A Little History of the World

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A Little History of the World (originally in German, Eine kurze Weltgeschichte für junge Leser) was written in 1935, by Vienna native Ernst Gombrich (then 25 years old), who is now best known as an art historian and for his classic work, The Story of Art (first published in 1950, currently in its 16th edition). The short history chronicles human development from the inventions of cavemen to the results of the First World War. Additionally, the book describes the beliefs of many major world religions, including Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam, and incorporates these ideas into its narrative presentation of historical people and events.

Ernst Gombrich's grandson explains in the book's introduction that Gombrich, writing the last phases of his doctoral thesis, corresponded with the young daughter of some friends, who wanted to know what he was spending all of his time on at work. It was a great pleasure for Gombrich to explain his doctoral work to the girl, using only words and concepts that children could understand. Convinced that an intelligent child could understand even seemingly complicated ideas in history, given that they were put into intelligible terms, Gombrich composed a sample chapter on the "Ritterzeit" (Time of the Knights), and sent it to the publisher Walter Neurath. Excited about the text, but somewhat pressed for time, Neurath asked Gombrich to produce a complete script in six weeks, so that the book could be printed. Unsure of his ability to satisfy such a demand, Gombrich, after some convincing, promised to try. He set himself to the task of writing a chapter a day (with the exception of Sundays, when he would share his work with his later wife, Ilse Heller). He spent his mornings and afternoons reading in his home and at the library and reserved his evenings for composition. His themes he chose based on what seemed to him to be the most influencing events in history - from a modern perspective, and based upon what remains best remembered. Somewhat miraculously, he delivered the text on time, and the book appeared to the public in 1936.

Later, the book was banned during the National Socialist (Nazi) regime for being too pacifistic.

Gombrich's goal in the book is summarized in his following words, which appear in the forward to the book's Turkish edition:

"I would like to emphasize that this book isn't thought of and wasn't ever thought of as a replacement for history books used in schools, which serve an entirely different purpose. I would like for my readers to relax and to follow history without having to take notes of names and dates. I promise too, that I won't ask you for them."

(The above information is contained in the forward, by Leonie Gombrich, in the below cited primary work).