Hello, Friends! Welcome to the World of “HISTORY”. We will understand the past which is responsible for the creation of our present world.
Being an Electronics and Communication Engineer, I know circuitry which we need to Transmit and Receive the signal at the far end. Here is a simple block diagram that will let you know how the signal reaches the far end.
The same is true in the case of HISTORY. In this case, we just need a healthy link between the OLD ORDER and the NEW ORDER and this is the only way we can way forward on our path. This link consists of many Revolutions, the birth of new ideologies, new economic, political and societal structures, etc. We must have a look at the circumstances that gave birth to the NEW ORDER. So, the story begins with ‘THE CRUSADE‘.
Story of World History
From the ancient time West was dependent on the east for its survival and this relation between east and west was maintained through three routes:
- Silk Route,
- Northern Route and
- Southern Route.
The relation apart from trade and commerce also became helpful in the movement of ideas and philosophies from one place to another. This relation was going on from ancient times which took a U-turn in the 7th century CE with the birth of Islam in West Asia.
Birth of Revolutionary Idea
Islam was a revolutionary idea in the 7th century CE as it emphasized Equality, Liberty, Fraternity, etc. From 7th to 10th century CE Islam consolidated its position in West Asia and from the 11th century CE, it started its expansion in different directions. So, the expansion of Islam towards the west gave birth to an important development called Crusade i.e. Holy War between Cross and Crescent. So, this expansion of Islam proved to be a tension for western people as central and west Asians started disturbing the trade links between west and east.
Renaissance and Geographical Discoveries
It eventually created a ground for the next development i.e. Renaissance meaning Rebirth of Rationalism. Renaissance emphasized rationalism leading to geographical discoveries. The two most important discoveries were North America by Columbus, 1492(from Spain) and the direct sea route to India by Vasco-da-Gama, 1498(from Portugal).
So, the outcome of Geographical Discoveries was the revival of world trade and the birth of capitalism. World trade increased the demand for goods to such a level that it went beyond human production. So, this is an important reason for the Industrial Revolution in the 2nd half of the 18th century.
Therefore renaissance is the mother of the modern world and the Industrial Revolution is the father of the modern world. Renaissance and Industrial Revolution started in the 1750s. So, these events gave birth to the new order in the field of economy, polity, society, religion, etc, which clashed with the old order. This clash led to the number of revolutions like:
These revolutions started giving the new dimensions to the world history in which revolutions took place in different parts of the world. After the 1850s, the important development was the birth of newly industrialized nations like Germany and Italy.
The aspirations of the countries to dominate the world resulted in two World War-I and World War-II. The use of the Atom Bomb in the Second World War placed the question mark on the existence of this world. Third world war means the end of this world and the world can not survive without wars.
Contemporary Scenario
The outcome of this condition was the cold war, that is the struggle between two ideologies:
- Communism(Union of the Soviet socialist republic),
- Capitalism(United States of America).
In 1991 disintegration of the USSR established the supremacy of the USA and Capitalism. World History is the journey of the world from the:
- Multipolar world (phase of European Colonialism)to the bipolar world (phase of neo-imperialism, with two Masters).
- Bipolar World to Unipolar World (Disintegration of USSR and American imperium) and
- The contemporary world scenario indicating a way forward for the rise of rest. The leading economies are China, India, Japan, Brazil, South Africa, Turkey, etc. and this is sometimes also referred to as Post-American World.
So, this was the wholesome introduction about the coming posts. In the next post, we will try to see the background, reasons, and results of the ‘Crusade‘ in a very comprehensive manner. 🙂
Thank you so much. 🙂 Stay Connected. 🙂
