a history of civilizations by fernand braudel

And, as in the case of the Marxist explanation, it could turn into a fanatical ideology.Īnd hence the question for the historian is that of having a long range view of the main trends, both material and spiritual, in history, and combining this with a respect for life as it is actually lived by millions of human beings earning their living 'by the sweat of their brow', and being subject to the vicissitudes of famine or disease, war or revolution. However, the danger in working on such a scale is that while it may illuminate certain aspects of history, it over-explains and hence explains very little of the greater part of it. For these 'macro historians', these factors provide the explanations for the broad movements and trends in history. These philosophical historians discern dominant themes or determining factors in history - the economic factor for Marx, the 'ascent' from the mythological-religious to the philosophical to the scientific spirit in human thinking for Comte, the domination of the ruling class for Mosca, and the hold and progress of religious faiths in societies, for Toynbee.

And such a study was undertaken by the philosophically minded historians, Marx and Comte in the 19th Century, and Spengler, Mosca and Toynbee in the 20th. On the other hand, since history as a universal theme had entered human consciousness, the study of history as the study of human destiny could not be ignored. The scientific, factual temper of the times forbade the broad vision and sweeping generalization which presumably went with working on larger historical canvasses. Or they might specialize in the study of an event or movement of great significance - say the French or the Russian Revolution, or confine themselves even to only certain aspects of these movements.

On the one hand, impelled by the respect for facts and details which is a distinctive mark of the modern scientific temper, historians tended more and more to confine themselves to specialized areas of study - a particular short period of time or a particular aspect, of the history of a nation or a civilization.

Ever since History emerged as a major and independent field of study during the time of the 18th Century European Enlightenment - the time of Voltaire, Gibbon, Rousseau and the French Encyclopaedists - the study of history has been subject to pulls in two different directions.

A history of civilizations by fernand braudel