Arnold joseph toynbee, a famous British historian. Toynbee has a unique view on history. His 12 magnum opus "Historical Research" tells the rise and fall of the major nationalities in the world, and is regarded as "the greatest achievement of modern scholars".
In historical research, Toynbee pointedly pointed out that one of the major defects of historical research is that the nation-state is regarded as the general scope of historical research, which greatly limits the horizons of historians.
In fact, no nation-state in Europe can independently explain its own historical problems. Therefore, historical phenomena should be compared in a larger scope, and this scope is civilization.
Civilization is a group of people with a certain time and space connection, which can include several countries of the same type at the same time. Civilization itself includes politics, economy and culture, among which culture constitutes the essence of civilized society.