Just Finished Reading: The Shortest History of Europe by John Hirst (FP: 2012)

It is, of course, an impossible task – to write a history of Europe from Greco-Roman times to the end of WW2 in less than 200 pages. Wisely the author of this interesting little work doesn’t try. Instead he concentrates on highlights, themes and a broad brush approach to history. By and large the thrust is chronological but with a twist – or in this case a spiral as the narrative winds back on itself to fill in detail or expand a theme.

After given a very quick overview of the continents history the book circles back to some of the foundations of European culture and history looking at how invasions from Germany (that will be), the Vikings and the East shaped the political landscape and echoed down the ages. Politics is a big theme here, with the fall and shattering of the Roman Empire and the set-up of wannabe absolute monarchs none of whom managed to hold on to much territory or to exert much influence for too long or over too much to have a decided impact on the flow of things – a theme repeated at the end of the book where the power and innovation of a fractured Europe is compared to a generally side-lined China which, on the face of it, should have been the world conquering power that Europe turned out to be. It was the lack of power exhibited by Kings that led to the rise of Merchants and petty powers within kingdoms which eventually gave rise to capitalism, democracy, party politics, class conflict and much else besides.

Mixed in with all of this is a tale of languages – from Rome (again) as well as from Germany which gave rise to the Romance languages of continental Europe and the world language now known as English. Of course not only did England give its language to the world but was also the home of the Industrial Revolution which changed everything. Why in England and not in France or Germany – never mind China? It’s an interesting question to which the author gives an interesting answer (which was new to me at least). Lastly the author turns his attention to the world wars – essentially the same war with a 20 year pause in the middle – and gives a good account of the tragedy.

Adapted from a series of lectures designed for undergraduates who had little prior knowledge of Europe this was a breeze of a read with some interesting viewpoints and overview of the geographical area that most interests me. Short, obviously, but a good introduction especially for those with scant knowledge of the cradle of western culture, science and industrialisation. One other book has been produced in this series (which I already have) and I hope they produce more.