A History of Civilizations by Fernand Braudel

It could be useful for introducing university students to the distinctions the Annales School made between the short-term study of events, the under-lying structures of societies, and the longue duree. Part I gives an exceptionally clear-headed account of Braudel's method of bringing all the social sciences to bear on problems of historical interpretation. Historians who have baulked at reading the massive Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II will find this a lively introduction to Braudel' methodology, despite its 600 pages. It is this version which Richard Mayne has rendered into highly readable English. In 1987 a second French edition appeared, shorn of its original pedagogic apparatus. Translations were taken up by secondary schools in Italy and Spain. However, even after the debate was lost, Braudel's work lived a life of its own. The odd result is that today's students in French intermediate schools (the colleges) get a more sophisticated combination of history, geography, economics, art and ideas, than is given to advanced students in the lycees. Braudel decided to lend his prestige to the debate by writing his own general survey of civilisations.įor a few years it was used in the schools, but was eventually dropped, partly because teachers complained it was too difficult for their students, and partly because Braudel's supporters lost the debate. By 1960, however, the program had come under attack from conservative teachers and university professors who sought to restore the old chronological approach which culminated in the study of the twentieth century. The Annales project of enlisting all the social sciences in the service of history seemed to have scored a major victory when, in 1957, the last year of historical study in high school ( lycee) was set aside for comparative examination of 'the main contemporary civilisations': Western, Soviet, Muslim, Far Eastern, South-East Asian and Black African.

Why should a should a world famous historian write such a book? The reason was that Braudel took a missionary interest in spreading his kind of history through the entire French educational system.

Originally published in 1963, it was intended for students in the final year of secondary school.

This is the last of the major works of Fernand Braudel to be translated into English. Etherington (History Department, University of Western Australia)

A History of Civilizations by Fernand Braudel