Volume 20, Number 7 · May 3, 1973
Mediterranean Mysteries
By J.H. Elliott
The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Vol. I
by Fernand Braudel, translated by Siân Reynolds
Harper & Row, 642 pp., $17.50
When in 1827 the greatest of nineteenth-century historians, Leopold von Ranke, published his now neglected book The Ottoman and the Spanish Empires, he displayed what was to prove an unerring instinct for the dramatic themes of world history. For what could be more suggestive than to juxtapose the histories of the two imperial colossi of the European sixteenth century? Here were two supranational structures whose influence extended beyond Europe. Each had risen spectacularly from relatively inauspicious beginnings. Each, after a brilliant imperial noon, entered the prolonged twilight of decline. And each, at the very peak of its power, confronted the other in a huge trial of strength along the shores and upon the waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
Review, 3888 words
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