What Is History?

What is history? This question may seem really easy, even silly. Most people would say that history is the
study of the important people, dates, and events of the past. This answer is true as far as it goes. But who
decides what people, dates, and events are important? And why should we bother learning about them?
et!s dig a little deeper into the question "What is history?# $irst of all, history is an important way of
thin%ing about the world. To see what this means, imagine wa%ing up tomorrow and not being able to
remember a single thing about your past. &ou can!t remember your name or who your parents or family
members are. &ou can!t remember the rules to your favorite game or anything you ever learned in school.
Without a %nowledge of your own past, you might feel lost and lonely. &ou wouldn!t even %now who you
are. And you would have a hard time ma%ing good decisions about what to do ne't.
(n a similar way, history helps us ma%e sense of the world. )istory is the memory of communities,
peoples, and nations. Without history, individuals and whole countries would lose their sense of direction.
The ne't time you watch the news on T*, notice how often reporters, politicians, and others mention
something about the past. )umans constantly use their %nowledge of the past to ma%e sense of what is
happening today.
)istory is also an academic discipline. (t is a systematic way of using evidence to ma%e sense of the past.
When you thin% about it, the past is not an easy thing to study. After all, it!s not here any longer for anyone
to observe directly. +o historians turn to many %inds of evidence to describe and understand the past. ,ld
documents, maps, tools, ruins, and many other %inds of evidence fascinate them. They want to %now who
created them, what they were created for, and what they can teach us about the past.
History as an Ongoing Argument
To ma%e sense of the past, historians must weigh the available evidence and try to figure out what the
facts are. Then they need to stitch the facts together to answer the questions that interest them. (n doing
this, they must use their -udgment. And that means their own viewpoints come into play.
As a result, historians argue all the time. They argue about what the facts really are. They also argue
about how to interpret the facts.
)istory, then, is much more than a listing of "facts.# +ome people have even described history as an
ongoing argument about the past. Why does the argument go on? +ometimes historians find new
evidence, such as an old document or the ruins of an ancient city. .iscoveries li%e these may lead them to
rethin% old e'planations. +ometimes historians ta%e a fresh loo% at e'isting evidence and see things that
others have overloo%ed. As they do so, they may e'plain events in a different way.
Reading History
,ur discussion leads to some %ey points about how to read history. &ou can!t -ust assume that what you!re
reading is the final truth. (f you read more than one version of history, you are li%ely to find differences. +o
when you read history, as% yourself these questions/
0 Who wrote this document?
0 When was it written?
0 What %inds of evidence does the author use?
0 (s the evidence reliable?
0 (s the author trying to promote a particular viewpoint?
An Example of a Historical Argument
et!s loo% at one e'ample of a historical argument. (n History Alive! The Ancient World, you will learn
about the 1oman 2mpire. This was the greatest empire of the ancient world. (t stretched across much of
2urope, 3orth Africa, and western Asia. 4eople in the empire thought of its capital city, 1ome, as the
center of the world.
4rotected by its armies, the empire lasted for about 566 years, from about 78 b.c.e. to 9:; c.e.
Then a dramatic change happened. The western half of the empire was overrun by tribes of people the
1omans called barbarians, meaning "uncivili<ed.# (n 9:;, the last 1oman emperor in the west was forced
to give up his throne. The western half the empire bro%e up into separate %ingdoms ruled by the
barbarians. Although the empire!s eastern half survived for another 8,666 years, the mighty 1oman
2mpire of old was gone forever.
The brea%up of the empire shoc%ed people throughout the Mediterranean world. A great argument began
that continues to this day. )ow could such a powerful empire disappear? What caused 1ome to fall?
Edward Gibbons Explanation
(n the 8:66s, an 2nglish historian named 2dward =ibbon became fascinated by these questions. )e gave
his answers in a famous wor% called The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
=ibbon certainly did his homewor%. )is wor% was so huge that it was published in si' volumes over a
period of 8> years.
+o why did 1ome fall, according to =ibbon? )e mentions a number of causes, but two of them stand out.
The first was the pressure from the barbarians outside the empire. The second was a %ind of decay inside
the empire itself. The 1omans, =ibbon said, became soft. They became too fond of lu'ury, and they lost
their sense of public spirit. They forgot the virtues of strength and citi<enship that had made 1ome great.
The Argument Goes On
Modern historians still admire =ibbon!s wor%. Most of them, though, would say that his e'planation of
1ome!s fall was overly simple. They argue that many causes wor%ed together to bring down the empire. (n
addition to the moral decay that =ibbon wrote about, they point to a number of economic, social, military,
and even environmental problems. These problems range from high ta'es that hurt the economy to lead
poisoning. ?The 1omans used lead in their pottery and water pipes.@ Many other causes have been
named as well. ,ne historian lists more than >66 of themA
)istorians don!t yet agree on which causes were the most important. (n part, that!s because new
generations of historians bring fresh thin%ing and new discoveries to old problems. $or e'ample, the study
of economics was in its infancy in =ibbon!s time. Today historians are much better equipped to loo% at
economic problems as a possible source of 1ome!s troubles. (n addition, different historians! viewpoints
may lead them to notice different aspects of a comple' story.
The argument also goes on because history is a way of thin%ing about the present, not -ust the past. 2very
generation finds its own lessons in the events of history.
=ibbon, for e'ample, lived in a time of great progress and prosperity in 2urope. )e was fascinated by
1ome partly because he wanted to %now whether the 2urope of his own day might decline and fall, too.
+imilarly, many people today compare the powerful 1oman 2mpire to the Bnited +tates. i%e =ibbon, they
want to %now whether there are lessons in 1ome!s story that might apply to their own time. 3o doubt the
historians of the future will have their own reasons for as%ing once again why 1ome fell.
Conclusion
We started with a simple question/ What is history? As you have seen, this question has many answers.
)istory is a study of the past. (t is a way of ma%ing sense of the world. (t is an academic discipline. (t is a
combination of facts and interpretations of facts. (t is also an ongoing argument that changes with new
evidence and new thin%ing. And that is the most e'citing thing of all, because it means that history is very
much alive.
Enrichment Actiity
Answer these questions/
8. What is history?

>. (s history -ust a listing of the facts?

7. Why might two historians come up with different versions of the past?

9. Why are historical interpretations sub-ect to change?

5. )ow does the e'ample of the fall of 1ome show why it is important to question and evaluate the
history we read?