The Super Summary of World History (18 page)

Trade and the compact nature of urban living made
disease
a common threat. Goods coming in from Asia to the Middle East might carry diseases that the people in the Middle East had never confronted. In addition, living around herd animals, and probably using their waste products to fertilize crops and whatnot, meant more contact with the diseases spread by herd animals and their by-products. There is little doubt that the centuries required for building up urban civilization in the Middle East bought the human race, or at least some of the human race, immunity from herd animal diseases, and maybe disease in general as foreign trade goods and travelers spread viruses and germs around the Old World. In the New World, where herd animals did not exist, the people were not immune to these Old World diseases; thus, millions upon millions of Native Americans died just from contact with the Europeans.

Bureaucrats, a hated word in the modern world, were at the center of early progress. Large and dependable food and water supplies were the foundation for the high civilizations in China, India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome. As men became free to imagine, and then build, they proved exceptionally good at restructuring the world around them for additional comfort and protection. It might be difficult to believe, but the development of
administrative
capacity
(bureaucrats and bureaucracy) in these early civilizations was another key to their survival and growth. We often underestimate the importance of administrative competence. If the city of Rome failed to bring in food and water in abundance, and remove trash and human waste, it could not have grown to any size at all. Administrative organization was required for the competent construction of roads, sewers, and aqueducts. In Rome, efficient bureaucrats were able to discern the need for aqueducts, systems for trash removal, roads for food transport, and sewers to move away the after products of humankind so the city could endure. A lack of water or sewage disposal alone could have doomed the city of Rome, or any other large city of antiquity. As these cities grew, and the need for all these additional improvements became obvious, a system for taxation developed so the administration could afford to construct the public facilities necessary to keep the city alive. All these problems are with us today, and our solutions are the same. Whoever these unknown and unnoticed people were, they were extremely important for the foundation and expansion of urban civilization. Once again, what is not reported is often more important than what is reported. The same is true in modern civilizations. If the bureaucracy fails the entire civilization suffers, but when the bureaucracy succeeds the results are little noticed. If the educational system, the sewers, roads, water infrastructure and whatnot works, no one notices. Let them fail, even a little bit, and everyone notices.

However, what happens if these little noticed things and people somehow fail? What if the competent administrators, tax collectors, artisans, laborers, and farmers leave or die? We are about to discover the answer to this question. After Rome collapsed in the west the competent administrators disappeared, and the resulting world went very dark. We will now travel to the eve of the modern world, as the
Dark
Ages
build the foundation for a colossal leap forward in human thought and technology—after a few bad centuries.

Let Us Learn

What can we learn, for our personal lives, from the ancients? Rome teaches us to be tenacious. Rome lost many battles, but Rome never quit, and that is something for each of us to internalize. Rome also over extended itself; thus, we need to learn to analyze our finances and energy reserves to see if we are overextending ourselves. Can you really work, go to school, and run a home? Some can, but can you? Have you spent too much? Financial over extension can be deadly. Greece teaches us to unite. Squabbles over matters, significant or not, weakens the unit. Find a way to come together and multiply your strengths. Greece did, for a moment, and defeated the greatest empire on earth. India teaches the value of continuity. Being consistent in philosophy and tradition brings stability and progress. Egypt can teach us the same thing. Stability is very important for survival. Egypt also avoided unnecessary wars for centuries which enriched it financially and culturally. Limit your activities to what is reasonable for your situation, and reap the financial rewards of stability. The Fertile Crescent teaches us the importance of trade. Commerce is vital, so try to get involved in trade of some kind. It brings many financial rewards. The era also shows us the importance of protection. When necessary, build good walls (emotional, physical, financial etc), they will protect you from outside problems not of your making.

The ancients knew the sophists spewed evil. Learn to recognize “spin,” and political lies affording the listener nothing in the way of accurate information. In Athens, the sophist led people astray by great oratory. Demand substance, not great oratory. The ancient Greeks taught us the significance of the individual, and the tyranny of the collective. The greatest political ideal ever espoused is:
the
individual
is
greater
than
the
state
. Never let that ideal die. Object if people say the government must substitute its collective decisions in place of individuals’ decisions. Whenever a government substitutes its thinking for your thinking, its decisions for your decisions, it is saying the government is greater than you are. Object in every way possible! Economic freedom, capitalism, private property, and political freedom brings more prosperity and happiness to the average person than any other system. Trusting the government brings tyranny, regulation of everyday life, and restrictions on private property. Taxes are another way government controls individuals.
Money
is
power
, and when the government takes your money, it takes your power to decide. As taxes increase, tyranny increases. Write letters and speak out in public, challenge people pushing the collective viewpoint, run for office, and vote against all saying the individual must bow to the state. The Greeks knew the importance of the individual; now, 2500 years after Marathon, it is your turn to step up and stand against any person or entity claiming the government is superior to you. Tell all who will listen that you are superior to any government. Remember Marathon, Thermopylae, and Salamis where vastly outnumbered men said no to tyranny. They sacrificed all, you can at least sacrifice a few moments of your time to add your voice to freedom’s call.

Books and Resources:

The
History
of
the
Ancient
World,
From
the
Earliest
Accounts
to
the
Fall
of
Rome
, Bauer, Susan Wise, 2007, WW Norton & Company. Great book, easy reading, fun stories.

With
Arrow,
Sword,
and
Spear,
A
History
of
Warfare
in
the
Ancient
World,
Bradford, Alfrred, 2001, Fall River Press. Excellent accounts of ancient world, and goes far beyond warfare.

The
NIV
Study
Bible
, Zondervan Press, 2002. Good historical information.

The
New
Penguin
History
of
the
World
, Roberts, 2007 Penguin Books. One of the best histories around. You can’t go wrong with Roberts.

The
Outline
of
History,
The
Whole
Story
of
Man
, Wells, H.G., revised by Raymond Postgate, 1956, Doubleday & Company. Great maps and illustrations.

The
War
Chronicles,
From
Chariots
to
Flintlocks,
Cummins, J., 2008, Fair Winds Press.

The
Decline
and
Fall
of
the
Roman
Empire,
Gibbon, Edward, 2005, Phoenix Press (Abridged Edition). Hard to read, but a classic none-the-less.

Guns,
Germs,
and
Steel,
The
Fates
of
Human
Societies,
Diamond, Jarad, 20005, WW Norton.

Books and References on Philosophy

The
Essential
Philosophy,
Everything
You
need
to
Understand
the
World’s
Great
Thinkers
, Mannion, 2006, Adams Media Corporation. (The title is overdone, but the book is excellent)

Philosophy
For
Beginners
, Osborne, 1992, Writers and Readers Publishing. (Philosophy in cartoon form, a lot of fun and one can actually learn a thing or two).

 
Chapter 3

The Dark Ages 455 to 1400

Figure 13 Barbarian Invasions of Rome 100-500 AD

Ancient history has reached its end. This is the start of a new era. As pointed out above, most scholars think these times, between the fall of the Western Roman Empire (about AD 455) and the Renaissance (about AD 1400 to 1500) should not receive a pejorative moniker.
[56]
The Middle Ages is a neutral term resulting in a non-judgment of the times. Medieval is another term we apply to this epoch, but I think we should stick with the term
Dark
Ages
; and you will see why after discovering what was going on. In this section, we will consider only Western Europe. The Dark Ages can be easily divided into two parts: the early Middle Ages, and the High Middle Ages. About 1000 AD is the turning point from the early to the High Middle Ages. The High Middle Ages began with a population gain, and new agricultural techniques that increased crop yields. The population increase led to growing towns and a new class of people—the city businessman or
burgher
. This new merchant class gained power as the High Middle Ages moved on and brought prosperity to the townsfolk. By 1200 the future looked bright, and then a triple whammy brought the good times to an end. The Black Plague (1346), the Little Ice Age (1300), and the Hundred Years War (1346) hit and effectively destroyed the future. The Mongol invasions (1241) did not help Eastern Europe either because they also denuded the area of people. The Mongols really liked killing.

Total
Loss
Of
Roman
Culture

The fall of the Western Roman Empire shattered Europe. Unity evaporated, and isolation of the various towns and villages returned. Cities disappeared, trade collapsed, the population decreased, culture was gone, quality in the crafts vanished, language changed (Latin was no longer universal), thus, people from different areas could not understand each other), and safe travel was a distant memory.
Walls
started going up around the towns and villages because the regional government’s protection buckled.
Isolation
, economic and social, had returned to the land. The need for
Protection
became a vital problem.

Another feature of the Dark Ages was the
loss
of
knowledge
. In the ancient world, the Romans, Egyptians, Hittites, and others, knew how to make frame and panel doors, light wheels with spokes, and other rather simple but effective craft works. After the fall of Rome, these methods of construction were lost. This is especially hard to understand because this kind of knowledge commonly passes from father to son, or one can learn from looking at the construction itself. This knowledge could only be lost if all the people knowing these crafts were dead or had left the area. For example, if only one craftsman knew how to construct a frame and panel door, the usefulness of the technique was so obvious it would rapidly spread to others in the same line of work. Instead, we have the baffling total loss of these craft skills. To speculate on almost no information, the craftsmen probably left for the Eastern Roman Empire on those wonderful Roman roads. The result of this loss of knowledge was slab doors, solid wood wheels, and a lack of medical techniques, illiteracy and other problems for Europe.