THE OUTLINE OF
HISTORY

Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind

BY
H. G. WELLS

WRITTEN WITH THE ADVICE AND EDITORIAL HELP OF

MR. ERNEST BARKER,
SIR H. H. JOHNSTON, SIR E. RAY LANKESTER
AND PROFESSOR GILBERT MURRAY

AND ILLUSTRATED BY
J. F. HORRABIN

VOLUME I

New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1920
All rights reserved

Copyright, 1920,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
By H. G. WELLS.
Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1920.

NORWOOD PRESS
J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

INTRODUCTION

THIS Outline of History is an attempt to tell, truly and clearly, in one continuous narrative, the whole story of life and mankind so far as it is known to-day. It is written plainly for the general reader, but its aim goes beyond its use as merely interesting reading matter. There is a feeling abroad that the teaching of history considered as a part of general education is in an unsatisfactory condition, and particularly that the ordinary treatment of this “subject” by the class and teacher and examiner is too partial and narrow. But the desire to extend the general range of historical ideas is confronted by the argument that the available time for instruction is already consumed by that partial and narrow treatment, and that therefore, however desirable this extension of range may be, it is in practice impossible. If an Englishman, for example, has found the history of England quite enough for his powers of assimilation, then it seems hopeless to expect his sons and daughters to master universal history, if that is to consist of the history of England, plus the history of France, plus the history of Germany, plus the history of Russia, and so on. To which the only possible answer is that universal history is at once something more and something less than the aggregate of the national histories to which we are accustomed, that it must be approached in a different spirit and dealt with in a different manner. This book seeks to justify that answer. It has been written primarily to show that history as one whole is amenable to a more broad and comprehensive handling than is the history of special nations and periods, a broader handling that will bring it within the normal limitations of time and energy set to the reading and education of an ordinary citizen. This outline deals with ages and races and nations, where the ordinary history deals with reigns and pedigrees and campaigns; but it will not be found to be more crowded with names and dates, nor more difficult to follow and understand. History is no exception amongst the sciences; as the gaps fill in, the outline simplifies; as the outlook broadens, the clustering multitude of details dissolves into general laws. And many topics of quite primary interest to mankind, the first appearance and the growth of scientific knowledge for example, and its effects upon human life, the elaboration of the ideas of money and credit, or the story of the origins and spread and influence of Christianity, which must be treated fragmentarily or by elaborate digressions in any partial history, arise and flow completely and naturally in one general record of the world in which we live.

The need for a common knowledge of the general facts of human history throughout the world has become very evident during the tragic happenings of the last few years. Swifter means of communication have brought all men closer to one another for good or for evil. War becomes a universal disaster, blind and monstrously destructive; it bombs the baby in its cradle and sinks the food-ships that cater for the non-combatant and the neutral. There can be no peace now, we realize, but a common peace in all the world; no prosperity but a general prosperity. But there can be no common peace and prosperity without common historical ideas. Without such ideas to hold them together in harmonious co-operation, with nothing but narrow, selfish, and conflicting nationalist traditions, races and peoples are bound to drift towards conflict and destruction. This truth, which was apparent to that great philosopher Kant a century or more ago—it is the gist of his tract upon universal peace—is now plain to the man in the street. Our internal policies and our economic and social ideas are profoundly vitiated at present by wrong and fantastic ideas of the origin and historical relationship of social classes. A sense of history as the common adventure of all mankind is as necessary for peace within as it is for peace between the nations.

Such are the views of history that this Outline seeks to realize. It is an attempt to tell how our present state of affairs, this distressed and multifarious human life about us, arose in the course of vast ages and out of the inanimate clash of matter, and to estimate the quality and amount and range of the hopes with which it now faces its destiny. It is one experimental contribution to a great and urgently necessary educational reformation, which must ultimately restore universal history, revised, corrected, and brought up to date, to its proper place and use as the backbone of a general education. We say “restore,” because all the great cultures of the world hitherto, Judaism and Christianity in the Bible, Islam in the Koran, have used some sort of cosmogony and world history as a basis. It may indeed be argued that without such a basis any really binding culture of men is inconceivable. Without it we are a chaos.

Remarkably few sketches of universal history by one single author have been written. One book that has influenced the writer very strongly is Winwood Reade’s Martyrdom of Man. This dates, as people say, nowadays, and it has a fine gloom of its own, but it is still an extraordinarily inspiring presentation of human history as one consistent process. Mr. F. S. Marvin’s Living Past is also an admirable summary of human progress. There is a good General History of the World in one volume by Mr. Oscar Browning. America has recently produced two well-illustrated and up-to-date class books, Breasted’s Ancient Times and Robinson’s Medieval and Modern Times, which together give a very good idea of the story of mankind since the beginning of human societies. There are, moreover, quite a number of nominally Universal Histories in existence, but they are really not histories at all, they are encyclopædias of history; they lack the unity of presentation attainable only when the whole subject has been passed through one single mind. These universal histories are compilations, assemblies of separate national or regional histories by different hands, the parts being necessarily unequal in merit and authority and disproportionate one to another. Several such universal histories in thirty or forty volumes or so, adorned with allegorical title pages and illustrated by folding maps and plans of Noah’s Ark, Solomon’s Temple, and the Tower of Babel, were produced for the libraries of gentlemen in the eighteenth century. Helmolt’s World History, in eight massive volumes, is a modern compilation of the same sort, very useful for reference and richly illustrated, but far better in its parts than as a whole. Another such collection is the Historians’ History

of the World in 25 volumes. The Encyclopædia Britannica contains, of course, a complete encyclopædia of history within itself, and is the most modern of all such collections.[1] F. Ratzel’s History of Mankind, in spite of the promise of its title, is mainly a natural history of man, though it is rich with suggestions upon the nature and development of civilization. That publication and Miss Ellen Churchill Semple’s Influence of Geographical Environment, based on Ratzel’s work, are quoted in this Outline, and have had considerable influence upon its plan. F. Ratzel would indeed have been the ideal author for such a book as our present one. Unfortunately neither he nor any other ideal author was available.[2]

The writer will offer no apology for making this experiment. His disqualifications are manifest. But such work needs to be done by as many people as possible, he was free to make his contribution, and he was greatly attracted by the task. He has read sedulously and made the utmost use of all the help he could obtain. There is not a chapter that has not been examined by some more competent person than himself and very carefully revised. He has particularly to thank his friends Sir E. Ray Lankester, Sir H. H. Johnston, Professor Gilbert Murray, and Mr. Ernest Barker for much counsel and direction and editorial help. Mr. Philip Guedalla has toiled most efficiently and kindly through all the proofs. Mr. A. Allison, Professor T. W. Arnold, Mr. Arnold Bennett, the Rev. A. H. Trevor Benson, Mr. Aodh de Blacam, Mr. Laurence Binyon, the Rev. G. W. Broomfield, Sir William Bull, Mr. L. Cranmer Byng, Mr. A. J. D. Campbell, Mr. A. Y. Campbell, Mr. L. Y. Chen, Mr. A. R. Cowan, Mr. O. G. S. Crawford, Dr. W. S. Culbertson, Mr. R. Langton Cole, Mr. B. G. Collins, Mr. J. J. L. Duyvendak, Mr. O. W. Ellis, Mr. G. S. Ferrier, Mr. David Freeman, Mr. S. N. Fu, Mr. G. B. Gloyne, Sir Richard Gregory, Mr. F. H. Hayward, Mr. Sydney Herbert, Dr. Fr. Krupicka, Mr. H. Lang Jones, Mr. C. H. B. Laughton, Mr. B. I. Macalpin, Mr. G. H. Mair, Mr. F. S. Marvin, Mr. J. S. Mayhew, Mr. B. Stafford Morse, Professor J. L. Myres, the Hon. W. Ormsby-Gore, Sir Sydney Olivier, Mr. R. I. Pocock, Mr. J. Pringle, Mr. W. H. R. Rivers, Sir Denison Ross, Dr. E. J. Russell, Dr. Charles Singer, Mr. A. St. George Sanford, Dr. C. O. Stallybrass, Mr. G. H. Walsh, Mr. G. P. Wells, Miss Rebecca West, and Mr. George Whale have all to be thanked for help, either by reading parts of the MS. or by pointing out errors in the published parts, making suggestions, answering questions, or giving advice. The amount of friendly and sympathetic assistance the writer has received, often from very busy people, has been a quite extraordinary experience. He has met with scarcely a single instance of irritation or impatience on the part of specialists whose domains he has invaded and traversed in what must have seemed to many of them an exasperatingly impudent and superficial way. Numerous other helpful correspondents have pointed out printer’s errors and minor slips in the serial publication which preceded this book edition, and they have added many useful items of information, and to those writers also the warmest thanks are due. But of course none of these generous helpers are to be held responsible for the judgments, tone, arrangement, or writing of this Outline. In the relative importance of the parts, in the moral and political implications of the story, the final decision has necessarily fallen to the writer. The problem of illustrations was a very difficult one for him, for he had had no previous experience in the production of an illustrated book. In Mr. J. F. Horrabin he has had the good fortune to find not only an illustrator but a collaborator. Mr. Horrabin has spared no pains to make this work informative and exact. His maps and drawings are a part of the text, the most vital and decorative part. Some of them, the hypothetical maps, for example, of the western world at the end of the last glacial age, during the “pluvial age” and 12,000 years ago, and the migration map of the Barbarian invaders of the Roman Empire, represent the reading and inquiry of many laborious days.

The index to this edition is the work of Mr. Strickland Gibson of Oxford. Several correspondents have asked for a pronouncing index and accordingly this has been provided.

The writer owes a word of thanks to that living index of printed books, Mr. J. F. Cox of the London Library. He would also like to acknowledge here the help he has received from Mrs. Wells. Without her labour in typing and re-typing the drafts of the various chapters as they have been revised and amended, in checking references, finding suitable quotations, hunting up illustrations, and keeping in order the whole mass of material for this history, and without her constant help and watchful criticism, its completion would have been impossible.

SCHEME OF CONTENTS

BOOK I
THE MAKING OF OUR WORLD PAGE Chapter I. The Earth in Space and Time 3 Chapter II. The Record of the Rocks § 1. The first living things 7 § 2. How old is the world? 13 Chapter III. Natural Selection and the Changes of Species 16 Chapter IV. The Invasion of the Dry Land by Life § 1. Life and water

href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@45368@[email protected]#v1-page_023" class="pginternal" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">23 § 2. The earliest animals 25 Chapter V. Changes in the World’s Climate § 1. Why life must change continually 29 § 2. The sun a steadfast star 34 § 3. Changes from within the earth 35 § 4. Life may control change 36 Chapter VI. The Age of Reptiles § 1. The age of lowland life 38 § 2. Flying dragons 43 § 3. The first birds 43 § 4. An age of hardship and death 44 § 5. The first appearance of fur and feathers 47 Chapter VII. The Age of Mammals § 1. A new age of life 51 § 2. Tradition comes into the world 52 § 3. An age of brain growth 56 § 4. The world grows hard again 57 § 5. Chronology of the Ice Age 59 BOOK II
THE MAKING OF MEN Chapter VIII. The Ancestry of Man § 1. Man descended from a walking ape 62 § 2. First traces of man-like creatures 68 § 3. The Heidelberg sub-man 69 § 4. The Piltdown sub-man 70 § 5. The riddle of the Piltdown remains 72 Chapter IX. The Neanderthal Men, an Extinct Race.
(The Early Palæolithic Age) § 1. The world 50,000 years ago 75 § 2. The daily life of the first men 79 § 3. The last Palæolithic men 84

class="smcap">Chapter X. The Later Postglacial Palæolithic Men, the First True Men.
(Later Palæolithic Age) § 1. The coming of men like ourselves 86 § 2. Subdivision of the Later Palæolithic 95 § 3. The earliest true men were clever savages 98 § 4. Hunters give place to herdsmen 101 § 5. No sub-men in America 102 Chapter XI. Neolithic Man in Europe § 1. The age of cultivation begins 104 § 2. Where did the Neolithic culture arise? 108 § 3. Everyday Neolithic life 109 § 4. How did sowing begin? 116 § 5. Primitive trade 118 § 6. The flooding of the Mediterranean Valley 118 Chapter XII. Early Thought § 1. Primitive philosophy 122 § 2. The Old Man in religion 125 § 3. Fear and hope in religion 126 § 4. Stars and seasons 127 § 5. Story-telling and myth-making 129 § 6. Complex origins of religion 130 Chapter XIII. The Races of Mankind § 1. Is mankind still differentiating? 136 § 2. The main races of mankind 140 § 3. Was there an Alpine race? 142 § 4. The Heliolithic culture of the Brunet peoples 146 § 5. How existing races may be related to each other 148 Chapter XIV. The Languages of Mankind § 1. No one primitive language 150 § 2. The Aryan languages 151 § 3. The Semitic languages 153 § 4. The Hamitic languages

valign="bottom">154 § 5. The Ural-Altaic languages 156 § 6. The Chinese languages 157 § 7. Other language groups 157 § 8. Submerged and lost languages 161 § 9. How languages may be related 163 BOOK III
THE DAWN OF HISTORY Chapter XV. The Aryan-speaking Peoples in Prehistoric Times § 1. The spreading of the Aryan-speakers 167 § 2. Primitive Aryan life 169 § 3. Early Aryan daily life 176 Chapter XVI. The First Civilizations § 1. Early cities and early nomads 183 § 2A. The riddle of the Sumerians 188 § 2B. The empire of Sargon the First 191 § 2C. The empire of Hammurabi 191 § 2D. The Assyrians and their empire 192 § 2E. The Chaldean empire 194 § 3. The early history of Egypt 195 § 4. The early civilization of India 201 § 5. The early history of China 201 § 6. While the civilizations were growing 206 Chapter XVII. Sea Peoples and Trading Peoples § 1. The earliest ships and sailors 209 § 2. The Ægean cities before history 213 § 3. The first voyages of exploration 217 § 4. Early traders 218 § 5. Early travellers 220 Chapter XVIII. Writing § 1. Picture writing 223 § 2. Syllable writing

valign="bottom">227 § 3. Alphabet writing 228 § 4. The place of writing in human life 229 Chapter XIX. Gods and Stars, Priests and Kings § 1. Nomadic and settled religion 232 § 2. The priest comes into history 234 § 3. Priests and the stars 238 § 4. Priests and the dawn of learning 240 § 5. King against priests 241 § 6. How Bel-Marduk struggled against the kings 245 § 7. The god-kings of Egypt 248 § 8. Shi Hwang-ti destroys the books 252 Chapter XX. Serfs, Slaves, Social Classes, and Free Individuals § 1. The common man in ancient times 254 § 2. The earliest slaves 256 § 3. The first “independent” persons 259 § 4. Social classes three thousand years ago 262 § 5. Classes hardening into castes 266 § 6. Caste in India 268 § 7. The system of the Mandarins 270 § 8. A summary of five thousand years 272 BOOK IV
JUDEA, GREECE, AND INDIA Chapter XXI. The Hebrew Scriptures and the Prophets § 1. The place of the Israelites in history 277 § 2. Saul, David, and Solomon 286 § 3. The Jews a people of mixed origin 292 § 4. The importance of the Hebrew prophets 294 Chapter XXII. The Greeks and the Persians § 1. The Hellenic peoples 298 § 2. Distinctive features of the Hellenic civilization 304

align="right">§ 3. Monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy in Greece 307 § 4. The kingdom of Lydia 315 § 5. The rise of the Persians in the East 316 § 6. The story of Crœsus 320 § 7. Darius invades Russia 326 § 8. The battle of Marathon 332 § 9. Thermopylæ and Salamis 334 § 10. Platæa and Mycale 340 Chapter XXIII. Greek Thought and Literature § 1. The Athens of Pericles 343 § 2. Socrates 350 § 3. What was the quality of the common Athenians? 352 § 4. Greek tragedy and comedy 354 § 5. Plato and the Academy 355 § 6. Aristotle and the Lyceum 357 § 7. Philosophy becomes unworldly 359 § 8. The quality and limitations of Greek thought 360 Chapter XXIV. The Career of Alexander the Great § 1. Philip of Macedonia 367 § 2. The murder of King Philip 373 § 3. Alexander’s first conquests 377 § 4. The wanderings of Alexander 385 § 5. Was Alexander indeed great? 389 § 6. The successors of Alexander 395 § 7. Pergamum a refuge of culture 396 § 8. Alexander as a portent of world unity 397 Chapter XXV. Science and Religion at Alexandria § 1. The science of Alexandria 401 § 2. Philosophy of Alexandria 410 § 3. Alexandria as a factory of religions

tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">410 Chapter XXVI. The Rise and Spread of Buddhism § 1. The story of Gautama 415 § 2. Teaching and legend in conflict 421 § 3. The gospel of Gautama Buddha 422 § 4. Buddhism and Asoka 426 § 5. Two great Chinese teachers 433 § 6. The corruptions of Buddhism 438 § 7. The present range of Buddhism 440 BOOK V
THE RISE AND COLLAPSE OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE Chapter XXVII. The Two Western Republics § 1. The beginnings of the Latins 445 § 2. A new sort of state 454 § 3. The Carthaginian republic of rich men 466 § 4. The First Punic War 467 § 5. Cato the Elder and the spirit of Cato 471 § 6. The Second Punic War 475 § 7. The Third Punic War 480 § 8. How the Punic War undermined Roman liberty 485 § 9. Comparison of the Roman republic with a modern state 486 Chapter XXVIII. From Tiberius Gracchus To the God Emperor in Rome § 1. The science of thwarting the common man 493 § 2. Finance in the Roman state 496 § 3. The last years of republican politics 499 § 4. The era of the adventurer generals 505 § 5. Caius Julius Cæsar and his death 509 § 6. The end of the republic 513 § 7. Why the Roman republic failed 516 Chapter XXIX. The Cæsars between the Sea and the Great
Plains of the Old World § 1. A short catalogue of emperors 52 § 2. Roman civilization at its zenith

align="right" valign="bottom">529 § 3. Limitations of the Roman mind 539 § 4. The stir of the great plains 541 § 5. The Western (true Roman) Empire crumples up 552 § 6. The Eastern (revived Hellenic) Empire 560 BOOK VI
CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM Chapter XXX. The Beginnings, the Rise, and the Divisions of Christianity § 1. Judea at the Christian era 569 § 2. The teachings of Jesus of Nazareth 573 § 3. The universal religions 582 § 4. The crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth 584 § 5. Doctrines added to the teachings of Jesus 586 § 6. The struggles and persecutions of Christianity 594 § 7. Constantine the Great 598 § 8. The establishment of official Christianity 601 § 9. The map of Europe, A.D. 500 605 § 10. The salvation of learning by Christianity 609 Chapter XXXI. Seven Centuries in Asia (CIRCA 50 B.C. TO A.D. 650) § 1. Justinian the Great 614 § 2. The Sassanid Empire in Persia 616 § 3. The decay of Syria under the Sassanids 619 § 4. The first message from Islam 623 § 5. Zoroaster and Mani 624 § 6. Hunnish peoples in Central Asia and India 627 § 7. The great age of China 630 § 8. Intellectual fetters of China 635 § 9. The travels of Yuan Chwang 642