3 reasons why people study history. Why is it important to study history? Understand modern society

History is one of the most ancient sciences of mankind, the subject of which is the study of facts and events of the past, their cause-and-effect relationship. Ancient Greece is considered the cradle of history. Its founder father is the famous ancient Greek historian and philosopher Herodotus (5th century BC).

Why study history?

What does the study of history give us? A question that probably every person asked himself. The answer to it is simple and obvious - by studying the past, we build our future, guided by the rich experience of the generation that lived many centuries before us. It’s not for nothing that the most ardent connoisseurs of history, the ancient Greeks, called her “the teacher of life.” The study of history opens up to us a colorful world of past reality. We become direct participants in events that have sunk into oblivion, which affected the formation of modern human society. History has no unimportant pages, because every century lived by humanity carries an instructive and mentoring character.

The main difficulty in studying history is that all historical facts are based on the works of participants and observers of events, and in most cases they are filled with political subjectivism and share all the misconceptions of their time. Therefore, the main thing in the study of history is that it is not enough just to state historical events, but also to trace their influence on subsequent times.

What is history?

History should be treated not only as a scientific discipline, but also as a fascinating way to understand the past. Here everyone will find something interesting for themselves, because history is not only a chronicle of bloody wars and revolutions, but also vibrant medieval knightly tournaments, exquisite balls of the Victorian era, traditions of the Slavic peoples that are important and dear to every Russian heart.

History painstakingly works with eternal human values, but it never makes judgments itself. She gives us this right. She acts as an impartial observer of the life of humanity, never pointing out the perpetrators and victims. We must do this through a deep analysis of historical facts.

Knowledge of the past history

The process of learning about the past is mandatory for every person, because history has repeatedly amazed humanity with its cyclical nature. Some historical events tend to repeat themselves to this day, but in a more modified form. History shows the impossibility of changing the past so that a person thinks about how he builds the present, because in a few years this will already be added to its lists.

History must be studied in order to have the right to be called a truly educated person. After all, to know and remember how the statehood of one’s country was born, what path the people took in order to become a full-fledged society, how the culture of mankind developed is the sacred duty of a person and a citizen.

Once a person begins to study history, he cannot stop this long and interesting process, and it often lasts a lifetime. After all, history can be studied not only in archives and when working with artifacts. It surrounds us in our cities and villages, it lives in our grandparents, in our present. You just need to have a desire to join its mysterious and fascinating content.

Many of us, especially schoolchildren and their parents, tirelessly wonder why we need to know history. What is the significance and relevance of studying events that happened many years ago? However, there are many varied reasons that indicate the need to study this subject, which is a combination of many other disciplines. Many arguments have already been made about the importance of history, but they still remain relevant today.

Virtual time machine

Raise patriots

A healthy social atmosphere in the country, a full-fledged society and peace is the goal that all people in general and each individual state in particular strive for. It is impossible to value everything with money and pay for everything. Therefore, the state rests not on businessmen, but on philanthropists, altruists and patriots. The whole world rests on them. History remembers them. Those who loved their country, who gave their lives for the happiness of others. These are fearless warriors, selfless doctors, talented scientists, and simply selfless patriots of their people.

Why is history needed? Because it popularly tells each next generation about what it owes to its ancestors. We will learn what ideals our great-grandfathers lived by, what feats they performed. We understand how their lives impacted our present. Fostering respect for the past with its reforms, struggles, victories and failures is the task of history.

Why study history?

Today is inseparable from yesterday. All people and nations live by history: we speak languages ​​that have come down to us from the distant past, we live in societies with complex cultures inherited from ancient times, we use technologies developed by our ancestors... Thus, the study of the relationship between the past and the present is undeniable basis for a good understanding of modern human existence. This explains why we need history, why and how important it is in our lives.

Getting to know the human past is the path to self-knowledge. History helps us understand the origins of modern social and political problems. It is the most important source for studying the characteristic behavior of people in certain social conditions. History makes us realize that people in the past were not simply “good” or “bad,” but were motivated in complex and contradictory ways, just as they are today.

Each person's view of the world is shaped by individual experience, as well as the experience of the society in which he lives. If we do not know the contemporary and historical experiences of different cultures, then we cannot even hope to understand how people, societies or nations make decisions in the modern world.

The very essence

Historical knowledge is no more and no less than a carefully and critically constructed collective memory. It is memory that makes us human, and collective memory, that is, history, that makes us a society. Why know history? Yes, without individuality, he will immediately lose his identity and will not know how to act when meeting other people. The same thing happens with collective memory, although its loss will not be noticeable so immediately.

However, memory cannot be frozen in time. Collective memory is gradually acquiring a new meaning. Historians are constantly working to reconsider the past by asking new questions, searching for new ones, and analyzing ancient documents in order to gain new knowledge and experience to better understand the past and what is happening. History is constantly changing and expanding, as is our memory, helping us acquire new knowledge and skills to improve our lives….

Many of us have no idea what happened in the past and how it may affect our present and future. History is not just a school subject. This is our pride, our shame and our secret. We cannot erase the history of past generations, but we can learn many valuable lessons from history. This is why it is so important to start studying history.

1. Know the past.

Few people care about what people have done in the past. You shouldn't dwell on the past, but isn't it interesting to know what happened a thousand years ago? Isn't it interesting to know the life story of your ancestor? History plays a vital role in our lives. Helps us avoid the most dangerous mistakes that people made many years ago.

2. Admit mistakes.

Recent events can teach us many valuable lessons. When we recognize our feelings, we can avoid them or fight them. We can avoid conflicts, wars, holocausts, famines, and many other terrible events that happened in the past. We cannot change the present and future without knowing the past.

3. Understand past generations.

Mine once said: “If your great-grandmother were alive, she would laugh at our ways of life.” I was interested in learning more facts about past generations and understanding why they had different priorities in life and what goals they had.

4. Understand modern society.

There is a fine line between past and present. What happened many years ago can affect what happens today. Learn about the events that helped shape the lives of your ancestors, as well as your own life. This will help you understand modern society better.

5. This is incredibly interesting.

Have you ever wanted to know more about women from history, ancient buildings or famous battles? The story is incredibly interesting. Pick an aspect of history that completely intrigues you and pick up as many history books as you can read. This could become your new hobby. History isn't boring when you love what you read.

6. Understand how life has changed over the years.

Do you know about the events that led to the first and second world wars? We know about these wars, but we hardly know the reasons. Life is changing, but the only thing that can help us understand those changes is history. Events are happening at an ever-increasing pace. Studying history is an easy way to be in tune with the present.

7. Know the most prominent people.

Kings, queens, sailors, rulers, scientists, artists and many other outstanding people have done a lot for us. Yes, some of them did terrible, disgusting and terrible things, like the death penalty, but overall we have a lot of things thanks to them. Remembering their names is one of the best ways to be grateful to them for what they did.

8. Find inspiration.

Finally, history is a fantastic source of inspiration. A story can inspire you to create an event that will change your future family life or your community. It can also inspire you to become a better person and find your true calling in life. History has helped many people discover their talents and develop new skills. Who knows, maybe he can help you too.

History is very important to us. I didn't like the history subject at school. For me it was one of the worst subjects. Now that I understand how important history is to us, I spend a lot of time reading history books. After all, one day we will all be someone else's story, so let's not forget the past and create a happy future.

Everyone studied history at school. However, the majority viewed this subject as secondary and even a little entertaining. Well, tell me, how can knowledge about the uprising of Spartacus, or an understanding of the causes of the Hundred Years War, help yesterday's schoolchild in adult life?

However, more and more often we hear about the concerns of certain government bodies about attempts to revise history or even direct historical forgery (most often of the last 100 years). It comes to completely curious discoveries.

According to Ukrainian scientists, the Black Sea was dug up by “ancient Ukrainians” - the ancestors of modern Ukrainians, and from the dump of soil formed after this titanic work, the Caucasus Mountains were created. However, it is quite possible that there are larger-scale curiosities in history that we have become accustomed to and which we no longer notice.

So what is the value of history that its revision bothers so many people?

If we recall the topic of showdowns in the sandbox from the recent 90s, then 3 classic questions immediately pop up:

Who are you?

Who do you know?

1. And what do you can?

These questions are relevant today even at the interstate level, they are only formulated differently, but the meaning remains the same. And this is where history comes to the rescue. I will try to voice this dialogue between the two forces of the modern world.

Who are you to come here?

I am the daddy of civilization. Back in ancient times (antiquity), I developed a set of laws (Roman law), on the basis of which relations throughout the world are now built. I gave the world culture and art, the Renaissance is my creation. Half the world speaks our language. Who are you that you won’t let me in here?

And I live here. I live according to the constitution, serfdom was abolished a century and a half ago, there is also culture and art, although not so ancient, but also beautiful. Our language is beautiful and powerful, only recently many people have begun to forget it. Who do you know?

But I know the Pope, Saint Peter and Christ the Catholic. With their help, I conquered Spain and half of Asia, took Jerusalem, then in their honor I discovered America and brought it to my power. Who do you know? Who's your roof?

And I know the Orthodox Savior. We don’t covet someone else’s, we have enough of our own. Only somehow the Tatars kept coming, we put up with them for three hundred years, but then on the Kulikovo field we defeated them with Spasova’s help, but the rest is more about little things, internal to the family, we’ll fight with our Christian brothers, and then we’ll make peace again. And what do you can?

I flew to the moon, planted my flag there (there are photos), I fly into space, I make iPhones, I extract oil from stone (shale), I trade on the stock exchange, I build cars and planes, I print dollars. What can you do?

I also fly into space, I launched a lunar rover to the Moon. Our iPhones and computers are not very good yet, I trade on the stock exchange, but often at a loss, our cars and planes are also good, but only when with guns, I can’t print a dollar, I print a ruble, but besides us, it’s not enough, for now who needs it.

And now a crowd of assembled onlookers (the entire civilized world) clap their hands to the Father of Civilization and the developer of Roman law and angrily hiss at the uncultured barbarian, who only a century and a half ago abolished serfdom, forcing him to move.

And it would seem, what can you object to here? This is exactly what is written in the history books. It turns out that there is something to object to.

Over the past two centuries, many works on history have been written that cast doubt on the school textbook. Only these works are not studied in school, although it is not difficult to find them on the Internet. But in vain they are not studied. For if the works of Yegor Klassen and Thaddeus Volansky were studied at school, then everyone would know that the Etruscans, on whose culture Roman civilization developed, were Slavs. If the Italians say that Etruscan is unreadable, then F. Volansky not only read the Etruscan, but also translated it. There was no need to translate much, because the language turned out to be Slavic and quite understandable to a Russian or Pole.

N.A. raised further doubts about the veracity of traditional history. Morozov, and after him A.T. Fomenko and G.V. Nosovsky. Here the historical chronology, right up to the date of the birth of Christ, from which modern chronology is based, has already been questioned and very seriously.

Based on these doubts and discoveries, new authors have already appeared and the very existence of ancient Rome is being called into question.

That is, Rome exists and existed, but how ancient is it?

It turns out that ancient Roman or ancient Greek manuscripts do not exist, but only lists from them exist. No one except the copyist saw the originals from which the lists were made, and these same lists were miraculously found by mostly the same people and then received a lot of money for their sale. But here “Veles’s book” is not recognized as original.

There are works by A.S. Khrustalev, according to which the English language itself originated from Old Slavic.

L. Gumilev very much doubted the reality of the Tatar-Mongol invasion. At least it was not in the form we are now taught in school, for the great empire of Genghis Khan did not leave a single written document in that very Tatar-Mongol language. So were there Tatar-Mongols?

Not everything is known about the Orthodox Savior and the Catholic Christ. Where was the biblical Jerusalem, what teaching did Jesus preach? Isn't it the Qatari doctrine, which was brought to France from Bulgaria, again by the Slavs?

I won’t write about the Moon and space anymore. So what remains? Cars and iPhones?

Based on the above, history should not be taught from a textbook, but studied from sources, then there will be something to answer to the opponent in a civilizational dispute, then there will be pride in one’s people, a desire to work and live on one’s land.

Hello to all good people! This is another comic article from the “10 Reasons” series. Like other posts from this series and, this is my creation that is not tailored to any purpose, so it has little chance of being read. But it has many chances to bring me a lot of pleasure while writing, so it has the right to life.

So, let's get straight to the reasons. By the way, sometimes it seems to me that all people who are interested in history do it for laughs. Money, fame or something else, good knowledge of the past, of course, can sometimes bring. Maybe? I’m asking this, not saying, because I don’t know rich or even non-poor historians.

If you studied history, you would know that Hitler had an elephant as his best friend. He was also friends with dogs, but not at all with common sense.

1. Knowing history increases your level of intelligence. You know the words “please” and “thank you” – level 1. Don’t drunkenly urinate in the middle of the street – level 5. You know how many field marshals there were during Nazi Germany – level 100.

2. When you watch a show like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” or “The Smartest Man,” you will be able to shout out the answers twice as often as others. And if you shout out not only the answers that you know, but also those that you think you know, then three times.

3. You can always scare away any girl. No matter how beautiful and rich you are. Whatever car you drive. No matter what expensive suit you wear. Just start a conversation about what methods the security officers used during interrogation. Or about how “wise” Yaroslav the Wise really was. Any girl can withstand such execution for a maximum of 10 minutes. By the way, I have checked it many times :).

4. You need to travel on a train and instead of a cheerful young company you find yourself in a company of Komsomol members and athletes. A lot of former Komsomol members and athletes. No problem! With them you will finally be able to discuss the failures of the Soviet leadership in the field of agriculture. And if you’re lucky, the conversation will reach the “prohibition law” of the Perestroika era. Why enjoy youth if you can enjoy old age with knowledge of history!

5. When watching ANY historical film, you can find a blunder there and “please” with this blunder the person who is “lucky” to be next to you at that moment. It’s better, of course, to go to the cinema and “delight” not just one, but dozens of people at once.

And you would also know that Hitler was the first to try to popularize red underpants.

6. In your resume, in the “hobby” section, you can add “history”. Almost no one takes the “hobby” section seriously anyway, and a word that begins with “and” and ends with “I” will definitely not affect the opportunity to get a vacancy. But it looks great! “History” is a hundred times more prestigious than, for example, “spitting at the ceiling” or “beer with friends.”

7. When you and your friends are drunk to the point of some very loudly squealing animal squealing, and your friends want to punch someone in the face or commit hooliganism, you will not go with them and you will not run into trouble. To someone who is already asleep (it doesn’t matter - with open or closed eyes), you will prove that the Soviet Union wanted to attack Germany first, and the mustache guy in a brown shirt started a war with us only as a preventive measure. NOTHING can distract you at this moment.

8. People go to museums because “it’s an indicator of culture,” “we’ve all had jobs before,” “we’re smart, educated people,” “there’s no money for booze anyway.” And you will go there because it will be a HIGH for you!

9. You will never envy dudes with gold cufflinks and watches for a couple of thousand bucks. Why do you need these trinkets? You will have a rusty grenade and a helmet with holes. And nothing more is needed for happiness!

10. You can become a universal “calm down.” If someone tries to add their problems to you about the fact that “the salary is small” and “yesterday I discovered that I am going bald,” you will tell him how our ancestors lived. You won’t forget about the stake and the rack. A person will understand that his problems are nothing compared to the troubles of those people whose house burned down during the war, and he will feel better. Or you will feel better because the person will consider you inadequate and will no longer pester you with stupid complaints.