Contents
Preface xiv
Introduction 1
What Is World History? An Introduction for Students of the Recent Past 1
Questions and Connections: The World Since c. 1450 C.E. 2
Periodization 3
Sources 4
Themes in Modern World History 6
Part 1
Debating the "Great Opening": 1450—1600 7
Chapter 1 Was There a Eurasian Advantage over Africa
and the Americas? 11
Rendezvous at Cajamarca 12
>> 1. FRANCISCO DE JÉREZ, Reports on the Discovery of Peru, translated
by C.R. Markham 13
Ecological Differentiation 14
>> 2. JARED DIAMOND, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fate
of Human Societies 15
Critique of Guns, Germs, and Steel 16
>> 3. J. R. MCNEILL, The World According to Jared Diamond 16
A Conversation with Christopher Ehret 17
>> 4. A Conversation with Christopher Ehret 18
Chapter 2 Why Not Ming China? 21
The Impact of Zheng He’s Voyages 22
>> 5. KU P’O, Afterword, in Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan, or The Overall
Survey of the Ocean’s Shores 23
The Fifteenth-Century Maritime Scene in China 23
>> 6. CHANG KUEI-SHENG, The Maritime Scene in China at the Dawn
of Great European Discoveries 24
A Twentieth-Century Chinese Historian’s View of the Early
Ming Dynasty 25
>> 7. LI UNG BING, Outlines in Chinese History 26
Shared Problems in Early Modern China and Europe 26
>> 8. KENNETH POMERANZ, The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the
Making of the Modern World Economy 27
iii
Chapter 3 Theories of Cultural Exceptionalism 29
Justifying the Spanish Conquest of the Americas 30
>> 9. JUAN GINÉS DE SEPULVEDA, Just Causes of War Against
the Indians 30
On the Responsibilities of Spaniards in the Americas 32
>> 10. BARTOLOMÉ DE LAS CASAS, Apologética historia de las Indias,
translated by Benjamin Keen 33
Culture and The Wealth and Poverty of Nations 33
>> 11. DAVID S. LANDES, The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why
Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor 34
Critiquing The Wealth and Poverty of Nations 36
>> 12. WILLIAM H. MCNEILL, How the West Won 36
Chapter 4 Theories of Military Superiority 39
Ottoman Military Supremacy at the Siege of Constantinople 41
>> 13. NICOLO BARBARO, Diary of the Siege of Constantinople 1453 41
Sejara Melayu, or the Portuguese conquest of Malacca 42
>> 14. A Malay Account of the Conquest of Malacca 43
Vasco de Gama’s Defeat of the Calecut Fleet 43
>> 15. GASPAR CORREA, The Three Voyages of Vasco de Gama and His
Viceroyalty 44
Was There a Naval Arms Gap in the Indian Ocean? 44
>> 16. P. J. MARSHALL, Western Arms in Maritime Asia in the Early
Phases of Expansion 45
Warfare in Seventeenth-Century Angola 46
>> 17. JOHN K. THORNTON, The Art of War in Angola,
1575—1680 46
Chapter 5 Theories of Political Superiority 49
The Emergence of the Nation-State in Europe 50
>> 18. JOSEPH R. STRAYER, On the Medieval Origins
of the Modern State 51
State Systems and the Advantages of Fragmentation 52
>> 19. PAUL KENNEDY, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers:
Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000 52
The Formulation of English Rule in Ireland 53
>> 20. HENRY VI, Letters Patent from Henry VI to the
Lord Lieutenant 54
A Unified Model for Early Modern Eurasia 54
>> 21. VICTOR LIEBERMAN, Transcending East-West Dichotomies:
State and Culture Formation in Six Ostensibly Disparate Areas 55
iv Contents
Ming Dynasty Statecraft and Welfare Systems 56
>> 22. JUAN GONZALEZ DE MENDOZA, The History of the Great
and Mighty Kingdom of China and the Situation Thereof 57
Sixteenth-Century Confucian Intellectual Challenges
to the State 57
>> 23. WANG YANG-MING, Inquiry on the Great Learning 58
Chapter 6 Theories of Economic Change 61
Renaissance Merchant-Capitalists 63
>> 24. ROBERT L. REYNOLDS, Europe Emerges: Transition toward
an Industrial World-Wide Society 600—1750 63
Capitalism and the Church in Medieval Europe 65
>> 25. RODNEY STARK, How Christianity (and Capitalism)
Led to Science 65
Medici Articles of Association 67
>> 26. Medici Article of Association 67
Capitalism in Medieval Islam 69
>> 27. SUBHI Y. LABIB, Capitalism in Medieval Islam 69
The Wealth of Mali and the Bankers of Cairo 71
>> 28. IBN HAJAR AL-’ASQALANI, The Pilgrimage of Mansa Musa 71
Part 1 Conclusion 74
Part 2
Debating the Age of Revolutions: 1600—1870 76
Chapter 7 Evaluating the Bourgeois Revolution 79
The "European Miracle" Hypothesis 81
>> 29. ERIC L. JONES, The European Miracle: Environments, Economies,
and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia 81
Adam Smith on the Global Origins of Britain’s Wealth 83
>> 30. ADAM SMITH, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of
the Wealth of Nations 83
The Profitability of American Colonies 86
>> 31. KENNETH POMERANZ, The Great Divergence: China, Europe,
and the Making of the Modern World Economy 87
The Importance of Regional Commerce 88
>> 32. PATRICK O’BRIEN, European Economic Development:
The Contribution of the Periphery 89
The Difficulties and Rewards of the East Indies Trade 90
>> 33. The Fugger Newsletters 91
Contents v
Chapter 8 Locating Nationalism and the Atlantic Revolutions 94
What Is the Third Estate? 97
>> 34. EMMANUEL (ABBÉ) SIEYÈS, "Qu’est-ce que le tiers état?"
or "What Is the Third Estate?" 97
Identities and French Nationalism 99
>> 35. LIAH GREENFELD, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity 99
Consumption and Identity in the American Revolution 100
>> 36. T. H. BREEN, "Baubles of Britain": The American
and Consumer Revolutions of the Eighteenth Century 101
Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress 103
>> 37. Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental
Congress 103
Creole Pioneers and Nationalism in Latin America 105
>> 38. BENEDICT ANDERSON, Imagined Communities: Reflections
on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism 106
Chapter 9 Connecting the Atlantic Revolutions 108
Linking the Atlantic Revolutions 109
>> 39. R. R. PALMER, The World Revolution of the West: 1763—1801 110
de Tocqueville on the American Revolution 111
>> 40. ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE, L’ancien régime 111
The Haitian Revolution in an Atlantic context 112
>> 41. FRANKLIN W. KNIGHT, The Haitian Revolution 113
Declaration of Independence of Haiti 114
>> 42. Declaration of Independence of Haiti 114
The Objectives of the Spanish American Revolutionaries 115
>> 43. JOHN LYNCH, The Origins of Spanish American Independence 116
Chapter 10 Linking the Industrial Revolution in Africa and Britain 119
Origins of the Industrial Revolution in Britain 121
>> 44. PETER MATHIAS, The First Industrial Nation: An Economic
History of Britain 1700—1914 122
The Profits of the Atlantic Slave Trade for Britain 124
>> 45. ERIC WILLIAMS, Capitalism & Slavery 124
The English Tradesman 125
>> 46. DANIEL DEFOE, The Complete English Tradesman 125
The Price of the Atlantic Slave Trade for Africa 126
>> 47. WALTER RODNEY, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa 127
The Evil of Slavery 128
>> 48. OTTOBAH CUGOANO, Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil of Slavery 128
Working Girls in and Great Britain and West Africa 130
>> 49. Testimonies of Elizabeth Bentley and Abina Mansah 130
vi Contents
Chapter 11 Exploring Pathways to Revolution and Reform in Asia 133
Diplomacy and Modernization in the Ottoman Empire 136
>> 50. THOMAS NAFF, Reform and the Conduct of Ottoman
Diplomacy in the Reign of Selim III, 1789—1807 136
Treaty of Alliance between England and the Ottoman Empire 137
>> 51. Treaty of Alliance between England and Turkey,
5 January 1799 138
A Reconsideration of Selim III’s Reforms 139
>> 52. KEMAL H. KARPAT, "The Stages of Ottoman History":
A Structural Comparative Approach 139
The Meiji Revolution and Japan’s Modernization 141
>> 53. KUWABARA TAKEO, The Meiji Revolution and Japan’s Modernization 141
The Different Experiences of China and Japan in
the Mid-Nineteenth Century 142
>> 54. SHIBAHARA TAKUJI, Japan’s Modernization from the Perspective
of International Relations 143
The Meiji Charter Oath 144
>> 55. Drafts of the Charter Oath 144
Part 2 Conclusion 147
Part 3
Debating the New Imperialism, 1850—1914 150
Chapter 12 Strategic Explanations 155
European Rivalry and German Imperialism 157
>> 56. A. J. P. TAYLOR, Germany’s First Bid for Colonies 1884—1885:
A Move in Bismarck’s European Policy 158
Jules Ferry’s Defense of French Colonialism 158
>> 57. JULES FERRY, Speech Before the French Chamber of Deputies,
March 28, 1884 159
The United States’ Naval Power in the Pacific 160
>> 58. ALFRED THAYER MAHAN, Effects of Asiatic Conditions upon
International Policies 161
Debating Japanese Intervention in Korea 162
>> 59.O —
KUBO TOSHIMICHI, Opinion against the Korean Expedition
Chapter 13 Economic Explanations 165
V.I. Lenin Connects Capitalism and Imperialism 166
>> 60. VLADIMIR ILLYICH LENIN, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism 167
Gentlemanly Capitalism 168
>> 61. P. J. CAIN AND A. G. HOPKINS, Gentlemanly Capitalism and British
Expansion Overseas II: New Imperialism, 1850—1945 169
Contents vii
A Liberal Interpretation of the Economic Origins of Imperialism 170
>> 62. JOHN A. HOBSON, Imperialism: A Study 170
British Misrule and the Impoverishment of India 172
>> 63. DADABHAI NAOROJI, Memorandum No.2 on the Moral
Poverty in India and Native Thoughts on the Present British
Indian Policy 172
Chapter 14 Moral Explanations 174
The White Man’s Burden 179
>> 64. RUDYARD KIPLING, The White Man’s Burden 177
The Missionary’s Bride 177
>> 65. FRANCES ELIZABETH DAVIES, The Missionary’s Bride 178
An "Orientalist" Perspective on Egypt 179
>> 66. EVELYN BARING CROMER, Modern Egypt 179
An Egyptian Rejoinder 181
>> 67. AHMAD LUTFI- AL-SAYYID, Lord Cromer before History 181
A Civilizing Mission 182
>> 68. ALICE CONKLIN, A Mission to Civilize: The Republican Idea
of Empire in France and West Africa 1895—1930 182
Chapter 15 Technological Explanations 185
Winston Churchill Witnesses the Battle of Omdurman 187
>> 69. WINSTON S. CHURCHILL, The River War: An Historical
Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan 187
Guerilla Tactics during the Ndebele Rebellion 188
>> 70. NDANSI KUMALO, The Story of Ndansi Kumalo of the
Matabele Tribe, Southern Rhodesia 189
The Diffusion of Technology during the Age of Empires 189
>> 71. DANIEL HEADRICK, The Tentacles of Progress: Technology
Transfer in the Age of Imperialism, 1850—1940 190
Chapter 16 The Answer Is in the Periphery 193
African Incitements to British Imperialism? 194
>> 72. RONALD ROBINSON AND JOHN GALLAGHER WITH ALICE DENNY, Africa and
the Victorians: The Climax of Imperialism in the Dark Continent 195
The Constitution of the Fante Confederation and the Response
of the British Administrator 196
>> 73. "Constitution of the New Fantee Confederacy" and a Letter from
Administrator Salmon 197
Man-on-the-Spotism 198
>> 74. PHILIP D. CURTIN, The World and the West: The European
Challenge and the Overseas Response in the Age of Empire 199
viii Contents
British Intervention in Malaysia 200
>> 75. FRANK SWETTENHAM, British Malaya: An Account of the Origin
and Progress of British Influence in Malaya 201
Part 3 Conclusion 203
Part 4
Debating Global Wars, 1914—1945 205
Chapter 17 The "Long Fuse" of the First World War 210
Imperial Rivalries 213
>> 76. JAMES JOLL, The Origins of the First World War 213
Anglo-Russian Reconciliation 214
>> 77. Memorandum Respecting the Anglo-Russian Convention 215
Nationalism and the Origins of the First World War 216
>> 78. BERNADOTTE E. SCHMITT, The Origins of the First World War 217
The Cult of the Offensive 218
>> 79. STEPHEN VAN EVERA, The Cult of the Offensive and the
Origins of the First World War 218
A German General’s Perspective on the Causes of the First World War 220
>> 80. HELMUTH VON MOLTKE, Letter to Theobald von Bethman Hollweg 221
Chapter 18 The Joyful Leap to War 223
The Third Balkan War 224
>> 81. CLIVE PONTING, Thirteen Days: The Road to the First World War 225
Placing the Blame on Germany 226
>> 82. CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE, Report Presented
to the Preliminary Peace Conference 226
Debating German Aggression 228
>> 83. JAMES JOLL, The 1914 Debate Continues. Fritz Fischer
and His Critics 228
The Conscription of Colonial Soldiers 231
>> 84. JOE LUNN, Memoirs of the Maelstrom: A Senegalese Oral
History of the First World War 232
Woodrow Wilson Justifies the U.S. Entry into the War 234
>> 85. WOODROW WILSON, Address to Congress 234
The Zimmermann Telegram 236
>> 86. ARTHUR ZIMMERMANN, Decoded Telegram January 8, 1917 236
Chapter 19 The Rise of Fascism and Militarism 238
Benito Mussolini’s Definition of Fascism 240
>> 87. BENITO MUSSOLINI, Definition of Fascism 241
Contents ix
"War Guilt" and "Reparations" Clauses of the Versailles
Peace Treaty 242
>> 88. The Treaty of Versailles 242
Unemployment and Bankruptcy Figures for Germany 243
>> 89. The Nazi Years: A Documentary History 243
Hitler, Fanatic and Opportunist 243
>> 90. ALAN BULLOCK, Hitler and the Origins of the Second
World War 244
The Hossbach Memorandum 245
>> 91. COLONEL COUNT FRIEDRICH HOSSBACH, Memorandum 246
The Way of Subjects 247
>> 92. GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN, The Way of Subjects 247
A Pragmatic Explanation for Japanese Belligerence 248
>> 93. JAMES B. CROWLEY, Japan’s Quest for Autonomy: National
Security and Foreign Policy, 1930—1938 249
Chapter 20 Appeasement and Isolationism 251
Haile Selassie’s Appeal to the League Assembly 253
>> 94. HAILE SELASSIE, Speech to the League of Nations Assembly 254
Neville Chamberlain Defends the Policy of Appeasement 255
>> 95. Parliamentary Debates: House of Commons 255
A Post-War Scholar Attacks Appeasement 257
>> 96. JOHN W. WHEELER-BENNETT, Munich: Prologue to Tragedy 257
A Revisionist View of Appeasement 259
>> 97. DONALD CAMERON WATT, How War Came: The Immediate
Origins of the Second World War, 1938—1939 259
Roosevelt and the Nazi Threat 260
>> 98. ARNOLD A. OFFNER, The United States and National
Socialist Germany 261
Soviet Policy and the Nazi Threat 263
>> 99. MAXIM LITVINOV, Address to the Central Executive Committee
of the Soviet Union 264
Chapter 21 The Holocaust 266
An Intentionalist Perspective on the Holocaust 268
>> 100. LUCY S. DAWIDOWICZ, The Holocaust and the Historians 268
A Structuralist Interpretation of the Wannsee Conference 270
>> 101. CHRISTIAN GERLACH, The Wannsee Conference, the Fate
of the German Jews, and Hitler’s Decision in Principle
to Exterminate All European Jews 271
Protocol of the Wannsee Conference, 20 January 1942 273
>> 102. ADOLPH EICHMAN, Protocol of the Wannsee Conference 274
x Contents
The Colonial Origins of Genocide? 275
>> 103. SVEN LINDQVIST, Exterminate All the Brutes 276
Order Establishing Concentration Camps in the South African War 277
>> 104. LORD KITCHENER, Circular Memorandum N. 29 278
Part 4 Conclusion 280
Part 5
Debating Globalization, Nationalism,
and Modernity, 1945—Present 282
Chapter 22 Perspectives on Decolonization 285
Nationalism in West Africa 287
>> 105. JEAN SURET-CANALE AND A. ADU BOAHEN, West Africa 1945—1960 288
Mohandas Gandhi’s Hind Swaraj and "Message to Chinese Women" 289
>> 106. MOHANDAS GANDHI, Hind Swaraj, or Indian Home Rule [1910]
and Message to Chinese Women 290
Kwame Nkrumah on Organizing a National Political Movement 292
>> 107. KWAME NKRUMAH, I Speak of Freedom: A Statement
of African Ideology 292
Nelson Mandela’s Rivonia Manifesto 294
>> 108. NELSON MANDELA, Statement from the Dock at the Rivonia Trial,
Pretoria Supreme Court 295
The International Context of Decolonization 296
>> 109. DAVID ABERNETHY, The Dynamics of Global Dominance:
European Overseas Empires, 1415—1980 297
The United Nations’ Declaration on the Granting of Independence 298
>> 110. Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial
Countries and Peoples 299
Chapter 23 Perspectives on the Cold War 302
An American Perspective on Soviet Cold War Strategy 304
>> 111. GEORGE F. KENNAN, Long Telegram 305
A Soviet Perspective on American Cold War Strategy 306
>> 112. NIKOLAI NOVIKOV, Telegram 306
Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of
Viet Nam 307
>> 113. HO CHI MINH, Declaration of Independence of the
Democratic Republic of Viet Nam 308
A U.S. Veteran’s Interpretation of the Origins of the
Vietnam War 309
>> 114. JAMES WEBB, Why We Fought and Why We Would Do It Again 309
Contents xi
Chapter 24 Perspectives on Globalization 313
An American Century? 315
>> 115. DAVID REYNOLDS, American Globalism: Mass, Motion, and
the Multiplier Effect 315
Transnationality 317
>> 116. KEITH SUTER, Global Order and Global Disorder: Globalization
and the Nation-State 317
Underdevelopment in Latin America 319
>> 117. ANDRE GUNDER FRANK, Capitalism and Underdevelopment
in Latin America: Historical Studies of Chile and Brazil 320
Subcomandante Marcos on the "The Fourth World War" 322
>> 118. SUBCOMANDANTE MARCOS, The Fourth World War 322
Interview with Medha Patkar 324
>> 119. ROBERT JENSEN, Interview with Medha Patkar 324
Chapter 25 Perspectives on Civilizations and Struggles 327
The Clash of Civilizations? 329
>> 120. SAMUEL P. HUNTINGTON, The Clash of Civilizations? 329
Edward Said Critiques the "Clash of Civilizations" Thesis 331
>> 121. EDWARD W. SAID, The Clash of Ignorance 332
George W. Bush on the Struggle between "Good" and "Evil" 334
>> 122. GEORGE W. BUSH, Graduation Speech at the United
States Military Academy 334
Why Multiculturalism? 336
>> 123. IMAM FEISAL ABDUL RAUF, Why Multiculturalism? 336
Part 5 Conclusion 340