Re-writing history
There is a famous quote by someone who may have been Winston Churchill (or maybe not, you’ve read about my history aptitude already) that says something to the effect that “History is written by the conquerors.” It’s an interesting phrase that only seems to have any meaning once you really look into history (like I have since school… kinda.) Rome wrote the history of the world after it conquered a decent portion of it and labeled all other nations as barbarians and heathens. But were they? The North won the US Civil War and from then on the North is seen as the “good guys” and the South is seen as the “bad guys”. But is it really that simple? The French have never really done much of anything and yet they are historically seen as this great nation . Well there goes that theory. Unless of course the French write history books. Hmm… never thought of that….
Seriously though, have you ever talked to someone from another country about US history or European history? It can be… enlightening… to say the least to hear what they’ve learned. Do you think Japanese schools teach the same history lessons that schools in the States do? Do you think their textbooks cover World War II the same way as the British books? Talk to a Korean about their history and you find out how many times they were invaded and taken over by pretty much everyone. I don’t remember that from school. Talk to the Chinese about slavers and wars that devastated them for long periods of time. Nope we only learned about how great Abraham Lincoln was - year after year after year. I wonder what the history textbooks would have said about Lincoln if the South had won?
Yeah, I heard something to that effect too… only I’ve heard it as “History is written by the winners.” Though your quote sounds much more enlightened.
I have always wondered about this… every history class I’ve taken always hypes up WWII and how we (USA) totally RULED the world, especially with our A-bomb on Japan.
*sigh*
Whatever.
BTW, I get to take a mandatory college history class next spring. Oh joy.
I believe the original is obscured in the mists of time, but it’s been attributed to everyone from Caesar to Napolean to Churchill.
History is very geocentric in that it changes depending upon what country you’re in. I could imagine how different history books in Russia cover the Cold War compared to the U.S. And I’m history books in many country’s paint the U.S. as the World oppressor. Our history books portray us as the World’s savior.
History is very much like the view of the world. In the U.S. all the pictures of Earth feature the North American continent front and center. But, for example, in Australia, they show their continent and the same goes for Europe.
I was going to say the same thing Jason mentioned in regards to maps. Another place to see it is when you watch foreign films. It is almost disorienting when they show a map and it isn’t “centered”.