A Short History of the World

by H. G. Wells

Overview

When H. G. Wells published this popular history of planet Earth in 1922, the highest off the surface humans had reached was seven miles, barely 37,000 feet; the best guess at the planet's age was merely "more than" 2 billion years; the beginnings of organic life on Earth were still little understood. But with all the confidence of his immense genius and wide-ranging appreciation for all things scientific, Wells presents a readable, concise survey of the state of knowledge at his time about the planet and human presence upon it. Wells asks that you read this hefty 1922 work-adapted from his two-volume Outline of History, published in 1920-"straightforwardly almost as a novel is read," and indeed, this story of Earth, from its very formation and the first appearance of homo sapiens through the Russian Revolution and the reconstruction after World War I, reads like the most thrilling adventure story ever told. Though it has been factually supplanted by scholarship that came after it, this remains an engaging history, a classic of science fact from one of the fathers of modern science fiction. British author HERBERT GEORGE WELLS (1866-1946) is best known for his groundbreaking science fiction novels The Time Machine (1895), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781602069312
Publisher:	Cosimo Classics
Publication date:	11/01/2007
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.19(d)

About the Author

H.G. Wells was a professional writer and journalist, who published more than a hundred books, including novels, histories, essays and programmes for world regeneration. Wells's prophetic imagination was first displayed in pioneering works of science fiction, but later he became an apostle of socialism, science and progress. His controversial views on sexual equality and the shape of a truly developed nation remain directly relevant to our world today. He was, in Bertrand Russell's words, 'an important liberator of thought and action'.

Date of Birth:

September 21, 1866

Date of Death:

August 13, 1946

Place of Birth:

Bromley, Kent, England

Place of Death:

London, England

Education:

Normal School of Science, London, England

Table of Contents

Chapter I.	The World in Space	9
Chapter II.	The World in Time	11
Chapter III.	The Beginnings of Life	13
Chapter IV.	The Age of Fishes	15
Chapter V.	The Age of the Coal Swamps	18
Chapter VI.	The Age of Reptiles	21
Chapter VII.	The First Birds and the First Mammals	24
Chapter VIII.	The Age of Mammals	27
Chapter IX.	Monkeys, Apes, and Sub-Men	30
Chapter X.	The Neanderthaler and the Rhodesian Man	33
Chapter XI.	The First True Men	38
Chapter XII.	Primitive Thought	41
Chapter XIII.	The Beginnings of Cultivation	44
Chapter XIV.	Primitive Neolithic Civilisations	48
Chapter XV.	Sumeria, Early Egypt and Writing	53
Chapter XVI.	Primitive Nomadic Peoples	56
Chapter XVII.	The First Sea-Going Peoples	59
Chapter XVIII.	Egypt, Babylon and Assyria	63
Chapter XIX.	The Primitive Aryans	67
Chapter XX.	The Last Babylonian Empire and the Empire of Darius I	71
Chapter XXI.	The Early History of the Jews	75
Chapter XXII.	Priests and Prophets in Judea	80
Chapter XXIII.	The Greeks	83
Chapter XXIV.	The Wars of the Greeks and Persians	87
Chapter XXV.	The Splendour of Greece	90
Chapter XXVI.	The Empire of Alexander the Great	93
Chapter XXVII.	The Museum and Library at Alexandria	96
Chapter XXVIII.	The Life of Gautama Buddha	100
Chapter XXIX.	King Asoka	104
Chapter XXX.	Confucius and Lao Tse	105
Chapter XXXI.	Rome comes into History	109
Chapter XXXII.	Rome and Carthage	113
Chapter XXXIII.	The Growth of the Roman Empire	117
Chapter XXXIV.	Between Rome and China	126
Chapter XXXV.	The Common Man's Life under the Early Roman Empire	129
Chapter XXXVI.	Religious Developments under the Roman Empire	134
Chapter XXXVII.	The Teaching of Jesus	139
Chapter XXXVIII.	The Development of Doctrinal Christianity	144
Chapter XXXIX.	The Barbarians break the Empire into East and West	147
Chapter XL.	The Huns and the End of the Western Empire	151
Chapter XLI.	The Byzantine and Sassanid Empires	155
Chapter XLII.	The Dynasties of Suy and Tang in China	159
Chapter XLIII.	Muhammad and Islam	161
Chapter XLIV.	The Great Days of the Arabs	164
Chapter XLV.	The Development of Latin Christendom	168
Chapter XLVI.	The Crusades and the Age of Papal Dominion	176
Chapter XLVII.	Recalcitrant Princes and the Great Schism	183
Chapter XLVIII.	The Mongol Conquests	190
Chapter XLIX.	The Intellectual Revival of the Europeans	195
Chapter L.	The Reformation of the Latin Church	202
Chapter LI.	The Emperor Charles V	205
Chapter LII.	The Age of Political Experiments; of Grand Monarchy and Parliaments and Republicanism in Europe	212
Chapter LIII.	The New Empires of the Europeans in Asia and Overseas	221
Chapter LIV.	The American War of Independence	226
Chapter LV.	The French Revolution and the Restoration of Monarchy in France	230
Chapter LVI.	The Uneasy Peace in Europe that followed the Fall of Napoleon	237
Chapter LVII.	The Development of Material Knowledge	241
Chapter LVIII.	The Industrial Revolution	248
Chapter LIX.	The Development of Modern Political and Social Ideas	251
Chapter LX.	The Expansion of the United States	260
Chapter LXI.	The Rise of Germany to Predominance in Europe	267
Chapter LXII.	The New Overseas Empires of Steamship and Railway	269
Chapter LXIII.	European Aggression in Asia and the Rise of Japan	274
Chapter LXIV.	The British Empire in 1914	278
Chapter LXV.	The Age of Armament in Europe and the Great War of 1914-18	280
Chapter LXVI.	The New Order in Russia	285
Chapter LXVII.	The League of Nations	292
Chapter LXVIII.	The Failure of the League of Nations	296
Chapter LXIX.	The Crisis of Human Adaptation	307
	Chronological Table	311