A Study of History, Vol 8 : Heroic Ages Contacts between Civilizations in Space

In this eighth volume of the series on ‘A Study of History’, Toynbee analyzes the contacts between civilizations in the Space domain, that is, the contacts between those societies that are separated by a frontier in the form of a geographical barrier like the sea or desert. The contacts between contemporary societies may take the form of a military invention through the contraption of war, or in the spiritual domain in the form of religion, literature or art. Whenver there is a contact, intermingling between the opponents is bound to take place on the cultural plane. The author describes a mechanism through which the cultural assimilation is germinated on the soil of the assaulted society and the way in which it spreads its roots. The defeated society first tries to imitate the military techniques of the victor, by employing the same weapons, modes of combat and drill of the soldiery. But this token adoption comes at a cost. A society is proved to be incapable of copying only one aspect – in this case military – of an alien civilization. The paraphernalia on other related spheres gradually makes an entrance on the imitator’s bosom. Several examples are cited to illustrate the point in a convincing manner. This volume is also an excellent preface to the next one in which the contacts between civilizations in the Time domain, in the form of Renaissances, are elucidated.