Models for
Understanding History
What is history?
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History is the version of past events
that people have decided to agree
upon.
-- Napoleon Bonaparte
Nothing has really happened until it
has been recorded.
-- Virginia Woolf
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"History is the witness that
testifies to the passing of time; it
illuminates reality, vitalizes memory,
provides guidance in daily life, and
brings us tidings of antiquity."
--Cicero
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The past is useless. That explains
why it is past." Wright Morris
"There is properly no history; only
biography." Ralph Waldo Emerson
"History is indeed little more than
the register of the crimes, follies,
and misfortunes of mankind." Edward
Gibbon
Men and history
History repeats itself; that's one of
the things that's wrong with history.
 That men do not learn very much
from the lessons of history is the
most important of all the lessons
that history has to teach.
 We learn from history that man can
never learn anything from history.
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Understanding history
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"Each age tries to form its own
conception of the past. Each age
writes the history of the past anew
with reference to the conditions
uppermost in its own time."
--Frederick Jackson Turner
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"The function of the historian is
neither to love the past nor to
emancipate himself from the past, but
to master and understand it as the key
to the understanding of the present.“
E. H. Carr
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"A historian should yield himself to
his subject, become immersed in the
place and period of his choice,
standing apart from it now and then
for a fresh view."
Samuel Eliot Morison
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"Since history has no properly
scientific value, its only purpose is
educative. And if historians neglect
to educate the public, if they fail to
interest it intelligently in the past,
then all their historical learning is
valueless except in so far as it
educates themselves."
G. M. Trevelyan.
Reading comprehension
Title:
Models for Understanding History
2. C
3. A
4. B
5. C
6. B
1. T
2. F
3. T
4. F
5. T
6. T
Models for
Understanding History

Underlying every textbook and every
historical work are a set of often
unacknowledged assumptions about
how history works. Everyone who
writes, reads, or thinks about history
has a “model” in their mind which
helps them to interpret and assemble
the facts of history.
Model A
It is the dominant model for
historians in the 20th century.
 It believes that the history of
mankind is a record of progress
 and that future prospects are bright.
 It is flattering, which implies that
everyone alive has made progress
over all those who are dead.

It allows one to face the future with
optimism.
 The more time passes, the more
progress will be made.

e.g. Hegel (the unification of Germany by
Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm)
 There is great deal of American history
written to fit this mold.

Model B
Many of the Greek and Roman
historians subscribed to this model.
 They looked back in the past and saw
a “golden age” with fewer problems
than their own.
 Things were getting worse; prospects
for the future were grim.
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It fits the outlines of Scripture.
 We certainly haven’t risen above the level
of our first parents, Adam and Eve,
 so the broad line from Paradise are trending
downward.
 One can trace progress and improvement
through God’s covenants which Noah,
Abraham, Moses, and their fulfillment in
Jesus.
 One must weigh the prophecies of
Revelation.
Model C
History is complicated.
 It more closely assembles Model C
than the simple lines in Model A and
Model B.
 Periods of accomplishment are
followed by periods of decay.
 Inevitably, after a period of
achievement, a long, slow period of
decay sets in.

Against Model A
“progress” is mostly a myth.
 The idea that the simple passage of
time will allow things to improve flies
in the face of experience.
 The truth is that things deteriorate
and decay with age.

Against Model B
The periods of progress and
achievement are the exceptions and
not the rule.
 There are remarkable periods
scattered through history in which a
group of men or a generation seem
empowered to reverse the trends and
to make remarkable achievements.
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Examples mentioned
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Greek city-states
Roman republic
The fall from Republic through Empire to
Dark Ages
Renaissance: rejection of the myth of
progress
Reformation: returning to the New
Testament church (Martin Luther, John
Calvin)
Analysis
Question:
Has there been progress or decay in
our own civilization?
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If it has deteriorated, then we need to
reverse directions and try to return to
ideals of the founders, shedding the
mistakes of later, lesser men.
If we have progressed, then we need to
continue correcting and eliminating the
mistakes and omissions of the founders.
Solution
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The trick is to move beyond the simple
models and to think critically about
whatever time period being studied.
If we learn to step back and ask the
question “Was this a period of
achievement or decay?” and note the
facts (and also about the views of
historians who are supplying the facts),
we will have achieved a much more
sophisticated understanding of our age.
Vocabulary building
Noun
assumption
Verb
assume
Adjective
assumed/-ing
Adverb
adj + -ly
acknowledgement acknowledge acknowledged acknowledgedly
reflection
domination
category
implication
reassurance
definiteness
reflect
dominate
categorize
imply
reassure
define
reflective
dominant
categorical
implicative
reassuring
definite
reflectively
dominantly
categorically
implicatively
reassuringly
definitely
Glossary
Natural history
• The study of organisms and natural
objects, esp. their origins, evolution,
and interrelationships. (C. Darwin)
 Human history
 Prehistoric
• The era before the recorded history

Stone Age
• The earliest known period of human
culture, characterized by the use of
stone tools.
 Paleolithic age (palaeolithic)
 Neolithic age
 Bronze age
• A period of human culture between
the Stone Age and the Iron Age,
characterized by weapons and
implements made of bronze.

Babylonian
• Of or relating to Babylonia or
Babylon or their people, culture, or
language.
• A native or inhabitant of Babylon or
Babylonia.
 Babylon (the capital city of Babylonia)
 Babylonia

Babylonia: An ancient empire of
Mesopotamia in the Euphrates River
valley. It flourished under
Hammurabi and Nebuchadnezzar II
but declined after 562b.c. and fell
to the Persians in 539.
Code of Hammurabi
 Hanging gardens of Babylonia

Hellene
• A Greek
< Hellas (Greece)
• A country of southeast Europe on the
southern Balkan Peninsula and including
numerous islands in the Mediterranean,
Aegean seas.
• One of the most important centers of
early civilization.
• The cradle of western culture, philosophy,
art and science.

Byzantine
• A native or inhabitant of Byzantium or the
Byzantine Empire.
• Of or relating to the Byzantine Empire.
 Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire )
• The eastern part of the later Roman
Empire, dating from A.D. 330 when
Constantine I rebuilt Byzantium and made
it his capital. Its extent varied greatly
over the centuries, but its core remained
the Balkan Peninsula and Asia Minor. The
empire collapsed when Constantinople fell
to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Middle ages
• The period in European history
between antiquity and the
Renaissance, often dated from A.D.
476 to 1500.
 Dark ages
• the Early Middle Ages in Europe
 medieval (adj.)
• Relating or belonging to the Middle
Ages.
Renaissance
• The humanistic revival of classical
art, architecture, literature, and
learning that originated in Italy in
the 14th century and later spread
throughout Europe.
• Humanism is the key-note of the
Renaissance.
Renaissance and Middle Ages
The Hebrew view was being replaced
by the Greek view.
 Greek view vs. Hebrew/biblical view

humanism vs. Hebraism
 knowing the self vs. knowing the god
 liberalism vs. clericalism
 egoism vs. altruism
 naturalism vs. supernaturalism
 knowledge, science, experiment vs.
religion, moral, belief

Old World
• The Eastern Hemisphere. The term is
often used to refer specifically to
Europe.
 New World
• The Western Hemisphere. The term
is often used to refer specifically to
America.
• It was first used by an Italian
historian Peter Martyr (1457-1526),
whose book chronicled the discovery
of America.
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Elizabethan Age
• The period when Elizabeth I reigned
England.
• is often referred to as The Golden
Age of English history.
Elizabeth Tudor
(1533-1603 )
• the fifth and final
monarch of the House
of Tudor
• She made England one
of the most powerful
and prosperous
countries in the world.
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Industrialization
• Also known as Industrial Revolution
• the era when innovations in
technology have sometimes occurred
at such a rapid pace
• lots of things were invented that
made it easier to make things and get
work done.
• The first Industrial Revolution
occurred in Great Britain between
1750 and 1830.
• Developments there moved the
country from a largely rural
population that made its livelihood
almost entirely from agriculture to a
town-centered society that was
increasingly engaged in factory
manufacture.
• Later in the 19th century, similar
revolutionary transformations
occurred in other European nations
and the United States.
• The main effects were not felt in
countries like Russia and Japan until
the 20th century.
• In other countries these
transformational developments are
only now occurring or still lie in the
future.