Author of 10 million copies sold,
A unique history textbook by Takashi Saito, the "giant of wisdom"!

Takashi Saito's "Five Forces That Move World History," which sold 100,000 copies in just 10 months upon its publication and was selected as a must-read by leading companies and economic organizations, and has long been a bestseller in the history and culture section of bookstores nationwide, has returned after 15 years in a revised edition with a new design.

"Five Forces That Move World History" sharply analyzes history as a whole, focusing on major issues that permeate world history, and presents diverse perspectives that allow us to carefully examine and reflect on the path humanity has taken.
Based on the premise that human emotions have played a significant role in the flow of world history, the author proposes five forces created by those emotions: desire, modernism, imperialism, monsters (capitalism, socialism, fascism), and religion.

The stimulation of coffee overcomes human limitations and laziness.
And this mindset of “continuing without stopping until the limit is reached” is the basic element and foundation of the “unstoppable” continuity that is clearly revealed in Western culture, especially in the process of modernization.

--- p.24

I believe that the shift from the leisurely taste of tea to the stimulating power of coffee may have been one of the unseen driving forces behind America's subsequent global dominance.
Black tea has created a rich, savory, and smooth atmosphere, as well as a refined culture and art.
On the other hand, coffee was able to dominate the post-modern world by creating a lively atmosphere, business development, and price advancement.

Tea and coffee, these two still dominate the global beverage market.
It is no exaggeration to say that the national character of a country is still influenced by which side it supports, as it still exerts a powerful influence.

--- p.37~38

In simple terms, “gold always gathers under the highest power of the time.”
Spain, which had plundered a large amount of gold from the New World, reached its peak in the 16th century, boasting of its invincible fleet.
However, in 1588, the Armada was defeated by England and the gold was stolen, resulting in the loss of hegemony in Europe.
Having taken gold from Spain, Britain then went on to discover gold mines in Brazil, eventually acquiring a large amount of gold, and succeeded in taking gold from Portugal as well, ultimately establishing the British Empire.
At this time, the way Britain amassed gold was not through 'war' but through 'trade'.
--- p.49~50

The brand of Egypt is a product of thousands of years of history, but there are also places that have become brands from nothing to places that capture people's longing and aspirations.
A representative example is Hollywood.
It is now a mecca for movies, but in the past it was a barren land.
Hollywood films reflected the bright and mild climate of the West Coast, and people around the world became enthusiastic about the films made in that bright atmosphere.
For example, the image of beauty that Americans have is a product of Hollywood.
Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, etc. are all 'brand beauties' provided to the world by the brand called Hollywood.

--- p.70

All countries in the world today are being driven by the acceleration created by modernization.
It was in 1903 that the Wright brothers successfully flew the first engine-powered airplane in human history.
And it was in 1969 that Apollo 11 traveled over 380,000 kilometers through space and landed on the moon.
It took only 66 years from the time humans first flew to the time they set foot on the moon.
This never-ending pressure to “more, more” is the very essence of the pressure that is coming from the United States and Europe.

--- p.86~87

When we think of power, we often think of things like controlling a powerful military and ruling the people as you wish, or controlling huge capital and then controlling the market.
But real power is a bit different from that.
True power is monopolizing the knowledge of your time.
The most important thing in the European world at that time was the knowledge of God.
--- p.108

To face God one-on-one was also to reveal oneself directly to God through the Bible.
In fact, this was a much more strict and painful task than I could have imagined.
Therefore, while it was a good thing on one hand that the Reformation allowed people to face God directly without the interference of the Pope or priests, on the other hand, many people suffered from mental illness due to the strictness and pressure of a one-on-one encounter with God.

--- p.110

So where and how was the money raised with such a calling used? No matter how much money they accumulated, Protestants were extremely restrained in spending it on themselves, so there was only one way to spend it.
In other words, it is expanding the work, which in modern terms is an 'investment'.
And as such investments continue to expand and reproduce, wealth increases exponentially.
Weber's idea is that this is the mother and mechanism of the birth of capitalism.

--- p.116

Just as dominating the knowledge of the 'Bible' in the Middle Ages led to power that ruled everything, in modern times dominating the 'gaze' leads to power.
Although we are not fully aware of it, the domination by gaze continues even now.
One of them is ‘artificial satellite’.

--- p.128

Praying to the invisible watcher?
This means that the one who is watching is becoming a 'god'.
The exposed party becomes more and more passive and suffers because of the fact that their every move is being exposed.
Then, you start to feel more comfortable worshipping the other person as a god.
Eventually, prisoners come to believe that there is a guard even when there is not, and they internalize and establish the one-sided gaze within themselves.

--- p.130

Even search engines like Google, which we use every day without a second thought, contain the inherent danger of “those who are seen = those who are ruled.”
What you search for on the Internet reflects your hobbies and preferences.
The specific keywords you entered into your computer and your purchase history on auction sites are already leaked, and your tastes are reflected in the algorithm.
Doesn't that sound scary?
--- p.134

Islamic law stipulates that anyone who converts to Islam is exempt from paying the poll tax, even if they are not Arabs, and that anyone engaged in agriculture, even if they are Arabs, must pay the land tax.
Because these equal tax laws, which did not discriminate against ethnic minorities, were applied to subsequent Islamic dynasties, Islam was able to spread throughout the world, and the empire continued to prosper.

--- p.173~175

Despite all these problems and contradictions, why does the locomotive known as capitalism never stop? While this may not be a complete explanation, the reason capitalism persists is because the experiments that emerged to counter it, communism and socialism, ended in blatant failure.

--- p.205

The fight between 'capitalism and socialism' was not a dispute caused by differences in the development of the times and systems, but a struggle between 'the natural and the artificial.'
…Capitalism is, in a sense, a system that revolves around ‘desire,’ and desire here is not necessarily a bad thing.
Because desire is the most basic element for human life.
For example, the desire to eat delicious food, the desire to live long, the desire to have nice things—these are all desires.
The capitalist system is the result of these diverse desires colliding and reconciling with each other.

Because socialism sought to build an ideal world by solving the problems of capitalism, it had no choice but to create systems and mechanisms that ignored the fundamental emotional movements of each and every person.
They created a theoretically ideal system that completely ignored human desires, but in the end, the humans who operated it still had desires, so it couldn't work properly.

--- p.206~207

I often wonder whether capitalism, a system based on the distinction between the haves and have-nots, will be able to withstand the enormous pressures that will befall the majority of the world's population when they become the haves.
This is something you can't know unless you experience it.

The fact that human plans may not always go as planned can be easily predicted from the failures of the socialist system that we have already experienced.
The future of capitalism is also the future of all humanity.

--- p.217

This extreme inflation led the German economy to collapse.
And until then, people who had lived in the middle class were forced to go downstream.
But even though we were pushed to the lower classes, we had a strong sense of pride that we were different from the lower classes.
So, they refused to unite with the lower classes, saying, "We cannot unite with the lower classes to carry out a socialist revolution. We are a class that deserves a better life."
It was Hitler and the Nazis who saw through this class consciousness unique to the middle class and meticulously exploited the gap.

--- p.251

It is difficult to blame only the Germans, because in terms of human nature, any nation, if faced with a similar situation as Germany at the time and a leader like Hitler were to emerge, would run the risk of engaging in similar behavior.
Recently, America seems to be trying to unite by targeting Islam, much like the Germans scapegoated the Jews during World War II.
Frankly, I feel skeptical and even a little fearful as I watch them try to concentrate the world's wealth in their own countries, promote nationalism under the pretext of a "war on terror," and repeatedly wage wars against Islam.

--- p.267

Some people might think of religious 'brainwashing' when they see people reciting the Quran in groups.
However, for Muslims, the Quran is the word of God, the most important and sacred thing.
There is no doubt that it is a 'great thing' to teach your children these precious things from a young age.
Moreover, it would be problematic if we had the preconceived notion that all Muslims are aggressive and a threat to world peace, but history shows that they are, in fact, relatively tolerant and peace-oriented compared to Christians.
The reason why children reciting the Quran are perceived as a terrorist training scene is because the terrorist videos are shown alongside such children.
Perhaps we are being brainwashed with the fearful image of 'Islam = terrorism' as a result of unilaterally accepting images provided by American media outlets such as CNN.

To properly judge modern society, it is very important to understand religion through history.

--- p.314

In short, we can say that we are in a situation where we know almost nothing about Korean history.
Of course, there are studies done during the period when the Marxist historical materialism was being discussed, and although it is criticized, there are some very old studies from the Japanese colonial era based on empirical history.
However, from our perspective as we live in the 21st century, such research that has been reinterpreted no longer exists.
So, does that mean we no longer need history?
--- p.335

History is interpreted and reinterpreted according to the times.
History that is not reinterpreted in modern times is dead, and that era is reinterpreted in later generations according to the way that era interprets history.
An era in which interpretation is dead is either dead itself or inevitably subordinate to another era in which interpretation is alive.
It is simply impossible for a country without a history department to actively open or lead an era.

--- p.335~336

Can a country that has abandoned the study of history truly maintain its current economic scale, resolve the numerous internal problems arising, and continue its evolution to the next stage? It seems unlikely.
However, the side effects of the collapse of historiography are not limited to problems at the grand scale of nations and societies, but also create fatal flaws in individuals.

--- p.339