UNIT 13

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 410.

The Expansion of Western Civilization

The predominance of the Western civilization throughout the world on the eve of the fateful year 1914 was unprecedented. It was unprec­edented in the sense that, though many civilizations before that of Europe had radiated their influence far beyond their original home­lands, none had previously spread right round the globe.

The civilization of Eastern orthodox Christendom, which grew up in mediaeval Byzantium, had been carried by the Russians to the Pa­cific; but it had itself succumbed to Western influence since the close of the seventeenth century. The civilization of Islam had expanded from the Middle East to Central Asia and Central Africa, to the At­lantic coast of Morocco and the Pacific coasts of the East Indies, but had obtained no permanent foothold in Europe and had never crossed the Atlantic into the New World. The civilization of ancient Greece and Rome had extended its political domination into North-Western Europe under the Roman Empire and its artistic inspiration into In- ¹⁵ dia and the Far East, where the Greco-Roman models had stimulated the development of Buddhist art. Yet the Roman Empire and the Chi­nese Empire had co-existed on the same planet for two centuries without any direct political or economic contacts. It was the same with the other ancient civilizations. Ancient India radiated her reli­gion, her art, her commerce and her colonists into the Far East and the East Indies, but never penetrated the West. The only civilization that has become world-wide is the Western civilization.

Nowadays we are ready to forget that Western Europe made two unsuccessful attempts to expand before she eventually succeeded.

The firsl of these attempts was the mediaeval movement in the Mediterranean which is known as the Crusades. In the Crusades, the

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attempt to impose the political and economic domination of West Eu­ropeans upon other peoples ended in failure, while in the interchange

³⁰ of culture, the West Europeans received more from the Muslims and ■ Byzantines than they gave them. The second attempt was that of the Spaniards and Portuguese in the sixteenth century. This was more or less successful in the New World.

The third attempt was begun in the seventeenth century by the

³⁵ Dutch, French, English, and these three West European nations were the principal authors of the world-wide expansion of the Western civi­lization. By 1914 the system of European trade and European means of communication had become world-wide. On the plane of politics, the European nations not only coloriized the New World, but had

⁴⁰ conquered India and tropical Africa.

On the eve of the War of 1914-18 Europe was in the enjoyment of an undisputed ascendancy, and the peculiar civilization which she had built up for herself was in the process of becoming world-wide. Yet this position, brilliant though it was, was not merely unprecedent-

⁴⁵ ed and recent; it was also insecure. It was insecure chiefly because, at the very time when European expansion was approaching its climax, the foundations of West European civilization had been broken up and the great deeps loosed by the release and emergence of two ele­mental forces in European social life — the forces of industrialism

⁵⁰ and democracy, which were brought into a merely temporary and un­stable equilibrium by the formula of nationalism. It is evident that a Europe which was undergoing a terrific double strain of this inward transformation and outward expansion could not with impunity squander her resources, spend her material wealth and man-power

⁵⁵ unproductively, or exhaust her muscular and nervous energy. If her to­tal command of resources was considerably greater than that which any other civilization had ever enjoyed, these resources were relative to the calls upon them; and the liabilities of Europe on the eve of 1914, as well as her assets, were of an unprecedented magnitude. Eu-

⁶⁰ rope could not afford to wage even one World War; and when we take stock of her position in the world after a Second World War and com­pare it with her position before 1914, we are confronted with a con­trast that is staggering to the imagination.

From: "Civilization on Trial" by Arnold Toynbee

TASKS

13.1 Answer the following questions to check how well you have read the text:

1. Why was the position of West European civilization unprecedented?

2. What other civilizations were there on the globe? Why did they not
spread world-wide?

3. In what respects were Western Europe's first attempts at expansion
unsuccessful?

4. Which nations of Western Europe were responsible for the third ex­
pansion attempt?

5. What example does the author give to illustrate the expansion of
Western civilization?

6. In what ways did events inside Europe in the first half of the 20th
century weaken the position of European civilization in the world?

7. What civilization will, in your opinion, predominate in the 21st cen­
tury?

13.2 Give English-Russian equivalents of the following expressions:

mediaeval Byzantium; господство западной цивилизации; Eastern orthodox Christendom; судьбоносный год; to radiate the influence; накануне; to spread right round the globe; подпасть под влияние; the close of the seventeenth century; пересечь Атланти­ческий океан; to obtain a permanent foothold; Новый Свет; to ex­tend its political domination; во времена Римской империи; to make an attempt; direct political or economic contacts; закончиться неудачей; to impose the political and economic domination; всемир­ная экспансия; on the plane of politics; an undisputed ascendancy; очевидно; шаткое равновесие; European expansion; to squander the resources; вести войну

13.3 Fill in the gaps in the following sentences with suitable words from the box:

dominion, ascendancy, domination, predominance

1. The ... ofWestern civilization throughout the world in 1914 was very
recent.

2. In the Crusades, the attempt to impose the political ... of West Eu­
ropeans on other peoples ended in complete failure.

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UNIT 14

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