World History's Eurocentric Moment? British Internationalism in the Age of Asian Nationalism, c.1905–1931

This article examines a particular moment in the twentieth century when a burgeoning internationalist movement in Britain in the wake of the First World War coincided with growing nationalist activities in the non-European world, notably in Asia. It explores the intellectual implications of this juncture through the lens of two prominent British internationalists, G. P. Gooch and H. G. Wells, who were central figures in a series of discussions on “world history” that emerged in Britain around this time. Through a close study of their world-historical visions, the article demonstrates how the sequence of Asian nationalist “awakenings” (first in Japan, then after 1905 in India and China) was interpreted by British liberals as evidence of mankind's universal progress towards a uniform (Western) modernity. The effect of burgeoning Asian nationalism, in other words, was ironically to reinvigorate a highly Eurocentric liberal account of world order. The article builds on this analysis to consider the broader implications for our own present intellectual engagement with the world-historical challenge of Europe's Eurocentric past.