A Study of History, Vol 1

Title: A Study of History Vol. 1 – Introduction; Geneses of Civilizations

Author: Arnold Joseph Toynbee

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1985 (First published 1934)

ISBN: 978-0-19-215207-7

Pages: 478

Toynbee’s magnum opus was a milestone in historical theory, which is said to be the next such attempt after Marx’s study in the previous century. The 12-volume series attracted widespread attention and is thought to be the last word in its genre. I made a go at it in 2002, reaching almost halfway, but then lost steam and the attempt was dropped. The language is so superb and formidable that completing a volume was a hefty task. Twelve years later, I am trying to scale this mountain once again, and it is immensely satisfying to have reached the first landmark. Anticipation of the moment when I complete the series brings me goose bumps. Arnold Joseph Toynbee need no introduction. He was simply the greatest historian of the last century. His 12-volume series which over arched his career from 1934 to 1961 brought him fame as the author of an audacious attempt to formulate theories out of social phenomena documented in history. His mind numbing scholarship that ranges equally in literature as in history has produced its most valuable fruit in this historical series.

When making a study of history, we should define an ‘intelligible field of study’ in which analysis should take place. This field, however, should not be limited by the modern concepts of nation-states. Spatially, it must be extensive so as to envelope other states, which share common attributes with the purported field of study. In time, it must reach to the dawn of cultural attributes that is a peculiar feature. Industrial Revolution had furnished mankind with the twin ideals of nation-states and democracy, but history is a wider arena, in which the scholar must focus on society rather than states. Toynbee identifies some societies that are ‘intelligible fields of study’ such as Western Orthodox, Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Far Eastern societies. It appears that religion was the most prominent identifying factor for a society.

Toynbee introduces twenty-one societies around the globe that is related to the five living societies in one form or other, either across space or in time. These five living species are affiliated and apparented to old societies and the author names them – Hellenic, Syriac, Indic and the Sinic respectively. And then the general principle is enunciated. Civilizations take roots; grow with a vitality of its own creativity, reach a mature phase and then disintegration sets in. in this phase, internecine warfare erupts between contending states in the bosom of the society. This period is called ‘Time of Troubles’, at the end of which one of the states rise up as a supreme power at the expense of its neighbors and establishes a universal state, ruled by a dominant minority and its religion. After an interval of time, this state itself begins to dissolve, and barbarians begin to gnaw at its borders. Toynbee called them ‘Volkerwanderung’ (a german term for ‘wandering nations’). These outsiders grow powerful as time progressed. In the meanwhile an internal proletariat develops a different form of religion that is acceptable to the masses. The term ‘proletariat’ has no relationship with that of Marx’s coinage. In our sense, it means a community that is not at all related to the ruling dominant minority. After the Volkerwandeung gets sufficient powerful, it displaces the universal state, adopting the universal church of the internal proletariat. This is the exact point at which a new society is being born of the chrysalis of the old one, being affiliated and apparented to it. He lists out the names of all 21 societies which are living at present or died out. The archeological evidence for the Indus Civilization had not been conclusively established at the point of time of the writing of the volume. Consequently, Toynbee provisionally classify the Indic society to be apparented to Sumeric society, due to the fact that John Marshall’s initial expositions of the newly founded civilization hinged on the similarity of seals obtained from Harappa and ancient Sumer.

According to the prevailing logic propounded by Toynbee, a civilization originates by the cession of a degenerated society’s internal or external proletariats linked by a universal church. But we have to account for the independent origin as well, as many of the ancient societies grew up without being parented to another. The author solves this puzzle with a concept deftly borrowed from Darwin’s evolutionary theory. The birth of an independent civilization is attributed to be the result of mutation sustained by primitive societies whose number is huge while compared to full fledged societies that are intelligible fields of historical study.

Having set the stage for all societies that ever existed to display their wares, Toynbee goes on to analyse what caused civilization to bloom in the first place. The spark of innovation that catalyzed a primitive society into a civilization is investigated in detail and a convincing assertion established.  Race and environment were assumed to be the two factors that guided a society along the path of civilization. The author rubbishes both ideas. In fact, he minces no words in uprooting the weedy concept of racism from the minds of historians who might have accumulated a sense of racial superiority as a result of widespread acceptance of Western political and scientific ideas. He borrows the findings of modern science to point out that the changes in skin colour, which constitutes the essence of racial theories is in fact the presence or absence of a chemical called melanin. The environmental factor is also discarded with an illuminating comparison of similar environments around the world and detecting the emergence of civilizations only in a few. Tropical forest is a common feature in India, Indonesia and Yucatan peninsula, but an independent society emerged only in the latter. Likewise, fertile river deltas exist at many places, but only in a handful of them did societies that attract our attention arise. Thus environment alone as a factor does not carry much weight.

In the end, the theory of ‘Challenge and Response’ is emerged. In a nutshell, it may be summarized as follows. An environmental or a human factor may throw a challenge to the society that is staying peacefully in a geographical location in the form of climate changes or aggression. The ingenuity of response to the challenge determines the success or failure in sprouting a civilization from it. At the end of the last Ice Age, sea level rose and precipitation plummeted along the Nile valley. Grass lands slowly transformed into desert. Primitive societies that lived without any concern till that time were thus thrown a challenge. Some migrated to the upper reaches of the Nile where similar climate to which they were habituated still existed. In a sense, they shirked the challenge and are still to be found in the primitive state today. Another group faced the call and converted the jungle swamps into land fit for husbandry and agriculture, paving the way for the rise of the Egyptiac Civilization. Similar arguments hold for the Sumeric and Sinic civilizations as well.

The book is littered with long quotes and notes in many languages, including French, German, Greek and Latin. Naturally, this impedes the free flow of navigation. The language is exquisite and the prose of a very high caliber. Reading is a tough exercise, but it is worth the effort when counting the numerous instances of original thought and logically sharp analysis and conclusions. There may be source for disagreement with the author regarding his assertion of the Mahayana and Hinayana schools of Buddhist thought as fossils still lingering in Tibet and Sri Lanka respectively. Both the religions are going strong in the two countries at present and earmarking them as fossils don’t do justice to the argument.  

The author’s attack on racism as an explanation for the origin of civilizations is very progressive for his time, when the black people were not even allowed to vote in America. His unequivocal condemnation of such fallacious ideas bring home the fact that scholars who combine intuition with wide reading transcends the barrier of time and culture. However true this assertion may be, there is an unfortunate aspect in which Toynbee falls short of another enlightenment that came a little later. This book places religion in a high pedestal, as “a human being’s religion is a vastly more important and significant factor in his life than the colour of his skin, and is therefore a vastly better criterion for purposes of classification” (p.224). It is clear that he couldn’t foresee the drop in status of religion as a personal identifier. The author’s vulnerability is seen again in his remarks on ‘casteism’ in India, as “The disappearance of the racial factor which originally evoked the sense of caste has not entailed the disappearance of caste-consciousness. In India to-day there is hardly a sign that the sense of caste divisions is yielding to any sense of common nationality, transcending caste, on the objective basis of a common country and a common race” (p.243). Even in 1934 when this first volume saw light, this outright comment fell far short of reality and exactly 13 years later, India proved Toynbee absolutely wrong on this point by carving out a state amidst all the debilitating effects of caste.

The book contains a number of annexes that range to about a third of the entire book. Many are not particularly appealing that caters to only a few minor points in the argument. These may safely be skipped. But the annex on Shiism and its growth in Iran at the arms of Ismail Shah Safawi provides good reading.

The book is highly recommended for the serious reader of history.

Rating: 4 Star