a religious denomination to train young men in its faith and serv- ices. The natural sciences, like botany, chemistry, and physiology, received no more attention in the first Protestant schools than they had in the universities of the middle ages. QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS I. I. What is the meaning of the word "Protestant" as ap- plied to the Protestant churches ? 2. For how long a time was the Catholic Church supreme in western Europe ? (Recall the time of Constantine the Great and consider 1517 as marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.) How does this com- pare with the period from the beginning of the Protestant Reforma- tion to the present time ? 3. Why are the names of John Wyclif and John Huss remembered ? 4. One complaint against the 36 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Catholic Church was that its property was free from taxation ; is church property free from taxation to-day? 5. How did the views of Erasmus differ from those of Wyclif and Huss ? 6. Can you think of any reasons that will explain why the revolt against the Church came first from the clergy rather than from laymen ? 7. How did Luther's views differ from those of Erasmus ? Why is Luther rather than Wyclif or Huss regarded as the founder of the Protestant churches ? II. i. What were the important differences between the Protestant Reformation in Germany and in England ? 2. What is meant by an "Established Church"? In what ways did the Established Church of England resemble the Catholic Church ? How did it differ ? How did it differ from the Lutheran Church ? In America to-day, the Protestant Episcopal Church most closely resembles the Established Church of England. If there is such a church in your community perhaps you can find out some of the ways in which it differs from other Protestant churches ; for example, in the conduct of its services, the construction of the church building, the dress of the clergy. 3. How did the Puritans and the Separatists resemble each other ? In what important respects did they differ ? 4. In what ways did the Baptists, the Presbyterians, and the Quakers differ? 5. Make a list of the religious sects represented in your community. (Prob- ably some of them are not mentioned in this chapter.) If possible, find out something about the origin of these various sects. III. i. Give as many reasons as you can to explain why the multiplication of religious sects gave rise to so many wars during the period that we are studying. 2. What is the difference between a "civil" war and an "international" war? Which of the three wars mentioned in the text were civil, and which were international? 3. What is meant by "religious toleration"? 4. In what important ways did intolerance and persecution in Europe influence our country ? What American colonies were founded by people who sought religious freedom? 5. People THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION 237 naturally regard and cherish the idea that they have fought for and suffered for; perhaps you can give some of the reasons that explain why the people of western Europe and of North America now believe so firmly in religious toleration. You might well think of this as an ideal for which a great price has been paid. What was the price ? 6. Another great ideal had its birth in the troubled times which we are studying; namely, the ideal of "universal" education that is, the education of all of the people in at least the rudiments of learning. In what way did the Protestant Reformation make a universal knowledge of read- ing important? In what other ways did the multiplication of religious sects promote education ? ERA op THE REFORMATION 238 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND SUGGESTIONS FOR READING BEST Merry England. CREIGHTON, LOUISE Stories from English History, xxx-xxxiii, xxxviii ; Longmans. DALE Landmarks of British History, viii. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xxxi. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition}, xliv. WARREN Stories from English History, xvii. CHAPTER X THE GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND THE Protestant Reformation, at first, left unchecked the power of kings, landlords, and clergy. Wherever the Catholic Church was overthrown, another church was set up in its stead and the people at large had to accept the new faith as they had the old. In this change, Protestant kings really got more power for a time because they were enriched by the property they took from the Catholic Church. But their sudden gain was destined to be short-lived in England. The Protestant revolt there was followed in the next cen- tury by a political revolt against the king himself. This was the first of the great democratic revolutions that have swept through the world during the past three hundred years. THE OLD POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CLASSES IN ENGLAND The King and the Established Church. The acts of James I helped to start the English political revolution. When he was crowned king of England in 1603, he found himself in a place of great power. He could appoint all the officers high and low without the consent of Parlia- ment. He alone could permit men to form companies 239 240 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 241 to explore, colonize, or trade beyond the seas. All land which was discovered belonged to him, and he could grant it to individuals or companies at his pleasure. He could issue royal orders which were as binding on his subjects as the laws of Parliament. The Church of England added to his strength. All Englishmen, as we have seen, had to be members of it and obey .its commands. The king appointed the archbishops and bishops, who governed the Church and watched over the clergy of lower rank. Every- where the Church taught that obedience to the king was obedience to the will of God. The Nobility. The power of the king was also in- creased by the help he had from the nobles. They were few in number and no common man could become a noble unless the king raised him to that rank and gave him a title. Much of the land of England, how- ever, was owned by these great lords dukes, earls, and barons. On their lands they were very powerful, although they could no longer defy the king as their ancestors had done (p. 177). They were not independ- ent. They were courtiers. They held high offices under the king and served him in many ways in war and peace. The Country Gentlemen and the Merchants. Below the nobility in rank were the large landowners who did not possess noble title. They were usually called " the country gentry." They had large estates, tilled by peas- ants, and lived in handsome manor houses. They 242 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND often served as members of the House of Commons, and there boldly asserted that the king could not tax them without their consent. They were not often seen at the royal court and received few favors from the crown. They were proud and independent in spirit. It was they who led in all efforts to curb the power of the king. From this class came men like Cromwell and From an old, print THE MANOR HOUSE ON AN ENGLISH ESTATE Hampden, who, in the days of revolution, defied the king. From this class also came men like John Win- throp and John Endicott, who migrated to the New World and made the beginnings of a new nation there. Even more independent in spirit were the English merchants. They grew steadily in numbers as the GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 243 trade of England multiplied. They did not own vast landed estates. Their wealth was in shops, ware- houses, and ships. Their ranks were not closed to out- siders, for any successful business man could secure a place among them. The seats of the merchants were in the towns like London, Bristol, Plymouth, and Man- chester. Representatives of the towns in Parliament were usually merchants or neighboring landed gentry. These two classes, welded together, led in the rev- olution that overthrew the king in 1649. In fact, they made themselves the ruling classes of England before the end of the century. The Other Ranks. Among the masses there were three distinct groups. There were, first, the yeomen, who were the free and proud owners of small farms. Sometimes they worked with their own hands at the plow and at threshing. The second and most numerous group was composed of the agricultural laborers. They were descendants of the former serfs. Serfdom itself had disappeared in England, and the former bondmen had become land- less men who worked for wages on the great estates. They were usually poor and wretched, and just at this time their lot was becoming harder. The landlords found it more profitable to grow wool than to raise grain, and turned their fields into pastures. Thousands of acres of land were withdrawn from cultivation ; laborers and their families, therefore, had to leave the soil for the poorhouse or for a life of semistarvation in the 244 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND towns. The writings of this time are burdened with complaints about the " surplus of people." Sending people to America was therefore looked upon as a way of getting rid of the surplus population. It was from the yeoman stock and the class of agri- cultural laborers that most of the immigrants to America were first drawn. More fortunate than the agricultural laborers were the artisans, the skilled workmen of the towns. English trade grew by leaps and bounds after the discovery of the water routes to India and the New World. English cloth and cutlery were famous in Russia and India for their quality and finish. English weavers, dyers, cutlers, potters, and other skilled workmen supplied the goods which were exchanged for spices, tea, sugar, and the commodities of the East and West. The artisans, like the merchants, were often inde- pendent in spirit. Their numbers increased as foreign trade grew. They made the articles which the mer- chants carried to distant lands. Anything that helped trade helped them. Anything that interfered with trade injured them. Naturally they took the side of the merchants, who wanted the king to let them alone. Among the officers in the revolutionary army which overthrew King Charles I there were tailors, brewers, linen drapers, weavers, and silk merchants. Since the artisans usually had little difficulty in finding employment in England, they did not at first take kindly to migration to America. GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 245 A CENTURY OF REVOLUTION The Arbitrary Conduct of Kings Divine Right. The English people in general seem to have been fairly well contented when James I came to the throne in 1603. If he had been moderate in conduct, mild in speech, and willing to make terms with the people, there doubtless would have been little trouble in Eng- land. But James and his son, Charles I, whose combined reigns lasted from 1603 to 1649, were poorly fitted to deal with a nation that had any pride. Both of them taught and practiced the doctrine of divine right - - that kings had power from God and could do no wrong. James I was especially haughty in talking about his own " majesty." " The state of monarchy," he informed Parliament, " is the suprem- est thing on earth, for kings are not only God's lieu- tenants upon earth and sit upon God's throne, but even by God himself they are called Gods." That was not enough for him. He added : " As to dispute what God may do is blasphemy, so it is sedition in subjects to dispute what a king may do in the height of his power." No one could teach, preach, or publish a book without a license from royal officers, and anyone who questioned the king's rights and claims was liable to severe punishment. In addition to teaching the doctrine of divine right, James and Charles both treated their subjects haughtily and harshly. They levied taxes without the consent 246 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND of Parliament. They compelled their wealthy subjects to lend them money. They imprisoned men like John Hampden who would not pay taxes laid by royal order. They encouraged the Church of England to hunt down and turn over for punishment those who refused to From an old print ONE OF KING CHARLES I's OFFICERS, CONDEMNED BY PARLIAMENT, ON THE WAY TO THE SCAFFOLD obey its commands. They dismissed judges who failed to carry out their decrees. If Parliament com- plained, the members were sent home. The House of Commons Opposes the King. Leader- ship in opposing the king fell to the House of Commons. GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 247 In that body the country gentlemen and the merchants were masters, and to them taxation without their con- sent was especially hateful. They firmly but respect- fully informed the king that they would not grant him large sums of money while he treated them as if they had no rights. Since they held the purse strings, they compelled him, in 1628, to approve the Petition of Right a document often placed with Magna Carta (p. 177) among the great landmarks of English history. In the Petition of Right, three important principles were laid down : (i) no one should be imprisoned with- out a regular trial ; (2) a royal decree setting up the rule of army officers should be revoked ; and (3) taxes, loans, and gifts collected without consent of Parlia- ment were unlawful. King Charles made these promises only to break them. He then ruled for eleven years without calling Parliament together. When at length he needed money and summoned Parliament, in 1640, he found it in an angry mood. It had two of the king's closest advisers put to death ; it set free the victims of the king's anger who were in prison ; it abolished two of the high courts that had helped the king to oppress his subjects. Finally Parliament demanded control over the army, which the king claimed as his own. Civil War. Oliver Cromwell. Charles, angry and frightened, refused to give up his power over his soldiers. He knew that, if he lost the army, he would be help- less. So he decided to fight for his rights and raised 248 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the royal battle flag in 1642. The northwestern part of his kingdom came to his aid ; that is, the old and feudal part. Against him were the more populous counties and the thriving towns. GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 249 Under the leadership of a stern warrior, Oliver Crom- well, the revolutionary army overcame the king's troops in a civil war. King Charles was taken prisoner, tried, and executed. A Commonwealth, or Republic, was then proclaimed in England. The Religious Revolt. United with the revolt against the king was another revolt against the Church. That, too, came gradually. When James ascended the throne, there was already in England a small party of reformers who wanted to make minor changes in the church services. As we have seen (p. 223) they were known as Puritans. They handed James a respectful petition on reform, but he scorn- fully laughed at them. " If this be all your party hath to say," he shouted at the spokesmen of the Puritans, " I will make them conform themselves or else harry them out of the land." By this sharp speech, says the English historian Gardner, James " sealed his own fate and that of Eng- land forever." And it might be added, " the fate of New England as well," for the people whom he " har- ried " out of the land went across the sea to seek liberty of worship for themselves. The Puritans, though surprised at the king's curt refusal to listen, kept on demanding reforms. They were joined in their attacks on the Established Church by another group --the Separatists or Independ- ents (p. 223). The Puritans wanted to make minor changes in the Church ; the Separatists rejected that 250 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Church entirely. Though they differed in their views, Puritans and Independents united in opposing the control exercised over them by the king and Church. They were both persecuted and punished. More than one man had his ears cut off and his cheeks branded with hot irons for attacking the Church. Men who were imprisoned for refusing to pay illegal taxes found as their companions in jail men who held unlawful religious opinions. So religion and politics were com- bined. Thus the revolt against the king became a religious revolt. When the monarchy was pulled down in 1649, the power of the Church was broken. The Dictatorship of Oliver Cromwell. After the monarchy and the Church were overturned, the revo- lutionists had to face the difficult task of creating a form of government for themselves. Then their troubles began in earnest. Before long, they were di- vided among themselves and began to quarrel one with another. Some wanted only a few changes in the Eng- lish form of government. Others wanted many changes. In the end, the great soldier who had led the revolu- tion, Oliver Cromwell, came to the top as dictator He ruled England with an iron hand ; so there was no liberty, after all. He punished those who would not obey him, collected taxes at will, and governed in a ruth- less fashion. While he lived, he kept the government going. After his death, in 1658, his poor, weak son was unable to control England. Two years later the elder son of Charles I was called to the throne as Charles II. GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 251 252 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The Chastened Monarch. The crowning of Charles II could not undo the work of Cromwell and the revolu- tion. The Church of England was " established " again. The bones of Cromwell were dug up and hanged in chains, but the spirit of revolt was still abroad in From an old print KING CHARLES II GREETED BY His SUBJECTS ON BEING CALLED TO THE THRONE the land. Many of the men who had helped to put Charles I to death were executed, but the methods of James I and Charles I would never be tolerated again in England. Charles II was lazy and loved pleasure. He was GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 253 careful not to walk in the footsteps of his father and grandfather. He said that he wanted to keep his crown on his head and his head on his shoulders. He succeeded. For twenty-five years he reigned, and then died peacefully in his bed. James II and the Second Revolution. James II, Charles' brother and successor, was a different sort of man. He was a sincere Catholic and earnestly strove to bring England back to the old faith. At the same time, he was as harsh in manner as his father, Charles I. He laid taxes, arrested his subjects, and set aside laws as if he were a czar rather than a king under the control of Parliament. After three years of his rule, his -discontented subjects rose in their wrath and expelled him. To save his neck, he fled from England in 1688. Parliament called to the throne his niece, Mary, and her husband, William, the Prince of Orange in Holland. THE RESULTS OF THE REVOLUTIONS The Supremacy of Parliament. Before giving the crown to William and Mary, Parliament passed a law, known as the Bill of Rights, which set forth the chief results of the revolution. This bill is as famous in English history as the Great Charter (p. 177) and the Petition of Right (p. 247). The Bill of Rights first set forth the evil deeds of James II. Then it declared that the king could not set aside the laws, levy taxes, or keep a standing army 254 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND in time of peace without the consent of Parliament. The Bill also declared certain rights of persons. It proclaimed freedom of speech for members of Parlia- ment, the right of the people to petition the king, and the right of Protestant subjects to bear arms. It forbade cruel and unusual punishments and excessive fines. Some of the very language of this Bill of Rights is to be found in the Constitution of the United States, especially in the amendments. The great document was read by an agent of Parlia- ment to William and Mary, and they agreed to abide by it. Thus Parliament became supreme in England. " We accept what you have offered us," said William. Divine right was dead in England. Shortly afterwards, an act of Parliament was passed granting religious toleration to all except Catholics and Unitarians. Henceforward Protestants could hold religious meet- ings and worship God according to their consciences. Many years were to pass, however, before religious freedom was granted to all. The English Constitution. It was by such laws as Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights that the English system of government was fixed. The English people never held a national convention to draft a complete constitution. A great deal of their plan of government is not written down at all. It is unwritten, that is, consists of customs that have grown up through the years. That part which is written consists of impor- tant laws like the Bill of Rights. GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 255 The Meaning of the Revolutions for America. Dur- ing this long and bitter contest in England every English colony in America, except Georgia, was founded (First Book, pp. 51-78). The religious disputes before and during the first revolution drove many Puri- tans and Separatists to New England. On the other hand, while the Puritan party was supreme under Cromwell, many of the king's friends, Cavaliers as they were called, were forced to flee to Virginia for safety. Henceforward, England's interest was to be mainly colonial and commercial, and her activities were to spread to every part of the world. The revolt against the harsh power of the king in England also meant more freedom for the American colonies to grow up in their own way and to manage their own affairs. James II had attempted to subdue the American colonies as well as his subjects at home. The Americans therefore rejoiced when they heard of his overthrow. With James II passed away the last arbitrary English king for many a year. Seventy years, in fact, were to pass before another English ruler undertook to meddle personally with American affairs. After William and Mary were dead, the crown passed to Mary's sister, Anne. Then it went to George I, a great-grandson of James I, a German prince who did not even know the English language and to the end cared only for his German home. His son, George II, learned to speak English with an accent, but never undertook to rule harshly in England. He married 256 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND a German wife, and preferred to live in his German palace. During the reigns of these sovereigns, that is, from 1688 to 1760, the English colonists in America were free to go their own way as far as the king was concerned. Not until George III came to the throne, in 1760, was royal meddling in American affairs re- newed. How the Ideas of American Independence Took Form. The English revolution of 1688 not only weakened the power of the king at home ; it proclaimed ideas of human rights which were many years later used by Americans in their revolt against George III. These ideas were best set forth in the works of John Locke, a writer of singular power. He was the son of a Puritan gentleman, a graduate of Oxford Univer- sity and a student of government. About the time that James II was overthrown, Locke published a book in which he attacked the theory of divine right and asserted, instead, the rights of the people. He declared that men were born with a right to freedom and equal opportunity; that the end of government was the good of mankind. Then he went on to say that whenever any government violated the life, liberty, and property of the people, the people had a right to abolish it and establish a new one that suited them better. Here, in other words, are the doctrines set forth in the American Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration (First Book, GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 257 pp. 132-136), was familiar with the writings of Locke. From them, no doubt, he drew many of his ideas. So the defense of the English revolution of 1688 was to become the defense of the American revolution of 1776. Europe Aroused. On the continent of Europe, as well as in the American colonies, the English revolution made a great stir. Kings and princes were shocked at the uprising of the English people. It was the first disturbance of the kind since the days of ancient Rome and there was no telling how it would end. " The news of the king's death," says the historian Green, " was received throughout Europe with a thrill of horror. The Czar of Russia drove the English envoy from his court. The ambassador of France was withdrawn on the proclamation of the republic. Hol- land took the lead in open acts of hostility." Though kings and princes were shocked at the English revolution, the people of Europe became inter- ested in English ideas. In a hundred years, the king, nobles, and clergy of France were to be overthrown just as they had been in England. All the famous French thinkers who prepared the minds of the French people for their uprising either studied in England or were familiar with English writings. The works of Locke were translated into French and studied by French popular leaders. The English ideas of (i) a free press, (2) a limited monarchy, (3) a supreme Parliament representing the nation, and (4) a moderate 258 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND religious toleration spread far and wide in France. Just one century after William and Mary faced the English Parliament and agreed to abide by its laws, the French king, Louis XVI, faced the French nation and learned that he was no longer master in his realm. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. i. What is the difference between a religious revolt or revolution and a political revolution ? Which of these two kinds of revolution was represented by the American War for Inde- pendence ? 2. In what ways did the revolt against the Church increase the power of the kings? 3. State the important dif- ferences among the following ranks or classes in England : the king, the nobility, the landed gentry, the merchants, the yeomen, the artisans, the farm laborers. Which of these classes would be likely to side with the king in case of a quarrel, and why ? Which would be likely to unite against the king ? II. I. W 7 hat is meant by the "divine right" of kings? Try tc imagine what life in our country would be like if we had a king who believed in "divine right" and who ruled as James I and Charles I ruled England. 2. Why did the landed gentry and the merchants especially dislike to have the king levy taxes as he pleased ? Why would they be likely to object to this more than the yeomen, the artisans, and the laborers? 3. Of the three important principles laid down in the Petition of Right, which one do you consider the most important, and why ? 4. How did it happen that the political revolt in England became also a religious revolt? 5. We all agree that Americans should know something about their own great heroes like Washington and Franklin ; are there any reasons why Americans should also re- member the name of Oliver Cromwell ? 6. What is meant by a "dictator"? Do you think that a "dictatorship" like that of Oliver Cromwell is ever justified ? Give reasons for your answer GREAT POLITICAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND 259 III. I. What liberties did the people of England gain through the Bill of Rights ? What important powers were thereafter lost to the kings ? 2. How does the English constitution differ from the constitution of our country? 3. How did the English Revolution influence American history ? 4. In studying chap- ter ix, we found that two great ideals grew up after the Prot- estant Reformation, the ideal of religious toleration and the ideal of universal education. In the present chapter, what other ideals have been seen to take form? 5. "Freedom of speech" is generally thought of as the right to criticize the acts of those in positions of authority, especially in the government; why was this an advance over the "divine right" of kings? Does "freedom of speech" mean that anyone can say anything that he pleases ? What might happen to a man who said something untrue about another person with the result that this person's reputation was injured ? Even to-day it is generally believed that "freedom of speech" in time of war must be restricted; give reasons that justify this belief. 6. Another ideal established by the English revolution was the one that played so important a part in the American War for Independence, "Taxation with- out representation is tyranny." Explain the meaning of this. Are you "represented" in the bodies that levy taxes in this coun- try ? How? 7. A third ideal might be called "humaneness in government." Both the Bill of Rights and our own Constitu- tion forbid "cruel and unusual punishments." What punish- ments mentioned in this chapter as having been practiced by the English kings could not be inflicted by courts of law in our coun- try to-day? 8. Still another ideal is represented by the "right of trial by jury." What is a "jury"? Why is a trial by jury likely to be fairer than a trial by a single judge ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING CREIGHTON Stories from English History, xxxix-xlii. DALE Landmarks of British History, ix. 260 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND MARSHALL, H. E. Through Great Britain and Ireland with Crom- well; Stokes. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xxxiv. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), xlv, li. WARREN Stories from English History, xxvii-xxviii, xxxii-xl. CHAPTER XI THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS The Influence of Discovery and World Commerce. The age of the Protestant Reformation and the English revolution was also an age of vast changes in the com- merce and industry of Europe and in the life of the people. Huge fortunes were made out of the trade opened by Columbus, da Gama, and Cortes. As most of the profits went to merchants and traders, the busi- ness classes grew in power. At length they more than rivaled in wealth and numbers the nobles and the clergy. Their profits, added to the gold and silver drawn from the mines of the New World, furnished the capital for business enterprises on a huge scale. The amount of money in the hands of the people was larger than ever before. Many a serf, by the sale of farm produce, was able to pay his landlord in cash and thus became a renter instead of a bondman. Some of the serfs, by careful saving, managed to buy their plots of land outright. So free peasants began to take the place of people bound to the soil. At the same time, the money in circulation helped business in the towns. The demand for manufactured goods increased, and so did the number of artisans. Then began the drift 261 262 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND of the people to the towns in search of employment a drift that has kept up steadily until our own day. Commerce, while making these changes within the nations, also became a powerful cause of wars among them. Princes had long fought over territory in From an old print A SUGAR MILL IN THE TROPICS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY Europe. Now whole nations were to wage wars for territory and trade in all parts of the world for tea, sugar, coffee, and spices. The chief rivals in this new form of warfare were five in number, (i) The Portuguese. As we have seen. CHIEF LUROPEAN RIVALS 263 264 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND they led in the work of exploration. They opened the waterway to India and built up a rich trade there. They also founded the colony of Brazil in the New World. Portugal, however, lost her lead in 1580 when she was conquered by Spain. (2) The Spaniards. Through the exploits of her own seamen, Spain claimed nearly all of the New World and enjoyed most of the East Indian trade. By conquering Portugal, her power and possessions were greatly increased. (3) The Dutch. The people of The United Nether- lands were once subjects of the king of Spain ; but, as we have said, they finally revolted and became the rivals of Spain in trade. They sent their first expe- dition to India in 1595. They seized many of the trading posts formerly held in the East Indies by the Portuguese and they have managed to hold some of them to the present time. (4) The French. The king of France, not to be behind his neighbors, sent his sailors west and east and laid claim to much of North America and to parts of India. (5) The English. Though they came late upon the scene, the English soon surpassed all their rivals in the number of their merchants, sailors, and battleships. By building a mighty navy, England became mistress of the seas - the greatest sea power that the world had ever seen. THE COMMERCIAL TRIUMPH OF ENGLAND Victory over the Spanish. The English king had sent John Cabot across the Atlantic five years after THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 265 Columbus made his first voyage (First Book, pp. 26-29) ; but nearly a hundred years passed before the English people began to trade and form colonies. When the English finally began to go abroad, they turned their attention to America, where the Spanish From an old print A SPANISH MISSION IN CALIFORNIA, BUILT WHEN SPAIN RULED THE SOUTHWEST were making huge fortunes. Defying the king of Spain, English sailors raided his towns in the West Indies and Central and South America. They at- tempted to plant colonies in parts of North America which he claimed. One of them, Sir Francis Drake, sailed all the way around the world (1577-80), looting 266 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Spanish ships and trading posts as he went (First Book, pp. 38-44). The king of Spain could not contain his wrath when he heard of Drake's exploits, and made ready for war. In 1588, he sent a powerful fleet of battleships, the Armada, to the English Channel to drive his English rivals from the sea. Instead of winning a great victory, the Spaniards suffered a terrible defeat (First Book, pp. 45-47). Spanish sea power was badly crippled and the English no longer feared it. Still, Spain managed to hold most of her colonies until the nineteenth century. She held for a long time all of America from what is now the southern part of the United States down to the tip of South America, except Brazil, which was Portuguese. She owned Cuba and most of the West Indies. She also held the Philippines and other islands in the East (First Book, pp. 192, 372-375). The Triumph of the English over the Dutch. The Dutch, as well as the English, profited from the down- fall of the Spanish Armada. They too were mortal enemies of the Spanish. They rapidly pushed forward their trade with India and made huge sums of moaey by carrying goods to England for sale. Seeing large profits going to their Dutch rivals, the English in 1651 passed a law against them, known as the Navigation Act. This law forbade foreigners to carry into Eng- land in their ships any goods except those which they had grown or made themselves. THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 267 Within twenty-five years, there were three wars between England and Holland. In the second of these contests, the English wrested from the Dutch their rich province of New Netherland in America. In From an old print A VIEW OF NEW AMSTERDAM IN NEW NETHERLAND 1664, the old governor at New Amsterdam surrendered with a heavy heart to the British and lowered his flag. New Netherland became New York (First Book, PP- 65-73). 268 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Still the Dutch were not daunted ; their fleet swept up the Thames and burned English war vessels even at the docks. The English paid back their foes for this defeat in a few years. They joined the French in a war on The Netherlands, which proved very costly to the Dutch in men and money. After this affair, the Dutch could no longer hope to rival the naval power of England. Still they were permitted to retain many of their islands in the East Indies, including Java and Sumatra. They held, until 1815, the Cape of Good Hope, which they had seized many years before. For a long time after the close of the third war, in 1674, the English and Dutch were at peace. Indeed, when the Prince of Orange be- came king of England, as William III (p. 253), the two nations united in wars on a common rival, the king of France. THE CONFLICT BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN INDIA AND NORTH AMERICA India in the Year 1600. When the English first began to trade in the East, India, a vast peninsula jutting out from southern Asia, was a great empire. The land was occupied by tens of millions of people mainly engaged in tilling the soil. There were many cities filled with wonderful temples and palaces. There were libraries stocked with books written by some of the world's wisest thinkers. Indian weavers made silks and linen finer than any European artisans could THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 269 make. Rich Indian merchants and princes had huge stores of gold, silver, and precious stones. In a word, India was a highly civilized country. The various peoples of India, however, differed in race and lan- guage. They were held together as one nation merely by the power of a strong emperor, the Great Mogul, as he was called by the English. The English and French Gain a Foot- hold. Ini6oo,some English merchants formed an East India Company to trade in the Far East. Soon they were sending fleet after fleet of mer- chant ships around the Cape of Good Hope to Indian ports. The new- comers were welcomed by the natives and were per- mitted to build factories, or warehouses, in certain cities. The Great Mogul ordered his governors to "give them freedom answerable to their desires, to sell, buy, and transport into their country at their pleasure." The TAJ MAHAL, A MARVELOUS TOMB BUILT BY AN INDIAN EMPEROR FOR His WIFE 270 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Dutch and the Portuguese, who were already in India, could do nothing but make the best of the situation. Likewise, when the French merchants came in 1669, they too were allowed to trade by the Mogul, and to build their warehouses as the other Europeans had done before them. By the opening of the eighteenth cen- tury, the merchants of the rival European nations were doing a thriving business in tea, silk, and other Indian goods. The Decline of the Mogul Empire. While the Mogul empire lasted, the European traders in India could go about safely and transact business without fear of rob- bers or tax gatherers. This peaceful state of affairs came to an end in 1707. In that year Arungzebe, the last of the great Indian emperors, died, leaving no son strong enough to hold together the vast heritage. Then the empire began to dissolve. Local princes, nawabs (nabobs), and rajahs, like feudal lords in Europe in the middle ages, declared their independence. At once, they began to struggle one with another to gain more territory. India became a scene of disorder and war- fare like Europe after the fall of Rome. The English Conquest of India. Both the English and the French in India were quick to see their chance. They soon learned that a powerful army could conquer all India, section by section. The French governor, Dupleix (pronounced Duplex), fortified the town of Pondicherry. He then organized bands of native sol- diers, called by the English sepoys, and, in 1741, began 271 272 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND a career of conquest. About the same time an Eng- lish leader, Robert Clive, determined to gain all he could for the English East India Company. Whenever England and France were at war in Europe, and some- times when they were not, their agents in India fought for mastery over the crumbling Mogul empire. Keystone View Co., Inc. THE MODERN RAILWAY STATION AT BOMBAY, INDIA In the Seven Years' War (1756-63), the triumph of the English was quick and final. The French were defeated and driven out of India. They were allowed to keep a few trading centers, but they had to give up all hope of subduing India. That task was undertaken by the English. By a long TtiE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 273 and gradual process, they overcame one Indian prince after another until the whole Mogul empire passed under their control ; rather, we should say under the control of the English East India Company. Thus the agents of a trading company became the rulers of an empire. They ruled it until a terrible native revolt, known as the Sepoy Rebellion, broke out in 1857. Then the English government set aside the Company and took over the control of Indian affairs itself. About twenty years later, Queen Victoria, with pomp and ceremony, was proclaimed " Empress of India." The Triumph of the English in Canada. The contest in India was only one part of the mighty struggle between the English and the French over foreign possessions. They waged war upon each other on the banks of the St. Lawrence as well as on the banks of the Ganges. While the English were building their thirteen col- onies on the Atlantic coast, the French occupied Canada (First Book, pp. 83-92). From their base in Canada, French pioneers explored the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley, and the Mississippi basin. They took posses- sion of the land and named it Louisiana in honor of the Grand Monarch, Louis XIV. They founded towns at Montreal and at New Orleans and built forts here and there in the vast wilderness between these two towns. They threatened the western borders of the English colonies, especially Virginia and Pennsyl- vania. BRITISH AND FRENCH RIVALS IN NORTH AMERICA 274 THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 275 It was on this border that the French and Indian War broke out. In 1755 occurred the defeat of Gen- eral Braddock, the English commander (First Book, pp. 92-101). From the forests of Pennsylvania the war spread to Europe, where it was known as the Seven Years' War. The English minister, William Pitt, bent every energy to bring ruin upon France, and was successful. At the end of the war in 1763, Canada and most of the territory east of the Mississippi passed under the British flag. Well could Pitt boast that England was victorious at once in America and in India, " the umpire of the continent, the mistress of the sea." As colo- nial powers, the Dutch were humbled, the Spanish reduced to a low rank, and the French crippled by the triumphant British on land and sea. Proudly could the English historian write : "The Atlantic was dwin- dling into a mere strait within the British empire." THE BALANCE OF POWER IN EUROPE How the Idea Arose. The wars over trade and ter- ritory in all parts of the world were accompanied, as we have hinted, by wars in Europe itself. This was of course nothing new. From the downfall of the Roman empire onward, war had been the chief business of kings and princes. The trade with lands beyond the seas, discovered by the explorers, only gave new rea- sons for fighting. The rulers of Europe only found fresh excuses for pouncing upon their neighbors and 2/6 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND seizing their territory. Wars became more deadly and more costly than ever, and there was always danger that some one country, like Rome of old, might become supreme over all Europe. In this state of affairs, diplomats invented a scheme known as " the balance of power." It was their idea to form alliances among nations in such a way as to prevent any one of them from becoming the master of all Europe. It was cold-blooded business. Kings made alliances and broke them with as much ease as they changed their clothes. They embraced a brother king one year and waged war on him the following year, if he became too powerful. Soldiers fought under one flag one year and under another flag the next year with equal zeal. Such was the chief diplomatic interest of England, Spain, France, Holland, and Austria for nearly three centuries. In the eighteenth century two new powers came upon the scene : Prussia, under the Hohenzollerns ; and Russia, under the Romanoffs. England and the Balance of Power. In this game, England played a peculiar part. English kings had once fought in France with a hope of winning French territory, but they had long ago given up that project. Still, England had a keen interest in the balance of power in Europe. In the first place, she knew that if any king became supreme on the continent, he would soon attempt to cross the Channel and invade her island home. In the second place, England was often at war with Spain, Holland, and France over THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 277 foreign trade and territories. Thus she was deeply concerned in all quarrels that promised to increase her possessions in India or North America or to enlarge her trade at the expense of her rivals. To trace the history of the balance of power, therefore, WESTERN EUROPE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY we must go over in another way the period which we have just treated. The Grand Alliance of 1689 against France. After the decline of Spain and Holland, England's greatest 278 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND rival in Europe, as we have seen, was France. Under an ambitious and warlike king, Louis XIV (1643-1715), France sought to become a world power. Besides starting colonies in various parts of the world, Louis tried to annex some of the land now included in Belgium. That brought him into a conflict with the Spanish king, to whom the territory coveted by Louis then belonged. Louis was also bent upon adding to France lands to the east as far as the Rhine River. That aroused the ire of several German princes and particularly of the ruler of Austria. The king of England, William III, hearing about Louis' plans, set to work to defeat them. He brought Holland, Spain, and Austria into a com- bination against France. England commanded the sea and sent troops to the continent to aid her allies in attacking France on the landward side. The proud Louis, after eight years of fighting, was forced to make a humiliating peace. The Grand Alliance of 1701 against France and Spain. It was not long, however, before a new cause of war arose. In 1700, the childless king of Spain died, leav- ing his immense realms in the Old World and the New to a grandson of Louis XIV. Thus both France and Spain were in the hands of one royal family. Both were European powers of high rank. Both held great domains in the New World. Both were rivals of Great Britain for trade in the Far East and the Far West. THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 279 The peril to the English empire was undoubtedly great, and English statesmen were quick to scent the danger. The peril was equally great for the Dutch and the Austrians. So by skillful management William III was able to unite England, Holland, and Austria in an alliance against France and Spain in a long war that broke out in 1701 and lasted until 1713. This conflict was known as the War of the Spanish Succession. When peace came at last, England was amply rewarded. The fear that Spain and Spanish America might be united with France had been the chief reason for the war. That fear was now removed. It was agreed that the crowns of Spain and France should never be united. In addition England obtained from France Newfoundland, Acadia, and Hudson's Bay in America. She wrested from Spain Gibraltar, the fortress that guards the entrance to the Mediterranean, and Minorca, an island not far away. England and Prussia against France, Austria, and Spain. Distracted Europe was not to enjoy peace very long. In 1740, Frederick the Great, the king of Prussia, and Louis XV, the king of France, united in a war to despoil Austria. They had started on the enterprise when England took a hand in the fray also. She furnished money to hard-pressed Austria and gave military assistance. This war, too, spread to America, where it was known as King George's War. 280 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Peace came in 1748, but lasted only for a few years. Seven years later the French and English came to blows in the western part of Pennsylvania (p. 275). There the pioneers of the two nations met in deadly combat. War then flamed up in two hemispheres. As France now won Austria over to her side, England arranged a new balance of power. She united with Prussia against her old ally, Austria, and her ancient enemy, France. Troops were sent to aid Frederick the Great, the Prussian king, and English gold was poured into his treasury. In America, General Wolfe astounded Europe by his brilliant conquest of Quebec (First Book, pp. 98- 101). In India, Robert Clive achieved a victory no less important at the battle of Plassey, in which he overwhelmed the French and their Indian allies. " We are forced to ask every morning what victory there is for fear of missing one," exclaimed a witty English- man as the news of one triumph after another poured into London. In the end, England's arms were victorious every- where. France was impoverished and weakened in Europe. She was forced, as we have seen, to give up her colonies in North America as well as in India. Canada became English. The name of William Pitt, the great English minister who brought Eng- land to such a pitch of power, was known and feared around the world. Even the former French strong- hold at Fort Duquesne, in western Pennsylvania, THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 281 282 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND was christened Pittsburgh in his honor. Louisiana, beyond the Mississippi, was handed over to Spain. Prussia became now a strong military country and was in time to become master of all the German states. The American Colonies, France, Holland, and Spain against England. It was to France, smarting under the ruinous defeat of the Seven Years' War, that the American revolutionists turned for help in 1776 (First Book, pp. 136-142). French statesmen saw that the time had come to call the New World into the Euro- pean balance of power. There were many Frenchmen who sympathized with American ideas ; but the king of France did not. He saw in the possibility of Amer- ican independence merely a check on the immense power which England had won in the world. He at first aided the Americans secretly with money and arms. In 1778 he made a treaty of alliance with them. Then French battleships and military forces were sent to help the American colonies in their struggle against Great Britain. Spain and The Netherlands, old commercial rivals, also joined in the war on England. The outcome of this new balance of power was the defeat of England and the independence of America. Henceforward, the diplomats of Europe, in their schemes for war and empire, had to reckon with a new republic across the Atlantic. In Benjamin Franklin (First Book, pp. 136-143), the American minister who THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 283 284 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND brought about the alliance with France, they had found a supreme master of their art. England's Combinations against France (1793-1815). England and France were at peace only for a short time after the American War for Independence. In 1793, they began a fresh series of wars that lasted, except for a short break, until 1815. When this new series of conflicts opened, the French had begun their great revolution (below, pp. 299- 309). They had executed the king and set up a republic. George III and the English ruling classes were dread- fully frightened at this outbreak so near at hand, in the same way that the French king had been alarmed at the English revolution a hundred years before (p. 257). When the French occupied Belgium, they were still more frightened. Then the old commercial and colonial jealousy flamed up again. England gave money to Holland and Prussia and formed a combi- nation against France. At this turn in events, a great military commander, Napoleon Bonaparte, rose to the head of affairs in France (below, p. 310). For a long time he was vic- torious on land over all combinations formed against him. On the sea, however, the British beat him in every battle. At last, in 1815, Napoleon, with all Europe against him, was overthrown at the battle of Waterloo. The credit for the triumph over Napoleon seems about equally divided between the English and THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 285 the Prussians, who fought side by side against the French. In the Napoleonic wars, as in the wars of the preceding century, England's gains were colonial. She took the Cape of Good Hope, which became the basis of her empire in South Africa. She ob- Vrom an old print CAPE TOWN TRANSFERRED TO THE BRITISH DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS tained certain French islands in the West Indies, ajid she added the island of Ceylon to her growing empire in India. Not until a hundred years later, at the outbreak of the World War in 1914, was England again seriously threatened by any continental power. 286 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. From a study of the first two paragraphs of this chapter, discuss two important ways in which the exploration and settle- ment of the Americas changed the life of European peoples. 2. What is meant by the word "rivals"? Locate on the map facing p. 436 the five nations that were rivals for the commerce of the world during the period covered by this chapter. Can you think of any reasons that will explain why such countries as Italy, Greece, Germany, and Russia were not so much interested in world commerce as were these five nations? 3. Locate on the map the principal parts of the world with which the Spanish early car- ried on commerce ; the Dutch ; the French. II. I. Point out on the map the extent of the Spanish pos- sessions in the Americas during this period. Locate Spain's principal possessions in the Far East. 2. Why is the name of Sir Francis Drake remembered? 3. The English victory over the Spanish Armada is considered one of the most important events in English history. Why ? 4. How did the English Navigation Act aid English shipowners ? 5. In what way did the struggle between the English and the Dutch influence American history ? 6. Locate the Dutch possessions in the Far East on the map on p. 271. III. i. How was India reached from Europe before the Euro- peans learned how to sail their ships around Africa ? 2. Recall why great civilizations grew up in the Nile and Euphrates valleys. Are there similar reasons that will explain why India was a favor- able place for the development of a civilized people ? 3 . How were the people of India held together at the time when the Europeans opened an extensive sea trade with them ? In what way was the history of India thereafter like the history of Rome ? 4. " Both the English and the French in India were quick to see their chance." Explain this statement and tell what each hoped to gain by conquer- ing India. About how long had the English been interested in India THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 287 before they secured complete control of the country ? In what important way does the present control of India by the English differ from their control in the early days ? 5. The English people were also interested in North America. Did this interest differ in any respect from their interest in India ? If so, explain. 6. Point out the extent of the French and English possessions in North America just before the Seven Years' War. 7. What were the chief interests of the French in making settlements in North America ? How did these differ from the interests of the English ? IV. i. What is meant by an "alliance" among nations? How would such alliances help to prevent any one nation or king from becoming master of all the rest? Why are alliances not always successful in doing this ? 2. Why was England interested in keeping any one nation on the continent of Europe from becom- ing supreme? 3. Locate on the map facing p. 436 the lands that Louis XIV wished to add to France. Locate the countries that made an alliance against him. Why was the war that followed, which led to fighting between the English and French in America, known to the English colonists as King William's War ? 4. Spain was against France in the war just referred to; how did she come to be allied with France in the next great war ? Locate the new possessions that England gained in this war. Find out what this war was called by the English colonists in America. 5. How many years elapsed between the War of the Spanish Succession and King George's War ? What nations were allied in the latter war? 6. How many years passed between the close of King George's War and the opening of the Seven Years' War? The last-named war differed from the earlier wars by starting in America. How did it start? Locate the European nations that later took part in it and tell which were in alliance with the English and which with the French. 7. What Euro- pean country that we have heard very little about up to this time now becomes important ? _ 8. What were the principal results 288 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND of the Seven Years' War for England ? For our country ? For France ? 9. What was the first alliance entered into by the United States ? In what important way did this influence the " balance of power" in Europe? 10. With what countries did England make an alliance in order to crush Napoleon ? GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES 1. Study the map of Asia in your textbook in geography. What mountains bound India on the north ? Perhaps you can find some facts about these great mountains that will explain why they have been a real protection to India. 2. One of the chief purposes of your study of geography is to en- able you to recognize and to locate in your " mind's eye " the impor- tant places which you encounter in your reading. This chapter con- tains many such names, but no more than you would find on the front page of an ordinary newspaper. Hold a class contest to find out who can put the largest number of place-names in this chapter in the proper column. The follow- ing will be the headings of the columns : Hemispheres ; Conti- nents ; Oceans ; Archipelagoes ; Islands ; Lakes ; Rivers ; Straits ; Bays ; States ; Modern Countries ; Former Countries ; Cities of General Importance ; Cities Mentioned for Historical Importance. The following places, listed here alphabetically, are all mentioned in this chapter and should be classified in this way : Acadia, Asia, Atlantic, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Ceylon, Cuba, East Indies, England, English Channel, Europe, Fort Duquesne, France, Ganges, Gibraltar, Good Hope, Great Lakes, Holland, Hudson ('s) Bay,. India, Java, Louisiana, Minorca, Mississippi, Montreal, Newfoundland, New Netherland, New Orleans, New World, New York, North America, Ohio, Old World, Pennsylvania, Philippines, Pittsburgh, Plassey, Pondicherry, Portugal, Prussia, Quebec, Rhine, Russia, South Africa, South America, Spain, St. Lawrence, Sumatra, Thames, Virginia, Wa- terloo, West Indies. THE RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 289 3. Hold another class contest to see who can locate correctly the largest number of these places on an outline map of the world. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING CREIGHTON Stories from English History, xlviii-xlix. DALE Landmarks of British History, x, xi. MARSHALL A History of France, Ivi, Ivii. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xxxviii-xlii. TAPPAN Hero Stories of France, xiii-xxi. CHAPTER XII THE FRENCH REVOLUTION WHILE English sailors and soldiers were beating the forces of the French king on sea and land, English ideas were spreading f among his subjects and helping to destroy his power at home. Moreover, his wars - including his aid to the United States in the War for Independence added to his debts and increased the taxes laid upon his subjects. As the burdens grew heavier, the French people listened more eagerly to writers who told them how, in England, the king could not collect taxes without the consent of Parliament. The influence of the English revolution was made even greater by the American revolution. The Americans had thrown off the rule of the king altogether and had set up their own plan of government. French soldiers like Lafayette had helped in the American war for independence and had carried back to France stories of what they had seen and heard in the New World. Thus many things prepared the way for a revolution in France like that which had occurred in England a hundred years before. When the upheaval came, Frenchmen proclaimed the democratic ideas which the 290 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 291 Americans had recently set forth in their Declaration of Independence. THE OLD ORDER IN FRANCE The General Situation in Europe. On the eve of the French Revolution, nearly all the people on the continent of Europe were ruled by absolute monarchs. The Bourbons in France and Spain, the Hohenzollerns From an old print THE GALLERY OF THE ROYAL PALACE AT FONTAINEBLEAU (FRANCE) in Prussia, the Hapsburgs in Austria, and the Romanoffs in Russia could all boast of almost unlimited power. The minor princes of Germany and Italy were no less supreme in their tiny realms. In only a few places, like Switzerland, Holland, and Scandinavia, did the 292 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND people have any share in their own government, as they had in England and in the United States. Everywhere else on the continent the masses were subjects and most of them were still serfs. Everywhere feudal land- lords and the clergy enjoyed a great deal of the power which had been theirs in the middle ages. In the magnificence of the king, the splendor of his court, and the authority of the clergy, France stood out above all other monarchies of Europe. She was the model and envy of all other kingdoms. Treaties among nations were written in the French language. French manners, French styles, and French plays became fashionable among society people everywhere from Madrid to St. Petersburg. The French King. The powers of the French king seemed boundless even greater by far than those of the English king had been before the Puritan revolution of the seventeenth century. His word was law. Any decree which he issued had to be obeyed. He could lay taxes at will without asking the consent of the taxpayers. He could spend the money as he pleased. By his mere signature on a piece of paper, he could put anyone in prison without trial and keep him there as long as he wished. He could make alli- ances with other kings and princes, either secretly or openly, and thus involve his country in all kinds of troubles. He could declare war or make peace at will. He appointed and removed all high officers and could compel them to carry out his wishes. THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 293 294 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND As may be imagined, the expenses of the king were enormous. In addition to the ordinary costs of govern- ment, there were the heavy charges for wars entered into for glory or the conquest of new territory. The king kept up many costly mansions and had armies of servants. The royal palace at Versailles alone is said to have cost more than fifty million dollars. The upkeep of the spacious buildings and gardens was a drain on his treasury. The king also had about him hundreds of courtiers who lived upon his bounty and encouraged him in wasting money. To meet his bills, the king merely issued orders on the treasury. When the treasury was empty, he borrowed. At no time did he publish any statement showing what his receipts and expenditures had been. The finances of his king- dom he deemed a matter of no concern to the taxpayers. Indeed the king's subjects had been well schooled to accept this system without grumbling. It was still a regular saying in Europe that " the king can do no wrong." In Protestant Prussia and in Catholic France alike, the people were taught the belief that the king ruled by the favor and will of God. This idea of divine right, which had once been proclaimed by English kings, was thus summed up by a celebrated French bishop : ' Rulers act as the ministers of God and as his lieutenants on earth. . . . Should God withdraw his hand, the earth would fall to pieces ; should the king's authority cease in the realm, all would be confusion. . . . The royal power is absolute. . . . THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 295 The will of the people is included in his." Wicked kings were accountable to God for their misdeeds, but they were to be obeyed by their subjects. The Nobility. The French king had stanch friends among his nobles, a class of great landlords. Each noble owned an estate, sometimes of thousands of acres, tilled by tenants or by serfs. His birth and rank set him off from the mass of mankind. The noble- men, too, had many special rights. They escaped all the heavy taxes. They held all the high and important offices in the army and in the government. They crowded about the king's court and got favors from him. They spent the rents collected from their estates in lavish entertainments. They were happy when the king let them render him the meanest service ; at the same time, they looked down upon merchants and peasants as inferior beings. The Clergy. Like the nobility, the French clergy formed a distinct class. They were more powerful than the clergy in England. This was because the Protestant revolt had been stifled in France and there were no strong Protestant sects to dispute their authority. The priests were set apart for spiritual duties. Their religious garb marked them off from the mass of the people. j Though the village priest was usually very poor, many of the monasteries and the higher clergy especially the bishops and archbishops were very rich. About one fourth of the land of France belonged to the Church. 296 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND The clergy were exempt from taxes, but they had to give large sums for the support of the poor and the sick. They had control of all education. They chose the subjects to be taught and were themselves the teachers. They could suppress books which they did not approve. They could collect taxes, or tithes, for their own support, and punish people who violated the laws of the Church. They were powerful also as advisers of the king and as leaders of opinion. The Third Estate. All the rest of the French people were known as the third estate, or third class. The ma- jority of people everywhere in Europe were peasants and lived by tilling the soil. Unlike the agricultural laborers in England, many of them in France were still serfs. In Prussia, Austria, and Russia, serfdom was about the same as it had been in the middle ages. The serf was not a slave ; that is, his master could not sell him at the market. But he was still bound to the soil. The leaders in the third estate were merchants, manufacturers, and lawyers, rather than peasants or artisans. With the growth of world trade in the eighteenth century, the French merchant class had grown in numbers and wealth. Their warehouses in India and China, their fleets and their long lines of wharves and docks bore witness to their energy and power. The merchants felt that they were the equals of anyone, but they had to pay heavy taxes and enjoyed no favors at the king's court. It is not surprising that THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 297 they did not like the inferior position in which they were placed. They had to obey royal laws, yet they were denied all voice in making them. In the govern- ment of France, the richest merchants, like the humblest peasant or artisan, had no rights. In opposing absolute authority of the king, therefore, all these people had a common interest. Newspapers, Books, and Public Opinion. The lot of most editors and writers in those old days was not a happy one. If they praised the clergy and flattered the king, they were rewarded with money and positions ; but it was a blind person who could not see abuses that cried aloud for remedy. So a host of writers began to call for reform. Some complained about the high- handed actions of royal officers, others about heavy taxes, and others about the special privileges of the clergy and the nobility. The critics, however, had a hard time. Some of their books were seized by royal officers and others were burned by the hangman. Many a brilliant writer was fined or shut up in prison. Among those punished were some of the ablest men of France. One of them wrote in favor of toleration for all religious faiths ; his book was declared to be " seditious " and was burned. Another writer, Voltaire, was imprisoned twelve months on the charge that he had written a criticism of the king, Louis XIV. An abbot who wrote an amusing story about a princess was promptly ordered to jail. As prisons, fines, and exile did not stop criticism, 298 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND stronger measures were taken. In 1764 the French king decreed that no book should be published that dealt with political questions. A few years later, the government threatened with death any writer who ex- cited the public mind, or attacked religion, or said any- thing about royal finance. These heavy penalties also failed to crush the critics. Thereupon a high officer of the king proposed that no books should be printed ex- cept on a press owned by the government and managed by royal agents. This last plan was not carried out. A revolution, which overthrew the entire system, pre- vented it. THE PEOPLE REVOLT The Opening Scenes. When Louis XVI came to the throne of France in 1774, he found himself an absolute monarch, but heavily in debt. His grand- father had spent huge sums in the French and Indian War, and had lived extravagantly besides. The new king thought for a while that he would undertake reforms. In this he was unsuccessful. Every time he cut off the salary of a nobleman or reduced a pension a great cry went up from the victim. It seemed easier to drift along in the old reckless way, so Louis chose that course. Moreover, as we have seen, he added to his debts by joining with the Americans in 1778 in their war against England (First Book, pp. 136-142). In a few years Louis XVPs treasury was empty and he was practically bankrupt. Then he called upon) the THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 299 nobles and the clergy for help, only to meet with a flat refusal. This was in 1787, the year that the Con- stitution of the United States was drafted at Phila- delphia. The Estates General. Being at his wits' end for money, the king was forced to call upon the nation in 1789. So he summoned a grand national parliament representing the three "estates" the clergy, the nobil- ity, and the Third Estate. This assembly, known as the Estates General, was the first of the kind France had seen for more than a hundred years. The representatives of the Third Estate came in a very serious mood. They resented the way in which the king and his ministers had ruled the waste of money ; the injury to business ; the persecution ; and the indifference to the welfare of the French people. They debated their grievances with much heat. They invited the clergy and the nobles to sit and vote with them instead of forming two separate houses. When the clergy and the nobles refused, the Third Estate, in a revolutionary outburst, declared itself to be " the National Assembly." It solemnly vowed that it would not dissolve until it had drawn up a constitution for France. The clergy and nobility found themselves face to face with a new ruler, the French nation, speaking through its representatives. The Peaceful Revolution. It was in the spring of the very year that George Washington was inaugurated first President of the United States (First Book, pp. 3 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND 154-155) that the French nation set out upon a road of reform that led to revolution. On July 14, 1789, ten days after the Americans celebrated their thirteenth anniversary of independence, the people of Paris at- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 301 tacked the Bastille, an old royal prison, and destroyed it. In memory of this event, the I4th of July has become the chief national holiday of France. For two years the French National Assembly issued decrees of reform. It abolished the dues owed by serfs to their lords. It swept away the special rights and privileges of the nobility. Everywhere the serfs and peasants became free. It issued a Declaration of the Rights of Man. It took away from the king the right to make laws, lay taxes, or imprison at will. It declared in favor of religious toleration and freedom of press and speech. The Assembly decreed that the property of the Church should belong to the nation, and provided that the clergy should be paid from public funds. It drew up a constitution for France. It did not overthrow the king, but it did provide that laws were to be made and taxes voted by a legislature. This legislature was to be elected by all the men who paid a certain amount of taxes. Thus, in two years, the old order was swept away in France. Very little blood had been shed. The French nation was attempt- ing to govern itself and the king accepted the reforms. Americans Hail the New Day in France. The reforms of the National Assembly, especially the new French constitution, were greeted with general applause in the United States. " Liberty will have another feather in her cap," wrote a Boston editor. " In no part of the globe," declared John Marshall of Virginia, " was this revolution hailed with more joy than in 302 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND America." The main key of the old Bastille was sent to George Washington as a memento and accepted by him as " a token of the victory gained by liberty." France Slipping into Disorder. In the midst of the rejoicing, however, there were omens of trouble. French nobles who had lost their privileges fled across the Rhine. There they tried to get help in a plan to invade France, " free the king," and restore the old system. Louis himself showed his bad faith by at- tempting to escape from his realm. When he was captured and brought back, the people were in an angry mood. Some agitators began boldly to demand a republic. Hundreds of non-taxpayers in Paris assembled on a great drill ground (Champs de Mars) to petition for the right to vote. They came to blows with the soldiers and many of them were killed. All France was wildly excited. The kings of Austria and Prussia announced that they were ready to advance with their armies and re- store Louis to his old rights as a brother sovereign. France answered by a declaration of war on Austria and was defeated in the first battles. Then Prussia joined Austria and set her armies in motion. The French nation was in extreme danger of an armed in- vasion. In the midst of the excitement, a mob broke into the king's palace, forced him to put on a red liberty cap, and compelled him to drink to the health of the people. Volunteers from all parts of France came pour- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 303 ing in to defend their country. One little band of them from Marseilles came marching along singing a stirring hymn -- the Marseillaise which became the hymn of the revo- lution and later of the republic. The Reign of Terror. In this hour of peril, a na- tional convention was elected. Mod- erate men who favored the king were brushed aside by radical repub- licans, known as Jacobins. In Sep- tember, 1792, the convention abol- ished the monarchy and announced the first French Re- public. Within a few months, it tried the king, condemned him to death, and executed him. In a short time, too, the queen, Marie Antoinette, was sent to the scaffold. The English king, George III, went into mourning. All England, forgetting the ex- ecution of its own king, Charles I, long before, was from an ola print THE KING OF FRANCE SEIZED BY A MOB 304 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND alarmed. In February, 1793, France and England were at war. As the revolution was in grave danger of being crushed by outside enemies and by the factions within France, the convention put all power into the hands of a committee known as the Committee of Public Safety. For more than two years, France was governed by From an old print THE TRIAL OF Louis XVI a small minority of men who ruled with an iron hand. This period is called the Reign of Terror. Hundreds of royalists were executed with scarcely the semblance of a trial. Moderate men, who hated bloodshed and were not zealous enough for the revolution, were exiled or sent to the scaffold. Uprisings of the peasants against the republic were stamped out. The clergy, who refused to accept the new order, were sternly pun- THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 305 ished. Powerful men rose to leadership in swift suc- cession, each more radical than the man before him. Marat, Danton, and Robespierre each, in turn, led in the revolution and then perished on the scaffold or at the hands of an assassin. Meanwhile, war was going on with all Europe. In spite of this, more extreme reforms were being under- taken and a new constitution was being drafted. The mass of Frenchmen, who had been denied the right to vote by the first constitution of 1791, were given this right a thing that seemed very dangerous at that time. Reaction against Terror. Finally, the country be- came sick of bloodshed and disorder. A new govern- ment was established in 1795. It was republican in form. It was arranged that there should be a parlia- ment consisting of two houses and an executive department composed of five men called the Directory. For four years (1795-99) France was governed under this plan. The Reign of Terror was over, but the country was still at war. Victory on the battlefield was taking the place of defeat, however, and the kings of Europe were frightened. With republican armies launched on a career of conquest in Europe, all the monarchs and nobles and clergy trembled for their own safety. They were to have no peace for twenty years. American Opinion on the French Revolution. Dur- ing these stirring years in France, a great discussion 306 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND of the situation was taking place in the United States. The Americans also were being agitated by politics and were dividing into two parties. The Federalists were being formed under the leadership of Alexander Hamilton and the Republicans under Thomas Jefferson (First Book, pp. 154-160). Hamilton and his followers did not have great faith in popular government. Few of the Federalists be- lieved in giving the vote to men who owned no prop- erty, as the French radicals had urged. Indeed, the Federalists looked with real alarm upon the spread of French democratic ideas. They said that the rad- icals were to blame for all the disorders in France, and they denounced the Jacobins as " anarchists "' and " criminals." The followers of Jefferson, on the other hand, said that, on the whole, the French republicans were trying to do the right thing. They were sorry about the reign of terror, but they laid the blame rather on the king's friends and the nobles who wanted to overthrow the revolution and restore the old order. The Jeffer- sonians admitted that many terrible things had been done by the revolutionists, but they said that most of them had been necessary in the interest of the people. They pointed to the misdeeds of Louis XVI and asserted that the king and his friends had brought all the trouble on themselves. So Jefferson's followers formed " Democratic " societies and held banquets in honor of the French Republic. They said that the THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 307 kings of England, Austria, and Prussia were tyrants waging war on republican France in order to restore the monarchy. The United States Involved. While the people debated theories of government, the American govern- ment had practical problems to face. France, at war with England, called upon President Washington for aid. France claimed that the United States was bound to help her under the terms of the treaty of 1778. Many American citizens at the same time clamored for war against England. President Washington, unmoved by all the uproar, declared that the United States would remain neutral. When the French minister to the United States went about making speeches in this country to secure aid for France, Pres- ident Washington asked the French government to order him home. Under the rules of war both England and France began to search and seize our ships and goods on the high seas. Very soon France and the United States were on the verge of war. President Adams, who followed Washington, sent a special mission to Paris seeking peace. It was not received with courtesy, and secret demands were made upon it for (i) apologies for past conduct and (2) money in the form of bribes. President Adams then told Congress about these outrageous demands, naming the Frenchmen who made them simply as " Mr. X, Mr. Y, and Mr. Z." This aroused the whole country. Even Jefferson'? 308 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND party turned against France. In fact, war on France actually started at sea, though it did not last long. A peace was soon patched up. About the same time, the Federalists tried to shut out all further French influence by passing two severe laws, known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. The first of these laws authorized the president to expel any alien agitator from this country ; the second laid penalties on those who criticized the government of the United States. These laws were bitterly attacked by the party of Jefferson and became the subject of violent dispute (First Book, pp. 159-160). The French Revolution and European Opinion. England had alarmed the world by her revolution a hundred years before. Now it was the turn of France to terrify governments everywhere. In England, it is true, a few leaders rejoiced during the first stages of the French revolution and declared that England needed similar reforms ; that her earlier revolutions had not been democratic enough. Most Englishmen, however, were up in arms against everything French and denounced as " Jacobin " anyone who proposed the slightest change in the English government. One of them, Edmund Burke, who had once handsomely championed the cause of the Americans (First Book, pp. 116-118), savagely attacked the French and de- manded a union of kings to make war on them. King George's officers seized and threw into prison citizens who declared that the vote should be given to THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 309 every Englishman whether he owned any property or not. " The right of universal suffrage, the subjects of this country never enjoyed," said one of the king's judges, " and were they to enjoy it, they would not long enjoy either liberty or a free constitution." Men who expressed ap- proval of French ideas, even pri- vately, were liable to be fined and im- prisoned. In Austria, Prus- sia, and Spain, as well as in England, the ruling classes were thoroughly alarmed. They feared that revolu- tionary ideas about liberty, democ- racy, and republics would upset every throne and destroy the rights of the nobility and the clergy. French popular leaders talked as if the millennium had come. Kings and nobles, on the other hand, thought the world was crumbling into ruin. NAPOLEON I, EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH 310 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND THE NAPOLEONIC WARS The Remarkable Career of Bonaparte. Among the officers in the French army at the outbreak of the revolution was a young man destined to become the master of France and nearly all Europe. His name was Napoleon Bonaparte. He was only twenty-three years old when Louis XVI was executed in 1793, but in the war that soon followed he proved that he was an able artillery officer. In 1795 he endeared himself to the French government by using his guns on a crowd of citizens bent on overturning it. The next year, Bonaparte was chosen commander of the French army sent against the Austrians in Italy. In one battle after another, often against great odds, Bonaparte defeated the enemy and made himself mas- ter of all northern Italy. He astounded the world by his brilliant exploits. Having beaten Austria, he decided to strike England by attacking Egypt. In this way he threatened Eng- lish trade in the Mediterranean. He also hinted that he would go on until he destroyed English rule in India. Bonaparte was readily victorious over the Turks in Egypt ; but his fleet was destroyed by the English com- mander, Nelson, in the famous battle of the Nile in 1798. Bonaparte as Consul and Emperor. As things were not promising in Egypt, Bonaparte hurried back to France. In 1799, with the aid of soldiers, he over- threw the Directory. Thereupon he made himself THE FRENCH REVOLUTION head of the government as First Consul and reduced the power of the parliament to a shadow. With an iron hand, like Oliver Cromwell, he put down all oppo- sition that of royalists and radicals alike. He said that France needed " order," and he established order NAPOLEON'S CARRIAGE SO by the sword. He said that France loved " glory, by his conquering armies he gave her glory. At the same time, he steadily increased his own power. In 1802 he was made consul for life instead of a term of years. Two years later, he was made Emperor of the French, and crowned himself with great ceremony THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 313 in the beautiful cathedral of Notre Dame, with the pope looking on. He created a new court on the model of Louis XVFs and founded a new nobility. He strictly censored books and newspapers. He ordered editors not to print news " disagreeable to France." He required teachers in the schools to praise his name and his deeds and to make pupils do the same. France had a new despotism, more thoroughgoing than the despotism of the Bourbon kings had been. Napoleon's Conquests. " What the French want," Napoleon declared, " is glory. . . . The Nation must have a head rendered illustrious by glory and not by theories of government." In keeping with this idea, Napoleon was at war, save for a few months, during his entire rule. He found France at war in 1793, and he kept it up until 1815 with only one short breathing spell. By blows swift and terrible he over- came the armies of all nations massed against him. By 1810, Napoleon was the master of Europe. He was Emperor of the French, King of Italy, and " Pro- tector " of a league of German states. The borders of France had been extended to the Rhine and in- cluded what is now Belgium and Holland. His brother had been placed on the throne of Spain, and his brother-in-law on that of Naples. Only on the sea was he baffled. There England's navy reigned supreme. Indeed we may look upon the Napoleonic wars as a part of the old commercial struggle between England and France (p. 268). 314 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Napoleon's Downfall. When, in 1812, Napoleon at last tried to conquer Russia, he made a fatal mis- take. He could not fight against winter and famine. So he beat a hasty retreat. All the leading countries then turned against him. He was defeated at Leipzig in 1813. The next year he was sent into exile on the island of Elba. Once more Napoleon tried his fortune. He escaped from Elba, gathered an army about him, and promised France " peace and liberty." The kings of Europe proclaimed him an outlaw. On June 18, 1815, their armies, with the Duke of Wellington in the lead, over- whelmed Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo. This time Napoleon was sent far away to St. Helena, an island in the South Atlantic Ocean. There he was guarded day and night until his death in 1821. Twenty years later the French brought his body back home and placed it in an imposing tomb at Paris, where it rests to-day. America and the Napoleonic Wars. The long wars between England and France gave both of them an excuse to prey upon American commerce. French cruisers seized American ships and goods bound to England. The English did the same thing to ships and goods bound for France. Still they were not satis- fied. They searched American ships for British-born sailors, and carried away some who were really Ameri- can citizens. All through Jefferson's eight years as President seizures by the French and the English went THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 3IS 316 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND on, trying American patience to the utmost. Finally, in Madison's administration, in 1812, Congress declared war on England, opening a conflict for more than two years (First Book, pp. 181-190). One great advantage came to the United States from the long struggle among the European powers. That Was the purchase of the Louisiana territory in 1803. Napoleon had compelled Spain to cede it to him three years before ; then, fearing that England might wrest it from him, he quickly sold it to the United States. So much at least America owes to the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. The Results of the French Revolution. When Napoleon was overthrown, in 1815, the Bourbons were restored to the kingdom of France ; but the old order was not brought back again with them. The power of the clergy and the nobility had been badly broken ; they never fully recovered their ancient position. The king, moreover, could no longer make laws without the consent of a parliament. The age of Louis XVI had passed forever. In addition, all Europe was in ferment with new ideas. Everywhere people talked of the " rights of man," even in distant Russia. It was said that all men, rich and poor, noble and common, should be equal before the law ; that men had a right to make their own laws and levy their own taxes. Religious toleration was widely accepted in theory and some- what in practice. Everywhere people talked of new THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 317 things. Even the idea of votes for women was ad- vanced. Freedom of speech and press lived on in spite of many difficulties. The notion of free public schools had been put forward during the revolution. It was not put into practice then, but it continued to live in the minds of the people. Feudalism was tottering to its final fall. Napoleon had abolished the rights of the nobility in Italy and Spain by force of arms and by imperial decrees. Thou- sands of the great estates owned by landlords were broken up into small farms tilled by their owners. New " peasant democracies " began to take the place of aristocracies. Though attempts were made everywhere to undo the effects of the French revolution, they were not successful. All western Europe was passing out of the feudal and clerical age. Even in Germany the two or three hundred petty princes whom Napoleon overthrew were never restored. The Holy Roman Empire (p. i66)--long a mere shadow empire - which he destroyed was never called to life again. The rulers of Prussia and Austria tried in vain to stop the spread of French notions among their subjects. Even far-away Russia could not escape the influence of the French example. Though they did their best, kings and czars could not blot out the history of the past twenty-five years. The day was to come when echoes of the Marseillaise would be heard in the streets of Berlin, Vienna, and St. Petersburg. 318 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. Compare the condition of the common people of France with that of the common people of England in the early part of the eighteenth century. Study the powers that the French king had at that time (p. 292) and tell what bodies have these powers in our country to-day. 2. Compare the account of French classes (king, nobility, and common people) given in this chapter vith the account in chapter x of the classes in England. In wnich country were the nobles the more powerful ? The clergy ? II. I. Why is the first revolt of the people against the French king called the "peaceful revolution"? Can you think of any reasons that will explain why the common people of France began their revolution with an attack on the royal prison, the Bastille ? What kind of prisoners were probably kept there ? 2. How did the first two years of the French revolution differ from the first two years of the American revolution? 3. Why were the kings of surrounding nations anxious to see the French king restored to his old position of power ? 4. England had already made long advances toward democracy; why, then, were the English people ready to make war on the new French republic ? 5. In what important ways did the French government between the years 1795-99 differ from our government to-day? 6. At the out- set of the French revolution many if not most Americans were sympathetic with the French people. Later there was a strong feeling against them. Make a list of the reasons for this change of opinion. 7. What is meant by "neutrality" in war? Why did Washington wish to have the United States remain neutral in the war between the new French republic and England ? III. I. How did it happen that a young man like Napoleon could come into power so quickly ? 2. Compare Napoleon with Cromwell and with Washington. Which of the three do you admire the least, and why? With what military leader of the ancient world would you compare Napoleon ? 3. What reasons THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 319 can you think of that will explain why the conquest of Russia and of England was too great a task even for Napoleon ? 4. The battle of Waterloo is regarded as one of the most important, or " decisive,' ' battles of history. Why ? 5. What were the effects of the Napoleonic wars in America ? In Europe ? GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. From the map on p. 312, find out why the kings of Austria and Prussia, as told on p. 302, took such interest in the French revolution. 2. By a study of the map just referred to, find out what modern nations were included in the empire of Napoleon at its greatest extent. 3. Locate Waterloo. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING FOR PUPILS BIRKHEAD, ALICE The Story of the French Revolution; Crowell. DALE Landmarks of British History, xix. DUTTON, MAUDE B. Little Stories of France, pp. 132-171 ; Amer- ican Book. FINNEMORE, J. Peeps at History, France, x-xv; Adams and Black. MACGREGOR The Story of France, Ixix-lxxiii. MARSHALL A History of France, Ixxvi-lxxxii. MORRIS, CHARLES Historical Tales, France, xxi (p. 233), xxx; Lippincott. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xliii. TAPPAN Hero Stories of France, xxxi. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), xlvi, lii-lv. FOR TEACHERS ASHLEY, R. L. Modern European Civilization, vi-vii ; Mac- millan. TARBELL, IDA M. Napoleon; Macmillan. 320 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND SUGGESTIONS FOR REVIEW OF CHAPTERS IX-XII I. i. Make a list of the most important events that are de- scribed in these four chapters. Arrange these first in the order of time, and then try to rearrange them in what you think to be the order of their importance. 2. How many years passed be- tween the discovery of America and the end of the Napoleonic wars ? On the blackboard draw a line six feet long. Let the left end of the line mark the fall of the Roman empire and the right end the close of the Napoleonic wars. Place a mark at the proper point indicating the discovery of America. Make other marks indicating what you consider to be the most important dates of these two periods. II. I. What great rights did the common people of Europe gain during the period covered by these four chapters ? In what countries did the common people make the greatest progress during this period ? In what countries did they make little or no progress ? 2. Make a list of the persons mentioned in these five chapters who in your judgment did the most for their fellow men. Have committees appointed to find out all they can about these men and to report to the class the important facts about their lives and the reasons which justify us in learning about heir deeds and honoring their memories. CHAPTER XIII THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY The Slow Progress in Industry in Olden Times. All the revolutions in empires, kingdoms, and republics which filled the pages of history down to the eighteenth century made few changes in the way in which the mass of the people lived and worked. The great nations of antiquity rose and fell ; city-states flourished and withered ; commercial towns sprang up and de- cayed ; Rome spread out her broad empire and then broke into pieces; kings and princes fought for centuries over fragments of territory ; constitutions were framed and parliaments created. All the while the mass of the people in Europe -- the peasants with their hoes, the artisans at the forge, the women at the loom - went on with their work as usual. All the while they were using the few crude and simple tools that had been invented in the early days of mankind. Through- out their long history, the English and the French, like the Greeks and the Romans, had made few improve- ments in the plow, the wagon, or the loom. Wheat was cut with a sickle and threshed with a flail, almost as in the first days of agriculture. Through 321 322 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND the two thousand years and more of their progress, the Greeks and Romans made little advance over the crude methods of the earliest times. Indeed, they both looked with scorn upon all hand labor and Keystone View Co.. Inc. SPINNING BY HAND IN JAPAN TO-DAY thought it beneath the dignity of any educated person to care about making better tools or making the bur- den of toil lighter for human beings. All during the middle ages, the age of discovery, the Protestant Reformation, and the English political revolution, the same ways of working were continued. THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 323 When King John was forced to grant Magna Carta, the plow used in the fields of England was modeled on the same lines as the plow introduced by the Romans when Britain was a province of their empire. When the Pilgrims set sail for America in 1620, the women of England spun and wove cloth by hand, as their ancestors had in the days of King John. The lumbering stagecoach and the creeping sailboat were the chief means of travel and trade. In order to secure a bare livelihood, to say nothing of comforts and luxuries, the masses had to spend laborious days digging, sowing, reaping, spinning, and weaving. The sons and daugh- ters of peasants became peasants ; they lived and died in the village where they were born. The sun rose and set with serene monotony on changeless days of toil. A Sudden Revolution in Industry. Then suddenly, about the middle of the eighteenth century, there began a series of remarkable inventions which in time turned upside down the old world of peasants and artisans. New ways of working, living, trading, and traveling were discovered. A new age was opened our modern age of steam and machinery, gigantic factories, smoky industrial cities, roaring furnaces, thundering expresses, ocean steamships, mysterious electric instruments, and swift automobiles and airplanes. As time went on the inventors worked faster and faster. The man with a hoe, bowed by the weight of centuries, was startled to find a tractor driven up beside him. Women, bending over their shuttle day 324 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND and night, could not weave cloth fast enough by hand to compete with the flying shuttle driven by steam ; so they were drawn forth by thousands to the factories to tend steel fingers that flew with lightning speed and knew not weariness. The place of the stagecoach was taken by the railway. The lazy sailing vessel was nosed aside by the ocean greyhound that sped over the Atlantic in less than six days. Coal and oil drawn from the earth in huge quantities gave heat and light for multitudes whose ancestors for centuries had shivered in darkness. The Idea of Progress. Industrial events brought changes in the life of the people as no political events had ever done. Peasants left the soil and went into industrial towns or across the sea in search of employ- ment. Women and girls, for the first time, worked in factories and were paid in money for their labor. Millions learned to read and write. The idea of prog- ress of endless improvement in the lot of mankind - seized upon the minds of humanity. Those who labored at the plow, the forge, and the loom no longer accepted in silence any fate that befell them ; they declared they would be citizens, voters, and architects of their own fortunes. The age of democracy the age of the people burst upon the astonished world. This marvelous epoch of progress was opened by obscure artisans, mechanics, and smiths who, with end- less patience and in the face of trials and discourage- ments, made one ingenious machine after another. THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 325 They were benefactors of mankind who have never figured largely on the pages of history. Nevertheless they did more to change and improve the lot of the people than all the generals and statesmen that ever From an old -print CARRYING FREIGHT IN ENGLAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY lived. So great was the change which they wrought in the life of Western nations that it has rightly been called the industrial revolution. In this work of inven- tion, America did a lion's share. STEAM POWER The Uses of Power. If you will stop to think about the things you use in daily life, you will find that power 326 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND has been employed to fashion them. Nothing can be made without the use of some kind of power. Take, for example, a loaf of bread. Power is used to break the ground, sow the seed, reap the grain, grind the flour, and knead the dough. So with everything we use. In olden times the power of men, women, children, and beasts, of wind and water, was used to turn wheels From, an 6ld print AN ENGLISH WATER MILL IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY and make goods. But animal and human power is limited ; the wind is fickle ; and waterfalls are found only in certain places. As long as mankind had only these sources of power, the output of goods was nec- essarily small. James Watt and the Steam Engine. In 1736 there was born in Scotland a genius who was to place un- limited power at the service of mankind. His name THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 327 was James Watt. A story is told that he got the idea of using steam power by watching the steam in his mother's teakettle push the lid up. Unfortunately this pretty tale is a fiction. Long before Watt was born, the power of steam was known and many men had attempted to harness it. The furnace and boiler had been invented to generate steam. A steam engine had been devised that would push a pump handle up and down ; but it was a very awkward thing and would not turn a wheel. Watt, who was a skilled mechanic at the University of Glasgow, had in his collection of models a small steam engine of the old, crude type. It was while working on this machine that he got the idea of a better engine. He made his first invention in 1765 and took out his first patent four years later. Watt made two important advances. He cut down the waste of coal in generating steam and he fixed the engine so that it would turn a wheel. As he was a poor man, he had to form a partnership with Boulton, a man of money, in order to manufacture his engines. For many years the two men built en- gines at Birmingham, in England. Watt kept on making improvements in the engine until his death in 1819. Thanks to his labors, there was henceforward no limit to the amount of power for the making of goods. It is estimated that the steam engine " has added to human power the equivalent of a thousand million men." 328 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND THE BOYHOOD OF JAMES WATT from an old print The Steamship. Power is necessary for carrying goods from place to place as well as for making them. On the sea, wind and oars had always been used to drive ships. On land, horses, asses, and oxen were employed to drag carts and wagons. How slow those old methods were ! How natural that some one should think of using the steam engine to drive ships and wagons ! Indeed, other men in Europe and America were already thinking about it when Watt took out his first patent. It so happened that the honor of making the first successful steamboat was won by an American, THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 329 Robert Fulton (First Book, pp. 221-224). It was ' m the year 1807 that he sent his steamboat, the Clermont, up the Hudson River and back again. This was a great triumph for Fulton, but it is due to truth to say that a part of the honor belongs to Watt. Fulton used in the Clermont a steam engine made by Watt and Boulton at Birmingham. In fact, Fulton had visited England himself and had learned much there about the use of steam. He tried to interest the great Napoleon in Natural History Museum MODEL OF AN EARLY PADDLEBOAT MADE YEARS BEFORE THE Clermont his ideas before he found help in the United States. The Steam Railway. While Watt and Fulton were busy with their machines, other men were at work trying to apply steam to driving wagons. The very year in which Watt took out his first patent, a French inventor, Cugnot, made a steam wagon which carried four persons along a road at the rate of a little over two miles an hour. An engine built according to his plans in 1770 is still to be seen in the industrial mu- seum in the city of Paris A 330 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND A few years later a workman in the shops of Watt and Boulton in Birmingham made a small steam car- riage which, we are told, ran a mile or two carrying " a poker, a fire shovel, and a pair of tongs." In 1804, a Cornish engineer, Richard Trevithick, built in Wales a locomotive which drew along a tramway five wagons with a thirteen-ton load at the rate of five miles an hour. Likewise in other parts of Great Britain, other inventors were busy with the idea of steam locomotion. In 1825, there was built in the north of England the first public steam railway in the world, running from Stockton to Darlington, a distance of about twenty miles. George Stephenson planned and drove the first locomotive over the line. With the completion of the Manchester and Liverpool system in 1830, the age of steam railways was begun. Within twenty-five years, the principal cities of western Europe had rail connections with one another. George Stephenson was praised as one of the first inventors of all times. In truth, however, a great deal of credit for patient experiments belonged also to other men who failed to make a business success of their locomotives. THE INVENTION OF MACHINERY Old Ways of Spinning. While James Watt was improving the steam engine to take the place of human power, other inventors were making machines to take the place of arms and fingers. The earliest of these THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 331 inventions were in the textile industry ; that is, for spinning yarn and weaving cloth. From ancient times woolen threads had been spun by hand. The spinner placed a bunch of wool on a stick known as a distaff *, drew out a few fibers, twisted them together, and attached them to a stone called the whorl. The whorl was then given a sharp stroke and allowed to drop down, turning rapidly around. When a few feet were spun the thread was wound on a stick and the process of drawing and twisting repeated. As you may imagine, it was slow and tedious work. The spinning wheel, which came into use in the later middle ages, was a vast improvement on the distaff ; yet it too was slow. The spinner could spin only one thread at a time. The Old-Fashioned Loom. Weaving was also done by hand. The weaver fastened stout threads, called the warp, in parallel rows on a round pole and attached the loose ends to a second pole. The poles were then fastened a few feet apart, thus stretching out three or four feet Ill mm i v\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\ \ \ \\vv\\ \ \ \\\I\\\\\\\\\\\ X -/ Z^ IMUOIMHUHMMMIIMHHH IHHIIMMHMMHIIHMMMIOIHMHMIII HMMMMHHMMMMMMWMHMHMMMM Natural History Museum DIAGRAM SHOWING now WEAVING Is DONE 332 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND of the warp. The weaver took finer thread, called the weft, and wound it on a stick or shuttle. All was now ready for weaving. The shuttle was pushed in and out between the threads of warp. Forward and back went the shuttle lacing the weft with the warp and making cloth. The hand loom generally in use in the eighteenth century was little more than a wooden frame for holding the warp in place while the weaver oper- ated the shuttle. The Spinning Jenny. At the very time when James Watt was making his first improvements in the steam engine, a clever mechanic at Blackburn, England, James Hargreaves, was working on a machine for spin- ning several threads at once. About 1767, two years before Watt's first patent, Hargreaves built a machine which he called a "jenny" (perhaps after his wife). His machine had eight spindles instead of one and could be operated easily by a child. The Factory System. A year later an English barber, Richard Arkwright, took out a patent for another spinning machine. He made several of them and drove them all by a water wheel. For this reason he is called " the father of the factory system." By this time scores of mechanics were trying to perfect the spinning jenny. At last there was built a machine which spun several hundred threads at a time and required the attention of merely one or two boys or girls to mend the threads when they broke. The Power Loom. The invention of the spinning THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 333 machine, of course, increased immensely the output of yarn. The weavers then had to " speed up." It was not strange, therefore, that inventors should think of improving the old-fashioned and slow hand loom. Indeed, as early as 1738 an English mechanic, John Keystone View Co., Inc. GLIMPSE OF A MODERN SPINNING MACHINE IN A FACTORY Kay, hit upon the idea of driving the shuttle to and fro by means of a lever or handle attached to the loom. For nearly fifty years no other important improve- ments were made. Then, just as the American revolu- tion was coming to a close, an English clergyman, 334 UR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Edmund Cartwright, began to work on a loom that could be driven by power. By 1787, he had his machine in operation. It was a cumbersome affair, at first, but year after year it was improved and refined. At length a loom was perfected that would throw the Keystone View Co., Inc. A MODERN LATHE TO TURN HEAVY IRON WORK shuttle to and fro four hundred times a minute and weave the most complicated patterns. Iron and Steel. When the age of invention opened, the methods employed in making iron were almost as crude as in Caesar's day. Charcoal was used to melt the ore, and hand bellows to furnish the blast for the THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 335 very hot fire required. Small pieces of iron were tempered into steel by a slow hand process. As long as such tedious methods lasted, invention in other fields was limited, for machines are nearly all made of iron and steel. Without them, there .could be no railways, steamships, or steam engines, to say nothing of spinning jennies, looms, and a thousand other useful machines. The situation was fully understood by many inven- tors, and about 1750 they started a revolution in the iron industry. At that time coal was first applied to smelting iron ore. In a few years the bellows were thrown away and the blast was furnished by compressed air from iron cylinders. Within forty years, the steam engine was harnessed to drive the air-blast machine. In the course of time, hot air was substituted for cold air, and a way was discovered for changing iron into steel in immense quantities as it poured from the fur- nace. The Flood of Inventions. As soon as the human mind was turned to invention, there seemed to be no limit to its powers. The Greek philosophers had scorned the practical arts ; the modern nations glorified them. Every year the patent offices of the European countries had to make room for new contrivances. From America, Europe borrowed the telegraph and telephone (First Book, pp. 228-231). The idea of a cable under the Atlantic Ocean was also American, but European capitalists helped to realize it in 1866. In many fields Americans and Europeans exchanged ideas. 336 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND They learned from and taught each other. Invention became international. Every branch of industry and agriculture was trans- formed by machinery and steam. The inventor tri- umphed over Nature. He harnessed her power to turn Keystone View Co., Inc. VIEW OF AN IRON FOUNDRY IN ENGLAND his wheels. He devised millions of supple fingers to take the place of human ones. He discovered a real fairyland of science. At the touch of his magic wand, cloth, knives, forks, spoons, plates, cups, saucers, shoes, lumber, nails, typewriters, sewing machines, reapers, THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 337 automobiles, telephones, telegraph instruments, loco- motives, and electric lights flowed in avalanches from his giant factories. So it became possible for the masses to have comforts and even luxuries once denied to kings and princes. Surely the inventor deserves a place in history as well as the warrior and the politi- cian. THE MEANING OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION The Era of the Business Men. Before the age of ;>team and machinery, agriculture was the chief occu- pation of the people; landlords and clergy were the leading men of affairs. As we have seen, these men held the high offices in the government under the king's authority. They directed the thought and labor of the people. Commerce, it is true, called into being a large class of merchants ; but as long as the goods were made only by hand, the opportunities for trade were limited. With the age of Watt and Fulton came the modern business men. They raised the money for factories and machines, organized industries, and brought to- gether hosts of workers. They planned railroads and steamship lines. They searched the four corners of the earth for markets in which to sell the goods they manufactured. They advertised and " pushed " their wares, putting new things before the people, creating new wants, and so making fresh business all the time. Ever alive to chances for greater profits, the business man discarded old methods, " boosted " new ideas, 338 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND and encouraged " progress." The medieval merchant had been a man of progress as compared with the landlord ; but the business man put all the drive of a steam engine into " making things move." The ox cart, the hand loom, the sickle, and the flail were made obsolete by his railway, power loom, reaper, and thresh- ing machine. Through their energy, their wealth, and their ingenuity the business men became more powerful than the clergy and nobility put together. The Industrial Workers. The steam engine and machinery also changed vitally the position of working people. In olden times, when tools were simple and cheap and operated mainly by hand power, every enterprising young man could look forward to the day when he would own a set of tools and be his own master. It is true that a clever mechanic sometimes gathered several hand looms under a single roof and hired em- ployees to operate them. Still there was little to be gained by this. Goods could not be made more cheaply. As long as weaving was done by hand, the loom was usually found in the home and all the family took part in making cloth. With the coming of steam and machinery, hand tools were driven out of business. The slow and weary arms of men and women could not compete with the swift and tireless steam engine. Therefore, in place of the small shop there came the vast factory. Work- ing people men, women, and children -- went out of their homes to tend machines in huge mills. They THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 339 340 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND no longer owned the tools with which they worked. They were employees of the men who furnished the capital to buy the machinery. They could seldom expect to become employers themselves. Thus there grew up in Europe a large class of people who did not own land or tools and who depended for a livelihood upon the sale of their labor to factory owners. In order to increase their wages and reduce their hours of work, employees in the leading trades formed trade unions. So the working classes drew together. Many strikes and long contests between employers and employees resulted from the efforts of trade unionists to better their lot. The Growth of Industrial Cities. All through an- tiquity and the middle ages, the great mass of the people lived in the country and worked on the land. At the time of the French revolution, perhaps nine tenths of the people of Europe were peasants or arti- sans living in small villages. The steam engine and machinery made a revolution in their lives. The factory was a great magnet which drew men and women and children into the towns. Important centers of trade and industry became gi- gantic cities. At the end of the nineteenth century most of the people of England were city dwellers. Ancient Rome at the height of her glory had about five or six hundred thousand inhabitants ; modern London has about seven millions. Within a radius of thirty miles of Manchester there were, in 1920, about THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 341 fifteen million people, nearly all employed in factories, mines, and shops. Industrial Panics. These huge industrial cities were helpless without trade. They could grow no food or raw materials, like wheat or cotton, for themselves. If business was poor, factories were shut down and working people were unemployed. The peasants in the country usually had something to eat and wear. They could produce these things for themselves if they could not buy them. The industrial workers in the towns, on the contrary, were at the mercy of the market. If the demand for cloth or shoes fell off, there was a falling off in the demand for labor to make them. About every ten or fifteen years during the nineteenth century, the cities of Europe suffered from a panic and bad business conditions. Thousands were unem- ployed and driven into poverty. Certainly the lot of many industrial workers was not to be envied by the peasants on the land. The Contest of Industry and Agriculture. After the invention of the steam engine, industry steadily gained in importance as compared with agriculture that is, in the number of people employed, the money in- vested, and the profits made. As England was the original home of the industrial revolution, so England took the lead as an industrial nation. By the end of the nineteenth century, four fifths of the English people were engaged in factories, shops, offices, mines, and warehouses, and lived in cities ; only one fifth remained 342 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 343 in agriculture. Germany stood next with two thirds of her people in industrial and business pursuits and one third on the soil. France was about equally divided between town and country. In Italy, Austria, and parts of Russia, industry was growing steadily, but not as rapidly as in western Europe. In fact, in northern, eastern, and southern Europe ag- riculture held its own during the nineteenth century as the chief occupation of the masses. There the tillers of the soil, with a few machines to help them, worked the land with hoes and spades as their forefathers had done in the middle ages. In many places, especially Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, and Hungary, the land was not divided into small farms but was mainly held in great estates by rich landlords. Serfdom had practically disappeared by 1861, but millions of European peasants did not own any land. The landlords would not break up and sell their estates. So the peasants were not able to buy land. They had to work as renters or day laborers, if they found work at all. As their num- bers multiplied, it became more and more difficult to find employment. There were few factories in those countries and, as time went on, the working people had to search far and wide for opportunities to earn a livelihood. Resulting Migration. Amid these changing condi- tions, the fixed ways of living common in the middle ages were broken up. Peasants whose ancestors 344 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND had lived undisturbed in their native villages for a thousand years were drawn into industrial towns. Millions of working men and women began to move to and fro. Artisans in search of employment or seek- ing to improve their lot went from city to city. At the same time migration from nation to nation set in on a large scale. Peasants from all parts of Europe went across the sea in throngs to find homes in North America, South America, or Australia. More- over, there were constant changes in migration itself. As industries multiplied in England and Germany, for example, the growing populations of the rural districts found work in neighboring factories. English and German migration to America, therefore, fell off until by 1890 it had dwindled to a small stream. By that time, however, the emigration to the United States from the farming regions of Scandinavia, Italy, Austria-Hungary, and eastern Europe generally, as well as from Ireland, had become very large. Of the 1,058,000 Europeans who entered the United States in 1914, one of the years of heaviest immigration, more than one half were from Italy, Austria-Hungary, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Whoever would understand America to-day, therefore, must look across the ocean to the lands whence came so many million citizens. The Influence of the Railways. By connecting the chief cities of the same country, the railways built up national trade. They enabled certain districts to THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 345 engage in iron or cloth manufacture and to rely upon other sections for food and fuel. The most backward and out-of-the-way places were brought into touch with the most progressive business centers. For ex- ample, a Frenchman from the north of France, who View Co., Inc. AN AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVE READY FOR SHIPMENT TO CHINA had scarcely ever seen a Frenchman from Marseilles, could now make a journey to that city in about fifteen hours. Newspapers could be carried quickly from one section to another ; they helped to give the people a larger outlook and to overcome local jealousies. In a 346 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND word, railways tended to unite all parts of the same nation and to foster the spirit of nationalism (see below, p. 354). Then the railways overleaped national boundaries. The railway companies of different nations arranged to run cars from one country to another, and indeed across many countries. Long before the end of the nineteenth century, it was possible to take a through car from Paris to Berlin and St. Petersburg, or from Paris to Rome, or from Paris to Milan, Venice, Athens, or Constantinople. When larger and larger engines were built, the speed was increased until the journey from Paris to Constantinople could be made in three days. It took Caesar's legions more than a month to march from Rome to Paris ; the steam locomotive can make the trip easily in twenty-four hours. Railways thus became important factors in extending trade and preparing for war. The Germans, for example, planned a long line extending from Berlin to Constantinople and Bagdad. This was to bind Turkey and western Asia into a close union with central Europe. In this way, the Germans hoped to draw to themselves much of the trade that had once been carried by British merchant ships. The English were equally busy with plans for a railway line from Cairo, Egypt, to Cape Town far away at the southern tip of Africa. At the same time, Germany, France, and Russia were building railway lines to their frontiers. These were to be used in sending forward troops and supplies 347 348 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND in case of war. So the railway, which helped so much to unite nations, also served to divide them and prepare them for war on a vast scale. The Influence of the Steamship. The steamship brought about quick, safe, and cheap communication between the most distant parts of the earth. Thus millions of Europeans were enabled to use tea, coffee, sugar, and other tropical products for the first time. Great manufacturing districts, such as those around Manchester in England, came to depend upon raw cotton bought in Egypt and the United States and upon the sale of their cloth in all parts of the world. Equally important was the effect of the steamship on emigration to the United States. In colonial times, a European workman often had to bind himself to labor for a term of at least five years to pay his passage to America (First Book, p. 76). Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the steerage fare from Liverpool to New York sometimes fell as low as $25. At the most, not more than a few weeks' labor served to pay the cost of the voyage. Consequently millions of the poorest people of Europe came to America. More- over, the steamship companies were always bidding against one another to get passengers. They sent advertisements and agents into the highways and by- ways of Europe ; they offered special favors to all who would buy tickets to America. So the stream of mi- gration swelled with the passing years. Cheap passenger rates also had another striking THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 349 effect upon migration. In the old days when the voyage was so costly, those who went to America went to stay. When the cost of their passage fell to $25 or $30, thousands of Europeans went to the United States merely to make money. After they had made it, they returned home and bought land for themselves. More- over, thousands went back and forth, having no fixed A GREAT TRANS-ATLANTIC STEAMSHIP home anywhere. This meant that the United States acquired many residents and workers who were not citizens -- many residents who cared little about the fate of America and a great deal about making money out of America in a hurry. The steamship also introduced new and serious elements into warfare. It brought closer together countries that were once separated by journeys of 350 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND weeks or months. A steamship can now cross the Atlantic in less time than it took George Washington to go from Philadelphia to Cambridge, in 1776, to take command of the American army. The very fact of being brought so close to Europe has made warfare at sea more serious than ever. Nations have grown to de- pend heavily upon trade by sea and upon food brought in ships. When war occurs, the country with the strongest navy can cut off the trade and the food of its enemies. This is what Great Britain did to France during the Napoleonic wars and to Germany during the World War that opened in 1914. So sea power has become one of the mighty factors in shaping the world's history. It was a great factor in the day of the sailing vessel. It is greater still in the day of the steamship. The Contest for Natural Resources. Besides mak- ing all these changes in the life of the peoples of Europe, steam and machinery added fresh sources of dispute among nations. In ancient times 'and in the middle ages, the masses of the people lived on bread, wine, and olive oil. They had only a few simple garments, and they usually slept on piles of straw. Their wants were supplied from materials at hand. Bread came from the fields and cloth from the backs of sheep. Each community and each nation met nearly all its own needs and did not depend very much on its neighbors. With the invention of the steam engine and machin- ery, this local independence came to an end. Few THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 351 nations have all the raw materials used in their indus- tries. If a nation does not have iron and coal, at least, it lacks the chief elements of industrial success. It must either get these things by trade or obtain ter- ritory in which they are to be found. For this reason, Germany reached out to get possession of French iron mines in Alsace-Lorraine. England likewise reached out to get petroleum in Mesopotamia and coal in China. Modern industry, therefore, with its need of vast supplies of raw materials made great changes in the relations of nations, just as it changed the relations of people within each nation. Nations that had formerly fought for territory to be tilled by their peasants or pastured by their flocks, now be- gan to fight for territory on account of the wealth that lay beneath the soil. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. Preceding chapters have told of the English revolution, the American revolution, and the French revolution. We have learned that such revolutions are called "political." The present chapter tells about the "industrial revolution." In what im- portant ways did the industrial revolution differ from the polit- ical revolutions ? In what way did the industrial revolution differ from the earlier "religious" revolution (see chapter ix) ? II. i. Make a list of the different kinds of power that are now used. Which of these were used by primitive men (chapter ii) ? Which were used by the Romans? 2. In what way did the invention of the steam engine "place unlimited power at the service of mankind" ? 3. Why is Watt's name so much better known than are the names of the inventors who first used steam 352 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND power to operate pumps ? 4. Can you think of any reasons that will explain why the use of steam was at first much more successful in moving boats on the water than in moving cars on the land ? 5. Compare the work of Watt, Fulton, and Stephenson. Of the three, whom do you regard as rendering the greatest service, and why ? III. I. What progress had been made in spinning and weaving before the use of steam power ? The earliest textile mills were operated by water power. Is water power still used for this pur- pose ? (Find from your geographies where the important centers of textile manufacturing in America are now located.) In what way did the introduction of steam power help the textile industry ? 2. How did the increased use of machinery increase the demand for iron and steel ? What improvements were made in the pro- duction of iron and steel because of this demand? 3. This chapter has dealt in part with three great topics : the appli- cation of steam power to transportation by sea and land ; the development of the textile industry through improved machinery and the use of power ; the development of the iron and steel in- dustry. Think of the various ways in which these three kinds of progress helped one another. IV. I. Tell why, after the industrial revolution, the "business man became more powerful than the clergy and nobility com- bined." 2. In what ways did the workers benefit by the in- dustrial revolution ? In what ways were they perhaps as badly off as they were before? How did they try to better their con- dition? 3. How did the industrial revolution make possible the growth of great cities ? Why was it impossible for these huge cities to grow up before the use of steam power in transportation ? In manufacturing ? 4. How does the life of the workers in the great cities compare to-day with the life of the peasants and artisans during the middle ages? 5. Locate on the map facing p. 436 the principal industrial countries of Europe to-day. Locate the principal agricultural countries. From what countries have most THE AGE OF STEAM AND MACHINERY 353 of the recent immigrants to the United States come ? Why ? 6. In what important ways in addition to carrying foodstuffs and manufactured goods have railroads and steamships changed modern life ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING DARROW, F. L. The Boy's Own Book of Great Inventions; Macmillan. HOLLAND, RUPERT S. Historic Inventions, iv, v; Jacobs. MARSHALL, H. E. An Island Story, xcvi ; Stokes. QUENNELL A History of Everyday Things in England, II, iii to p. 166. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), Ivii, Iviii, lix. WARREN Stories from English History, pp. 383-406. CHAPTER XIV NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY The Idea of Nationalism. Almost every one has a love for the place where he was born. All persons are likely to be proud of their own town, their state, their country. . People feel more fellowship with those that speak their own language and belong to their own race than they do with those who speak other languages and belong to other races. This love of the homeland and feeling of fellowship is the spirit of nationalism. The whole idea is summed up in such slogans as " Italy for the Italians" and "Poland for the Poles." It was defined by President Wilson during the World War in this manner : " No people must be forced to live under a sovereignty under which it does not wish to live. No territory must change hands except for the purpose of securing to those who inhabit it a fair chance of life and liberty." Slow Growth of Nationalism in Olden Times. The rulers of the ancient world had no respect for nation- alism. Egyptian, Babylonian, and Persian conquerors showed no regard for races and nations as such but subdued them all with equal severity. The Romans 354 NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 355 brought within their broad empire the swarthy African as well as the fair Briton. They prevented wars of races by uniting them all under one rule. The Catholic Church, in many ways the heir of the old Roman empire, likewise made no distinction among nation- alities. " Of one blood are all races of men," ran the language of the Bible ; so the Christian ideal was that all men should join in one religious brotherhood under one head, the pope at Rome. The very word Catholic means " universal " or " all-embracing." The idea of the Church was peace and the union of nations rather than a sharp division of them along lines of race and language. The Practice of European Kings. The Church, how- ever, was not strong enough to keep peace and hold all Christendom together. As we have seen, numerous kings and princes rose and flourished in feudal Europe. They paid no more attention to the " rights of nations " than did the imperial despots of antiquity. In their numerous wars they were always trying to bring new subject races under their swords. At peace settle- ments, they handed peoples and territories around as if they were so much property. This was such a com- mon practice that the peoples bartered and sold by kings and princes seldom made any protest. In fact, one king was so like another that a change of masters made little difference. Western Europe Contrasted with Central and Eastern Europe. As we have seen, France, England, and Spain had become nations by the close of the middle 356 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND ages. Each of them was ruled by one king and had a national language and literature. For hundreds of years, however, central and eastern Europe made little or no 'advance in nationalism. There many a race was divided and ruled by different kings. There it was a common thing for the same king to have, as his subjects, people of different races and tongues. Germans, Italians, Poles, Czechs, Serbs, Rumanians, and many other races were divided, handed about, and ruled without any respect for their wishes. The Settlement of 1815. This treatment of races was so common that few princes or governments ever thought of changing it. When the royal diplomats met in 1815, after the overthrow of Napoleon, they showed no respect for the rights of peoples. They found the Germans divided among many princes, and they left them divided. They found the Italians distrib- uted among half a score of rulers, and they left them about as they were. They saw the Poles divided into three groups, ruled by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, and they made no change in that situation. None of these royal agents thought of criticizing the czar for holding down Finns, Swedes, Letts, and Poles by force. None of them dreamed of attacking the emperor of Austria- Hungary for keeping nine distinct races under his scepter. They thought him clever when he took as his motto " Divide and rule " and when he called in one of his subject races to crush an uprising of another. The Awakening of Nationalism. On the surface of 357 358 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND things it appeared in 1815 as if this old custom of divid- ing and bartering races could go on forever. Soon, however, the spirit of nationalism began to upset the plans and confidence of kings. The idea of nationalism had been deeply planted by the French revolutionists when they boldly announced that the people, not kings, had the right to make laws and levy taxes. It was only a slight step forward to declare that any people or race also had the right to choose its own government and governors. The idea thus planted had been nourished by Napo- leon. He called on Italians, Germans, and Spaniards to cast off their kings and princes. At the same time, he himself acted like a tyrant toward them when they did. Then the Italians and Germans began to plan to get rid of him. It was when all Germany lay pros- trate under the heel of Napoleon that German orators and teachers began to appeal to the people to rouse from their slumber, shake off their chains, and assert their rights as a nation. Other forces, too, helped to create a national feeling. When railways came, they bound together the different sections of the same country. Trade cemented the ties of blood between these sections. Newspapers and books, circulating widely, gave to the same race common ideas and common hopes. The schools and the press overcame local dialects and gave a common tongue to each people. Poets, men of letters, patriot orators, in ballad, song, editorial, and stirring speech, praised NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 359 the glories of their respective races and called for unity. In time, therefore, armies that had once fought for the glory of princes were ready to fight for national glory and independence. Then kings and princes began to take note of this national spirit among the people and to use it cleverly for their own ends. How GERMANY AND ITALY BECAME NATIONS The German Confederation. A slight step had been taken toward German' unity in 1815. It was then agreed that the thirty-four states, each ruled by a prince, and the four free towns, governing themselves, should be bound together in a union or confederation. It was, however, a very loose union, something like that of the American states under the Articles of Con- federation (First Book, pp. 149-154). Moreover, it was not a union of people, but of sovereign princes and free cities. The parliament or congress set up for this confederacy was only a council of diplomats, chosen by the princes and the cities. It had very little meaning for the whole German people. There were several reasons for this. The most important was the jealousy of the princes. Each of them wanted to keep his full power over that section of the German people which he himself ruled. The kings of Prussia, Austria, Saxony, Bavaria, and Wur- temburg all cared more for their own little realms than they did for a German nation. The Movement for National Unity. Nevertheless 360 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND three important factors in Germany were working for unity. 1. The king of Prussia was ready to have unity at any time if he could be master of the whole empire. 2. Merchants and manufacturers wanted unity. That would mean abolishing the taxes on trade be- tween the German states, freedom of trade in Germany, and a duty on imports from foreign countries which would make it harder for foreigners to compete with Germans. In this they had before them the example of the United States. 3. The third force making for unity was the activity of those who longed to see the German people united under a constitution of their own making. They thought they could carry out their design in 1848, when there was a general revolution against kings all over Europe. A congress of German delegates met at Frankfort, debated for many weeks, and drew up a national constitution. They could not, however, put it into effect because the king of Prussia, who despised the rule of the people, opposed it. He was waiting for his chance to bring about unity by the sword and to make himself master. He therefore persecuted those who pleaded for union and democracy. He drove from the land thousands of the friends of liberty, many of whom settled in the United States. Among them was Carl Schurz, who served with honor in the Union army during the American war between the states and as an officer in the federal government in after years. NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 361 Bismarck and Prussia. In 1861, the king of Prussia called to his aid one of the most ingenious and powerful statesmen of modern times, Otto von Bismarck. These two men then set out deliberately upon the task of uniting Germany, " by blood and iron," under Prussian control. They enlarged the Prussian army. When the Prussian parliament refused to vote taxes, they collected the taxes anyhow. They waged war on the king of Denmark and wrested Schleswig-Holstein from him in 1864. They waged war on Austria and drove it out of the German union. They broke up the old Confederation of 1815 and formed a new system known as the North German Confederation. The Franco-Prussian War and the German Empire. They picked a quarrel with Napoleon III, who had managed to make himself emperor of the French. Napoleon III was a man as ambitious as his famous uncle, but he had less ability. In 1870 France declared war on Prussia and was badly defeated. As a result, the Germans took away from France the two provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. At the same time, four South German states, still outside the union, joined the German Confederation. The Confederation itself was turned into an empire. The king of Prussia was crowned first German emperor on French soil in the royal palace at Versailles in 1871. Nearly all Germans, except those in Austria, were at last united and with them many Danes, Poles, and French, in spite of themselves. From a people once 362 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 363 divided and the prey of foreigners, the Germans had become a powerful military nation. They now had an imperial ruler of their own and were feared through- out Europe as the French had once been. Italy in 1815. The Italians, unlike the Germans, were not even united in a loose confederacy by the Vienna settlement of 1815. On the contrary, Italy was made up of many independent states. In the north, Austria owned Lombardy and Venetia outright, and members of the Austrian family ruled over three little duchies besides. Across the center of the penin- sula were the independent States of the Church, gov- erned by the pope. In the south was the kingdom of the Two Sicilies under the sway of Spanish Bour- bons. The island of Sardinia and Piedmont on the mainland were governed by the king of Sardinia. Most of the Italian sovereigns were equally interested in keeping the country divided and in putting down all ideas of popular government. Austrian military bands played in St. Mark's square in Venice to amuse the people, but the Venetians were not allowed to discuss politics or independence. Mazzini and the Spirit of Italian Nationalism. Many Italians of the younger generation refused to be contented with their lot. They remembered that Italy had once been united under Rome. They re- called the glories of the ancient republic and of the Roman empire. They appealed to the people to arise, cast off the yokes of princes, and form an Italian nation. 364 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Among the leaders of this movement was Joseph Mazzini (1805-1872), an eloquent speaker, a moving writer, and a brave man of action. He formed a so- ciety, known as Young Italy, which aimed at Italian unity under a republican form of government. " Young Italy," he said, " is a brotherhood of Italians . . . who are convinced that Italy is destined to become one nation, convinced also that she possesses sufficient strength within herself to become one." For nearly fifty years he preached the gospel of unity, fearing not prison, exile, or battlefield. In 1848, when all Europe was in revolution and the Germans at Frankfort were trying to make a national constitution, Mazzini and his followers seized the city of Rome and declared a republic. The attempt failed, and Mazzini was driven into exile. Cavour and Victor Emmanuel. The next year there came to the throne of Sardinia Victor Emmanuel, who desired Italian unity provided it could be brought about under his management. Moreover, he had a clever minister, Count Cavour, who ardently hoped that Sardinia might play in Italy the part played by Prussia in Germany. He did not believe that a republic was possible ; but he thought that the king of Sardinia, with the aid of France, might drive out the Austrians, overthrow all the other princes, and become supreme in Italy. For many years Cavour worked hard to bring this about. In 1859 the time seemed ripe to launch the NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 365 scheme by a war against Austria. Supported by Napoleon III, Victor Emmanuel defeated the Austrians at Magenta and Solferino and added Lombardy to his kingdom. Soon uprisings occurred in other parts of Italy in favor of unity. Within a little more than a year, all Italy, except Venetia and a small part of the domains of the pope at Rome, was united. In February, 1861, Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed king of Italy. Garibaldi and His " Red Shirts." The work of bringing the Two Sicilies into the kingdom was largely done by the patriot Joseph Garibaldi and his band of " Red Shirts," as they were called on account of their uniforms. Garibaldi had been active in Mazzini's Young Italy society and had suffered persecution and exile. For a while he had been a candle maker on Staten Island in the harbor of New York. The war on Austria in 1859 gave him a chance to fight for Italian unity. The next year, with the aid of his faithful follow- ers, he overthrew the king of the Two Sicilies. By a vote of the people, southern Italy then joined the North. Garibaldi was hailed as a national hero. GARIBALDI From an old print 366 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Unity Finally Achieved. When the new kingdom was formed, Venetia was still under Austrian rule and Rome was governed by the pope. Cavour said : " To go to Rome is for Italians not merely a right it is a stern necessity." Austria, however, was very powerful and the pope was protected by French troops. Yet the opportunity desired by Cavour and Victor Em- manuel came. In 1866 Austria was at war with Prussia. The Italians were then able to obtain the coveted Venetia. Four years later Napoleon III was badly beaten by the Prussians and the French garrison was withdrawn from Rome. Thereupon Victor Emman- uel's troops took possession of the " Eternal City," in spite of the protests of the pope. In 1871 the papal domains were annexed to Italy. King Victor Emmanuel, amid the cheers of the people, entered Rome and made it the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. The dream of the patriots, Mazzini and Gari- baldi, had in part come true. Italy was not a republic as they had hoped ; but it was united, and it had a national parliament, one branch of which was elected. Only a few Italians now remained under Austrian rule outside of the union. They, too, were brought into the family at the end of the World War in 1918. Victor Emmanuel II was everywhere regarded as the founder of united Italy. After his death in 1878 the grateful nation erected in Rome, not far from the old Forum, an imposing monument in his honor that recalled the glories of the Roman empire. NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 367 368 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND NATIONALISM IN EASTERN EUROPE The Rule of the Turk. While the Germans and Italians were drawing together in national unity, a number of races in southeastern Europe -- Bulgarians, Serbs, Rumanians, Greeks, and Montenegrins -- were striving with might and main to cast off the rule- of an alien monarch, the Turkish sultan. For hundreds of years they had been restless under the sway of a government that was foreign in race and religion. It was in 1453 that the Ottoman Turks, the followers of Mohammed (p. 169), took Constantinople. They drove steadily westward, hoping to bring all Europe under their control. In 1683 they were at the very gates of Vienna. Then the tide turned. They were slowly beaten back by the Austrians, Poles, and Hungarians. At the opening of the- nineteenth century, Turkish rule in the region of southeastern Europe known as the Balkans extended over many subject races. All the territory from the Adriatic Sea northeastward beyond the mouth of the Danube was held by Turkish officers and soldiers. The sultan was absolute in his authority and harsh in his manner of government. He laid heavy taxes upon the conquered provinces and held his subject peoples down by the use of military force. To quarrels over government and taxes were added religious and racial disputes. The masters were Mohammedans and Turks. The subjects were nearly all Christians and of different races from their mas- NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 369 ters. Now and then the spirit of nationality, always smoldering, flamed up into civil war in which terrible deeds were done by both parties. The Rise of Independent Balkan States. The first people to break the Turkish rule were the Serbs, who by desperate efforts won the right of self-government in 1817, under the leadership of Milosh Obrenovitch, a national hero. It was not until sixty years later, however, that the Serbs were able to proclaim their complete independence in the streets of Belgrade, their capital. In doing this they had the aid of Russia. A Serbian prince was chosen king. The example set by the Serbs in 1817 was soon followed by the Greeks, who also longed to be free from Turkish rule and to revive the ancient glories of their own land. Inspired by stirring appeals from patriot orators, they, too, rose in a desperate revolt. They proclaimed their independence, and called upon the Christian world for help. From all over Europe soldiers flocked to the aid of the Greeks, and supplies were sent from distant lands. Even in the United States, meetings were held to arouse public sentiment in favor of the Greek revolution. Fair Greece ! Sad relic of departed worth ! Immortal, though no more ; though fallen, great ! Who now shall lead thy scattered children forth And long accustomed bondage uncreate ? So wrote the English poet, Byron, who answered his own question by giving his life to the Greek cause. OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND In 1832, the powers of Europe recognized the inde- pendence of Greece and chose Prince Otto of Bavaria as the king of the new state. Nearly half a cen- tury passed. Then in 1878, with the military assistance of Russia, Rumania and Montenegro won their independ- ence. At the same time Bulgaria ob- tained the right of self-government, though it had to pay tribute to the sultan at Constantinople. Even that burden was cast off in 1908 and complete free- dom from Moham- medan control was secured. German princes, as a result of action by the European powers, were chosen as kings of Bulgaria and Rumania. A local prince was made head of tiny Montenegro. Balkan Troubles. Independence by no means brought peace to the Balkans. The Turks still held much territory in Macedonia. Thousands of Serbs From an old print GREEK PATRIOTS MOURNING THE DESTRUCTION OF ONE OF THEIR CITIES IN THE WAR FOR INDE- PENDENCE NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 371 and Rumanians still lived under the Austrian emperor and longed to join their independent countrymen. The Serbs, Rumanians, Bulgars, and Greeks were not satisfied with their boundaries. The races were so mixed that it seemed impossible to fix boundary lines tS3 Slovenes ^ Serbo-Croats HXS Slovaks Italians Poles 123 Rumanians F^s] Ruthenians Y77/\ Magyars NATIONALITIES IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY which pleased them all. The result was constant turmoil among the Balkan states. Finally the murder of the Austrian archduke by a Serb in July, 1914, was a firebrand that set the whole 372 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND world aflame. Then opened the terrible war that raged until 1918, involving countries as far apart as the United States, China, and Brazil. At the close of that war another effort was made to settle the affairs of the Balkans (see below, p. 436). Nationalism Suppressed in Austria-Hungary. While some of the Balkan races were shaking off the rule of the sultan, their kinsmen in Austria-Hungary were in a constant state of unrest. This empire had been built up through the long centuries by the Hapsburg family, whose members were always busy conquering new lands by arms. At the opening of the nine- teenth century Austria-Hungary embraced Germans, Magyars, Hungarians, Rumanians, Italians, Czechs, Slovaks, Poles, Croats, Serbs, and Russians. In Austria proper the Germans were in the lead ; in Hungary the Magyars, although for a long time the emperor and his German advisers at Vienna kept a strong hand on all sections and all races. Against this strict rule the subject peoples early began to protest. In 1848 they revolted. The next year the Hungarians declared their independence and chose the patriot Louis Kossuth as their governor. In a few months the armies of Austria, aided by Russia, came down upon the Hungarians and took away their liberty again. Kossuth, driven into exile, was brought to the United States in an American war vessel. There he was received as one of the world's heroes. Though conquered, Hungary won a certain degree NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 373 of freedom. Later it was permitted to take its place as an equal beside Austria under a common ruler. The Czechs, Slovaks, Rumanians, Serbs, and other peoples under the control of Austria-Hungary, however, were not so fortunate. So they kept up their restless agitation for independence until they got it after the World War (see below, p. 436). Nationalism in Russia. Following the examples set by the Hohenzollerns and Hapsburgs, the czars of Russia had added to their dominions any territory they could seize or conquer. By this method they extended their empire from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. At the same time, they brought under their scepter Finns, Lithuanians, Latvians or Letts, Esthonians, Poles, Jews, Tartars, Armenians, Mongols, and Georgians. All the subject peoples were ruled, as indeed were the Russians themselves, by the absolute power of the czar. Though serfdom was abolished in 1861, the people were not given any voice in their gov- ernment. Moreover, the czar did all he could to ' Russify " the aliens ; that is, compel them to take the Russian language and customs instead of their own. This process was a bitterly hated one ; many and long were the protests and struggles against it. Yet the might of the czar, with his spies and his armies, was too much for the stoutest opponents. Not until the World War broke up the Romanoff empire were the various subject nations released from Russian control. 374 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Dangers of Extreme Nationalism. The long strug- gles of European races for unity and independence were accompanied by many heroic deeds and sac- rifices. Thousands of men and women gave up their comfort, their safety, and even their lives that their countries might win the right of self-government. We owe to this spirit of devotion many an inspiring poem and many a noble deed. There was, nevertheless, another side to the spirit of nationalism. Those who were loudest in claiming their own right to liberty were often the very first to oppress others. Volumes could be filled with examples of such cruelty chosen at random from the pages of European history. Moreover, the spirit of nationalism easily grew into the spirit of arrogance. Pride in race and nation gave way to boasting and contempt for other nations. So nationalism, inflamed by orators, became one of the most dangerous forces in the world. When kings fought for their own ends they usually had small armies of hired soldiers. When nations began to fight, all the energies of united peoples were enlisted. It re- mains to be seen, therefore, whether nationalism can be kept within bounds and made safe for humanity or whether it is to fill the world with endless wars. Nationalism and Immigration to America. The many hard struggles of European peoples which we have just recounted have a very close relation to Ameri- can history. The United States was a place of refuge NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 375 for revolutionary leaders, like Schurz, Kossuth, and Garibaldi, when their plans for national independence and unity went wrong. In addition to the leaders, thousands of people from all the subject races of Europe flocked to America in search of freedom. The American people began to speak of the United States as " the asylum of the oppressed of all nationalities," and en- couraged immigrants to seek homes in our country. Once here, the Germans, Irish, Poles, Jews, and other races still kept in touch with their native lands. They formed societies and raised money for the benefit of those who were keeping up the battle for freedom at home. They often urged the government of the United States to give aid to those they had left behind. Thus many strong ties were formed between the New World and the Old. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. What is meant by the "spirit of nationalism"? 2. Study the statement by President Wilson (p. 354). Find what the word "sovereignty" means. Under the sovereignty of what nation do you live ? Under what sovereignty are the people of Canada ? The people of the Philippine Islands ? The people of India ? What was Mr. Wilson's plan for deciding under what sovereignty a people should live? 3. How does this differ from the way in which the ancient and medieval kings treated conquered peoples ? 4. Why are a common language and a common liter- ature so important in giving to a people the spirit of nationalism ? 5. What is meant by a "dialect" ? Persons who speak the same language but use different dialects often find it hard to understand one another. How would the establishment of schools and news- 376 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND papers overcome this difficulty and make it possible for larger numbers of people to have a common spirit of nationalism ? 6. Some people believe that a single language may sometime be developed to replace the different languages now in use. What hopes do these people probably have in mind in suggesting a universal language ? Why would it be more difficult to establish such a language than it has been to overcome the differences in dialects ? II. i. How does a "confederation" differ from a "union"? In what important ways did the German Confederation formed in 1815 differ from a true nation? 2. How did the Prussian king and Bismarck bring about national unity in Germany ? How had the delegates of the people who met at Frankfort in 1848 hoped to build a German nation ? In your judgment, which was the better way, and why? 3. How did the Franco-Prussian War come about ? What were its important results ? 4. What were the important differences between the way in which the German people were made into a nation and the way in which the Italian people became a nation ? Compare the work of Mazzini, Victor Emmanuel, and Garibaldi with the work of Bismarck and the king of Prussia. III. i. Find out in what ways the Mohammedan religion differs from the Christian religion. 2. In 1815 the people of Italy had a common language and a common religion, but were divided among different sovereignties. How did this condition differ from that of the people of Turkey? 3. Give as many reasons as you can to explain why the formation of free nations in southeastern Europe was more difficult than in western Europe. 4. Compare conditions in Austria-Hungary in 1815 with con- ditions in Germany, Italy, and Turkey at that time. 5. In what ways did the rulers of Russia attempt to build a great Russian nation ? With what results ? 6. What has the study of this chapter taught you about the things that make a group of people into a true nation ? What are some of the dangers of NATIONALISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 377 extreme nationalism ? (For example, can peoples as well as kings be cruel and tyrannical ?) Can you think of any steps that a nation might well take to avoid these dangers ? GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. Compare the map of Europe in 1815 (p. 357) with the map of Europe to-day (facing p. 436). What countries that are now united were then divided under different sovereignties ? What nations then divided are now united ? 2. How did the growth of the "rule of the people" as opposed to the rule of kings help to make the changes that you find in comparing the two maps ? 3. Make a list of the names of places mentioned in this chapter, as was done for chapter xi on pp. 288-289. Then arrange them in columns as you were there instructed to do. Add any new columns that may be necessary. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING FELLOWS, GEORGE E. Recent European History, iv-vi; Sanborn. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xlv. VAN LOON The Story of Mankind (School edition), liv-lvi. CHAPTER XV THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY Attempts to Set the Clock Back. The French revolution, like the English and American revolu- tions before it, let loose in the world a flood of ideas about the right of the people to govern themselves, especially the notion that all men are equal. During the Napoleonic wars that followed the revolution, French thinkers stirred Europe with ideas of great reforms. Princes were overthrown in many countries, the property of the Church was seized, and serfs were freed. The common people, who had hitherto had no voice in affairs, began to think and to discuss public matters as never before in the history of the world. After the final defeat of Napoleon, however, many longed to see the " good old times " again as they were before the revolution. Those who had suf- fered from the loss of property or feudal privileges sought to get back lost wealth. There were also others who believed that the entire revolution had been a terrible wrong and mistake. These helped to restore the kings and princes and to give the Church its for- mer power. 378 THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 379 So it happened that a " reaction ' : followed the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815. In Italy, Spain, and many German states, rulers were put upon their thrones again and given their former absolute power over their subjects. Prussia, Russia, and Aus- tria, which had felt the effects of the revolution least, continued to be ruled by absolute monarchs as in olden times. The very idea of a constitution giving the people any power of self-government was condemned by all the leading kings on the continent. In Spain, for instance, advocates of constitutions were liable to the death penalty. Certain Gains for Democracy. Though kings and princes were restored to their thrones with much pomp, the clock could really not be turned back. In France, a member of the old royal family was crowned as Louis XVIII, but he could no longer rule despot- ically. A parliament was set up and a large number of Frenchmen were given the right to vote. Taxes could no longer be levied or laws made without the consent of at least some of the people. Serfdom was gone from France and most of Germany forever. Everywhere in western Europe leaders among the peasants, artisans, and merchants boldly continued to discuss their rights and to question the power of princes. 380 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND DEMOCRACY IN FRANCE The Revolution of 1830. The kings soon found how deeply the revolution had stirred the world. The ruler of France thought he could give to the nobility and the clergy the position that they had once held. He thought also that he could control the press and stop popular criticism of his government. He soon learned a lesson. The people rose against Charles X, the brother and successor of Louis XVIII, in 1830 and forced him to flee from the realm. Among the leaders of the up- rising was Lafayette, who had helped Washington establish the American republic and who had taken part in the first French revolution. Attempts were made once more to abolish the monarchy in France. Although these attempts failed, the crown was taken away from the Bourbon king and given to Louis Philippe, who belonged to another branch of the family. Louis was called king of the French by <:c the will of the nation " as well as by " the grace of God." Moreover, he aped the simple manners of republican presidents. He did not make a great display of pomp and ceremony, but went about the streets carrying with him a green umbrella for sun or rain. More men were given the right to vote for parliament. The clergy and nobility were forced to one side, and the government of France passed mainly into the hands of business men. THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 381 The Revolution of 1848 - - Republic and Empire. Louis chose advisers who opposed all further changes. One of them said that there were not more than one hundred thousand men in France who were capable of voting with intelligence and independence. This angered many people, especially the workingmen of the towns who did not have the right to vote under the constitution of 1830. Their discontent increased until in 1848 it broke out in another revolution. Louis Philippe was forced into exile ; a republic was proclaimed ; and a national convention was elected to draw up a new constitution. In all this the work- ingmen took a prominent part, in the hope of im- proving their condition. Women appeared in greater numbers as advocates of woman suffrage. As in the first revolution, things went peacefully for a while. Then violence followed. The govern- ment would not provide work for thousands of unem- ployed workingmen and terrible fighting took place once more in the streets of Paris. Peace was at last restored by the sword and the new constitution pro- claimed. It made provision for a president for a term of four years, as is the case in the United States. At the first election, to the astonishment of the world, Louis Napoleon, a nephew of the great warrior, Napoleon I, was chosen president of the French re- public. Like his famous uncle, he began to scheme to make himself master of France. Within a few years he actually induced the voters to elect him 382 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND " Emperor of the French." So the third French revolution, like the first, ended in an empire. The Crisis of 1870 and the Third Republic. Na- poleon III thought of pleasing the French by giving them " military glory." He therefore joined England in a war on Russia in 1854. He helped the Italians drive the Austrians out of part of Italy. He tried to turn Mexico into an empire as an offset to the power of the United States in the New World. Then, in 1870, he became involved in a war with Prussia. This last adventure proved to be his ruin. His armies were defeated and he was taken prisoner. Thereupon leaders in Paris proclaimed a republic once more. While the German armies were still on French soil, an election was held for a national assem- bly. After many months of debate, this assembly completed, in 1875, a new constitution. France was a republic for the third time. All adult males were given the right to vote. The hope of the extremists of 1791 was at last realized. France had a president elected by the parliament for a term of seven years instead of a king ruling for life. DEMOCRACY IN ENGLAND The Old Parliamentary System. In the early part of the eighteenth century, England had stood out as the home of liberty in the Old World (pp. 245-254). The king could not make laws and levy taxes as he pleased. He could appoint and dismiss his mini- THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 383 sters, but the taxing and lawmaking power had passed into the hands of Parliament. The king's officers did not censor the press ; editors freely dis- cussed politics and criticized the deeds of the king's ministers. Most of the writers who prepared the way From an old print AN ENGLISH ELECTION SCENE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY : SOLICITING A VOTE for the French revolution gained their leading ideas from the English system of government. Still England of that day --the England against which America waged her war for independence was far from a democracy. The king enjoyed high au- 384 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND thority. He could choose his own ministers. He could get Parliament to approve almost anything he wanted. By using money to bribe voters in elections and by promising offices to members of Parliament who voted for his plans, the king could nearly always get his own way. In fact Parliament usually thought as the king did. The House of Lords consisted mainly of nobles, whose number the king could increase by appointing his friends. The members of the House of Commons were elected by popular vote, but they did not speak for the mass of the people. Great cities, like Leeds and Manchester, which had grown up recently, had no members in the Commons. On the other hand, a country village with only a handful of residents had two members in the Commons. In all England there were only about 160,000 voters out of about eight million inhabitants ; that is, only about one man in ten had the right to vote for a representative in Parliament. The Demand for Reform in England. When George III came to the throne in 1760, the demand for a reform of Parliament had already been heard in England. Some leading statesmen asked that the little villages be deprived of their members in the House of Commons. They also proposed that the new cities be given representation. This spirit of reform was quickened at first by the French revolution. The government that was es- THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 385 tablished in France in 1791 was far more democratic than that of England, and societies were formed in England to urge a peaceful revolution there. The reign of terror that soon began in Paris, however, frightened the English. The very idea of any change, even a slight one, was then denounced as dangerous. The Four Great Reform Bills. It was not until after the overthrow of Napoleon in 1815 that parlia- mentary reform was again widely debated in England. Then began a long struggle which did not end until our own time. England was made more democratic, however, not by violent revolution, but by gradual reform. There was a great deal of extreme talk but little disorder connected with it. William Ewart Gladstone, long the leader of the Liberal party, which favored reform, and Benjamin Disraeli, head of the Tory party, which favored i 11 i r 1 1 1 from an oia pni the old order, finally agreed WlLLIAM EwART GLADSTONE upon the idea of votes for all men in time to prevent revolution. By three great reform bills, passed by Parliament in 1832, 1867, and 1884, the right to vote was gradu- ally extended each time to a wider circle of men. Before the end of Queen Victoria's long reign, which From an old print 386 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND extended from 1837 to 1901, practically every man in England who had a settled home could vote. At the opening of the twentieth century, woman suffrage, or the right of women to vote, became a live issue; and in 1917 Parliament passed the most sweep- ing reform bill of all. Suffrage for all men was es- tablished, and .nearly all women thirty years of age or more were given the vote. By this law England became the first of the great nations to grant the vote to women. The Modern English System. While more peo- ple were gaining the right to vote in England, steps were taken to give more power to the voters. The demand was made that the king should give up his right of choosing his own ministers. George III, (First Book, p. 103) stoutly resisted it, but before the end of his reign in 1820 he had been forced to yield. From that time forward, the actual government of England was in the hands of a group of ministers, known as the Cabinet. They are selected by the party having a majority in the House of Commons. By long disuse, the king also lost his veto power (p. 179). The House of Lords remained, but in 1911 it was shorn of its power to block bills passed by the lower house. Thus, by a gradual process, the English government became even more democratic than the French plan of 1791 which had alarmed the people of England at that time. THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 387 388 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND DEMOCRACY IN ITALY The King. We have seen how the king of Sar- dinia took the lead in uniting all Italy under his au- thority. It was in this way that Victor Emmanuel II made himself a national hero. His grandson, Victor Emmanuel III, fell heir to the glory of the house, though not to its popularity. There have been at all times many Italians who favored a republic for their country ; yet the king has managed to keep his crown through all the changes of the past decades. The Italian Parliament. The history of the pres- ent Italian form of government runs back to 1848, when Italy, like France, was the scene of a revolution. In that year, the king of Sardinia granted a constitu- tion to his subjects. He created a senate, or upper chamber, composed of men selected by himself ; and he established a lower house, or chamber of deputies, elected by the voters. When the king of Sardinia became king of all Italy, this charter of 1848 became the constitution of the kingdom of Italy. Some changes, however, were made in it from time to time. At first, a large majority of the men were denied the right to vote. In 1895 nearly every man who could read and write and lived regularly at one place was given the ballot. Owing to the backward state of education, however, this law still deprived hundreds of thousands of a share in their government. Finally, in 1918, in the midst of the World War, Italy THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 389 gave the vote to all men over twenty-one years of age and also to men under that limit who had served in the war. Thus the democracy of manhood suffrage was established in the Italian kingdom. Only one branch of the Italian parliament, however, is elected by the voters. The senate was left unchanged by the various reforms. As in the beginning, it is still composed of the princes of the royal family and a number of distinguished men appointed for life by the king. Still, in choosing senators it is the prac- tice of the king to select men who are eminent in liter- ature, science, or public office. On this' account the Italian senate differs from the English House of Lords, composed mainly of noblemen, and the American sen- ate, composed of members elected by the voters. DEMOCRACY IN GERMANY The Prussian Monarchy. Prussia was the leader among the German states. It had more territory and more inhabitants than all the others put together. The Hohenzollern family that ruled Prussia had, as we have seen, built up its kingdom by conquering and annexing neighboring lands. Prussian kings, there- fore, relied mainly upon the army to keep them in power. They also had the support of a very rich and haughty nobility that owned large estates. Thus supported, the Hohenzollerns could scorn the very idea that the people should decide for themselves what was good for them. They claimed to hold their 390 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND crowns " by the grace of God," as had their ancestors in olden times. The Prussian System. Still the Prussian kings could not stamp out entirely the idea of democracy. Their subjects, like the French and the Italians, were stirred by the thought of self-government. In 1848, the Prussian people, especially in Berlin, followed the French example in Paris and rose against the monarch. Because he feared something worse, the king of Prussia " graciously granted " a constitution to his subjects. He gave up none of his claims to rule by divine right, but he did create a parliament. One of the branches was composed mainly of the great landlords, who had no more liking for democracy than did the king him- self. In the other branch, the people were given a voice. It was, however, only a slight voice. Two thirds of the members in it were elected by a small minority of rich men, while the masses could elect only a third. This was the Prussian system that lasted until the close of the World War (see below, p. 445). The German Empire. When the German empire was created in 1871 (p. 361), the king of Prussia was chosen emperor and care was taken to keep the German people subject to royal authority. A par- liament was established, but the lion's share of power was given to the upper house or Imperial Council. This council was made up of agents chosen by the twenty-two German princes and the three free cities. The lower house was elected. All adult males were CENTRAL EUROPE IN 1871 391 392 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND given the vote ; but their representatives in parlia- ment could do very little except talk. The emperor appointed and dismissed ministers at will.' In the making of war and peace, the elected branch of the government had no voice. William II, the last of the Hohenzollerns, who was forced to give up his throne in 1918, talked like the despotic Louis XIV. " Look- ing upon myself as the agent of the Lord," he once said, " I go my way without regard to the opinions and sentiments of the day. . . . The only pillar upon which the realm rested in my grandfather's day was the army. So it is to-day." Such was the system that made it possible for a very few people to rule the whole German empire. Loud and long were the protests against it, but they were without avail until after the defeat of Germany in the World War (below, p. 434). DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE Austria-Hungary. Like the Hohenzollerns in Prussia, the Hapsburgs, who ruled in Austria-Hungary, had little liking for democracy. They had built up their dominions by the sword ; they depended upon the sword to hold their varied collection of peoples together. Still, even they could not stop the spread of new ideas. They, too, were forced to grant favors to their subjects. To each of their two realms they gave a constitution which provided for one house elected by popular vote. THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 393 Step by step, however, Francis Joseph, the Haps- burg emperor from 1848 to 1916, fought the rising power of the people, until in 1907 he was forced to give the right to vote to all men in Austria. In Hungary, on the eve of the World War, only tax-payers could vote. In both realms, the branch of the parliament elected by the voters was kept in close rein by a House of Lords and by royal power. In neither realm were the highest officers controlled by the par- liament or the people. As in the case of Germany, it took the crisis of the World War and bitter defeat to overturn the authority of the Hapsburg monarchy (see below, p. 450). The Balkan States. When the peoples of south- eastern Europe the Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, and Rumanians escaped one after the other from the rule of the Turks (p. 370), they made beginnings in democracy. In each case a king was chosen, usu- ally on orders from the chief countries of Europe, especially Germany, Russia, and England. In each case also a parliament was created and a portion of the men given a voice in the management of public affairs. RISE OF DEMOCRACY IN RUSSIA The Despotism of the Romanoffs. Of all the countries of Europe, Russia was the last to feel the force of the French revolution. Like Prussia, it, too, had been built up by its army. Under the power- 394 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND ful family of the Romanoffs it became the most wide- spread despotism in the modern world. The czar ruled absolutely from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean. On the eve of the World War he had over 180,000,000 subjects, nearly twice the population of the United States. The great Russian mon- archy rested upon founda- tions that seemed very solid. There was, in the first place, a huge and powerful army which the czar commanded as he liked. In the second place, there was the Russian Church, which taught his subjects obe- dience. From the highest of- ficial to the humblest village priest, the Church supported the monarch. It depended upon him for favors and in turn helped him hold the people in subjection. In the third place, no criticism of the czar was allowed in newspapers, books, or public ad- dresses. Spies and policemen searched high and low for anyone who said that the people ought to rule or that great changes ought to be made in the government. Finally, there was the ignorance of the masses. Most of the people were peasants. They had been freed from serfdom, but they were without education THE FORMER RUSSIAN EMPEROR, NICHOLAS II 396 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND and bent to the very ground with poverty, taxes, and wars. The Revolution of 1905. Each czar tried to prevent democratic ideas from creeping into Russia. Leaders who talked about reforms were whipped, imprisoned, or exiled to distant Siberia. They re- sponded by attempts to assassinate the czar or his officials and by acts of terrorism. The brutality on both sides was shocking. Meanwhile democratic ideas slowly spread among the Russian people. It was impossible to keep the doors and windows of Russia sealed. When Russia was defeated in a war with Japan in 1905, the country was filled with famine and misery. Then the people rose in a desperate revolt against autocratic rule. Only by using the police and the army was the czar able to keep his throne. Still, as in the case of other monarchs, he had to pay the price by allowing the people a voice in his government. He created a national parliament, called the Duma, but he was careful to see that the landlords and his agents controlled it. Peace was bought for a short time. Then, in the midst of the World War, the czar was overthrown and his whole system broken to bits in a revolutionary outburst (see below, p. 446). DEMOCRACY IN THE ORIENT Japan. - - When Japan was opened to the Western world in 1854, the Japanese people began to take an THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 397 interest in Western customs and ideas of government. Students and travelers from Japan visited America and Europe and took back reports of what they had seen and learned. At that time, Japan was very much like the Europe of the middle ages. The mikado, or emperor, ruled as absolutely as any medieval king. The country was divided into great estates owned by feudal lords and tilled by serfs. The masses could not read or write and accepted without question the com- mands of the em- @ Keystone vlew C0t peror. To most THE "FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL" IN JAPAN. (NOTE . . , , THE SANDALS, WHICH MUST BE LEFT OUTSIDE) Japanese this old order seemed satisfactory ; but they could not pre- vent Western ideas and customs from creeping into Japan. In 1871 the chief privileges of the nobles were abolished, as those of France had been in 1789. At the same time the serfs were set free. Soon the 398 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND demand for a share in the government was heard. The emperor, wiser than some Western monarchs, did not wait for a violent revolution. He chose a commission of u wise men" to study the question of government, and in 1889 gave a constitution to his empire. He kept the right to appoint his own minis- ters and to command the army and navy ; but he created a parliament to aid in making laws and laying taxes. He formed one house out of the nobles and princes of Japan. The lower house, he arranged, should be elected by the voters. Since he was in no mood to try extreme ideas, he limited the right to vote to the well-to-do. After a few years a cry went up for <:i more de- mocracy." Leaders demanded the vote for all Japanese men, and even woman suffrage was heard of in the land of the mikado. At the close of the World War, Japan seemed threatened by a revolution. In 1920 the parliament passed a bill giving the right to vote to many more of the emperor's subjects. But Japan is by no means a democracy in the Eng- lish or American sense of the word. On the contrary, it is still very much like Prussia under the Hohenzol- lerns (p. 390). The Japanese constitution, like that of old Prussia, was granted to the people by the em- peror and can be taken away by him. The masses are taught that the emperor rules by divine right and the constitution declares that he is " the head of the empire, combining in himself all power of state." The THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 399 400 THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 401 emperor is surrounded by a small group of men each of whom is the leader of a powerful political party. They are his close advisers. They are supported by the landlords, manufacturers, and business men of Japan, numbering about. 125,000 out of seventy mil- lion people. These form the ruling class of Japan. Keystone View Co., Inc. A GROUP OF REPUBLICAN CAVALRY OFFICERS IN CHINA They hold all the important public offices. They are feared and respected by the masses. Japanese religion and education both teach reverence for the emperor as the greatest virtue. China. The changes which affected Japan like- wise stirred the unwieldy Chinese empire. For thou- 402 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND sands of years it had slumbered on under the sway of its emperors. Then it was suddenly aroused by an invasion of European and American traders and mis- sionaries. Chinese students and business men began to travel in Western countries. and on their return home set about " modernizing " China. The mass of the Chinese people knew little more than their ancestors had known four thousand years before. Still the reformers could not wait for slow growth. They overthrew the monarchy in 1912 and established a republic, with a president and a parlia- ment. Instead of the prosperity that was expected to re- sult from the revolution, there came civil war and years of trouble. Leaders of the army, especially in the north, longed for the return of a strong monarch. Leaders in the south, where the merchants were numerous, clung to the idea of a democracy. Both parties claimed to speak for China, but neither of them was able to establish itself firmly in the entire country. North China, however, won recognition from other countries. DEMOCRACY AND CIVIL LIBERTY The Rights of Man. The French revolution, the industrial revolution, and the rise of democracy all worked together for a new kind of liberty. In the middle ages the fate of nearly every man was fixed at birth. The son of a peasant became a peasant and THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 43 the son of a nobleman belonged to the aristocracy. In the modern age such old customs have become less rigid. As far as the law is concerned, every man is free to choose his own calling. He may go and come Keystone View Co., Inc. MRS. EMMELINE PANKHURST, ENGLISH WOMAN SUFFRAGE LEADER, SPEAKING IN LONDON at will within the nation to which he belongs. He may even be free to emigrate to some other part of the world to make his home. He is free, too, to think for him- self and to choose the church to which he wishes to 404 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND belong. He may join any political party, and express his views on any subject. All these rights are known as civil liberties. The Rights of Women and Children. - - Women and children, even more than grown-up men, were affected by these new rights. In the middle ages, a woman had practically no choice except to labor as a housewife or as a peasant in the fields or to enter a convent as a nun. In the modern age, women not only vote ; they may choose any one of many fields of industry or busi- ness. They may engage in a profession such as medi- cine, or they may take up teaching, literature, or art. They may earn their own wages and spend them as they please. They may hold public office. Even little children share in the new order of things. In old Rome the father had the power of life and death over his wife and children. To-day parents must allow their children to attend school. If they are cruel, their children may be taken away from them. Usually boys and girls may choose any life work for iwhich they have talent. Public schools are open to them so that they may get a training for the work they select for themselves. In a way, therefore, we may call the age of democracy " the children's age." QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. What is meant by the word "reaction" as used in the third paragraph of this chapter ? Reactions almost always follow severe wars ; can you think of any reasons for this ? 2. What is THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY 405 meant by the statement, "... the clock could really not be turned back" (p. 379) ? In what ways did those who came into power after the downfall of Napoleon attempt to "turn the clock back" ? 3. How many years elapsed between the beginning of the first French revolution and the second revolution ? Between the second and the third revolutions ? 4. Napoleon III is some- times referred to as "Napoleon the Little"; why? 5. What were some of the differences between the government of France under the "Third Republic" and the government under the " First Republic" ? In what ways does the government of France to-day differ from the government of our country ? II. i. Compare the power of the English king under the old parliamentary system with the power of the French king just before the first French revolution (see pp. 292-295). Why was England at that time "still far from a democracy"? 2. How could it have come about that a large city like Manchester sent no representatives to the House of Commons when many small villages had two members each ? (What great movement was taking place which caused the rapid growth of the cities ?) 3. How did the progress toward democracy in England differ from the progress toward democracy in France ? In America ? 4. In what important ways does the government of England to-day differ from the government of our country ? III. I. What advance toward democracy was made by Italy in adopting the charter of 1848? 2. What further advances were made in 1918? 3. Compare the present government of Italy with that of the other countries mentioned in this chapter. IV. i. Can you think of any reasons that will explain why the kings kept their power in Germany longer than they did in England, France, and Italy ? 2. How did the imperial council of the German empire differ from the House of Lords in England, the French parliament, and the Italian senate? 3. Why was the "lower house" of the German parliament less powerful than the English House of Commons ? 406 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND V. What reasons can you give to explain why the development of democracy in southeastern Europe has been much slower than in western Europe ? (Recall the difficulties that the growth of free nations have met in these countries.) VI. I. How did the rulers of Russia manage to hold their power for so long a time ? What effect did the location and size of the Russian empire have on the growth of the idea of democracy ? 2. The Russian czars did not favor free schools for the common people. What effect would the lack of education be likely to have on the success of democratic government when it did come ? VII. I. Compare the growth of democracy in Japan with the growth of democracy in England, France, and Germany. 2. In what ways does the government of Japan more closely resemble the government of Germany before the World War than the government of England and France? 3. Why has democratic progress been slower in China than in Japan ? (Compare the two countries as to size and location.) VIII. I. Lord Bryce, a famous English scholar and statesman, defined democracy as "the rule of all the people as contrasted with the rule of a special group or class." What do you think of this definition ? 2. How has the growth of democracy helped the "common people" ? (Compare the way in which the common people lived in the middle ages with the way in which they live to-day.) How have women and children benefited from the growth of democracy ? SUGGESTIONS FOR READING DALE Landmarks of British History, xiii. MACGREGOR The Story of France, Ixxxiv, Ixxxvii. MARSHALL An Island Story, c. TAPPAN England's Story, xxxiv, xxxv. WARREN Stories from English History, pp. 406-417. CHAPTER XVI THE IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS THE growth of industry, the rise of democracy, and the spread of national spirit all worked together to make more intense the age-long rivalry among European nations. It was hoped that they would bring peace, and yet the most terrible war of all history has taken place in our own time. As the mills and factories multiplied in Europe, business men of all nations became more and more active in selling their manufactured goods. They searched out markets for their wares in every quarter of the globe in Asia, South America, and Africa. The competition among them became keener and keener. With the rise of democracy, moreover, the masses demanded more than the coarsest food and the barest necessities of life. They called for tea, sugar, coffee, and spices ; they insisted on having better houses and better clothing ; they came to regard as essential to their happiness goods that had to be brought from the ends of the earth. Thus, in a way, the business men pushing out to conquer new markets and outdo their rivals helped to bring about modern democracies. 407 408 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Finally, the spirit of nationalism served to increase strife among European countries. In the name of national pride and honor, governments sought to add to their colonial possessions and increase their foreign trade. In the name of nationalism, all European countries except England put tariffs on imports from other lands. In the name of nationalism, armies and navies were enlarged and other preparations were made for war on a vast scale. So nationalism widened out into the feverish contest for trade and territories known as imperialism. All the old rivalries of kings and princes, all the old contests of merchants and traders were stirred anew and in 1914 burst into the terrible conflict known as the World War. EUROPE IN THE ORIENT The Awakening of the Far East. The chief center of the new European imperialism was in Asia. There opportunities for trade were especially inviting. The Chinese and Japanese were skilled in many industries and arts. They had tea, silks, rice, spices, and other valuable products to sell, and the profits to be made out of the commerce were huge. Many difficulties, however, at first stood in the way of trade. The Chinese did not welcome Europeans. They would give foreigners only a limited right to traffic in cer- tain places. The Japanese were equally proud. Though more willing to trade with the Europeans, IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 409 they resented the coming of Christian missionaries in great numbers. Finally they became so hostile that they drove out the aliens altogether and made severe laws against foreign commerce of any kind. For more than two hundred years, both China and Japan were almost sealed to the outside world. Keystone View Co., Inc. A FAMOUS CHINESE TEA HOUSE IN SHANGHAI They could not, however, keep their ports abso- lutely closed to the ever active foreigners. In 1842 England waged war on China and forced her to open certain coast cities to general trade. Eleven years later, the United States government sent a commis- sion, headed by Commodore Perry, to Japan to open 410 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 411 relations with the Japanese government. Frightened by the experience of the Chinese, the Japanese regret- fully agreed to receive the commission. From that time forward the commercial nations of Europe, as well as the United States, have steadily increased their business with China and Japan. China and Japan Contrasted. The fates of the two Oriental countries, after they were opened to world trade, proved to be very different. Huge China fell a prey to the foreigners. The French seized vast territories in the southeastern part of the empire. The British established themselves at Hong Kong and Wei-Hai-Wei. The Germans in 1897 laid hold of the Shantung Peninsula. The Russians pressed in from the northwest and helped themselves. For a time it looked as if China might be seized entirely by foreigners. What a contrast Japan presented ! More secure in her island home, she grew into a strong industrial and military power. In 1894 sne even attacked China herself and was easily victorious. The Japa- nese would have taken a large slice of Chinese terri- tory then if France, Germany, and Russia had not prevented it. Japan nursed her secret longings for ten years. Meanwhile she prepared a huge army and navy and made a treaty of alliance with Great Britain. All ready for the fray, she declared war on Russia in 1904 and overwhelmed the czar's troops and battleships. 4 I2 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Japan then took most of Russia's Chinese territory. A few years later, Japan occupied also the Chinese province of Korea, which she had long coveted. The " Open Door " Policy. In this mad scramble of the powers to seize Chinese territory, the United States refused to join. It declared that China should r* s*. te f 2 trir^VFifY^KliSID^O^sfoVES.cbKiNG f I &tf&%;f&&*WA l iy% J2 UAVL A i i Min.u^ OF EVERY THINGS Keystone View Co., Inc. A CHINESE SHOP WITH AMERICAN GOODS FOR SALE not be broken into bits and distributed among for- eigners. It said that China should be preserved for the Chinese and that all countries should have merely general trading privileges with the Chinese people. This was called the policy of the open door, so well known in America and so appreciated by the Chinese IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 413 themselves (First Book, pp. 380-384). Between her attempts to beat off foreigners bent on her ruin and her efforts to establish a republic, China had appall- ing problems to solve. Knowing that Japan was de- termined to dictate to her, if possible, China turned to the United States for advice and support. EUROPEAN OCCUPATION OF AFRICA Exploration. By a strange stroke of fortune, Africa was the last of the great continents to be explored and seized by European powers. At the opening of the nineteenth century, it was so little known that it was properly called " the dark continent." The Egyptians, heirs of the ancient civilization of the Nile Valley, still had some dealings with the outside world. There were several trading ports along the Mediterranean coast also. The Dutch, French, and English, moreover, had visited the Atlantic shores to seize slaves for American markets. The Dutch had even planted a colony at the Cape of Good Hope, which had fallen into the hands of the English during the Napoleonic wars. The heart of the continent, however, was wholly unknown until after 1850. The work of opening Africa was undertaken by intrepid explorers, among whom David Livingstone, the life-long missionary, was perhaps the most famous. For more than twenty-five years he traveled about in the heart of Africa. Once he was lost for a long time. The task of finding him was undertaken by Henry M. OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND NATIVE POTTERY MAKERS IN AFRICA Stanley, a writer for an American newspaper. After he had gone into the fever-laden jungle and rescued Liv- ingstone, Stanley continued his travels. He made the world familiar with Africa through many a thrill- ing story of adventure. His wonderful tale, How I Found Livingstone, ranks high among the books of travel written by Americans. The Partition of Africa. Before the explorers had completed their work, the leading countries of Europe began a general scramble to get African territory. England, France, and Germany were in the lead, with 30 20 10 40 50 60 40 50 60 AFRICA 416 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Italy not far behind. To the first of these countries fell the largest share. The English gained control of Egypt in 1882. They likewise pressed steadily inland from their foothold at the Cape of Good Hope (p. 268). The old Dutch settlers, the Boers, fled be- fore them into the interior and estab- lished two re- publics of their own. As they ad- vanced, the Eng- lish came to blows with these repub- lics ; after a short and bloody war, which opened in 1899, they brought the Boers under their flag. At various points on the east and west coasts of Africa, English explorers, traders, and soldiers staked out huge claims for their country and discovered gold and diamond mines. The French were not far behind the English. They annexed Algiers in 1843; they added Tunis later; Keystone View Co., Inc. THE HOISTING MACHINE AT AN AFRICAN DIAMOND MINE IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 417 they seized vast reaches of territory in the Sudan and along the Congo River ; and they got the upper hand in Morocco. Under French direction the Suez Canal was built in 1859-69. The Germans, after founding their empire in 1871, began to follow the example of England and France. Between 1884 and 1890 they laid hold of immense areas in Southwest and Southeast Africa. Meanwhile the Italians conquered Libya and a strip of Abyssinia. The Belgians carved out for themselves a large state south of the Congo River. The Portu- guese managed to keep a huge African territory occu- pied during the early days of their explorations. By the opening of the twentieth century, the dark continent, with its millions of natives, had been explored and divided among European commercial rivals. An immense trade in rubber, ivory, coffee, and other products was built up with Europe and America. EUROPEAN INTEREST IN LATIN AMERICA The Revolt of the Spanish Colonies. Owing to the rivalry of European nations for trade and colonies, it was impossible for Latin America Mexico, Cen- tral America, South America, and the islands of the Caribbean -- to escape the European invasion. At the opening of the nineteenth century nearly all of this region belonged to Spain. The most important exception was Brazil, which was Portuguese. The people of the Spanish territories consisted of Spaniards, many of mixed native and Spanish blood, i^rrr 5 a,.-* .y- 'kfl & *&*. f4 /> 9 ^ 8-2- V% / v - / ^-i^u V -; 418 IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 419 and a large population of pure native stock. The natives were almost wholly illiterate and had no knowledge of government on a large scale. Catholic missionaries had converted the natives to Christianity and Spanish soldiers had ruled them. Spanish, often in the form of a dialect, was their language. Such was the state of affairs when, in 1808, Na- poleon conquered Spain and placed his brother on the Spanish throne. This was followed by the revolt of the Spanish colonies in America. Beginning in 1810, one colony after another declared its independ- ence. Simon Bolivar was the hero-leader in this South American revolution. Within a few years all the mainland colonies had thrown off the rule of the mother country. Napoleon was deposed and the old king of Spain was restored to his throne ; but the for- mer colonies clung to their newly won independence. Then the king of Spain talked about conquering them by force of arms. He asked his brother mon- archs in Europe to help him do it. In 1822 a congress of royal agents met at Verona to consider, besides other things, plans for putting down the rebellion in America. The Monroe Doctrine. The United States was alarmed by this conference at Verona. So also was England, because her merchants had built up a big business with the Spanish-American republics after they threw off the rule of Spain. The kings of Europe did not lend the king of Spain ships and soldiers to conquer his former colonies. Nevertheless the presi- 4 20 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND dent of the United States, James Monroe, feared that they might do so. Since he knew that he had the sup- port of England, he gave to the world in 1823 the mes- sage, or doctrine, which still bears his name (First Book, pp. 192-194). He warned the kings of Europe against making any attempt to restore the rule of Spain or to annex new territories on the Amer- ican continents. He told them bluntly that such actions would be regarded as un- friendly by the United States. This was a clear hint that any attempt of that kind would be met, if necessary, by force of arms. Europe's Interest in the Monroe Doctrine. By his message President Monroe said, in effect, that the United States would protect all independent Latin- American states against European governments. This proved in time to be a serious matter for us. It meant that every time any of those states had a dis- pute with any European country, the United States was concerned in the affair. It meant also that all nations in their dealings with Latin America had to be on their guard against breaking the rules of the Monroe Doctrine. More than one grave result flowed from this doc- JAMES MONROE \ I I GENERAL DRAFTING/CO. INC 110 100 80 70 50 40 30 20 10 SOUTH AMERICA 422 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND trine. During the American Civil War, Napoleon III, the emperor of the French, took a hand in Mexi- can affairs. He attempted to set up one of his princely friends, Maximilian of Austria, as emperor there. When the Civil War was over, our govern- Keystone View Co., inc. ON A SOUTH AMERICAN SHEEP RANCH ment was free to act in the case. It warned Napo- leon against violating the Monroe Doctrine. He took the warning seriously and withdrew his soldiers. He knew that our President was ready to send an army to Mexico to enforce the American policy. In 1895 another question was raised. England and IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 423 Venezuela fell into a dispute over the boundary of British Guiana. Venezuela claimed that England was trying to get some of her territory. President Cleveland took up the matter and called attention to the Monroe Doctrine (First Book, p. 364). For a time it looked as if there might be war between Eng- land and our country ; but fortunately it was avoided by peaceful settlement. About ten years later, Germany had a quarrel with Venezuela over the payment of debts due her citizens and there was talk of war. This time President Roosevelt sent the German emperor a sharp warning, which was finally heeded. So another Latin-American problem was solved without resort to arms. Sources of Difficulty in Latin America. The chief concern of European countries in Mexico, Central America, and South America was about trade, money matters, and industries. European business men built up a profitable trade in those countries. They established warehouses, stores, and factories. They invested huge sums of money in oil wells, mines, land, and railways. They lent money to all the govern- ments and to many private companies. It was there- fore to their interest to see that order was maintained and business kept going. Now it happened that after the revolt against Spain there were many revolutions and wars in Latin America. Every one of them upset business and made it hard to collect debts. This often led European 424 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND Keystone View Co., Inc. AN ENGLISH BANKING HOUSE IN BUENOS AIRES IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 425 statesmen to say in effect : "The United States ought to keep order in Latin America. If it will not do this, then it should allow us to protect our business and collect debts by force of arms if necessary." Thus the United States was placed in a difficult posi- tion. Latin America was glad to have help against Europe ; but it resented the idea that our govern- ment should interfere in any other way. The United States, therefore, had (i) to meet the demands of European business men and investors ; and (2) at the same time to keep the friendship of the countries to the south of us. The Caribbean. The interest of Europe in this hemisphere has been by no means confined to the mainland. It has extended to the great chain of is- lands which stretch almost all the way from the coast of Florida to the coast of Venezuela. Owing to the voyages of Columbus and other explorers, Spain early claimed all of them ; but in the course of time one island after another was taken away from her. Near the close of the nineteenth century her dominions consisted of only Cuba, Porto Rico, and a few minor islets. In 1898 came the war with the United States (First Book, pp. 372-375). This put an end to Span- ish power in the West Indies. Cuba became inde- pendent and Porto Rico was ceded to the United States. The fate of the other islands in the Caribbean has been strange indeed. Haiti went to France, one 426 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND part in 1697 and another in 1795. While Napoleon I was emperor of the French, the slaves on the island revolted, and after a terrible struggle set up two little republics, Haiti and Santo Domingo. After a stormy career of more than one hundred years, both of them were brought under the direction of the United States by President Wilson. The Virgin Islands near by were bought from Denmark by the United States in 1917. In the midst of all these changes, Great Britain continued to hold her score or more of islands scat- tered all the way from the Bahamas near Florida down to the Windward Islands near the coast of South America. France also managed to retain several of the islands which she had acquired from time to time since the seventeenth century. Thus two of the great powers of Europe held bases for their ships in American waters not far from the Panama Canal (First Book, pp. 424-427). THE WORLD WAR --1914-18 The Background of the War. We have already seen how the chief countries of Europe engaged in long and terrible wars over trade and territories in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (chapter xi). We have also noted how the same rivalry flamed up in the desperate Napoleonic wars (pp. 310- 314). Although there was no general European war for a hundred years after the overthrow of Napoleon, IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 427 the world was filled with local conflicts. England, France, Germany, Italy, and other European powers, as they extended their colonies in Asia and Africa, were almost constantly fighting natives somewhere in their empires. There were, moreover, many local wars in Europe. In 1854 England and France joined the Turks in a terrible struggle in the Crimea against Russia. Later France and Italy united in a military campaign to drive the Austrians from Italian soil. In 1866 Prussia fought a six weeks' war with Austria and drove her out of the German Confederation (p. 361). Shortly afterward came the Franco-Prussian War, which broke out in 1870 and ended in the defeat of France (p. 361). The Growth of German Power. Triumphant over France, Germany entered upon a new military and business career. Her industries grew by leaps and bounds as she extended her trade in every part of the globe. She developed the best equipped and most powerful army in the world. Her business men began to compete sharply with British merchants in every market. Germany then began to build a strong navy to rival Great Britain on the sea. She made an alliance with Austria and Italy known as the Triple Alliance. Austria-Hungary and Turkey were brought under German influence. Together they planned a united " Middle Europe " stretching from the banks of the Rhine to Constantinople. The German em- peror, William II (p. 392), declared that he had re- 428 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND ceived his throne from God and warned his soldiers that his word was law. The Alliance between France and Russia. The growth of German power alarmed the other countries of Europe, especially England, France, and Russia. Taking the situation into account, France and Russia formed an alliance in 1892. They agreed, in case of an attack by Italy, Germany, or Austria, to join forces and to wage war together to the end, making no separate peace. The Germans looked upon this agreement as a menace and redoubled their military preparations. The Understanding between England and France. A few more years passed. Then England and France, forgetting their ancient rivalry and grudges, began to draw together. They did not make a formal treaty of alliance. The governments of the two countries simply ordered their military and naval experts to hold " consultations " as to what they would do in case of a war with Germany. These conferences be- gan in 1906. Thus there was created, as the British foreign minister later said, " an obligation of honor " to help France in case of an attack by Germany. The Treaty between England and Russia. The next year, England and Russia also laid aside their quar- rels. They made a treaty settling several disputed points without forming a regular alliance. Later, how- ever, British and Russian naval officers were ordered to discuss a combination of forces in case of a war with Germany. IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 429 The German emperor declared at the time that Eng- land, Russia, and France were working for war. He added that Germany would take counter measures. This was what a large military party in Germany, eager for war, desired. The flames of war were just on the point of bursting out and setting the whole world on fire. The Outbreak. The stage of Europe was all set for war when on June 28, 1914, the archduke of Aus- tria and his wife were murdered while on a visit to the Austrian province of Bosnia. The archduke was the heir to the Austrian throne. His assassin was a Serb who resented the rule of the Austrians over peo- ple of his race (p. 371) and desired to see all Serbs united under Serbia. Austria was in great excitement at once. She ac- cused the Serbian government of aiding in plots de- signed to arouse the Serbs in Austria against their lawful sovereign. Austria then made humiliating de- mands upon Serbia. Russia, fearing the growth of Austrian power in southeastern Europe, encouraged Serbia to stand firm. Serbia, however, yielded on most of the demands. Still Austria, not satisfied, declared war on her. Meanwhile the German government had assured Austria-Hungary of its support at all costs. Russia, learning that the Austrians were ready for war, made ready her own troops. While Europe trembled on the brink of war, England urged a settlement of the 43 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND quarrel at an international conference or by arbitra- tion. Germany refused to force this peaceful advice upon her ally, Austria-Hungary. Hearing that the Russian army was ready for war, the German government demanded that the czar send his troops home. The czar refused. There- upon Germany, on August I, 1914, declared war on Russia. France, by her ties with Russia, was also brought in. Germany called upon her to remain neutral. Knowing that Russia would thus be beaten and that her own turn would then come, France re- plied that she would " have regard for her interests." On August 3, Germany declared war on France. Belgium. Having failed to secure a peaceful set- tlement of the trouble between Serbia and Austria- Hungary, England's next steps seemed uncertain. At this point the German army was marching on France, not directly, but toward Belgium, which lay between Germany and the northern border of France, Now the chief powers of the world had, long before, solemnly agreed that they would regard Belgium as a neutral country. They had promised not to send armies into her territory. Germany, as well as the other countries, was bound by this pledge. Belgium, however, was an almost defenseless nation ; and the border between France and Belgium was lightly forti- fied. The Germans, therefore, decided that they would march through Belgium. Thus they planned to strike a terrific blow at France in her weakest spot IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 431 and quickly capture Paris. They first asked per- mission of the Belgians, only to meet a proud refusal. Then they prepared to march on Belgium as an enemy. England and Belgium. Before invading Belgium, however, the Germans tried to find out what position England would take in the matter. The German ambassador in London asked the British foreign min- ister whether England would remain neutral if Ger- many did not invade Belgian territory. The British minister refused to bind himself, adding : " I do not think that we could give a promise of neutrality on that condition alone." That was on August i. The next day, England informed France that, if German battleships came out into the channel to attack the French coast, the English navy would help protect it. Two days later, the English government told the king of Belgium that it would expect him to re- sist, by all means in his power, an attempt of the Ger- mans to enter his country. On the same day, Eng- land demanded of Germany that she keep out of Bel- gium. Germany refused and marched into Belgium, making war on her. On August 4, England was at war with Germany. The World War. So during the first week of August, 1914, the war opened. Austria-Hungary and Germany were lined up against England, France, Russia, Belgium, Serbia, and Montenegro. Soon Japan came to the help of its ally, England. Italy remained neutral until 1915, when it joined the 432 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND powers against Germany and Austria. In the course of time, the war widened to include the United States, Rumania, China, Brazil, and other countries in the line-up against Germany and Austria ; while Turkey and Bulgaria took the part of Germany and Austria. The fires of war encircled the globe. The conflict, therefore, became known as the World War. Keystone View Co., Inc. DESTRUCTION OF FRENCH COAL MINES BY THE GERMAN ARMY The Course of the War. The German army plunged through Belgium into France and was checked only by the heroic efforts of the French and British at the first battle of the Marne in September, 1914. It then retreated to northern France, dug trenches, and stood fast. Far in the east, the armies of Russia and Germany swayed forward and back until, in 1917, the Russian czar was overthrown by a revolution at home. Rus- IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 433 sia fell into the hands of men of extreme views known as the Bolshevikiy who made peace with Austria and Germany, paying a terrible price for it. The Ger- mans and Austrians also overran Serbia and Rumania and helped the Turks to beat off the attacks by the British. The Italians battled in the mountains along their northern border against the combined forces of Austria and Germany. Never before in the history of mankind had the world beheld such a dreadful spectacle. Millions of armed men, supported by huge cannon, poison gas, airplanes, machine guns, armored cars or u tanks," and a score of other deadly weapons waged war day and night with awful carnage. For nearly three years they kept it up without reaching a decision. Then the sword of the United States was thrown into the scale. America and the World War. As in the case of the Napoleonic wars a hundred years before (p. 314, and First Book, pp. 181-187), American trade on the sea was disturbed by the war in Europe. England's navy at the outset blockaded the coast of Germany and cut off her commerce at sea, including of course her trade with the United States. Germany protested against the British blockade. The United States also objected to certain features of it. Then Germany startled the world by declaring that her submarines would sink ships, passengers, and crews engaged in trade with her enemies. Against 434 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND this policy, President Wilson protested vigorously but without success. German submarines sank American ships and took American lives. America's answer all the world knows. In April, 1917, the United States entered the war against Ger- many. More than two million American soldiers crossed the sea to France; American ships joined in the hunt for submarines. American sailors and sol- diers fought bravely on the battlefield and on the sea. General John J. Pershing commanded our army in France. The End of War. Against such a union of forces as were now brought into the field, Germany and Austria-Hungary battled in vain. The French, Eng- lish, and American forces on the French front, under General Foch, drove against the Germans with over- whelming might. The Italians kept up the fight on their front also. In the summer of 1918, the Germans began to give way. In October the Austrians sued for peace. In November the Germans became panic-stricken. The German government in the hour of defeat also begged for peace. On November 1 1 a truce was signed. The long and deadly war was at an end. The German emperor was forced to give up the throne and flee into Holland. Then a revolution transformed his em- pire into a republic. The Treaty of Peace. The final terms of the peace were drawn up at Paris and signed in 1919. IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 435 436 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND President Wilson went there in person to take part in the conference. In fact, Woodrow Wilson, president of the United States, Lloyd George, the British prime minister, Georges Clemenceau, the French premier, and Vittorio Orlando, the Italian prime minister, were the leading figures in the grand congress of victors that decided the fate of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and their allies. In the general settlement, Germany was disarmed ; her battleships were taken from her; she was ordered to pay a huge indemnity for the damage she had wrought ; and she was forced to give Alsace-Lorraine back to France. Austria-Hungary was broken up and the several races under its rule were given independence (below, chapter xvii). Italy secured from Austria a large strip of territory along the Adriatic Sea. The German colonies in Africa were turned over to England and France. The German islands in the Pacific Ocean north of the equator were placed under the control of Japan. German rights in China were also given to Japan, much to the discontent of the Chinese, to whom they originally belonged. French, English, Belgian, and American troops en- tered Germany to hold certain towns and provinces until the terms of the treaty should be fulfilled. Finally, under the leadership of President Wilson, a plan to unite all the countries of the world in a League of Nations was included in the treaty. Its purpose EUROPE AFTER IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 437 IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 439 was to prevent wars and settle disputes by peaceful methods. Although the other countries in the World War, except China, ratified the treaty of 1919 with Ger- many, the United States rejected it. The Senate refused to approve it even with amendments. In the presidential campaign of 1920, the Republican candidate, Warren G. Harding, strongly denounced the League of Nations. After he became President, he refused to have anything to do with it. In the summer of 1921 Congress by a simple resolution de- clared the war with Germany and Austria-Hungary at an end. A few months later brief treaties were made with Germany and Austria-Hungary. QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES I. I. What is meant by the word rivalry? Can you find examples of rivalry among the merchants of your own town ? What rivalries are there between your town and neighboring towns ? What are some of the good things about rivalry ? What are some of the dangers ? 2. In what ways did the growth of industry increase the rivalry among modern nations? 3. How did the growth of democracy influence this rivalry ? 4. The text states that the spirit of nationalism increased rivalry. Can you think of any way in which the rivalry may also have intensi- fied the spirit of nationalism? 5. Why is the rivalry among nations which is discussed in this chapter called "imperial" rivalry ? II. I. Why did the European nations wish to trade with China and Japan ? 2. A certain amount of trade with these countries had been carried on by European merchants in early times (see 44 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND ch. viii). What reasons may China and Japan have had for wishing to stop trade with Europe ? 3. How was trade reopened with China ? With Japan ? 4. What effect did trade with Europe have upon Japan ? Why was the effect on China so dif- ferent ? 5. What important differences have there been be- tween the policy of our country toward China and the policies of the European nations ? III. I. What reasons can you give that will explain why ''Africa was the last of the great continents to be explored and seized by the European powers " ? 2. What led David Living- stone to explore central Africa ? What different motives did the European nations have in beginning their "general scramble to get African territory" ? 3. In what ways would European trade with central Africa differ from European trade with China and Japan ? 4. For what other purposes besides trade may the ' European nations have wished to secure African territory ? (Think of the growing populations of these nations and limited space in which they had to grow.) IV. I. What is meant by Latin America? What countries are included under this term ? 2. How did the rule of Spain on the American continent differ from the English colonial rule ? 3. When the English colonies became independent they established a single nation ; when the Spanish colonies threw off the rule of Spain they formed several independent nations. Can you think of any reasons that will explain this difference ? 4. Why was the United States alarmed by the conference at Verona ? What danger to this country would there have been in the reconquest of the Latin-American colonies by Spain? 5. The Monroe Doctrine states a very important "policy" of the United States. What are some of the differences between a policy and a law? What other important American policy has already been referred to in this chapter ? Perhaps you can think of other policies that our country has adopted. 6. What problems has the Monroe Doctrine given rise to in connection with our relations to European IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 441 nations ? What difficulties have we had with the Latin-American countries themselves because of this doctrine ? 7. What ter- ritories are included under the term Caribbean ? What possessions does the United States now hold in the Caribbean ? 8. With the exception of Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Porto Rico, the islands of the Caribbean are small and not very important for purposes of trade. Why, then, would European nations wish to hold these islands as colonial possessions ? V. i. How many years elapsed between the close of the Na- poleonic wars and the opening of the World War ? 2. What important conflicts among European nations took place during these years ? 3. Review the differences between the government of Germany before the war and the governments of England, France, and Italy (ch. xv). Which of the three kinds of govern- ment would be most likely to develop a desire for war and to prepare for a war of conquest ? Why ? 4. Why did the growth of German power alarm England, France, and Russia ? What steps did they take to meet the danger ? What effect did their action have upon Germany ? 5. What was the immediate cause of the outbreak in 1914 ? Why did Russia stand by Serbia in her trouble with Austria ? 6. What brought France into the con- flict ? 7. The German invasion of Belgium was an act that had a great deal to do with setting the civilized world against her. Why was this act so strongly denounced even by neutral nations ? 8. What effect did the invasion of Belgium have upon England ? 9. The battle of the Marne will probably be known for centu- ries to come as one of the decisive battles of history. Why ? 10. What finally led the United States to take part in the war? With what result? n. Discuss the important settlements decided upon by the Peace Conference. Why did the people of the United States refuse to ratify the peace treaty and to join the League of Nations? 12. What important revolutions took place during the war and immediately after? Can you give any reasons for these revolutions ? 442 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND GEOGRAPHICAL STUDIES I. If possible, secure a copy of a textbook in geography that was printed before 1919. Compare the maps of Europe, Africa, the Caribbean region, and South America with the corresponding maps on pp. 415, 418, and 421 and facing p. 436 of this book.. What new countries do you find as a result of the World War ? Make a summary of the other changes that you observe. Com- pare this summary with those that you find in your regular text- book in geography if that has been printed since 1919. SUGGESTIONS FOR READING BENEZET The Map of Europe, xiii-xxi. BENEZET, L. P. Young People's History of the World War ; Macmillan. O'NEILL The Story of the World, xlvi, xlvii. SUGGESTIONS FOR REVIEW OF CHAPTERS XIII-XVI 1. These chapters have told the story of three great develop- ments of the modern world: (a) democracy; (b) industry; (c) nationalism. An important event in the growth of democracy was the French revolution. Another was the enactment of the " reform" bills in England. Name as many other important events associated with the modern development of democracy as you can find in your review of these chapters. In the same way, make lists of the important events that mark the growth of in- dustry and of nationalism. 2. The period of nearly a century and a half covered by these chapters has witnessed many political revolutions. Draw a line six feet long on the blackboard to represent the years between 1789 and the present time. Mark at the proper places on this line the years when important political revolutions have taken place. IMPERIAL RIVALRY OF EUROPEAN NATIONS 443 3. Under the line just mentioned draw another line of the same length representing the same period, and place marks indicating the important wars. How does the position of the marks indicating revolutionary years compare with that of the marks indicating the war years ? 4. Make a list of all the persons mentioned in these four chapters. Try to group these persons under the following heads : (a) heads of nations (including kings, emperors, and presidents) ; (b) statesmen or political leaders; (c) military and naval leaders; (d) sci- entists ; (e) inventors ; (/) leaders in social reforms ; (g) writ- ers ; (h) explorers. Perhaps you will find some that should be placed in more than one group. Pick out those in each group who, in your judgment, best deserve to be remembered because of the good that they have done for humanity. Vote on the five that you would like best to know more about and have committees appointed to make the class well acquainted with these persons and their work. CHAPTER XVII EUROPE IN OUR OWN TIME THE treaty that closed the World War did not bring peace among the nations of Europe. Neither did it give contentment to the people of the various coun- tries engaged in the war. The conflict had been so long and so bitter that the world could not settle down in quiet at once. All the nations of the earth had been deeply stirred by the struggle. A score of kings and princes had been overthrown. In central Europe new republics had been established in place of former monarchies. Millions of men had been killed or wounded. Women had been made widows. Chil- dren had been orphaned. Business had been turned mainly to the making of supplies for war. It could not be turned back in a day to a peace basis. Heavy debts had been created. Someone had to pay them; so taxes were increased almost to the limit of endur- ance. It was clear that it would take years to bring Europe out of the distress into which it had fallen. THE DOMESTIC AFFAIRS OF THE NATIONS The German Revolution of 1918. Among the important results of the war was the collapse of the 444 EUROPE IN OUR OWN TIME 445 German empire the empire which had been pro- claimed with such pomp in 1871. When it was clear that the German army was defeated on the field of battle, a revolutionary government was formed in Keystone View Co., Inc. GERMAN SOLDIERS AND CIVILIANS CHEERING THE DECLARATION OF THE REPUBLIC IN NOVEMBER, 1918 Berlin. The kaiser, as we have seen (p. 434), was forced to flee from the realm. All the kings, princes, and dukes who ruled in the states of the former em- pire were likewise overthrown. The next year, after a long debate, a new constitution was adopted in Ger- 446 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND many. The first article declared that " the German empire is a republic. Political power springs from the people." Provision was made for a president and a parliament, both elected by the German people, women as well as men having the vote. During the same crisis, new constitutions were drafted for the several German states. Each one of them was made a re- public and given a popular form of government. Even Prussia became democratic. The Revolution in Russia. Far more disturbing to the rest of the world than the upheaval in Germany was the collapse of the Russian empire. As we have seen, the czar narrowly escaped losing his throne in the misery that grew out of the war with Japan. Dur- ing the World War he finally met his fate. In 1917 popular discontent in Russia broke out in riots. An attempt was made to create a parliament on the Eng- lish model. In a short time the discontent grew into a revolution. The czar was deposed and after- ward murdered. The effort to establish a republic along American lines failed. All power was seized by committees, or Soviets, of soldiers, sailors, peasants, and workingmen. These committees were controlled by the Bolsheviki (p. 433). In the name of the working class they took possession of the government offices, the railways, factories, private houses, land, and other property. They decreed : (i) that all lands, mills, mines, and forests should belong to the government and (2) that 447 448 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND all should work for the government. This scheme is called communism because all things are owned and used in common. As we have seen (p. 94), this was an idea sometimes discussed by the Greeks. Plato argued in its favor. Aristotle advanced strong argu- ments against it. All through the centuries it was discussed, and some attempts were made to put it into practice, but without success. Under the leadership of two men, Lenine and Trotzky, the Bolsheviki, though a small minority of the Russian nation, managed to control the govern- ment. They used the army to put down opposi- tion. They suppressed all criticism. They impris- oned or executed those who rose against them. Though the Bolsheviki claimed to have nothing but the interest of the people at heart, they were un- able to bring prosperity to Russia. The peasants in- sisted on owning the soil they tilled; so that point in the communist program had to be given up. After the Bolsheviki had driven out the capitalists and man- agers of factories, they found that they did not know how to run the business concerns themselves. They were unable to supply the people with manufactured goods. Their troubles were made worse because several other countries, including the United States, refused to trade with them because it was uncertain whether foreign property would be protected and just debts paid. To all these difficulties were added wars and famines. Several Russian generals raised armies EUROPE IN OUR OWN TIME 449 and attempted to overthrow the Bolsheviki. In this effort some of the generals had the aid of England, France, and the United States. In fact, there was widespread alarm among all other nations. They strongly upheld the right of Keystone View Co.. Inc. AMERICAN RELIEF FOR RUSSIAN CHILDREN private persons to own farms, houses, factories, mines, and other property. The Bolsheviki appealed to the workingmen of the world to unite, to overthrow their governments, and to establish communism on the Russian model. In many parts of Europe working- men gave heed to this appeal and tried to seize the 450 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND factories. In Germany and Hungary, especially, these attempts resulted in much bloodshed. Though they were put down, they left behind many traces of bitterness. Meanwhile, the Bolsheviki in Russia still held to the government. In many ways, however, they changed their tactics. They let the peasants keep their land. They called back managers to run the factories. They admitted that for one reason or an- other their plans had not brought prosperity to Rus- sia and prepared to change them. In time Eng- land, Germany, and Italy began to trade again with Russia. When a great crop failure in 1921 led to a terrible famine, the people of the United States gave millions of dollars to aid the starving Russians. New Republics Formed from Russia. In addi- tion to undergoing a revolution, the empire of the czar was broken into many parts. Four new states on the Baltic Finland, Esthonia, Lithuania, and Latvia - were made independent republics. Far to the south, beyond the Caucasus mountains, Georgia and other provinces were freed from the dominion of the Russian government. Away to the east, a part of Siberia broke off and carried on its own government as if en- tirely independent. The Collapse of Austria-Hungary. In the general overturn that followed the World War, the Austro- Hungarian empire also went to pieces. It had been, as we have seen (pp. 356, 371), a strange array of many EUROPE IN OUR OWN TIME 451 peoples held together by the power of the Hapsburgs. In the name of " nationalism " several of the subject races had long clamored for independence. After the United States declared war on Austria-Hungary, President Wilson announced that all the peoples ruled by the Hapsburg emperor should have the right to choose their own destiny " as members of the family of nations." That was the same as saying that Aus- tria-Hungary should be broken up. That is what happened when the Austrians and Hungarians were beaten. The Rumanians in Hun- gary were joined with their kinsmen across the border in Rumania. Czechoslovaks were united in a re- public under the presidency of a patriotic leader, Thomas Masaryk. To the south, the Italians were transferred from Austria to Italy ; while the southern Slavic peoples were merged with Serbia in the great state of Yugoslavia. Hungary, much reduced in territory, was made independent. Austria was brought down to the level of a petty state with about seven million German inhabitants. The peace con- ference did not permit the Austrians to join the Ger- man republic. The break-up of Austria and Hungary brought about domestic troubles of the gravest kind. Aus- tria, cut off from her former provinces and burdened by debt, sank into poverty. Hungary went through a revolutionary crisis. It first fell into the hands of a communist party like that in Russia, and later 452 OUR OLD WORLD BACKGROUND into the hands of a military dictator. It was then disturbed by an attempt of the former ruler, Charles, to recover his throne an attempt that ended in failure. All the new little states carved out of the former 'tn-be'rK), 149 498 PRONOUNCING INDEX OF NAMES Hague, The (hag), 19, 485, 486 Haiti (ha'tl), 17, 425-426 Hamburg (ham'burg), 13, 151 Hamilton, Alexander (ham'Il-twn), 7, 306 Hampden, John (ham'den), 242, 246 Hanseatic League (han'se-at'Ik leg', 151 Hapsburg family (haps'boorK) , 291, 372, 392-393, 451 Harding, Warren G. (har'dmg), 20, 439, 464, 486 Hargreaves, James (har'grevz), 332 Harold II of England (har'&ld), 175 Harvey, William (har'vl), 471 Hastings, battle of (has'tmgz), 175 Hawaiian Islands (ha-wl'yan I'landz), 17 Henry, Prince ("the Navigator") (h&i'ri), 204-205 Henry VIII of England, 220-221, 230 Herodotus (h6-r6d'6-t#s), 89, 188 Hiawatha (hl'd-wo'thd), 88 Hohenzollern family (ho'en-tsol'ern), 276, 291, 373, 389, 390, 392 Holland (h6l'