A Little History of the World

Over 60 years after A Little History’s publication, Gombrich wrote this added chapter, noting, “It is one thing to learn about history from books, and quite another to experience it oneself” (273). He now intends to describe the part of history that has happened during his own lifetime. He says that he has learned, as so much more information has become available to us all, that you cannot always trust what the newspaper says. So, the chapter “Dividing Up the World” included biases he had not intended because he still believed what he had read to be true at that time. Americans and their allies did not keep their promises to the Germans as Gombrich believed they had. This reality, misunderstood by Gombrich and much of the public at the time, had dire consequences. Those who had lost the war and were left weakened and destitute saw their fate as the result of a cruel deception. This feeling was easily manipulated by Adolf Hitler, who directed their anger toward the Jewish population.

Gombrich admits that though he comes from a Jewish family himself and has told the reader about the many persecutions of the Jews, he never believed it would happen again in his lifetime. He now amends another statement he made in his history: that a new age, without the cruelty of persecution of religion, had begun, and the enslavement and torture of mankind was a thing of the past. As reluctant as he was to tell the story of the conquistadores, he is even more reluctant to describe how millions of Jews were taken from their homes and murdered, but he believes that if the story is not told, people cannot learn not to repeat it.

Gombrich, as his final amendment, clarifies that although his chapter on machines largely described the resulting suffering, technology has fed and housed millions and saved countless lives. However, there are still places around the world where people suffer. Gombrich finally finishes his history and asks that the reader remember that for the future to be better, we must be better and care for our fellow man.