HISTORY 



2802 



HISTORY 



1,000 years, and came to an end with the fall 

 of the Byzantine Empire in 1453. The inven- 

 tion of printing and the discovery of America 

 are also sometimes considered as the begin- 

 ning of the modern era. It is clear that history 

 is continuous, and its division into three peri- 

 ods is merely a convenience. Events of strik- 

 ing importance, such as the fall of an empire 

 or the discovery of the New World, are the 

 signposts at the crossroads; they point the 

 way on which the world has traveled. 



History as a Record. The science of history 

 differs from other sciences, such as mathe- 

 matics and physics, in that the laws governing 

 the, making of history are not fixed and deter- 

 minable. History deals with all the infinite 

 and variable influences that affect human life; 

 so history must be classed with sociology, poli- 

 tics and economics, as an inexact science. 

 Students and compilers of history must depend 

 upon certain materials or data for their in- 

 formation, and from those data must weave 

 the fabric of recorded history. Guides to his- 

 torical records are found in remains such as 

 buildings, implements and ruins, also in writ- 

 ten records of laws and documents relating to 

 government, in art and literature, contempo- 

 rary narratives and traditions. From fact, or, 

 sometimes, even theories evolved from facts, 

 the historian endeavors to present a narrative 

 of events in the existence of the nation whose 

 history he is studying. 



Viewed thus as research, history is a science, 

 but viewed as a branch of literature it is an 

 art. The scientific historian defends no theory; 

 he seeks to lay bare the truth. The historian 

 as an artist looks upon his subject as a great 

 picture, whose details must sometimes be sub- 

 dued in order to make an harmonious whole. 

 Macaulay, for example, occasionally lays him- 

 self open to the charge of inaccuracy and preju- 

 dice, because he sacrifices truth to rhetoric. 

 From the very first there have been these two 

 schools of historians, the scientific and the 

 rhetorical. As a science history flourishes in a 

 scientific age; as an art it rises and falls with 

 the arts. Those periods which have been in- 

 fluenced by masters of style have been little 

 interested in research. The histories written 

 by Englishmen in the nineteenth century illus- 

 trate this point. The first years of the century 

 were characterized by romanticism, with its 

 exaggeration of the individual. Macaulay's 

 History of England, Carlyle's French Revolu- 

 tion and Frederick the Great are consistent 

 with such an attitude; "hero worship" belongs 



to the age of Scott, Byron and Keats. The 

 later years of the century were an age of 

 science, of men like Darwin, Spencer, Buckle 

 and Richard Green. The histories of Macaulay 

 and Carlyle rank as literary masterpieces, but 

 as a record and interpretation they have long 

 been superseded. 



It is almost invariably true that historians 

 deal with subjects which interested the age in 

 which they were written. Modern historians 

 began with politics and war; history seemed a 

 continuous march of battles and political in- 

 trigue. But as the interest of the people was 

 drawn toward the economic and social factors, 

 these, too, were considered by historians. Histo- 

 ries of industry and commerce are now as com- 

 mon as histories of kings and conquests. W.F.Z. 



Consult Harrison's The Meaning of History; 

 Lamprecht's What Is History? For brief general 

 histories, consult works by Myers and Fisher. 



Related Subjects. The historical articles in 

 these volumes are numerous and extensive, but 

 as they are listed elsewhere it is not necessary to 

 index the most of them here. Each article on a 

 country, state or province contains a subdivision 

 which treats of the history in general, while in 

 the Related Subjects indexes under most of them 

 are listed the specific articles which are of inter- 

 est in that connection. The following topics have 

 reference to the more general phases of history: 



Abdication 



Balance of Power 



Balkan Wars 



Berlin, Congress of 



Blood, Avenger of 



Charter 



Chivalry 



Civilization 



Colonies and Coloniza- 

 tion 



Continental System 



Coronation 



Crusades 



Dark Ages 



Excavations 



Fifteen Decisive Battles 



French and Indian Wars 



Heraldry 



Holy Alliance 



The following historians are given special treat- 

 ment in these volumes : 



Inquisition 



Middle Ages 



Northwest Passage 



Ordeal 



Pan-American Congress 



Pan-American Union 



Peace Conference, 



International 

 Powers, The Great 

 Reformation 

 Revolution 

 Rulers of the World 

 Slavery 



Succession Wars 

 Triple Alliance 

 Triple Entente 

 Vienna, Congress of 

 War of the Nations 



Acton, Baron 



Bancroft, George 



Bancroft, Hubert Howe 



Bede 



Bourinot, Sir John 



George 



Bryce, George 

 Bryce, James 

 Buckle, Henry Thomas 

 Caesar, Caius Julius 

 Casgrain, Henri 



Raymond 

 Doughty, Arthur 



Ferrero, Guglielmo 

 Fiske, John 

 Froissart, Jean 

 Froude, James Anthony 

 Gardiner, Samuel R. 

 Garneau, Franqois X. 

 Gaspe, Philippe 

 Geoffrey of Monmouth 

 Gibbon, Edward 

 Green, John Richard 

 Grote, George 

 Guizot, F. P. G. 

 Hallam, Henry 



