The story of mankind

Setting the stage

Our earliest ancestors

Prehistoric man

Hieroglyphs

Nile Valley

Story of Egypt

Mesopotamia

Sumerians

Moses

Phœnicians

Indo-Europeans

Ægean Sea

Greeks

Greek cities

Greek self-government

Greek life

Greek theatre

Persian wars

Athens vs. Sparta

Alexander the Great

Summary

Rome and Carthage

Rise of Rome

Roman Empire

Joshua of Nazareth

Fall of Rome

Rise of the Church

Mohammed

Charlemagne

Norsemen

Feudalism

Chivalry

Pope vs. Emperor

Crusades

Mediæval city

Mediæval self-government

Mediæval world

Mediæval trade

Renaissance

Age of Expression

Great discoveries

Buddha and Confucius

Reformation

Religious warfare

English revolution

Balance of power

Rise of Russia

Russia vs. Sweden

Rise of Prussia

Mercantile system

American Revolution

French Revolution

Napoleon

Holy alliance

Great reaction

National independence

Age of the Engine

Social revolution

Emancipation

Age of Science

Art

Colonial expansion and war

New world

As it ever shall be

After seven years

United States comes of age

"Axis" partners

Isolationism and appeasement

Atlantic Charter

Global War

United Nations

Turbulent peace

Old order gives way

Spaceship Earth

75 Earth as a global village

Entering the High-tech Age

New Millennium.

ch. 1. Setting the stage --

ch. 2. Our earliest ancestors --

ch. 3. Prehistoric man --

ch. 4. Hieroglyphs --

ch. 5. Nile Valley --

ch. 6. Story of Egypt --

ch. 7. Mesopotamia --

ch. 8. Sumerians --

ch. 9. Moses --

Phœnicians --

ch. 11. Indo-Europeans --

ch. 12. Ægean Sea --

ch. 13. Greeks --

ch. 14. Greek cities --

ch. 15. Greek self-government --

ch. 16. Greek life --

ch. 17. Greek theatre --

ch. 18. Persian wars --

ch. 19. Athens vs. Sparta --

ch. 20. Alexander the Great --

ch. 21. Summary --

ch. 22. Rome and Carthage --

ch. 23. Rise of Rome --

ch. 24. Roman Empire --

ch. 25. Joshua of Nazareth --

ch. 26. Fall of Rome --

ch. 27. Rise of the Church --

ch. 28. Mohammed --

ch. 29. Charlemagne --

ch. 30. Norsemen --

ch. 31. Feudalism --

ch. 32. Chivalry --

ch. 33. Pope vs. Emperor --

ch. 34. Crusades --

ch. 35. Mediæval city --

ch. 36. Mediæval self-government --

ch. 37. Mediæval world --

ch. 38. Mediæval trade --

ch. 39. Renaissance --

ch. 40. Age of Expression --

ch. 41. Great discoveries --

ch. 42. Buddha and Confucius --

ch. 43. Reformation --

ch. 44. Religious warfare --

ch. 45. English revolution --

ch. 46. Balance of power --

ch. 47. Rise of Russia --

ch. 48. Russia vs. Sweden --

ch. 49. Rise of Prussia --

ch. 50. Mercantile system --

ch. 51. American Revolution --

ch. 52. French Revolution --

ch. 53. Napoleon --

ch. 54. Holy alliance --

ch. 55. Great reaction --

ch. 56. National independence --

ch. 57. Age of the Engine --

ch. 58. Social revolution --

ch. 59. Emancipation --

ch. 60. Age of Science --

ch. 61. Art --

ch. 62. Colonial expansion and war --

ch. 63. New world --

ch. 64. As it ever shall be --

ch. 65. After seven years --

ch. 66. United States comes of age --

ch. 67. "Axis" partners --

ch. 68. Isolationism and appeasement --

ch. 69. Atlantic Charter --

ch. 70. Global War --

ch. 71. United Nations --

ch. 72. Turbulent peace --

ch. 73. Old order gives way --

ch. 74. Spaceship Earth --

ch. 75. Earth as a global village --

ch. 76. Entering the High-tech Age --

ch. 77. New Millennium.

The setting of the stage

Our earliest ancestors

Prehistoric man

Hieroglyphics

The Nile Valley

The story of Egypt

Mesopotamia

The Sumerians

Moses

The Phoenicians

The Indo-Europeans

The Aegean Sea

The Greeks

The Greek cities

Greek self-government

Greek life

The Greek Theatre

The Persian Wars

Athens vs. Sparta

Alexander the Great

A summary

Rome and Carthage

The Rise of Rome

The Roman Empire

Joshua of Nazareth

The Fall of Rome

The Rise of the Church

Mohammed

Charlemagne

The Norsemen

Feudalism

Chivalry

Pope vs. Emperor

The Crusades

The Mediaeval City

Mediaeval Self-Government

The Mediaeval World

Mediaeval Trade

The Renaissance

The Age of Expression

The Great Discoveries

Buddha and Confucius

The Reformation

Religious warfare

The English Revolution

The balance of power

The rise of Russia

Russia vs. Sweden

The rise of Prussia

The mercantile system

The American Revolution

The French Revolution

Napoleon

The Holy Alliance

The Great Reaction

National independence

The Age of the Engine

The Social Revolution

Emancipation

The Age of Science

Art

Colonial Expansion and War

A New World

As It Ever Shall Be

An Animated Chronology.

1. The setting of the stage -- 2. Our earliest ancestors -- 3. Prehistoric man begins to make things for himself -- 4. The Egyptians invent the art of writing and the record of history begins -- 5. The beginning of civilization in the Valley of the Nile -- 6. The rise and fall of Egypt -- 7. Mesopotamia, the second center of Eastern civilization -- 8. The Sumerian nail writers, whose clay tablets tell us the story of Assyria and Babylonia, the great Semitic melting-pot -- 9. The story of Mose, the leader of the Jewish people -- 10. The Phœnicians, who gave us our alphabet -- 11. The Indo-European Persians conquer the Semitic and the Egyptian world -- 12. The people of the Ægean Sea carried the civilization of Old Asia into the wilderness of Europe -- 13. Meanwhile the Indo-European tribe of the Hellenes was taking possession of Greece -- 14. The Greek cities that were really states -- 15. The Greeks were the first people to try the difficult experiment of self-government -- 16. How the Greeks lived -- 17. The origins of the theatre, the first form of public amusement -- 18. How the Greeks defended Europe against an Asiatic invasion and drove the Persians back across the Ægean Sea -- 19. How Athens and Sparta fought a long and disastrous war for the leadership of Greece -- 20. Alexander the Macedonian establishes a Greek world-empire, and what became of this high ambition -- 21. A short summary of chapters 1 to 20 --

22. The Semitic colony of Carthage on the northern coast of Africa and the Indo-European city of Rome on the west coast of Italy fought each other for the possession of the Western Mediterranean and Carthage was destroyed -- 23. How Rome happened -- 24. How the Republic of Rome after centuries of unrest and revolution, became an empire -- 25. The story of Joshua of Nazareth, whom the Greeks called Jesus -- 26. The twilight of Rome -- 27. How Rome became the center of the Christian world -- 28. Ahmed, the camel drive, who became the prophet of the Arabian Desert, and whose followers almost conquered the entire known world for the greater glory of Allah, the "the only true God -- 29. How Charlemagne, the King of the Franks, came to bear the title of Emperor and tried to revive the old ideal of World-Empire -- 30. Why the people of the Tenth Century prayed the Lord to protect them from the fury of the Norsemen -- 31. How Central Europe, attacked from three sides, became an armed camp and why Europe would have perished without those professional soldiers and administrators who were part of the feudal system -- 32. Chivalry -- 33. The strange double loyalty of the people of the Middle Ages, and how it led to endless quarrels between the Popes and the Holy Roman Emperors -- 34. But all these different quarrels were forgotten when the Turks took the Holy Land, desecrated the Holy Places and interfered seriously with the trade from East to West : Europe went crusading -- 35. Why the people of the Middle Ages said that "city air is free air" -- 36. How the people of the cities asserted their right to be heard in the Royal Councils of their country -- 37/ What the people of the Middle Ages thought of the world i which they happened to live -- 38. How the Crusades once more made the Mediterranean a busy center of trade and how the cities of the Italian Peninsula became the great distributing center for the commerce with Asia and Africa -- 39. People once more dared to be happy just because they were alive : They tried to save the remains of the older and more agreeable civilization of Rome and Greece and they were so proud of their achievements that they spoke of "Renaissance" or re-birth of civilization -- 40. The people began to feel the need of giving expression to their newly discovered joy of living : they expressed their happiness in poetry and in sculpture and in architecture and painting, and in the books they printed --

41. But now that people had broken through the bonds of their narrow medieval limitations, they had to have more room for their wanderings; the European world had grown too small for their ambitions : it was the time of the great voyages of discovery -- 42. Concerning Buddha and Confucius -- 43. The progress of the human race is best compared to a gigantic pendulum which forever swings forward and backward : the religious indifference and the artistic and literary enthusiasm of the Renaissance were followed by the artistic and literary indifference and the religious enthusiasm of the Reformation -- 44. The age of the great religious controversies -- 45. How the struggle between the "divine right of kings" and the less divine but more reasonable "right of Parliament" ended disastrously for King Charles I -- 46. In France, on the other hand, the "divine right of kings" continued with greater pomp and splendor than ever before and the ambition of the ruler was only tempered by the newly invented law of the "balance of power" -- 47. The story of the mysterious Muscovite Empire which suddenly burst upon the grand political stage of Europe -- 48. Russia and Sweden fought many wars to decide who shall be the leading power of Northeastern Europe -- 49. The extraordinary rise of a little state in a dreary part of Northern Germany, called Prussia -- 50. How the newly founded national or dynastic states of Europe tried to make themselves rich and what was meant by the Mercantile System -- 51. At the end of the Eighteenth Century Europe heard strange reports of something which had happened in the wilderness of the North American continent : the descendants of the men who had punished King Charles for his insistence upon his "divine rights: added a new chapter toe old story of the struggle for self-government -- 52. The great French Revolution proclaims the principles of liberty, fraternity and equality unto all the people of the Earth -- 53. Napoleon -- 54. As soon as Napoleon had been sent to St. Helena, the rulers who so often had been defeated by the hated "Corsican" met at Vienna and tried to undo the many changes which had been brought about by the French Revolution -- 55. They tried to assure the world an era of undisturbed peace by suppressing all new ideas : they made the policy-spy the highest functionary in the State and soon the prisons of all countries were filled with those who claimed that people have the right to govern themselves as they see fit --

56. The love of national independence, however, was too strong to be destroyed in this way : The south Americans were the first to rebel against the reactionary measures of the Congress of Vienna

Greece and Belgium and Spain and a large number of other countries of the European continent followed suit and the Nineteenth Century was filled with rumor of many wars of independence

57. But while the people of Europe were fighting for their national independence, the world in which they lived had been entirely changed by a series of inventions, which had made the clumsy old steam-engine of the Eighteenth Century the most faithful and efficient slave of man

58. The new engines were very expensive and only people of wealth could afford them : the old carpenter or shoemaker who had been his own master in his little workshop was obliged to hire himself out to the owners of the big mechanical tools, and while he made more money than before, he lost his former independence and he did not like that

59. The general introduction of machinery did not bring about the era of happiness and prosperity which had been predicted by the generation which saw the stage coach replace by the railroad : several remedies were suggested, but none of these quite solved the problem

60. But the world had undergone another change which was of greater importance than either the political or the industrial revolutions : after generations of oppression and persecution, the scientist had at last gained liberty of action and he was now trying to discover the fundamental laws which govern the universe

61. A chapter of Art

62. The last fifty years, including several explanations and few apologies

63. The Great War, which was really the struggle for a new and better world

64. As it ever shall be

65. After seven years

66. The United States comes of age : being the first of several chapters on current history written by their Uncle Willem for Piet, Jan, Dirk and Jane Van Loon and their contemporaries

67. The "Axis" partner : the "crash that was felt around the world" hastens the collapse of peace that was built on medieval foundations

68. Isolationism and appeasement : how the Axis partners began to divide the world among themselves and why they got as far as they did

69. The Atlantic charter : how the "war of nerves" gave way toe "total war" and how Hitler made some serious miscalculations

70. Global war : how the Axis was defeated in the "Battle of Production" but final victory was scored by American and British scientists and a new era dawned for all mankind

71. The United Nations : how the United States fell heir to world leadership and played host to the participants in a great experiment in international relations

72. How an uneasy peace has been observed since the action of the United States in Korea

73. Animated chronology

74. Index.