How can we learn from maps to anticipate possible dangers?
Let's go through the eyes of several university scholars of the 20th century
Review the impact of geography on the larger picture of world history
Through the perspective of the ancient sages, let's look at the interaction between geography and human intervention!
This article will briefly introduce some of the scholars who will appear in the third chapter:
Herodotus
The father of ancient Greek history
Herodotus (Greek: ΗΡΟΔΟΤΤΟΣ), an ancient Greek writer and historian of the 5th century BC (c. 480 BC – 425 BC), wrote the book History (Ἱσστορίαι) in the history of Western literature, and Herodotus was honored as the "Father of History".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > personal work, "History of the Greek-Persian War"</h1>
The work was originally published around 430 BC and was not originally divided into volumes.
Later, the schoolmasters of Alexander Ayutthaya divided it into 9 volumes, each with a distinct theme, and the title of each volume was the name of the 9 muses (i.e., the goddess in charge of each art) from Greek mythology.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="26" > evaluation</h1>
Due to the limitations of his time, Herodotus also showed a certain degree of self-contradiction in the book. For example, when estimating historical materials and handling historical materials, he fully demonstrated the critical spirit of "seeking truth and doubting"; In analyzing historical reasons, he insisted on a humanistic position; But in the historical view, he still retains quite a few traces of fatalism. He believed that everything in the world was indeed controlled by a supernatural dominant force, believed in God's revelation and the various omens it issued, believed in miracles, prophecies, illusions, dreams, divination, and so on. He mentions signs in as many as 35 places in the book.
Sometimes, for the glory of God, in order to promote his own ethics and morality, Herodotus even disregarded the principle of historical truth. For example, in verses 29-33 of Book 1, he describes in a vivid way the dialogue between the Lydian king Crosus and Solon on the "concept of happiness"; In fact, this description is a fiction that does not correspond to the facts, because Solon's travels to Asia Minor took place in the three or forty years before the reign of Clausus, and it is impossible for the two to talk.
However, the History of the Greek-Polish War is the first relatively complete historical work in Western history, a treasure in the world history library, and Herodotus is also worthy of the reputation of the "Father of Historiography" given to him by Cicero.
William H. McNeil
The founder of global history research - McNeill
William Hardy McNeill (31.10.1917 – 8.7.2016) was one of the most famous historians in the world, the founder of global history studies, and the "modern pioneer" of the discipline of world history.
He is currently a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, where he served as President of the American Historical Society and President of the American World Historical Society. The study of global history is outstanding and highly respected, and it is on a par with Spengler and Toynbee, and is known as the "giant of the 20th century who interpreted history worldwide", opening up a new era of Western world historiography.
In 1963, he became famous for His Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, for which he won the National Book Award.
Since then, he has worked tirelessly and has published more than 30 works to date.
In 1996, William McNeil was awarded the Erasmus Award for "outstanding contributions in the fields of European culture, society and social sciences".
On July 8, 2016, the famous historian William McNeill passed away at the age of 98.
Marshall Hodgson
Hodgson
Marshall · As one of the important pioneers and founders of the discipline of American New World history, Hodgson's original historical contributions and historical status have been recognized, but his original contributions in the field of historiography and his historical ideas have rarely been deeply and systematically excavated.
In the academic history of world history, Marshall Hodgson is a relatively special figure.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Hodgson and William McNeill taught at the University of Chicago, and Stavrianos taught at Northwestern University. Compared with two other scholars who became famous for his work on world history, Hodgson was more philosophically thoughtful and more methodologically conscious. If he had not died young, we might have seen a deeper "history of the world."
Hodgson's fame grew behind him, and it wasn't until the 1990s, when global history began to become a nascent academic trend, that his popularity slowly grew. Especially in recent years, Hodgson's theoretical discussion of world history research has received more and more attention.