Takashi Saitō’s Five Forces That Move World History

A familiar saying holds that a people who forget their history have no future. Its origins are uncertain, but the warning is worth keeping in mind when we look back at the traces of the past.

History never repeats itself exactly. It does, however, give us a better sense of the forces at work when familiar conflicts and desires take on new forms.

A history book organized around five themes

The Korean edition of Takashi Saitō’s book appeared in 2009, in the immediate aftermath of the global financial crisis.

Many histories take the reader through a period in chronological order. Saitō identifies five forces that he sees as shaping world history and follows each through a series of examples.

The format gives him considerable freedom. Readers who enjoyed the thematic sweep of Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel may find the approach familiar.

Five forces at work in world history

The organizing themes are desire, modernization, imperialism, what Saitō calls “monsters,” and religion. Each gives him a way to move between regions and periods.

1. Desire and the urge to possess
2. Modernization
3. Imperialism and the urge to conquer
4. “Monsters” such as capitalism, socialism, and fascism
5. Religion

Desire and the things people want

The first chapter begins with Starbucks and globalization. Its subject is the long history behind two drinks that now seem at home everywhere, coffee and tea.

Saitō asks how coffee and different kinds of tea acquired their place in everyday life and what merchants did to encourage people to try them.

One account links early coffee drinking to Sufi communities, where its stimulating effects helped people stay awake during devotional practices. As coffee reached Europe, merchants encouraged customers to sample it and promoted its supposed benefits.

Saitō also reads a cultural distinction into the phrases “coffee break” and “tea time.” The first names a pause in the working day, while the second makes time for the drink itself.

From there he turns to iron and gold. The desire to own a commodity could become a desire to control the land it came from, a shift that runs through the history of colonization.

In accounts attributed to Marco Polo, Japan appears as Cipangu, a land famed for its gold. The name may ring a bell with players of Koei’s Uncharted Waters series.

Gold signified power, while iron served more practical ends. Iron could also help those pursuing gold get what they wanted. The chapter follows such appetites into the development of cities and brands.

Modernization

Saitō treats modernization as a source of acceleration, helping parts of Europe build economic and military power and alter their relationship with Asia.

He also looks back at forms of democratic government in ancient Greece and republican government in Rome. These were striking precedents, even though participation was restricted and modern democracies work very differently.

In the sixteenth century, Martin Luther made scripture available in German. For Saitō, the translation shows how giving more people access to knowledge could challenge the authority of the Church.

The book also turns to Calvinist predestination and the argument that Protestant attitudes toward work helped shape modern capitalism.

In that interpretation, disciplined work could be understood as a calling and worldly conduct as a possible sign of grace.

Another example concerns the difference between seeing and being seen. Jeremy Bentham’s Panopticon was designed around a central observation point from which prisoners could be watched without knowing when.

Imperialism and the pursuit of territory

Demand for commodities drew attention to the places that produced them. European states increasingly sought control over those places through colonization.

Saitō traces one motive for imperialism to the combination of appetite and power. States with greater military and economic resources could coerce others to secure what they wanted.

“Monsters” and the systems people live under

The fourth theme takes up social and political systems, including capitalism and socialism.

Saitō contrasts the two by treating capitalism as an outgrowth of the desire to acquire and socialism as a deliberately designed system. That is the book’s framing of a much larger debate.

The book also examines the adoption of market mechanisms in China and India, two countries with very different political systems. In India, it discusses the persistence of caste discrimination despite legal protections against it.

The four traditional varnas are one part of that much more complex social history.

1. Brahmins
2. Kshatriyas
3. Vaishyas
4. Shudras

Max Weber’s writing on bureaucracy gives the chapter another way to consider the vulnerabilities of socialist organization.

Weber saw bureaucratic administration as a feature of modern societies across economic systems. The book dwells on his concern that centralizing ownership and administration could concentrate bureaucratic power further.

The section on fascism asks why so many people rallied around Nazism in Germany. Saitō draws attention to the movement’s ability to gather support through shared opposition and resentment.

Religion

Religion has shaped institutions and ordinary life. In Korean history, Buddhism was particularly influential during Goryeo, while Confucianism had a profound influence on Joseon.

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share traditions and figures, while understanding them differently. Christianity identifies Jesus as the Messiah. Jewish tradition does not share that belief, and Islam honors Jesus as a prophet and regards Muhammad as the final prophet.

The chapter looks at conflict among these traditions and at the movement of ideas across their borders. Works of ancient Greek learning reached Latin Europe through several routes, including translations from Arabic, and helped shape European intellectual life.

A more personal example is Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Clay. He took a Muslim name after his conversion and made that change part of his public identity.

A different angle on world history

World history is hard to make sense of one incident at a time. Events that look local often reflect exchanges and conflicts that reach far beyond them.

Taking a wider view can bring those connections into focus, even when the argument that connects them invites debate.

Saitō’s book crosses periods and borders freely. Its value for the general reader lies in the questions it raises about what links seemingly distant events.

Book details

Five Forces That Move World History

Author

Takashi Saitō

Korean edition published

October 26, 2009

ISBN13

9788958072690

View the book on YES24

We may earn a commission if you buy through an affiliate link in this article.