Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 14 i BBC World Histories Magazine

Peace. It’s an admirable goal – yet even a cursory glance at history reveals just how fraught the process of achieving it can be. This issue, we asked our panel of historians to look back at past hostilities to tackle the question: how can enemies forge a lasting peace? Looking at a range of treaties, from papal truces of the Middle Ages to accords ending the global conflicts of the 20th century, can we identify political, military or economic strategies that have contributed to enduring peace? Indeed, is such a state ever achievable? Read our experts’ thoughts in our cover feature from page 16. War is often sparked by external aggression – or, at least, that’s generally the accepted cause. But, as author and Jonathan Holslag contests, in truth an…

“Can we distil a single combined history from the countless pasts of a complex continent? This question was the focus of a workshop, How to narrate the history of Europe, which I attended in December at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence. It proved to be, perhaps unsurprisingly, a topic of quite heated debate, much of it centred on the House of European History (HEH). This museum in Brussels, opened in May 2017, aims to explore a pan-European history. Some exhibits honour ‘brilliant European inventions’; others remember darkest moments in European history, such as a letter written on birch bark in January 1943 by a man deported to the Soviet Union’s Vyatlag Gulag. “We normally learn to think about our history in the national framework or at a regional…

Buddha (sixth or fifth century BC) The Buddha (‘knower’) was an itinerant teacher who lived in the Indian subcontinent around the fifth century BC. According to tradition, he was born Siddhartha Gautama in Lumbini in what is now Nepal. As the privileged son of a royal family, he was sheltered from knowledge of hardship until a series of chance encounters led him to leave home in search of truth. After six years of wandering he achieved enlightenment, and thereafter taught the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path as a route to overcome dukkha, or suffering – by cultivating non-attachment to self and the world. Plato (c427–c347 BC) Plato occupies a pivotal position in the history of western philosophy. Much of his work takes the form of reported dialogues involving…

Talat Ahmed “A world that is scarred by climate change, war and racism is crying out for an effective political strategy,” writes Ahmed, lecturer in South Asian history at the University of Edinburgh. On page 6 she discusses Mahatma Gandhi’s system of non-violent protest, and how it is still being employed today. Ali Ansari On page 42, the professor of history at the University of St Andrews examines the causes and legacy of the 1979 revolution in Iran. “The Islamic Revolution has cast a long shadow,” he says, “transforming the geopolitics of the Middle East and thrusting political Islamism into the limelight.” Jonathan Holslag History, according to conventional wisdom, is written by winners – the strongest powers that rise to dominance in a given era. Yet as Holslag, who teaches…

Border walls and fences have proliferated during the 21st century – quietly, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Jordan; loudly, in Israel, Hungary and the United States. The policy of building barriers is nothing new. Cities first began girding themselves with walls nearly 12,000 years ago, and larger states have been at it for at least 4,000 years. Razor wire, electronic sensors and concrete slabs have supplanted mud bricks and tamped earth. Otherwise, we are carrying on much as we always have. Innumerable battles were once fought at walls; invaders and defenders clashed at the boundaries of cities, kingdoms and empires. In the 21st century, those battles have turned political. The most bitter fights now occur over proposed walls – which, for the first time, are debated in…

Daniel Schönpflug “Versailles negotiations were dominated by the interests of the victorious world powers, not those of young nations” In the 19th century, the idea prevailed that a good peace treaty must above all establish a balance between the signatories. But in January 1918, US president Woodrow Wilson set international diplomacy on a new course. His ‘14 Points’ speech, delivered to Congress in preparation for the end of the First World War, suggested that a good peace was not possible without democracy. His plan would not only invoke the right of self-determination to the peoples within the multinational states and the colonies of empire, but also set out the idea of a League of Nations, under whose auspices the interests of the world could be balanced in transparent negotiations. Over…

On 5 November 1978, a weary Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shahanshah (‘King of Kings’) of Iran and Aryamehr (‘Light of the Aryans’), sat uncomfortably behind his desk at Niavaran Palace in Tehran in preparation for an impromptu television broadcast to the nation. After months of mounting protests against his rule, some of his officials had determined that it was time to make a decisive break with the past. The shah should take control of events, they suggested, placing himself at the head of this ‘revolutionary’ movement. Film rushes of this moment show a monarch, clearly uneasy with the situation, being handed a script with barely time to scan it. Haltingly, he read out the prepared statement acknowledging his past mistakes. In a particularly striking passage, he proclaimed to his somewhat bewildered…

At the turn of the 20th century, Iceland’s independence movement received a boost from a surprising source: an Englishman who developed its fishing industry – and thus helped its small, impoverished population achieve prosperity and, eventually, nationhood. For his role, this unlikely champion of Iceland was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon – the nation’s highest honour. Yet for years he was largely forgotten until the recent rediscovery of his diaries and photographs. Pike Ward was born in Teignmouth, Devon in 1856 into a middle-class shipbroking family of religious nonconformists, egalitarian in outlook. He was tall and generously built, gregarious and self-confident; when his father died in 1881, his mother, Eliza, took over the family company, and Pike investigated new opportunities. The traditional Devon trade in…

Ahmad ibn Fadlan A minor court functionary about whom little is known. His role on the mission was to read letters from the caliph, the vizier and Nadhir al-Harami, and to present gifts. Caliph al-Muqtadir Abu’l-Fadl Ja‘far ibn Ahmad al-Mu‘tadid, born in 895, Abbasid caliph in Baghdad for most of the period 908–32. His turbulent reign virtually bankrupted the state treasury and weakened caliphal control. Al-Hasan, son of Yiltawar The king of the Volga Bulgars. Nadhir al-Harami A powerful eunuch at al-Muqtadir’s court, the Volga Bulgar king’s contact in Baghdad and sponsor of Ibn Fadlan’s mission. Sawsan al-Rassi The caliph’s envoy. Bars al-Saqlabi A soldier who may have defected from the Samanids to the court of Baghdad. Takin al-Turki A slave-soldier who was an expert on the Turkic steppe peoples…

“This object reflects the material culture, consumerism and far-reaching tastes of the 17th century” The Messel standing feather fan Created by: Unknown featherworkers, 17th century Now at: Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Chosen by: Stefan Hanß This fan, made of finely cut feathers of striking colour and iridescence, depicts scenes of birds, flowers and butterflies across its five sections. Measuring approximately 34cm tall by 23cm wide, it features drawn threadwork and woven panels arranged in concealed frames. Its user would have held it elegantly between their thumb and forefinger, and through its use would have spread the scent of their perfumed gloves, bracelets or jewellery. The effect would have been captivating – indeed, both in its visual impact and the deftness of its construction, the fan has mesmerised audiences throughout…

Fourteen billion dollars: that’s the estimated value of the narcotics allegedly smuggled from Mexico to the United States by the cartel of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán Loera. El Chapo, the most famous drug trafficker in the world, is currently incarcerated in a high-security jail in New York City; though he has escaped custody before – once spirited out of a Mexican prison hidden in a laundry cart, on another occasion fleeing on a motorbike through a mile-long tunnel dug beneath his cell – it seems unlikely that he will do so again. In prosecuting El Chapo, the US authorities have claimed “an important victory” in the war on drugs. Yet the terrible problem of drug addiction has not been solved. According to recent figures, two million Americans are addicted to…

To mark the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, the BBC commissioned a new nine-part radio drama by acclaimed playwright Steve Waters, which airs from the end of January. The series tells the story from a range of viewpoints to provide novel insights into events that continue to shape the Middle East and the wider world today. “The revolution was a global event, and I wanted the drama to reflect that,” says Waters. “When it came to choosing which perspectives to include, the key forces were clear: the shah and his circle, and Khomeini and those around him. But I also wanted to feature international actors, especially the Americans, for whom the shah was a critical ally. These range from American president Jimmy Carter to harassed officials such as the…

Nothing, it seems, challenges peace more than the rise of a major power. It was Thucydides, a historian who lived in Greece in the fifth century BC, who was among the first to describe the phenomenon by which the ascent of one power causes rivalry and war. “For it was the rise of Athens,” he wrote, “that caused fear in Sparta and made war inevitable.” The term ‘Thucydides’s Trap’ was coined in 2012 by American political scientist Graham Allison, who reviewed 16 such transitions throughout history and concluded that 12 of them led to war between great powers. Not surprisingly, today more and more students of world politics are asking whether a new tragedy of this kind is in the making, with China’s rise increasingly being resisted by the United…

How to Hide an Empire by Daniel Immerwahr Bodley Head, February Until its admission to the United States in 1959, Alaska was an ‘organised incorporated territory’ – a label also applied to Hawaii, which acceded in the same year. This book tells the story of US-governed territories across the nation’s history, and what it reveals about empire more broadly. Threads of Life by Clare Hunter Sceptre, February A history of the world focusing on sewing: it’s an innovative, quirky idea through which the author identifies links between familiar artefacts and eras. From the Norman conquest to 1970s Argentina via Tudor England and the First World War, it seems that a stitch in time really can help shape politics and personal identity. Midnight in Chernobyl by Adam Higginbotham Bantam, February At…

The United States’ hidden empire The surprising story of America’s colonial ambitions A year in pictures: 1973 Tennis tussles, Nixon’s downfall and conflict in the Middle East Magic numbers How Arabic numerals became cultural icons worldwide In the footsteps of… Walter Benjamin’s tragic Second World War trek across the Pyrenees High ambition Take a historical tour of Sagrada Familia, Gaudí’s sacred masterpiece in Barcelona Never miss an issue – subscribe today at buysubscriptions.com/WHIP14 SUBSCRIBE TODAY PAGE 22…