A Short History of the WorldWells, H. G. (Herbert George)
History
A Short History of the World
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)
World history
Social and economic questions seem to be inseparably mingled with
international ones. The solution in each case lies in an appeal to
that same spirit of service which can enter and inspire the human
heart. The distrust, intractability and egotism of nations reflects
and is reflected by the distrust, intractability and egotism of the
individual owner and worker in the face of the common good.
Exaggerations of possessiveness in the individual are parallel and of a
piece with the clutching greed of nations and emperors. They are
products of the same instinctive tendencies, and the same ignorances
and traditions. Internationalism is the socialism of nations. No one
who has wrestled with these problems can feel that there yet exists a
sufficient depth and strength of psychological science and a
sufficiently planned-out educational method and organization for any
real and final solution of these riddles of human intercourse and
cooperation. We are as incapable of planning a really effective peace
organization of the world to-day as were men in 1820 to plan an
electric railway system, but for all we know the thing is equally
practicable and may be as nearly at hand.
No man can go beyond his own knowledge, no thought can reach beyond
contemporary thought, and it is impossible for us to guess or foretell
how many generations of humanity may have to live in war and waste and
insecurity and misery before the dawn of the great peace to which all
history seems to be pointing, peace in the heart and peace in the
world, ends our night of wasteful and aimless living. Our proposed
solutions are still vague and crude. Passion and suspicion surround
them. A great task of intellectual reconstruction is going on, it is
still incomplete, and our conceptions grow clearer and more
exact—slowly, rapidly, it is hard to tell which. But as they grow
clearer they will gather power over the minds and imaginations of men.
Their present lack of grip is due to their lack of assurance and exact
rightness. They are misunderstood because they are variously and
confusingly presented. But with precision and certainty the new vision
of the world will gain compelling power. It may presently gain power
very rapidly. And a great work of educational reconstruction will
follow logically and necessarily upon that clearer understanding.
LX
THE EXPANSION OF THE UNITED STATES
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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