Outlines Of Universal History Designed As A Text Book And For P

PERIOD IV. FROM THE END OF THE CRUSADES TO THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE (A.D. 1270-1453): THE DECLINE OF ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY: THE GROWTH OF THE NATIONAL SPIRIT AND OF MONARCHY.

DEFINITION OF HISTORY.--The subject of history is man. History has for its object to record his doings and experiences. It may then be concisely defined as a narrative of past e...

_History of Civilization in England_ (2 vols.). This work is based on the denial of free-will, and the doctrine that physical influences,--climate, soil, food, etc.,--are the ma...

Works on General History.--Ranke, _Universal History_; Ploetz, _Epitome of Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern History_ (Boston, 1884); Weber, _Weitgeschichte_ (2 vols.); Assmann, _Ha...

DIVISIONS OF ANCIENT HISTORY.--Ancient history separates itself into two main divisions. In the first the Oriental nations form the subject; in the second, which follows in the...

China proper comprises less than half of the present Chinese Empire. It was called the land of Sinae or Seres by the ancients, and in the middle ages bore the name of Cathay. In...

India is the central one of the three great peninsulas of Southern Asia. On the north is the mountainous region of the Himalayas, below which are the vast and fertile river plai...

THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE.--When the curtain that hides the far distant past is lifted, we find in the valley of the Nile a people of a dark color, tinged with red, and a peculiar...

THE GEOGRAPHY.--Assyria and Babylonia were geographically connected. They were inhabited by the same race, and, for the greater part of their history, were under one government....

PHOENICIA.--A narrow strip of territory separates the mountains of Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean. Of this belt the northern part, west of Lebanon, about one hundred...

PECULIARITY OF THE HEBREWS.--While the rest of the nations worshiped "gods many and lords many," whom they confounded with the motions of the heavenly bodies, or with other aspe...

In the western part of the plateau of Iran, which extends from the Suleiman Mountains to the plains of Mesopotamia, were the _Medes_. On the southern border of the same plateau,...

ORIGIN OF THE GREEKS--Before the Hellenes parted from their Aryan ancestry, they had words for "father," "mother," "brother," "son," and "daughter," as well as for certain conne...

ARISTOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.--The early kings were obeyed as much for their personal qualities, such as valor and strength of body, as for their hereditary title. By degrees the nob...

artists, and musicians about them, for their own pleasure and for the diversion of the populace. Occasionally they gave the people employment in the erection of costly buildings...

THE IONIAN REVOLT.--Hardly were the Greeks in possession of liberty when they were compelled to measure their strength with the mighty Persian Empire. The cities of Asia Minor g...

PAUSANIAS AND THEMISTOCLES.--Both of the generals by whom the Persians had been overcome, fell under the displeasure of the states to which they belonged. _Pausanias_ was so far...

TO THE DEATH OF PERICLES.--Wonderful as was the growth of Athens under Pericles, it is obvious that she stood exposed to two principal sources of danger. Her allies and dependan...

THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND.--The _Anabasis_, the principal work of _Xenophon_, describes the retreat from the Tigris to the coast of Asia Minor, of a body of ten thousand m...

THE MACEDONIANS.--The Greeks, exhausted by long-continued war with one another, were just in a condition to fall under the dominion of _Macedonia_, the kingdom on the north whic...

DIVISIONS OF THE EMPIRE.--Alexander left no legitimate children. The child of Roxana, _Alexander the Younger_, was born after his father's death. The empire naturally fell to hi...

CHARACTER OF THE LEGENDS.--There is no doubt that the Romans lived for a time under the rule of kings. These were not like the Greek kings, hereditary rulers, nor were they chos...

RIVALRY OF CLASSES.--The abolishing of royalty left Rome as "a house divided against itself." The power granted to the _Comitia Centuriata_ did not suffice to produce contentmen...

WARS WITH THE GAULS.--The increased vigor produced by the adjustment of the conflict of classes manifested itself in a series of minor wars. The Romans were now able to face the...

TARENTUM AND PYRRHUS.--The Samnites were overcome. The Greeks and Romans were now to come into closer intercourse with one another,--an intercourse destined to be so momentous i...

THE FIRST PUNIC WAR.--By dint of obstinacy, and hard fighting through long centuries, the Romans had united under them all Italy, or all of what was then known as Italy. It was...

PHILIP V.: ANTIOCHUS III.--The Romans were now dominant in the West. They were strong on the sea, as on the land. Within fifty years Rome likewise became the dominant power in t...

CONDITION OF ROME.--We come now to an era of internal strife. The Romans were to turn their arms against one another: Yet it is remarkable that the march of foreign conquest sti...

WAR WITH SERTORIUS.--Not many years after _Sulla's _death, his reforms were annulled. This was largely through the agency of _Cneius Pompeius_, who had supported _Sulla_, but wa...

THE CIVIL WAR.--The rupture between _Pompeius_ and _Caesar_ brought on another civil war, and subverted the Roman republic. They were virtually regents. The triumvirs had arrang...

AUGUSTUS AS A RULER.--The long-continued, sanguinary civil wars made peace welcome. _Augustus_ knew how to conceal his love of power under a mild exterior, and to organize the m...

TIBERIUS.--During the long reign of the prudent _Augustus_, there was peace within the borders of the empire. He said of himself, that he "found Rome of brick, and left it of ma...

VESPASIAN: THE JEWISH WAR.--_Vespasian_, the first in the list of good emperors, restored discipline in the army and among the prætorians, instituted a reform in the finances, a...

COMMODUS.--Rome had enjoyed good government for eighty-four years. This was owing to the fact that her sovereigns had been nominated to their office, instead of inheriting it. N...

CHARACTER OF THE MIDDLE AGES.--The middle ages include the long interval between the first general irruption of the Teutonic nations towards the close of the fourth century, to...

GRADUAL OVERTHROW OF THE EMPIRE.--When we speak of the destruction of the Roman Empire by the barbarians, we must not imagine that it was sudden, as by an earthquake. It was gra...

THE GOTHS: THEODOSIUS I.--Towards the close of the fourth century, when _Valens_ (364-378) was reigning in the East, the _Huns_ moved from their settlements north of the Caspian...

RELIGIOUS DISPUTES.--While the West was beginning to recover from the shock of the barbarian invasions, society in the Eastern Empire was growing more enervated and corrupt. For...

CONDITION OF ARABIA.--In the sixth century the influence of the Greek and of the Persian Empires, especially of the Persian, was prevalent in Arabia. It was then inhabited mostl...

PIPIN THE SHORT.--The great event of the eighth century was the organization and spread of the dominion of the _Franks_, and the transfer to them of the Roman Empire of the West...

DIVISIONS IN THE EMPIRE.--The influence of _Charlemagne_ was permanent; not so his empire. It had one religion and one government, but it was discordant in language and in laws....

INCURSIONS OF THE NORTHMEN.--The _Scandinavians_, or _Northmen_, were a Teutonic people, by whom were gradually formed the kingdoms of _Denmark_, _Norway_, and _Sweden_. Their i...

HENRY THE FOWLER (918-936).--The envoys who carried to Duke _Henry of Saxony_ the announcement of his election as king of Germany are said to have found him in the Hartz Mountai...

THE TWO RELIGIONS.--The Crusades were a new chapter in the long warfare of Christendom with Mohammedanism. "In the Middle Ages, there were two worlds utterly distinct,--that of...

The emperors, the heads of the Holy Roman Empire, were the chief secular rulers in the Middle Ages, and were in theory the sovereigns of Christendom. But in the era of the Crusa...

RISE OF THE CITIES.--Under feudalism, only two classes present themselves to view,--the nobility and the clergy on the one hand, and the serfs on the other. This was the charact...

PHILIP III. OF FRANCE (1270-1285).--In France royalty made a steady progress down to the long War of a Hundred Years. _Philip III_. (1270-1285) married his son to the heiress of...

THE GREAT INTERREGNUM.--After the death of _Frederick II_. (1250), Germany and Italy, the two countries over which the imperial authority extended, were left free from its contr...

THE TANG DYNASTY (618-907).--The confusion in China, after the establishment of the three kingdoms, was brought to an end by the _Sui_ dynasty, which, however, was of short dura...

Modern history as a whole, in contrast with mediæval, is marked by several plainly defined characteristics. They are such as appear, however, in a less developed form, in the la...

CHARLES VII. AND THE NOBLES.--The result of the hundred-years' war was the acquisition of _Aquitaine_ by the French crown. Aquitaine was incorporated in France. Southern Gaul an...

We have glanced at the new life of Europe in its _political_ manifestations. We have now to view this new life in other relations: we have to inquire how it acted as a stimulus...

BEGINNING OF THE REFORMATION.--The Reformation began in _Germany_, where there was a great deal of discontent with the way in which the Church was governed and managed, and on a...

THE SWISS REFORMATION: ZWINGLI.--The founder of Protestantism in Switzerland was _Ulrich Zwingli_. He was born in 1484. His father was the leading man in a mountain village. The...

THE PARTIES IN GERMANY, 1532-1542.--For ten years after the Peace of _Nuremberg_, the Protestants in Germany were left unmolested. The menacing attitude of the _Turks_, and the...

CALVIN.--Second in reputation to Luther only, among the founders of Protestantism, is _John Calvin_. He was a Frenchman, born in 1509, and was consequently a child when the Saxo...

CHARACTER OF PHILIP II.--In 1555 Charles V., enfeebled by his lifelong enemy, the gout, resigned his crowns, and devolved on his son, _Philip II._, the government of the _Nether...

FRANCIS I.: HENRY II.--In France, the old faith had strong support in the _Sorbonne_, the influential theological faculty of the University of Paris, and in the Parliament. The...

ORIGIN OF THE WAR.--In _Germany_, more than in any other country, the Reformation had sprung from the hearts of the people. Its progress would have been far greater had it not b...

REIGN OF EDWARD VI. (1547-1553).--_Henry VIII_., with Parliament, had determined the order of succession, giving precedence to _Edward_, his son by _Jane Seymour_, over the two...

JAMES I.--_James VI_. of Scotland, and _I_. of England, was the son of _Mary Stuart_ and _Darnley_. Scotland and England were now united under one king. He was not wanting in ac...

FRENCH EXPLORERS.--The French and English sent their fishermen to the coasts of _Newfoundland_ and _Nova Scotia_. French fishermen from _Breton_ gave its name to _Cape Breton_....

LOUIS XIV.: MAZARIN.--The great minister _Richelieu_ died in 1642. "Abroad, though a cardinal of the Church, he arrested the Catholic reaction, freed Northern from Southern Euro...

OCCASION OF THE WAR.--The death of _Charles II._ of Spain (1700) was followed by the War of the Spanish Succession. The desire of _Louis_ to have his hands free in the event of...

SWEDEN.--The eventful epoch in the history of Sweden, in this period, is the reign of Charles XII. (1697-1718). At his accession, when he was only sixteen years old, Sweden rule...

THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION.--On the death of _Augustus II._, there were two competitors for the Polish crown,--his son, _Augustus III._ of Saxony, and _Stanislaus Lesczinski_ whom F...

THE ENGLISH COLONIES.--The English colonies south of Canada had become thirteen in number. In the southern part of what was called Carolina, _Charleston_ was settled in 1680. Mo...

POETRY AND THE DRAMA.--The literature of France in the age of _Louis XIV_. was classical in its spirit. The ancient Greek and Roman writers were admired and imitated. The Renais...

LOUIS XVI. (1774-92): THE QUEEN.--_Louis XVI_. differed from his two predecessors in being morally pure, and benevolent in his feelings; but he was of a dull mind, void of energ...

THE FIRST COALITION.-The execution of the king was the signal for the union of the European powers against France. The intention of the revolutionary party to propagate their sy...

FALL OF ROBESPIERRE (9TH THERMIDOR).--A reaction set in against the cruelties of Jacobinism. Men--even the judges of the murderous tribunal--grew weary of bloodshed. The authori...

THE EMPIRE (1804).--Various attempts had been made against _Napoleon's_ life. An "infernal machine" was exploded near his carriage. On that occasion, only the swift driving of t...

THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN--The circumstances narrated above did not prevent _Napoleon_ from the fatal mistake of invading _Russia_. The czar would not enforce the commercial restrict...

THE TWO PARTIES.--The cabinet of _Washington_ consisted of four members. The secretary of the treasury was _Alexander Hamilton_ of New York. The secretary of state was _Thomas J...

NEW SPIRIT IN LITERATURE.--In the latter part of the eighteenth and the early part of the nineteenth centuries, literature broke away from the artificial rules and the one-sided...

GERMANY: THE HOLY ALLIANCE.--The years of peace which followed the _War of Liberation_ produced a signal increase of thrift and of culture in Germany. But they brought also a gr...

CHARLES X.--_Louis XVIII_. died in 1824. His brother, _Charles X_. (1824-30), dealt generously with the collateral branch of the Bourbons, the house of _Orleans_. He restored to...

DISTURBANCES IN GERMANY.--The effect of the revolution which dethroned _Louis Philippe_ was felt like an electric shock through all Europe. It was experienced immediately in the...

RIVALSHIP OF PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA.--The brief but mighty struggle which secured for Prussia the preponderance in Germany grew immediately out of complications respecting _Schlesw...

COMPLETED UNION OF ITALY.--When the war between Prussia and France broke out, the republicans in Italy were disposed to take possession of _Rome_ at once. _Mazzini_ urged them t...

END OF THE FEDERAL PARTY.--The end of the war with Great Britain (1812-15) was marked by the extinction of the Federal party. But the Republicans, the opposing party, were now e...

During the last decade of the nineteenth century tendencies which years before had begun to appear became the dominant feature of the European situation. The old ideals of the M...

GEOGRAPHICAL DISCOVERIES.--Too much was already known of the globe to leave room for another so stupendous discovery as that of the New World. Nevertheless, many important geogr...