T W C W H: HE Estern Ontribution TO Orld Istory
T W C W H: HE Estern Ontribution TO Orld Istory
T W C W H: HE Estern Ontribution TO Orld Istory
TO WORLD HISTORY
JAMES C. RUSSELL
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I
shall begin by speaking about our ancestors, since it is only right
and proper on such an occasion to pay them the honor of
recalling what they did.” Thus wrote Thucydides in his History of
the Peloponnesian War1 and so it is fitting to pay tribute to those whose
deeds contributed toward the creation and defense of our Western
Civilization. The deeds of our ancestors, which we have chosen to
commemorate today, include those of a military, cultural and scientific
nature.
In his book entitled The Birth of Europe, medieval historian Robert
Lopez posed the question: “What enabled Europe to emerge finally on
top?” His answer was “the absence of great invasions for a thousand
years.”2 Hence we begin our survey of Western contributions by paying
tribute to those who, throughout the history of the West, courageously
repulsed alien invading forces.
The first great battle for the survival of the West occurred nearly
2,500 years ago, in 480 B.C. in Greece. Herodotus, the first great
Western historian, describes this legendary battle in his History of the
Persian War. When the Persians invaded Greece, the Greeks realized
that they were outnumbered and needed time to reorganize their forces.
They sought to delay the approaching Persians at a narrow mountain
pass. The following selection describes a scenario not unlike that which
confronts us today: the fear and resignation of the many, the outright
treason of some, and the sacrifice of the few who fight valiantly against
insurmountable odds. Herodotus wrote:
[7.207] The Greek forces at Thermopylae, when the Persian army
drew near to the entrance of the pass, were seized with fear; and
a council was held to consider a retreat. It was the wish of the
Greeks generally that the army should fall back. But Leonidas, the
Spartan King, gave his voice for remaining where they were.
[7.210] Four whole days went by, and Xerxes, the Persian king,
expected that the Greeks would run away. When, however, he
found on the fifth day that they were not gone, thinking that their
firm stand was mere impudence and recklessness, he grew angry,
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ENDNOTES
1. Rex Warner ii. trans. Thucydides: the Peloponnesian War 4, (London: Bodley Head,
1954), p. 116.
2. Robert S. Lopez, The Birth of Europe (New York: M. Evans and Co., 1967), pp. 120-21.
3. Revilo P. Oliver, America’s Decline: The Education of a Conservative (London:
Londinium Press, 1987), pp. 216-17.
4. Greek Philosophy: Thales to Aristotle Reginald E. Allen, ed. & intro. (New York: Free
Press, 1967), p. 1.
5. Ibid., p. 2.
6. Detailed photographs of this marvelous work are available at: http://www.phil.uni-
erlangen.de/~p1altar/photo_html/plastik/maennlich/bewegt/diskobol/
diskobol.html .
7. W. W. Tarn, Alexander the Great (1948; reprint, Boston: Beacon Press, 1956), p. 147.
8. Steve Jones, et al, Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press)
9. Ibid.
10. Ramsay MacMulllen, Enemies of the Roman Order (New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 1981), pp. viii-ix.
11. The Gothic historian Jordanes describes the battle in Chapter 38 of his History of the
Goths, which is translated in William Stearns Davis, ed., Readings in Ancient History:
Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, 2 Vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), Vol. II:
Rome and the West, pp. 322-25.
12. William Stearns Davis, ed., Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the
Sources, 2 vols. (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912-13), vol. II: Rome and the West, pp. 362-
364.
13. Bernard of Clairveaux, Liber ad milites Templi: De laude novae militae, trans. Conrad
Greenia in The Works of Bernard of Clairvaux, Vol. 7, Cistercian Fathers Series: 19,
(Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, Mich., 1977).
14. The Secret History of the Reign of John Sobieski, The III of that Name, King of Poland,
containing a particular account of the siege of Vienna. . . . trans. François-Paulin
Dalairac (London: Rhodes, Bennet, Bell, Leigh & Midwinter, 1700), pp. 355-364.
15. An excellent detailed account of this outrage may be found in Glayde Whitney,
“Raymond B. Cattell and The Fourth Inquisition” Mankind Quarterly , vol. 38, no. 1 &
2, Fall/Winter 1997, pp. 99-124.
16. Neil Postman, “Philo Farnsworth” in Time: 100 Scientists http://www.time.com/
time/time100/scientist/profile/farnsworth.html.
17. T. S. Eliot, After Strange Gods: A Primer in Modern Heresy (London: Faber, 1934), p.
20.
18. Rachel Carson, in a CBS television interview in 1963: http://www.sover.net/
~mjez/newspapercolumns/rachelcarson.htm
19. E. O. Wilson, Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge (New York: Knopf, 1998), p. ?.
20. James D. Watson, quoted by Leon Jaroff in Time 20 March 1989.
21. Walter Burkert, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and
Myth (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983).