一个全新视角下的世界史

2.一个全新视角下的世界史　World History:ANew Perspective^[29]

本节导读

Clive Ponting，英国作家，研究英国及世界历史并出版了若干修正主义作品，主要包括：A Green History of the World:The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations(1991)（《绿色世界史——环境与伟大文明的衰落》）、World History-A New Perspective(2000)（《一个全新视角下的世界史》）、A New Green History of the World:The Environment and the Collapse of Great Civilizations(2007)（《新绿色世界史——环境与伟大文明的衰落》）。令Ponting最为知名的莫过于1985年的贝尔格拉诺事件（Belgrano Affair）。当时任职国防部的Ponting，故意泄露了一份有关英军在福克兰战争期间击沉阿根廷军舰“贝尔格拉诺将军号”的机密文件给一名在野党国会议员，由此被保守党政府引用《官方保密法》检控。该案对英国法律史产生了深远的影响。

2000年出版的《一个全新视角下的世界史》，如其标题所示，从一个全新视角对世界史进行了演绎。作者认为，世界史不仅仅是各个国家、帝国、文明历史的简单汇总，这一研究方法无法抓住上述不同单位体发展的共同特点，也无法体现它们之间的互动情况。我们看待世界史的眼光常常受到“欧洲中心论”的影响，认为西方文明是世界史中主要的活跃因素，而忽略了世界其他文明和社会在世界史中的角色和重要性。因此，作者围绕世界文明发展中的7个共同主题来叙述世界史：不同文明如何逐渐产生联系，思想、技术和宗教如何在不同群体间传播，文明的核心区域如何扩展，定居社会与游牧群体之间的关系，世界各地间贸易的不断加强，欧洲在世界中的地位，现代工业化世界如何产生。该书视野开阔，纵横驰骋，近千页的内容娓娓道来，蔚为大观，对希望了解世界史的读者来说是不可多得的佳作。

What is world history?It is not simply a compilation of the histories of the individual states,empires and civilizations that have existed in the world.Such an approach cannot bring out the common themes within these units nor the way in which they have interacted.Neither can it trace the diffusion of knowledge and technologies between the different human communities.World history has to be constructed around common themes and developments.In doing so it needs to take account of the experience of all the different human communities without favouring that of any one group.The fundamental argument of this book is that our way of viewing the history of the world is deeply flawed and biased.Its faults stem from a profound Eurocentrism^[30]compounded with a belief in‘western civilization’as the main dynamic force in world history and the embodiment^[31]of all that is good and progressive in human societies and ways of thought.Such a view is bound to downplay or dismiss both the role and the importance of other traditions and societies;indeed the experience of the majority of the world’s people.This book attempts to provide a more balanced account of human history.

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There are a number of common themes which run through this narrative.The first is the way in which the different civilizations which emerged in the world were gradually brought into contact with each other.In Mesopotamia^[32]and Egypt this occurred at an early stage.Within a few thousand years contact was made with the Indus valley^[33]and then with China.Some of the contacts between the extremities of Eurasia were at first indirect but eventually all were in direct contact with each other.No region in Eurasia was isolated for long.The second theme is therefore the way in which crucial ideas,technologies and religions were transmitted between the different groups.These ultimately proved to be far more important than the unique cultural elements of each civilization.The history of all these regions is therefore interlocked.At times one group was in advance of the others and held certain advantages but in the end no monopoly could be sustained and the new discoveries and inventions passed to other societies.For example,China was particularly productive in the five hundred years or so after about 600 CE^[34].It invented printing, paper,the compass,gunpowder and advanced iron technologies,among others,but these eventually diffused.Similarly,western Europe initiated a number of industrial changes in the hundred years or so after the mid-eighteenth century but these too spread rapidly around the globe.The quicker pace of diffusion was no more than a measure of the growing integration of human societies,another phenomenon found throughout world history.

The third theme is the extension of the‘core’area of civilization.All of the initial civilized societies were surrounded by a less developed area(a‘periphery^[35]’) which they tended to exploit economically.However,the impact of this exploitation and contacts it brought with more advanced societies had a decisive impact on elites^[36]in the periphery.It drove them to increase their power and develop their own primitive^[37]state structures through their ability to control contacts with the more developed areas.The result was the gradual spread of‘civilization’.The process is particularly apparent in the way the early states of Mesopotamia and Egypt influenced the Levant^[38]and from there incorporated first Crete^[39],then mainland Greece,then Italy and the Iberian peninsula^[40]and finally western Europe into a much wider‘civilized’area.In China civilization gradually extended out of the central river-valley areas northwards and,most important,into the highly productive areas south of the Yangtze which were suitable for intensive wet-field rice production.A similar process was at work about a thousand years ago as large parts of eastern Europe and Russia were incorporated into the‘civilized’area and developed their own primitive states.

The fourth theme is the relationship between the settled societies and the nomadic^[41]groups which surrounded them.The former called the latter‘barbarians’and usually portrayed them as ruthless warriors on horseback sweeping down on the cities of the civilized world and destroying them.This is a fundamental misunderstanding.The nomadic societies could not have existed without the settled world and depended on it for many of their products.The reason for the success of the nomads was that for several thousand years they had a technological edge in military terms over the settled communities.The mounted archer,ready to retreat to the steppe when under pressure,was almost impossible to defeat.The settled societies found it easier to buy off the‘barbarians’although they(in particular successive Chinese dynasties)liked to pretend they were culturally superior and that the nomads were paying them‘tribute^[42]’rather than the other way round.In practice the nomads quickly learnt that it was better to take the products of the civilized world rather than attack it on a major scale—only a very few did so.

One of the underlying causes of the expansion of the civilized area(which gradually constricted^[43]the nomadic world)was the demand for various products found only in the peripheral areas.Trade—its increasing level,the greater number of products involved and the longer distances over which it took place—makes up the fifth major theme.In the very earliest civilization in Mesopotamia we find merchants and traders buying and selling various products in the area of the first cities, in the Levant,down the Gulf as far as Oman,across the Iranian plateau,as far north as Anatolia^[44]and eventually in the Indus valley.The fact that some of the products were,at first,mainly luxury items does not reduce the importance of trade in developing contacts and wealth.Bulky items were traded from a fairly early date and poor communications on land did not stop trade by sea and along rivers where such products could be easily moved.Cities dependent on trade emerged at an early stage and nearly all rulers and states accepted that wealthy merchants and cities should be given a large degree of independence.Rulers learnt that it was best simply to tax trade and gain revenue.Trade gradually created the two great‘ocean worlds’of the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean,with the latter linking together the region from the Gulf,through India and south-east Asia to China.These ocean worlds produced wide networks of trade,technological and religious contacts which were far greater than any individual state or empire.The one major overland route was the‘Silk Road’,which eventually linked China and the eastern Mediterranean through central Asia and Iran.It was along all these routes that some of the world’s great religions were diffused,partly by traders but also by pilgrims^[45]and teachers moving with the merchants.The third ocean world was that of the Atlantic which was created by Europe from the sixteenth century.

The sixth theme is the position of Europe within world history.For most of the last five thousand years or so since the first civilizations emerged,Europe was a peripheral area.Until the last thousand years it hardly had a state structure and economically and socially it was far behind the long-established societies and economies in areas such as Egypt,Mesopotamia,Iran,India and China.For nearly all of world history the richest and most developed societies have been in Asia. Most accounts written from a‘western civilization’perspective ignore these inconvenient facts and then see Europe during the heroic age of‘exploration’as already the most dynamic and prosperous area in the world.This book argues that this is a fundamental misunderstanding.Ever since the opening of trade between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean worlds it was the‘west’that wanted the products of the‘east’.The problem was that it had little to trade that the‘east’wanted. The result was an endless drain of precious metals to the‘east’to pay for its products—when supplies of bullion ran out trade went into decline.What was different after 1500 was that Europe was able to use the phenomenal sources of wealth it exploited in the Americas gradually to buy its way into the long-established and prosperous trading world of the Indian Ocean.It is a major argument in Part Five that to see Europe as the dominant area of the world from 1500 is a mistake.It could easily impose its will on the Americas because of the very much lower technological development on this isolated continent and the unexpected impact of Eurasian diseases on a population that had no natural immunity.The impact of Europe on the great land empires of the Ottomans^[46],Safavids^[47],Mughals^[48]and China was minimal.The most the Europeans could establish were a few trading posts along the coast.The period between 1500 and 1750 is therefore one in which Europe was gradually able to build up its wealth and power to a level comparable to that of the great empires of the‘east’.

This leads on to the seventh major theme—how the modern world of industrialization,rapid technological change,high energy use and urbanized societies was created.For nearly the whole time since the adoption of farming,all human societies have been primarily agricultural with about nine out of ten people making a living in this way.However,it was inevitable that the gradual rising wealth derived from trade,the improving infrastructure and the slow pace of technological development would mean that one society would eventually transcend^[49]these limits.China very nearly did so in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and only failed because of invasion,first by the Jürchen^[50]and then the Mongols^[51].The Islamic world might have done so too—it was far wealthier and more developed than Europe for centuries.But in the end it was Europe that made the transition first.It did so based on the adoption of a vast range of technologies and ideas from the rest of Eurasia(iron furnaces,paper,printing,gunpowder,clockwork,the compass,the stern-post rudder,the stirrup,sophisticated financial and accounting devices,‘Arab’numerals,the concept of zero and even the basic components of the steam engine,which were first developed in China).The working-out of these changes and the industrial advances made after the mid-eighteenth century gave western Europe(and its offshoot^[52]in North America)a brief lead over the rest of the world.Even then the western European pattern was not‘adopted’by the rest of the world.The evolution of modern societies and economies was a global process in which the rest of the world did not simply repeat,at a slower pace,the changes made in Europe.Each society worked out the changes in its own way and some were more successful than others because of the constraints under which they operated.However,the impact of Europe was temporary and limited.Countries such as Japan and China were in control of their own destinies and the European impact on them was far less than devotees of the‘western canalization’idea would like to believe.

The underlying threads which run throughout the book are those of unity and diversity.Human societies have had very similar foundations and faced remarkably similar problems as a result.Yet many of the solutions to these problems have been different and every society,empire and state has had its own unique characteristics. However,the contacts between them have diffused ideas and technologies,and each has adopted elements from the rest.Ultimately no human group could develop on its own and only a small part of its cultural and technical heritage could be unique.

思考题

1.What is the author’s approach to world history?

2.According to the author,what are the common themes around which history should be constructed?

3.How does the author place Europe within world history?

4.What are the underlying threads that run through the narrative of this book?

5.What is your opinion on Euro-centrism in the scholarship of world history?