Studying contradictions
King Henry VIII, who ruled pre-UK England from 1509–1547, provides a particularly colorful example of a contradictory character. If you’re reading about the history of Christianity, you’ll note Henry’s role as founder of the Church of England. In military history, his attention to building a strong navy stands as an important factor leading up to the English fleet’s celebrated victory over the mighty Spanish Armada in 1588. If you’re interested in his personal life, you’ll remember him as being handsome and athletic in his youth, but obese and diseased in later life. You’ll certainly remember that the most famous thing about Henry is that he married six times and ordered two of his wives to be beheaded for treason.
Like any other person, Henry changed. He contradicted himself. He had good qualities and bad ones. The bad overwhelmed the good as the king got older, but his life still illustrates how multifaceted a historical figure can be. (You can read more about King Henry VIII in chapters 10, 14, and 22.)
Looking at events from different angles
Some of the most fascinating characters in history are those who appear to be heroes from one perspective and villains from another. An example, also from English history, is Guy Fawkes, the man who tried to blow up King James I and both houses of Parliament in 1605. Fawkes was caught red-handed before he could ignite a massive charge that would have blown apart a meeting of the monarch and parliamentarians. He was executed for his crime and remains a British national villain. In the United Kingdom, people still celebrate Bonfire Night every November 5, the anniversary of his capture, by building bonfires and burning effigies.
Yet Fawkes wasn’t merely a villain — not just a mad bomber. He was part of a group of Catholic activists who planned this violent act as a last-ditch effort to overcome repressive and brutal anti-Catholic persecution in officially Protestant England. Viewed from that perspective, many English Catholics of the time considered Fawkes to be a freedom fighter.
In a similar vein, George Washington is viewed as one of the greatest Americans ever — the Father of His Country. But events could have unfolded differently. As an American colonist, Washington was technically a subject of the British Crown. If the American Revolution of the 1770s had failed, the king would have been justified in charging Washington with treason, a hanging offense. Thus, he could have gone down in history as a traitor.
Verifying virtue
History celebrates the strong, especially those who wielded military or political power. Sometimes, it seems to be exclusively about those who fought — for territory, for defense, for wealth, and so on. Yet there have also been fighters for ideals. Too often, peaceful idealists are left out of history’s stories. The exceptions are idealist leaders whose courage resulted in political or cultural change. Prime examples include the following two men:
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869–1948): Known as the Mahatma, or great soul, he fought discrimination against Indian people in South Africa and then, after returning to his home country, fought for India’s independence from Great Britain — without striking a literal blow. Gandhi adopted the idea of nonviolent civil disobedience espoused by American writer Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) and in turn inspired American civil-rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68): King was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi to use nonviolent protest against racial discrimination in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. He played a major role in winning popular support for the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964, legislation that outlawed segregation by race in schools, in the workplace, and at public facilities.
Gandhi and King brought about change and stirred resistance. Each was human, and humans are flawed. Gandhi has been accused, posthumously, of racism toward blacks during the 21 years that he lived in South Africa before returning to India. While King was still alive, the Federal Bureau of Investigation accused him of having extramarital affairs. Yet each man sought to make the world better, and both arguably succeeded to some extent. Had their efforts been entirely in vain, Gandhi and King may have been seen as ineffectual dreamers. (Turn to Chapter 22 for more about Gandhi and King.)
Tracking the Centuries
About 4.5 billion BC: Earth forms.
Maybe 4 million BC: Early hominids (humanlike ancestors) walk on their hind legs. (Some evidence points to evidence of even earlier apelike bipeds.)
About 700,000 BC: Homo erectus walks out of Africa.
About 60,000 BC: Human beings leave behind early examples of art.
479–323 BC: The Classical Greek era gives rise to democracy.
1605: The Gunpowder Plot against England’s King James I is foiled when conspirator Guy Fawkes is caught with explosives below the assembly hall of Parliament.
1789: George Washington is elected president of the United States of America.
1948: An assassin kills Mahatma Gandhi.
1968: An assassin kills Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Part 2
Finding Strength in Numbers
IN THIS PART …
Visit the earliest cities, seeing how ancient people learned to work together for mutual benefit and how defensive alliances, commerce, and conquest spread written language, law, and new ways of thinking.
Follow the rise of the Roman Republic, which grew into an empire whose influence is still felt today, and see how other ancient empires rose and fell.
Discover how the Middle Ages, an unsettled time of migrations and regional conflicts, set the stage for modern nations.
See how the rise of Islam reshaped vast parts of Asia, Africa, and even Europe, and how the Crusades and the Silk Road fed Western appetites for trade with India and East Asia.
Follow new sea routes that enabled a handful of European powers to claim pieces of every other habitable continent as components of worldwide empires and get a glimpse of how colonial residents chafed at foreign control.
Find out about the push and pull of globalism as imperial powers, eventually enabled by technologies such as the steam engine and the telegraph, extended their reach even while subject people fought to break their ties with European overlords.
Chapter 4
Getting Civilized
IN THIS CHAPTER
