The Little Book of History

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CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS 6000 BCE–500 CE All the lands have fallen prostrate beneath his sandals for eternity Attachment is the root of suffering Administration is in the hands of the many and not of the few There is nothing impossible to he who will try If the Qin should ever get his way with the world, then the whole world will end up his prisoner Thus perish all tyrants By this sign conquer THE MEDIEVAL WORLD 500–1492 Truth has come and falsehood has vanished A surge in spirit and an awakening in intelligence Never before has such a terror appeared in Britain A man destined to become master of the state That men in our kingdom shall have and keep all these liberties, rights, and concessions I did not tell half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed Those who until now have been mercenaries for a few coins achieve eternal rewards Give the sun the blood of enemies to drink Scarce the tenth person of any sort was left alive I have worked to discharge heaven’s will I have newly devised 28 letters THE EARLY MODERN ERA 1420–1795 As my city falls, I shall fall with it Following the light of the sun we left the Old World This line shall be considered as a perpetual mark and bound The ancients never raised their buildings so high My conscience is captive to the Word of God They cherished a great hope and inward zeal We will cut off his head with the crown upon it There is no corner where one does not talk of shares Assemble all the knowledge scattered on the surface of the Earth I built St. Petersburg as a window to let in the light of Europe CHANGING SOCIETIES 1776–1914 We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal Sire, it’s a revolution I must make of all the peoples of Europe one people, and of Paris the capital of the world Let us lay the cornerstone of American freedom without fear. To hesitate is to perish Life without industry is guilt You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say you did not know This enterprise will return immense rewards Endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved Let us arm. Let us fight for our brothers Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth America is God’s crucible, the greatest melting pot Enrich the country, strengthen the military Deeds not words THE MODERN WORLD 1914–PRESENT You often wish you were dead History will not forgive us if we do not assume power now Any lack of confidence in the economic future of the United States is foolish The truth is that men are tired of liberty In starting and waging a war, it is not right that matters but victory The Final Solution of the Jewish Question At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom The name of our state shall be Israel Ghana, your beloved country, is free forever We’re eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked People of the whole world are pointing to the satellite I have a dream Scatter the old world, build the new We shall defend it with our blood and strength, and we shall meet aggression with aggression and evil with evil The Iron Curtain is swept aside Create an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack You affect the world by what you browse A crisis which began in the mortgage markets of America has brought the world’s financial system close to collapse INDEX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS