Early Days of World History by Oswald Spengler

Early Days of World History by Oswald Spengler

In>Early Days of World History, Oswald Spengler paints a dramatic and highly informative vista of humanity's ancient past. Swarms of savage tribes clash with and finally conquer sophisticated civilisations; emperors replace kings and peasants revolt against their masters. From the scorching deserts of Kash to the frozen tundra of the eternal North, sceptres are passed and throne rooms razed, while nations disappear and new tongues become dominant. The pirate castle of Troy besieged and burned and the Magian culture welcoming a saviour with empire-consolidating powers, Spengler chronicles the rise and fall of pagan peoples before the advent of Christ constricted their destinies through modern universalism.

From the wanderings of old folk souls across withered Bronze Age landscapes to the first clumsy stirrings of newly born peoples in the cradle of high cultures not yet mature, these posthumously published thoughts, by one of the greatest philosophers of history the West has ever known, present a vivid and detailed ride through a world far removed from but yet eerily familiar to us. In this perfect companion piece to>The Decline of the West, we can see Spengler at his razor-sharp analytical best tackling the issues affecting the world in its youth.

The often awkward structure and sometimes fragmentary nature of Spengler's notes in the German original were faithfully replicated in the English translation.

Oswald Spengler was born in Blankenburg, Germany, in 1880, and became one of the most contentious historians of the twentieth century. At Munich and Berlin, he studied mathematics, philosophy, and history. He published nothing before the first book of The Decline of the West, which came out when he was thirty-eight, except his doctoral thesis on Heraclitus. The Agadir crisis of 1911 offered an immediate impetus for his extensive research into our civilization's genesis and beginnings. Spengler decided on his main title in 1912, completed a first-volume manuscript two years later, and published it in 1918.

In 1922, the second and last volume was published. The Fall of the West (Vol. 1) was first published in the United States in 1926. 1), as well as 1928 (Vol. 2); the shorter edition was originally published in 1962 in this country.

He traveled to the Harz Mountains and Italy on occasion. He died of a heart attack three weeks before his 56th birthday in Munich in 1936.