the history essay writer

the history essay writer

Exploring the Impact of Historical Events on Modern Society: An Essay Collection

1. Introduction: The Relevance of History in Understanding the Present

I am truly pleased that I have had the opportunity to bring together the present collection, which emphasizes the relevance of significant historical events to current world issues. I myself have had a particular interest in such topics for the past few years as I prepare to teach the subject next year. I also think that people of good will everywhere are trying to do just this, looking at what went before in order to help them comprehend the prejudices and ignorance that still lie behind much of the world. I am similarly convinced that history, appropriately taught, is the best way to concentrate such good intentions.

The essays in this volume, many of them written by leading senior historians, reflect on the effect of crucial historical events on modern society. In one way or another, they all indicate the relevance of history for understanding the present. History should, it seems to me, be at the center of any humanities curriculum, both because so many other subjects, such as literature, arts, and philosophy, took on their present form in history and because the effect of history makes itself felt, through culture, on the present.

2. Section I: The Legacy of Colonialism and Imperialism

Practically, in gross terms, wherever languages other than traditional tribal tongues exist (which includes New Guinea) and management reflects more modern foreign management practices, it is quite likely that people came to live in that place as a result of a need to underpin a great colonial power. Colonial management practice is the foundation of business conducted in these 2010 countries. Colonialism significantly and directly impacted the social, political, environmental, and economic landscapes in their modern-day settings and still makes a very bold difference in these areas today. Its longstanding effects are still deeper and are direct to the way we live, the organizations we work for and lead, the way we relate to the environment, and the global environment we live in.

The concept of colonialism aims to define foreign control over a distant country or people that existed for a significant period of time. It emerged when a European powerhouse decided to conquer the wild unknowns with the aim of growing both the dominion and the imperial state. The motivators for this period of vast colonial empire building lay mainly with the making of money, political power, and national pride. The act itself aimed primarily to exploit resources, territories with strategic positions, or developed land for the material gain of the powerful homeland. The legacy of colonialism has a still unsolved question of does it really have a lasting impact on modern-day countries.

3. Section II: The Role of Revolutions in Shaping Nations

This study presents a collection of essays exploring how historical events – in particular, revolutions – affect modern day societies. Revolutions are generally defined as encompassing several key conditions. First and foremost, revolutions are political events aiming to change the government or political system. Second, revolutions are violent attempts of the aggrieved parties or groups that wish to change the existing policies. The data are complex by nature, and much care has to be taken by those who wish to use it appropriately. The transition to democracy and, more generally, the effects of (violent) political change have long been of interest to political scientists and, indeed, social scientists from other disciplines as well. The claimed reasons are many, the main being that a regime type of a country or, more generally, the distribution of political power in a given society plays a significant role in shaping and influencing the individual and collective behavior of the members of such a society. The experiences that the people in different countries have lived through in the past (and are living through at the present time) motivates scholarship, establishes common knowledge, and provides an almost self-explanatory justification for studies focused to examine the differential outcomes of political systems.

It is generally accepted that a society’s historical past plays an important role in shaping its social and cultural life. A number of authors have attempted to identify the impact of a historical event and assess its presence in and its influence on contemporary society. It has to be noted, though, that such discussions are always more abstract than concrete. This is explained by the fact that the authors focus on the symbolic impact that historical events have on society and, in most cases, are not so much interested in providing an extensive array of empirical evidence to confirm their hypotheses. Crucially, the symbolism of a given historical event is a social construct and cannot be tested empirically.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. – John F. Kennedy.

4. Section III: The Impact of World Wars on Global Politics

Both world wars played a central role in the subsequent political evolution of their conflicting parties, by favoring it either one way or the other, and by ensuring the survival of reconstituting the main defenders of their values after the wars had been fought. In a sense, the post-war settlement of each of the two wars held important components and consequences that were already “enclosed” in the germs of the conflicts. A priori, the interested parties did not seem to have strong reasons to challenge the results of the Peace Conference of Versailles or the distributions of Power of the Congress of Vienna. Why, then, would each of the winning coalitions embark into lengthy struggles to bring their terms to completion some years after they have all but?

Wars are destructive affairs, and both world wars were especially so: inflicting cognitive and physical burdens on all parts of societies and straining to the utmost their material and psychological resources. They enveloped, in some way or another, all of human life: sciences and arts mobilized in their war efforts and evacuated their members. But though through ages wars have periodically disrupted human friendships, rivalries have endured and developmental causes have continued. The sacrifice of the two world wars has been considerable and long. The lessons that the winners drew from their successes, though necessary at first to preserve peace and enact retribution, seem to have been an indispensable stage in the progressive securitizations of international relations that we have witnessed up to the 1950s. Had the West and the reconstituted East not massively prepared themselves for again fighting the great wars, the cold war may well have turned hot and the world could have been annihilated.

5. Conclusion: Lessons from the Past for a Better Future

Overall, the contributions in this volume represent a potential model of how historical research can become effective. They show that real-world questions can be studied using methods and historical sources while maintaining the conceptual sophistication characteristic of the best current academic work. It’s up to us to keep up this standard of scholarship and find institutions which support such an approach. The dialogue of the volume could easily be more effectively used, but working together as researchers across disciplines or fields and achieving a rapprochement between our profession and society at large offer significant opportunities. These are crucial; many of the themes we’ve discussed are not going away. Political manipulations can seem never-ending, pledge and prejudice still corrosively guide economic decision-making, the swords of the economic predators are still dominant in international politics, and our preaching can seem unheeded. At least speaking to people is something we have a talent for; it’s how we help people talk back that’s crucial.

The chapters in this volume illustrate the varied and often surprising ways in which past events and their interpretations structure our present lives. Understanding how these links function and the contribution historical research can make is thus a matter of urgency. Given this systemic role, our profession doesn’t wield the influence it might. It seemed during the formation of the collection, and now seems even more so, that engaging in dialogue with those we study and their descendants about questions we’re genuinely interested in would be an eye-opener and produce fascinating results. It has worked more than we dared hope and clearly will do so increasingly well in the future as new topics come to light. A greater active and perhaps proactive presence for history in contemporary affairs is important, and this is one way of productively achieving it. This will reinforce the valuable role that historians have always played as the curators and liberators of knowledge – this component of academic life is far from obsolete and can and should be developed further.