Simply History

Main Index


Edited selections of mostly European history from the out-of-copyright book, A Pageant of History, by R.G. Ikin, MA, Kings' College, Cambridge, 1929.



THE DAWN IN THE EAST
  A Journey up the Nile
  Pyramids and Pharaohs
  The Great Barons of Egypt
  The Paradise of the Old Testament
  A Library of Clay Tablets
  The Hebrews or Jews.
  The Tyrian Trader and the Great King of Persia
  Buddha and India's Golden Age


THE GLORY THAT WAS GREECE
  Homer and the Romance of Troy
  "The People of Uncontrollable Laughter"
  The Fast Runner and the Hot Springs
  The Theatre and the Play
  The Glory of Athens
  Alexander and the Man in the Tub


THE GRANDEUR THAT WAS ROME
  Legends of Early Heroes
  Early Rome
  How Hannibal crossed the Alps
  Hannibal in Italy
  The Tragedy of Rome's Reformers
  Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon
  The Roman Empire
  The Triumph of the Christian Church
  The "Eternal City" of Rome


THE "WOLFISH ENERGY" OF THE MIDDLE AGES
  The Barbarians
  The Baptism of a Barbarian: Clovis the Frank
  Benedict the Monk, and Justinian the Law-giver
  Mohammed and the Men of the Desert
  The Northmen of the Fiords
  Charles the Great: Christmas Day 800
  Manors, Lords, and Serfs
  Hildebrand and the Ages of Faith
  The Cross and the Crescent
  Little Brother Francis and Friar Roger Bacon
  The Conquering Nomads of Asia
  Marco Polo and the Marvels of Cathay
  The Romance of Trade with the Indies


THE AWAKENING OF EUROPE
  Mediaeval People and Dante
  The Great Inventions: Printing, Gunpowder, Mariner's Compass
  The Great Discoveries: Columbus, da Gama, Magellan, Drake
  Science and Art: Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, etc.


REFORMERS AND LIBERATORS
  Erasmus, the Scholar
  Luther, the Reformer
  The Congregation and the Society of Jesus
  William the Silent and "the Beggars"
  The Slow Dawn of Toleration


EUROPE EXPANDS OVERSEAS
  "The World" grows bigger and bigger
  The Colonizing of the New World
  The "Dark Continent" and the Slave Trade
  The British and Others in Africa
  India's Princes and Traders


THE "GRAND MONARCHS" OF EUROPE
  From Reformation to Revolution
  Peter the Great of Russia
  Louis XIV. of France
  Frederick the Great of Prussia


THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
  Washington and the Birth of the U.S.A.
  The New Democracy


THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND NAPOLEON
  Origins
  The First Act: "The Rights of Man"
  The Second Act: The Reign of Terror
  The Third Act: "Long live the Emperor!"
  Napoleon, the Man


THE BIRTH OF NEW NATIONS
  The "Nation" and the "People"
  The New Italy: Mazzini, Cavour, Garibaldi
  Bismarck and the New Germany
  The New South American Republics


“It is only right that your hearts should be on Christ, when the heart of Christ is so much on you.”
–Isaac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus