World history is very rich and full of all kinds of facts. Even taking into account modern technology and the unprecedented development of historical sciences, scientists did not fully answer all the questions that interest mankind. Most events, personalities, locations, historical documents remain a mystery to this day. However, such white spots are not a problem for creating a kind of “historical tree”, which would allow in general terms to know the whole historical process of mankind. It should be noted that modern scientists were still able to create a classic model of what happened in the past. But was everything as described in school textbooks?
The formation of history
The development of history as a science began a long time ago from the time of ancient Greece. The process of gradual accumulation of knowledge has led to the fact that this science has become key. With its help, you can know the real world through the prism of time. Learning more and more facts from the distant past, we can explain some events of the present and predict the future. But this peculiar function is not the fundamental factor that determines the need to study history. Currently, scientists are increasingly interested in the driving forces of historical development. After all, evolution, wherever it takes place, cannot appear just like that. For this, there must be a certain factor that will give an impetus. If you look at all the stages of historical development, which will be discussed later, it becomes clear that throughout the history of mankind there have been certain events, people, facts or other elements that stimulated subsequent development.
The essence of theories of historical development
The whole process of human development can be divided into certain stages. However, it is not known how it began, as well as what contributes to its dynamics and decline. When scientists began to search for the answer to this question, they began to invent various theories of historical development that would give answers to existing questions. The term theory itself means a certain hypothesis, overgrown with facts and scientific evidence. It allows you to find out and prove the fidelity or falsity of a factor. In our case, the whole process of historical development is proved, and theories, in turn, make it possible to understand its diversity, form, cause and dynamics. It is theories that confirm the fact that the driving forces of historical development exist and can be explained.
Types of theories of historical development
Events can be viewed based on two main approaches: pluralistic and monistic. Each of them determines the appearance of a particular type of historical theory. A pluralistic approach talks about the presence of numerous nations and cultures, the development of which occurred independently of each other. The monistic concept is the exact opposite and proves the fact of the interconnection of cultures and nations. Thus, we see that each concept can have its own driving forces of historical development, and they are very different from each other. As for theories, their authors have always been adherents of a concept. Thus, we can distinguish the main theories of historical development, namely:
- Theological. All living things develop according to the will of God, and man is his best creation. Any processes must take place in the name and for his glory.
- Pagan. This theory is interesting, since its adherents completely reject the process of historical development as a whole.
- Linear theory explains all development as a specific point in time. Any development should ever end.
- Toynbee Theory. It tells about the cyclical nature of all historical processes. All civilizations are experiencing sunrise, development, the peak of evolution and decline. Moreover, all processes are interconnected.
- Marxist theory is universal. She explains the origin of law, society, as well as the whole process of historical development. Simply put, Karl Marx explains the origin of any social phenomenon as a consequence of the class struggle. The theory became widespread in the middle of the 20th century, when the world was bipolar: the communist east and the capitalist west.
The historical process and its factors
Theories themselves are only the framework according to which society developed. In each of them, exceptional factors are given that at different times influenced the evolution of society. It should be noted that society and history should be considered as one indestructible whole, because it is people who influence the process of their evolution. Thus, historical development factors come from people and influence them, thereby coordinating the behavior of society on a separate territory of the planet. In this case, geographical data must be taken into account, since all peoples are at different levels of their historical development. This can be clearly seen at present.
Compare at least European states and African countries. People are the same, with the exception of skin color, and the gap in development between them is enormous. It follows that the factors of historical development depend not only on the era. They will also be determined by the territorial and other characteristics of the population, for example: religion, mentality, state system, etc.
Stages of historical development
So, we found that the factors depend on the geographical location and a certain historical stage. The systematization of modern science has led scientists to divide the entire world history into time periods. Each of them has a specific time frame. Thanks to them, we can study and highlight the main driving forces of historical development.
In all countries, the following steps are distinguished:
- Primeval world. The beginning of this stage is characterized by two main dates: 1.2 million years BC, when the first man appeared, and 40 thousand years BC. The last date refers to the emergence of intelligent mind and the emergence of survival skills among other species.
- The ancient world (IV-III millennium BC - V century AD).
- The Middle Ages (V - XV centuries AD).
- New time (XVI - 60th years of the XX century AD).
- The latest time (60s of XX century - present).
Different factors at all stages
Each historical stage reflects the process of human life. Throughout history, people have used accumulated knowledge to move to a new level of development. But for the accumulation of knowledge - this is a long process, so the steps are not uniform in their time frames.
Each of them ended in a specific event. For example,
primitive society began to disappear with the advent of civilizations and vast empires, such as Roman, Mesopotamian, Persian. The ancient world ceased to exist when Jesus gave Christianity to the world.
At the turn of the Middle Ages and the New Age, great geographical discoveries took place that determined human development. The historical heritage remaining after each of the stages helped people achieve new frontiers using the mistakes of past generations.
Conclusion
In general, the features of historical development depend on many factors. But the main one is ourselves - people who inhabit planet Earth. Any of our actions create the history of this world, and who knows, maybe the next stage is just around the corner.