Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I Introductory survey: On the limits of modern history
- CHAPTER II The transformation of social life
- CHAPTER III The world economy: Interdependence and planning
- CHAPTER IV Science and technology
- CHAPTER V Diplomatic history 1900–1912
- CHAPTER VI The approach of the war of 1914
- CHAPTER VII The first world war
- CHAPTER VIII The peace settlement of Versailles 1918–1933
- CHAPTER IX The League of Nations
- CHAPTER X The Middle East 1900–1945
- CHAPTER XI INDIA AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
- CHAPTER XII China, Japan and the Pacific 1900–1931
- CHAPTER XIII The British Commonwealth of Nations
- CHAPTER XIV The Russian Revolution
- CHAPTER XV The Soviet Union 1917–1939
- CHAPTER XVI Germany, Italy and eastern Europe
- CHAPTER XVII Great Britain, France, The Low Countries and Scandinavia
- CHAPTER XVIII The United States of America
- CHAPTER XIX Latin America
- CHAPTER XX Literature 1895–1939
- CHAPTER XXI PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHT
- CHAPTER XXII PAINTING, SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE
- CHAPTER XXIII Diplomatic history 1930–1939
- CHAPTER XXIV The second world war
- CHAPTER XXV Diplomatic history of the second world war
- References
CHAPTER I - Introductory survey: On the limits of modern history
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
- Frontmatter
- CHAPTER I Introductory survey: On the limits of modern history
- CHAPTER II The transformation of social life
- CHAPTER III The world economy: Interdependence and planning
- CHAPTER IV Science and technology
- CHAPTER V Diplomatic history 1900–1912
- CHAPTER VI The approach of the war of 1914
- CHAPTER VII The first world war
- CHAPTER VIII The peace settlement of Versailles 1918–1933
- CHAPTER IX The League of Nations
- CHAPTER X The Middle East 1900–1945
- CHAPTER XI INDIA AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA
- CHAPTER XII China, Japan and the Pacific 1900–1931
- CHAPTER XIII The British Commonwealth of Nations
- CHAPTER XIV The Russian Revolution
- CHAPTER XV The Soviet Union 1917–1939
- CHAPTER XVI Germany, Italy and eastern Europe
- CHAPTER XVII Great Britain, France, The Low Countries and Scandinavia
- CHAPTER XVIII The United States of America
- CHAPTER XIX Latin America
- CHAPTER XX Literature 1895–1939
- CHAPTER XXI PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS THOUGHT
- CHAPTER XXII PAINTING, SCULPTURE AND ARCHITECTURE
- CHAPTER XXIII Diplomatic history 1930–1939
- CHAPTER XXIV The second world war
- CHAPTER XXV Diplomatic history of the second world war
- References
Summary
When Lord Acton was planning The Cambridge Modern History in 1896 he wrote of the venture:
It is a unique opportunity of recording, in the way most useful to the greatest number, the fullness of the knowledge which the nineteenth century is about to bequeath… Ultimate history we cannot have in this generation; but we can dispose of conventional history, and show the point we have reached on the road from one to the other, now that all information is within reach, and every problem has become capable of solution.
Acton projected the History as a work of universal history, ‘distinct from the combined history of all countries’.
It moves in a succession to which the nations are subordinate. Their story will be told, not for their own sake, but in reference and subordination to a higher series, according to the time and degree in which they contribute to the common fortunes of mankind.
Few historians today have Acton's confidence that universal history or ultimate history can yet be written. Indeed, Sir George Clark, in his ‘General Introduction’ to the New Cambridge Modern History, disclaimed for historians of his generation the belief that it would be possible to write ‘definitive history’. ‘This new issue of the Cambridge Modern History has been planned neither as a stepping-stone to definitive history, nor as an abstract or a scale-reduction of all our knowledge of the period, but as a coherent body of judgements true to the facts.’
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The New Cambridge Modern History , pp. 1 - 9Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1968