You get a sense of the complexity of human nature, nations, and institutions, as well as the power dynamics and political maneuvering that continue to evolve. Some of the biggest tyrants in history, like Genghis Khan of Mongolia, Henry VIII of England, Ivan the Terrible, and Joseph Stalin have shown what the dark side of human nature is capable of. History is there for us to learn from and sadly I don’t think we have learned all we needed to from the terrors of the Holocaust! But they also prod us to reflect on the present state of the past. Take the recent USA Today survey that asked a number of public figures what they thought were the “lessons learned from WWI.” The three conclusions they offered were “Exhaust diplomacy before you use force,” “War is always unpredictable,” and “History should be remembered.” Rarely have lessons been so terribly trite, so demonstrably false or both. advancements and breakthroughs in communication, the ability to reason and exercise self-control, « How to Become More Present in Your Life, Why You Should Not Allow Labels to Define You », Find out what kind of a Dreamer you are and learn Of course, we study history for this very reason. Students of history are given an ethnological view of the world, a wide panorama of the potential diversity of people and cultures. If he had been a practicing historian he might have instead asked: “Which past are we remembering?” And given the necessarily unique nature of past events, he might also have asked what purpose there is in remembering any of these pasts in order to make sense of our current situation. We realize that life doesn’t revolve around us and that the world is so much bigger than we ever thought it could be. We all know George Santayana’s chestnut—“Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it”—but we should also remember that Santayana was a philosopher and poet. British philosopher, John Gray, said, “we’re not moving to a world in which crises will never happen or will happen less and less. Whether we realize it or not, our values and tastes are influenced by the zeitgeist. We can learn from history how past generations thought and acted, how they responded to the demands of their time and how they solved their problems. The Dream Catcher Motivational Songs Playlist. You need to read this. Learning history through hardbound history textbooks can be confusing. by Robert Zaretsky. It was this specific past, one marked by diplomatic huddles and muddling through, that they remembered. My Mission is to inspire you to live fully and authentically Understandably, Americans, be they parents or their children, expect a return on the money plowed into a history degree. Even though we’re endowed with the ability to reason and exercise self-control, humans have allowed their reptilian instincts of fear and greed to cloud their judgment. Therefore we can do nothing better than to take a general view of the history of those two centuries and learn certain vital lessons from that history. History can also confuse because historians are more likely than social scientists to adopt an ideographic or path-dependent view of events and social developments. However, we can offer something truer, though not as immediately satisfying to students and general readers. Whereas the July crisis involved two alliances at odds not only with one another, but also doubtful of the loyalty of their alliance partners, the October Crisis was instead a crisis between two nations—nations, moreover, endowed not with dreadnoughts and machine guns, but ICBMs and atomic warheads. Doesn’t World War Two remind us of the costs of exhausting diplomacy before using force? The eloquent voice of Judi Dench boomed these words through the speakers of our ‘Time Machine’ as we journeyed on Epcot’s Spaceship Earth in Disney World. Margaret MacMillan "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it." The next time you’re looking at a precious painting that was this close to being lost forever to the Nazis, or feel like you’re stuck in a conversation with your great-aunt about what life was like back in her day, remember that history has to be preserved actively if we want to keep it. Nothing extraordinary can come from playing it safe. 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