Sunday 8 December 2024
Islamabad (News International / Pakistan News - 11th December, 2024 ) There has been a long-standing debate among historians about whether history is beneficial or harmful to nations. It has not been decided, but both sides of this argument have been trying their best to prove their position. It is generally said about history that if one wants to learn from it, then one should not repeat the mistakes of the past.
This means that this lesson of history is for the ruling and powerful classes because they are the ones who make important decisions. It does not concern the people. Therefore, it can be said that some historical lesson is needed for the people. But despite this warning for the ruling classes, they do not learn anything from history and keep repeating the mistakes of the past.
For example, Sweden invaded Russia during the time of Tsar Peter, which failed due to snowfall.
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia and failed because Russia's snow did not allow him to conquer it. In the Second World War, Germany also sent its troops to Russia, but the German forces were also defeated in the Russian snow. Therefore, there are many such incidents in history from which nations did not learn lessons and they were repeated again and again.
The ruling classes are often inspired by heroes in history and try to imitate them. Since Alexander had achieved victories in his youth, every general wanted to mold himself in the image of Alexander. Julius Caesar used to say that he was getting older and he had not yet accomplished anything like Alexander. When Caesar conquered Alexandria, he specially went to visit Alexander's tomb.
In India, Alauddin Khilji tried to connect himself with Alexander by calling himself Alexander the Second. Iranian history Noshirwan Adil has been a great hero. In imitation of him, many Muslim rulers adopted the title of just.
There have also been many rulers in history who were notorious for their cruelty and corruption. Such as the Roman emperors Caligula and Nero.
Therefore, such rulers are condemned in history and their names are associated with evil. When the Church became powerful in the Middle Ages of Europe, history began to be seen in the light of religion. Now the kings were replaced by Christian saints. Saint Francis and Ignatius Lothair were imitated. History became an important source of advice for the ruling classes, which said that rulers should be virtuous and pious.
Reforms should be made for the welfare of the subjects so that they would be rewarded for it in the afterlife.
The perspective of historians and politicians about history changed during the Renaissance. For example, Machiavelli freed history from moral values and presented those individuals in history as heroes who violated religious and moral values for their success.
During the Enlightenment, intellectuals broke the power and dominance of the church and secularized history by removing it from religion. Due to which, history was used not only by the ruling classes but also by ordinary people. An important question arose: do nations need the past or not? A group of historians said that the past is over and now it cannot be added to or any new thought can come into it.
Therefore, it is necessary for nations to forget the past because it has become useless. Now they should focus on the present and the future. Opposing this point of view, other historians said that the past cannot be forgotten because the historical process continues in a continuous manner. Without it, the present cannot be understood because its roots are also rooted in the past.
In the present era, when new ideas emerged, history also began to be molded into them. For example, European colonialism rejected the history of Asia and Africa and wrote their history from its own perspective. It was a distorted history. In which the superiority of Europe was proven. By considering the civilization and history of Asia and Africa as inferior, it created in them the feeling that they could not achieve anything by remaining independent.
For their success, it is necessary that they become a part of the history and civilization of Europe. Over time, in response to this perspective, nationalist sentiments arose among the nations of Asia and Africa and they created their history anew. Therefore, we see that history has its advantages and disadvantages. But history creates awareness in nations and creates a passion in them to find solutions to their problems on their own. In the present era, the narrative of history has changed and now the common people are not only a part of history but also the makers of history.
Note: The opinions expressed in any blog, comment, or column of DW Urdu are the personal opinions of the author, with which DW is not necessarily bound to agree.
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