Excerpt from The Development of Modern Europe, Vol. 1: An Introduction to the Study of Current HistoryIt has been a common defect of our historical manuals that, however satisfactorily they have dealt with more or less remote periods, they have ordinarily failed to connect the past with the present. And teachers still pay a mysterious respect to the memory of Datis and Artaphenes which they deny to gentlemen in frock coats, like Gladstone and Gambetta. The gloomy incidents of the capture of Numantia are scrupulously impressed upon the minds of children who have little chance of ever hearing of the siege of Metz. The organization of the Achaean League is given preference to that of the present German Empire.There are some teachers, perhaps, who would seek to justify the current disregard of recent history, but many others would aee with one of the guild who, when criticised for giving more attention in her instruction to Charlemagne than to Bismarck, complained with truth, "But we know so much more about Charlemagne than about Bismarck." The great majority of those interested in history would no doubt gladly readjust their perspective if they had the means of doing so; and, indeed, there has been a marked improvement in this respect in the newer books which are giving more and more space to recent events.In preparing the volume in hand, the writers have consistently subordinated the past to the present. It has been their ID ever-conscious aim to enable the reader to catch up with his own times; to read intelligently the foreign news in the cc morning paper; to know what was the attitude of Leo XIII toward the social democrats even if he has forgotten that of Innocent III toward the Albigenses.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com