The League of Nations’ History Textbook Revision and Eurocentrism

This article explores the intersection of peace education and history education, highlighting their mutually constitutive relationship. To this end, it analyzes a history textbook revision project aimed at fostering peaceful understanding between nations, with a focus on initiatives led by the League of Nations’ International Committee on Intellectual Co-operation (ICIC), a pioneering intergovernmental institution that promoted international understanding. The ICIC was one of the early leaders of international cooperation in history book revision. It recognized that standard history curricula, often emphasizing militaristic feats, posed a significant barrier to peace. In response, it led efforts to revise history textbooks that promoted belligerence. To facilitate this, the ICIC established a framework for intergovernmental consultation and set guidelines for the revision process, including its scope, methods, and objectives. These efforts culminated in the adoption of a series of international resolutions and, ultimately, the Declaration on the Teaching of History. However, the ICIC’s history textbook revision project also revealed the limitations of government-to-government dialogue in education and the potential risks of presentism in history education. Despite these challenges, the ICIC’s initiative remains highly relevant today, serving both as a model for post-national history education and as a foundational example of transnational peace education.