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Here's why I like history:I like to learn from the past. To see how far mankind has progressed in time - a hundred years, two hundred years, five hundred, or a thousand. I also like to see how mankind has regressed over time. It merely takes a look at a school curriculum from the 19th Century to see how little the average student is likely to learn today. I also like to think of "what if" scenarios. What if Heron of Alexandria has applied his steam engine machines or vehicles during his day? What if the Spanish Armada had been victorious? What if Hitler had decided to leave the Soviet Union alone and concentrated his war toward the west? Another reason is that I like to see what we can learn from past mistakes or successes. Despite the years, man's nature is the same as it was thousands of years ago. There are lessons to be learned from the victories of Rome, from the succession of Hitler to power, from the art of the Greeks or from Renaissance Italy.This is why I like history.
I agree with all your reasons. But for me it's alot of times about the people. What were they thinking and why? How did they feel? What were there reactions? Sometimes I will stare a long time at old photos trying to figure out the people staring back from another time and place, a time they lived through and one I can only read about.
What kind of historical photos are these? For me, I love looking at photos of cities that I know of well, perhaps from the 1920s or so. It's fascinating to see what has changed in the years since the photos were taken, as well as what has remained the same.
Old photos of cities are very interesting. But pictures of people famous or not it doesnt matter. I guess it makes everything real.
I like history because I think the past is simply fascinating. When I was a child I used to play elaborate mind games imagining what it must have been like to live in different time periods. I even went so far as to try and build things the way they were built in the past to get an idea of the level of effort involved in making them. In high school I built a Roman Spatha in metal shop. Even using modern tools it was amazingly difficult to get the balance correct so that swinging or stabbing with it was not awkward. I also tried to build a shoulder rig from a suit of plate armor using plans I got from a history book. Needless to say, I was unsuccessful. I could not get the articulation right.I like to try and get inside the heads of people from the past, I think it is only possible to understand the past and why decisions were made if the historian attempts to recreate the thoughts and attitudes of historical actors. Those in the past did things for entirely different reasons than we would. I wonder what it was like to be a Legionnaire fighting the Gauls, or a settler in 17th century America. I would love to sit down with Caesar and discuss his conquest of Gaul, or Hannibal and Scipio to talk about the Punic Wars. Can you imagine debating Socrates or Plato?Lastly, I think it is impossible to understand where humanity is going without knowing from whence we came. The past is still endlessly fascinating because their is always something new to learn.
More reasons: After reading an article on a current event, I just followed and linked a trail back to the 12th century. I think that's an absolutely fascinating aspect of studying history.
But for me it's alot of times about the people.
I have to agree with Stumpfoot - it's the people that fascinate me - people thrown into pivotal or adverse conditions and situations, and then how they handle them and what would / could have happened if they were to have thought or acted differently or on a different time table. A lot of the "what if"s would usually be overwhelmed by future events and momentum, but it's still fascinating to study.I guess it's summed up for me in the quote below my signature -- how ordinary men (and women) handle extraordinary circumstances
Another things for me is that because history is full of stories, and I do like a good story.History is looking at the "current events" of a past age. The major things that are in the popular news today - the presidential election, international relations, big sports stories - all become part of history and will be studied as history in the future. But rather than having thousands of stories to wade through, history will provide a focused, narrow story about any given point in time.I'm a fan of current events and also of history. In a sense, I like to know about the "current events" in England in 1300 or in Venice in 1630 or in Virginia in 1865. These were the things pressing on the minds of people at one point in time; while they are no longer pressing today, they are still quite interesting to read about.
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