It may seem strange for a history of the modem world to begin with the European Middle Ages, for Europe is not the world and the Middle Ages were not modem. But much of what is now meant by “modem” made its first appearance in Europe, and to understand both modem Europe and the wider modem world it is necessary to reach fairly far back in time.
Over the centuries between roughly 1500 and 1900, Europe created the most powerful combination of political, military, economic, technological, and scientific apparatus that the world had ever seen. In doing so, Europe radically transformed itself, and also profoundly affected other societies and cultures in America, Africa, and Asia—sometimes destroying them, sometimes stimulating or enlivening them, and always presenting them with problems of resistance or adaptation. This European ascendancy became apparent about 300 years ago. It reached its zenith with the European colonial empires at the beginning of the twentieth century. Since then, the position of Europe has relatively declined, partly because of conflicts within Europe itself, but mainly because the apparatus which had made Europe so dominant can now be found in other countries. Some, like the United States, are in many ways cultural and political offshoots of Europe. Others have very different and ancient backgrounds. But whatever their backgrounds, and willingly or not, all peoples in the contemporary world have been caught up in processes of “modernization” or “development,” which usually turns out to mean acquiring or adapting some of the technical skills and powers first exhibited by Europeans.
There is thus in our time a kind of global modem civilization which overlies or penetrates the diverse, regional cultures of the world. This civilization is an interlocking global system, in that conditions on one side of the globe have repercussions on the other. Communications are almost instantaneous and news travels everywhere. If the air is polluted in one country, neighboring countries are affected; if oil ceases to flow from the Middle East, the life of Europe, North America, and Japan may become very difficult. The modem world depends on elaborate means of transportation; on science, industry, and machines;
World History
