Magill's History of Europe is a book written by Frank Northern Magill, published in 1993 by the

Grolier Educational Corporation Grolier was one of the largest American publishers of general encyclopedias, including ''The Book of Knowledge'' (1910), ''The New Book of Knowledge'' (1966), ''The New Book of Popular Science'' (1972), ''Encyclopedia Americana'' (1945), ''Acade ...

Introduction

Part of a six-volume series documenting the

history of Europe The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD 500), the Middle Ages (AD 500 to AD 1500), and the modern era (since AD 1500). The first early ...

, the first volume of Magill's History of Europe identifies and elaborates upon the key events in European history from the dawn of

civilization A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system). Ci ...

until the year 451. Rather than address historical trends in lengthy narratives, it highlights the situations and repercussions surrounding individual events that shaped Europe and includes analyses of two comprehensive works describing each of them. Primarily written for those conducting scholarly research, it contains a large collection of references and assumes its readers have a moderate knowledge of European history. Unlike most historical works, it does not attempt to form a particular or overall impression of European history; instead, it strives to give the reader additional insight into specific events and better clarification of the situations surrounding them. Its descriptions of little-known events like the

Battle of Kadesh The Battle of Kadesh or Battle of Qadesh took place between the forces of the New Kingdom of Egypt under Ramesses II and the Hittite Empire under Muwatalli II at the city of Kadesh on the Orontes River, just upstream of Lake Homs near the mod ...

, the Naval Law of Themistocles, and Marius's creation of a professional Roman army help explain the underlying reasons behind the isolation of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

from the rest of Europe, the superiority of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

over many of its fellow Greek cities, and the transformation of the

Roman military The military of ancient Rome, according to Titus Livius, one of the more illustrious historians of Rome over the centuries, was a key element in the rise of Rome over "above seven hundred years" from a small settlement in Latium to the capital of ...

into a force designed for conquest (Magill, 1993). It downplays the praise of several seemingly notable achievements, particularly the

Code of Hammurabi The Code of Hammurabi is a Babylonian legal text composed 1755–1750 BC. It is the longest, best-organised, and best-preserved legal text from the ancient Near East. It is written in the Old Babylonian dialect of Akkadian, purportedly by Hamm ...

and the

Battle of Zama The Battle of Zama was fought in 202 BC near Zama, now in Tunisia, and marked the end of the Second Punic War. A Roman army led by Publius Cornelius Scipio, with crucial support from Numidian leader Masinissa, defeated the Carthaginian ar ...

(Magill, 1993). Popular misconceptions of the magnanimity of Julius Caesar and the democracy of Athens are shattered by its revelation of the biased accounts of

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...

's Gallic conquests and the political inequalities in Athens (Magill, 1993). In spite of its potentially controversial topics, the book still tries to steer clear of unscholarly bias and prejudice, a necessity for scholars seeking serious facts and not mere opinions.

References

* Magill, F.N. (Ed.). (1993). Magill's history of Europe (Vol. 1). Danbury, CT: Grolier Educational Corporation. {{Navboxes , list = {{History of Europe {{European history by country {{Periods of the History of Europe {{History by continent {{Europe topics (small) History books about Europe