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General History for Colleges and High Schools

by P. V. N. Myers

By P. V. N. Myers · History · Public domain

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General History for Colleges and High Schools is a public-domain classic of history by P. V. N. Myers.

The complete text is on this page and the chapter pages below — all 70 chapters, about 228,203 words (~19 hours of reading), free to read online with no signup. Chapters include “Section I.--the Eastern Nations.”, “Section Ii.--Grecian History.”, “Section Iii.--Roman History.”, and more.

General History for Colleges and High Schools at a glance

Author
P. V. N. Myers
Length
228,203 words · about 19 hours to read
Chapters
70
Price
Free — public domain

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Section I.--the Eastern Nations.

CHAPTER I. India and China. 1. India. 2. China. II. Egypt. 1. Political History. 2. Religion, Arts, and General Culture. III. Chaldæa. 1. Political History. 2. Arts and General Culture. IV. Assyria. 1. Political History. 2. Religion, Arts, and General Culture. V. Babylonia. VI. The Hebrews. VII. The Phoenicians. VIII. The Persian Empire. 1. Political History. 2. Government, Religion, and Arts.

Section Ii.--Grecian History.

IX. The Land and the People. X. The Legendary or Heroic Age. XI. Religion of the Greeks. XII. Age of the Tyrants and of Colonization: the Early Growth of Sparta and of Athens. 1. Age of the Tyrants and of Colonization. 2. The Growth of Sparta. 3. The Growth of Athens. XIII. The Græco-Persian Wars. XIV. Period of Athenian Supremacy. XV. The Peloponnesian War: the Spartan and the Theban Supremacy. 1. The Peloponnesian War. 2. The Spartan and the Theban Supremacy. XVI. Period of Macedonian Supremacy: Empire of Alexander. XVII. States formed from the Empire of Alexander. XVIII. Greek Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting. 1. Architecture. 2. Sculpture and Painting. XIX. Greek Literature. 1. Epic and Lyric Poetry. 2. The Drama and Dramatists. 3. History and Historians. 4. Oratory. XX. Greek Philosophy and Science. XXI. Social Life of the Greeks.

Section Iii.--Roman History.

XXII. The Roman Kingdom. XXIII. The Early Roman Republic: Conquest of Italy. XXIV. The First Punic War. XXV. The Second Punic War. XXVI. The Third Punic War. XXVII. The Last Century of the Roman Republic. XXVIII. The Last Century of the Roman Republic (concluded). XXIX. The Roman Empire (from 31 B.C. to A.D. 180). XXX. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire in the West (A.D. 180-476). XXXI. Roman Civilization. 1. Architecture. 2. Literature, Philosophy, and Law. 3. Social Life.

PART II.. Mediæval and Modern History.

MEDIÆVAL AND MODERN HISTORY.

INTRODUCTION.

SECTION I.--MEDIÆVAL HISTORY.

FIRST PERIOD.--THE DARK AGES. (From the Fall of Rome, A.D. 476, to the Eleventh Century.)

XXXII. Migrations and Settlements of the Teutonic Tribes. XXXIII. The Conversion of the Barbarians. XXXIV. Fusion of the Latin and Teutonic Peoples. XXXV. The Roman Empire in the East. XXXVI. Mohammed and the Saracens. XXXVII. Charlemagne and the Restoration of the Empire in the West. XXXVIII. The Northmen. XXXIX. Rise of the Papal Power.

SECOND PERIOD.--THE AGE OF REVIVAL. (From the opening of the Eleventh Century to the Discovery of America by Columbus, in 1492.)

XL. Feudalism and Chivalry. 1. Feudalism. 2. Chivalry. XLI. The Norman Conquest of England. XLII. The Crusades. 1. Introductory: Causes of the Crusades. 2. The First Crusade. 3. The Second Crusade. 4. The Third Crusade. 5. The Fourth Crusade. 6. Close of the Crusades: Their Results. XLIII. Supremacy of the Papacy: Decline of its Temporal Power. XLIV. Conquests of the Turanian Tribes. XLV. Growth of the Towns: The Italian City-Republics. XLVI. The Revival of Learning. XLVII. Growth of the Nations: Formation of National Governments and Literatures. 1. England. 2. France. 3. Spain. 4. Germany. 5. Russia. 6. Italy. 7. The Northern Countries.

Section Ii. Modern History.

INTRODUCTION

THIRD PERIOD.--THE ERA OF THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION. (From the Discovery of America to the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648.)

XLVIII. The Beginnings of the Reformation under Luther. XLIX. The Ascendency of Spain. 1. Reign of the Emperor Charles V. 2. Spain under Philip II. L. The Tudors and the English Reformation. 1. Introductory. 2. The Reign of Henry VII. 3. England severed from the Papacy by Henry VIII. 4. Changes in the Creed and Ritual under Edward VI. 5. Reaction under Mary. 6. Final Establishment of Protestantism under Elizabeth. LI. The Revolt of the Netherlands: Rise of the Dutch Republic. LII. The Huguenot Wars in France. LIII. The Thirty Years' War.

FOURTH PERIOD.--THE ERA OF THE POLITICAL REVOLUTION. (From the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, to the present time.)

LIV. The Ascendency of France under the Absolute Government of Louis XIV. LV. England under the Stuarts: The English Revolution. 1. The First Two Stuarts. 2. The Commonwealth. 3. The Restored Stuarts. 4. The Orange-Stuarts. 5. England under the Earlier Hanoverians. LVI. The Rise of Russia: Peter the Great. LVII. The Rise of Prussia: Frederick the Great. LVIII. The French Revolution. 1. Causes of the Revolution: The States-General of 1789. 2. The National, or Constituent Assembly. 3. The Legislative Assembly. 4. The National Convention. 5. The Directory. LIX. The Consulate and the First Empire: France since the Second Restoration. 1. The Consulate and the Empire. 2. France since the Second Restoration. LX. Russia since the Congress of Vienna. LXI. German Freedom and Unity. LXII. Liberation and Unification of Italy. LXIII. England since the Congress of Vienna. 1. Progress towards Democracy. 2. Expansion of the Principle of Religious Equality. 3. Growth of the British Empire in the East.

CONCLUSION: THE NEW AGE. INDEX, PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY, AND GLOSSARY

LIST OF COLORED MAPS.

1. Ancient Egypt 2. The Tigris and the Euphrates 3. Lydia, Media, and Babylonia, c. B.C. 550 4. Greece and the Greek Colonies 5. Greece in the 5th Century B.C. 6. Dominions and Dependencies of Alexander, c. B.C. 323 7. Kingdoms of the Successors of Alexander, c. B.C. 300 8. Italy before the Growth of the Roman Power 9. Mediterranean Lands at the Beginning of Second Punic War 10. Roman Dominions at the End of the Mithridatic War, B.C. 64 11. The Roman Empire under Trajan, A.D. 117 12. Roman Empire divided into Prefectures 13. Europe in the Reign of Theodoric, c. A.D. 500 14. Europe in the Time of Charles the Great, 814 15. The Western Empire as divided at Verdun, 843 16. Spanish Kingdoms, 1360 17. Central Europe, 1360 18. The Spanish Kingdoms and their European Dependencies under Charles V 19. Europe in the 16th and 17th Centuries 20. The Baltic Lands, c. 1701 21. Central Europe, 1801 22. Sketch Map of Europe showing Principal Battles of Napoleon [Footnote: For the use of this map I am indebted to the courtesy of Mr. D. H. Montgomery, author of "Leading Facts of French History."] 23. Central Europe, 1810 24. Central Europe, 1815 25. South-Eastern Europe according to the Treaty of Berlin, 1878 26. Europe in 1880

GENERAL HISTORY.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION: THE RACES AND THEIR EARLY MIGRATIONS.

DIVISIONS OF HISTORY.--History is usually divided into three periods,-- Ancient, Mediæval, and Modern. Ancient History begins with the earliest nations of which we can gain any certain knowledge, and extends to the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, A.D. 476. Mediæval History embraces the period, about one thousand years in length, lying between the fall of Rome and the discovery of the New World by Columbus, A.D. 1492. Modern History commences with the close of the mediæval period and extends to the present time. [Footnote: It is thought preferable by some scholars to let the beginning of the great Teutonic migration (A.D. 375) mark the end of the period of ancient history. Some also prefer to date the beginning of the modern period from the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, A.D. 1453; while still others speak of it in a general way as commencing about the close of the 15th century, at which time there were many inventions and discoveries and a great stir in the intellectual world.]

ANTIQUITY OF MAN.--We do not know when man first came into possession of the earth. We only know that, in ages vastly remote, when both the climate and the outline of Europe were very different from what they are at present, man lived on that continent with animals now extinct; and that as early as 4000 or 3000 B.C.,--when the curtain first rises on the stage of history,--in some favored regions, as in the Valley of the Nile, there were nations and civilizations already venerable with age, and possessing languages, arts, and institutions that bear evidence of slow growth through very long periods of time before written history begins. [Footnote: The investigation and study of this vast background of human life is left to such sciences as Ethnology, Comparative Philology, and Prehistoric Archeology.]

THE RACES OF MANKIND.--Distinctions in form, color, and physiognomy divide the human species into three chief types, or races, known as the Black (Ethiopian, or Negro), the Yellow (Turanian, or Mongolian), and the White (Caucasian). But we must not suppose each of these three types to be sharply marked off from the others; they shade into one another by insensible gradations.

There has been no perceptible change in the great types during historic times. The paintings upon the oldest Egyptian monuments show us that at the dawn of history, about five or six thousand years ago, the principal races were as distinctly marked as now, each bearing its racial badge of color and physiognomy. As early as the times of Jeremiah, the permanency of physical characteristics had passed into the proverb, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?"

Of all the races, the White, or Caucasian, exhibits by far the most perfect type, physically, intellectually, and morally.

THE BLACK RACE.--Africa is the home of the peoples of the Black Race, but we find them on all the other continents, whither they have been carried as slaves by the stronger races; for since time immemorial they have been "hewers of wood and drawers of water" for their more favored brethren.

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