People rarely learn from history. That’s a harsh statement, but its pretty common. Its not that they can’t learn, but because they don’t know how.
History can feel like a giant puzzle. Pieces may have a place, and the full picture can only be appreciated when the pieces are connected. Or not connected for that matter. Its how you approach it, rather than blindly listening to books and experts. They’re not wrong, but taking at truth can blind you.
To make the process easier, let's delve into a 4 step approach that will act as a roadmap.
1. Know Why You Are Learning
The first step is rather straightforward but holds paramount importance: identify your goals and reasons. Start with your reasons first— they give a framework. Be brutally honest. Then set your goals off these reasons— they focus your learning. Without either of these, its easy to get lost. You need to learn lessons, not memorize history.
Do:
Identify Your Learning Objectives: What specific political lessons are you interested in? You may want to learn about the factors leading to the rise and fall of empires, decision-making processes in crises, or how political leadership can impact a nation's trajectory. Knowing your specific interests will guide your study.
Relevance: Once you know your interests, pick historical periods or events that align with them. If you are interested in leadership, find something that resonates with the leader you wish to be. If its handling political crisis, start from well known ones like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Listen to what you find interesting, then use that for your next research.
Think from Different Angles: Don't take every source at face value. History is written by the victors or by the defeated trying to save face. Look at the biases and context to read between the lines. Look at effects and factors in events, not just events themselves.
History Rhymes: Draw parallels between historical events and current political situations. Human mentality doesn’t change much — just the times and means. Use these parallels to train your mind to see other options, not copy history.
Discussion and Debate: Engage with others. Twitter is okay, but its people who can argue their points well that matter. Even those you hate. These help clarify and expand your understanding. It helps see different angles in a difficult political situation.
Don’t
Don't Overgeneralize: Just because something worked in a particular historical context doesn't mean it will always work. What is goo in one time period? May be bad in another. Geopol is judged by the effects of policy, not good intentions. Go beyond assumptions from your life.
Avoid Confirmation Bias: Be wary of only looking for information that supports your views and ideology. Don’t worship books or ideologies to give you political views. The strong take from all and attempt to take what works.
Don't Neglect Context: Understanding the political, social, and economic conditions surrounding an event is crucial. A failure to consider these may lead to misinterpretations.
All these make the next 4 easier.
2. Events are Shaped by 3 Steps Before and After
Look at things three steps before and after an event. The event itself is meaningless. Significance is in the events, environment, and personas before and after it. 3 steps before and after in this case can be 3 defined events before and after a critical event.
Here are factors to look at:
Look at Personas. All events are the result of people— or at least their reactions to it. Look at their lives, personality, and how they responded to events beyond their control. Great people often have the ability to seize circumstances, while lesser ones pass up opportunities. Persona shapes events.
Check Environment. Events play out on the ground of a geopolitical battlefield. Look at the political attitudes, interests, relationships, etc. Then look at how each nation or group perceived and reacted. You’ll get a good idea of their interests from their assumptions.
Check the Event Itself. No what you were expecting right? After you’ve seen the event, then look at how it happened. Check for the execution, you can tell if it was planned or someone seized an opportunity. Then look at how they consolidated their gains and reduced their losses.
This method is very good at giving you a larger picture. Far too many people online are tunnel visioned. They fail to see origins, and as a result fail to see consequences.
3. Find A Historical Role Model
Finding a historical role model is important if you are ambitious. Machiavelli himself said Alexander imitated Achillies, and Caesar imitated Alexander. Napoleon, both Alexander and Caesar. The point is, that each imitated a person similar to them. It shaped the course of their destiny, and history.
You can only imitate those who are similar to your nature. A quiet person cannot imitate someone as bold as Napoleon or Alexander. Nor can a bold person imitate someone like Deng Xiaoping or Lee Kwan Yew. All imposed radical changes, but each had their own personality - quiet, aggressive, bold, etc.
That is your challenge. You need to study yourself. Your nature is the key — you were born with it. Then you need to study how you express that nature. From there, then you can find a historical role model.
The value lies in its ability to humanize history and draw personal connections, which makes learning more engaging and relatable. Especially if you have similar events in your life. For instance, if you're a fiercely independent and visionary thinker, someone like Galileo Galilei could be your historical counterpart.
It ingnites your motivation, moving your forward. And may even determine your path in life.
4. Reflect. When You Think You Know? You Don’t.
How we look at history can be problematic, since there’s so many steps. And its so easy to lapse into dogma. While patterns maybe similar, it doesn’t mean you know 100%.
This is a step that many think tankers, experts, and other’s fail at. The best ones always know they don’t know. And even those who do understand it? They need to constantly examine their self. This isn’t a question of intelligence or humility. Its training your brain to see different angles.
Fresh knowledge is a precious asset. It helps give you more choices. But long-held beliefs can turn dogmatic. This leads to attempts to monopolize wisdom. Studying history can indeed open up a world of insights. But to truly grasp them, you need more than just study. You need to truly seek to understand.
Reading a book of Marx, a Bible, or any other book dogmatically doesn’t give you insights into things. A parrot can repeat things, and ChatGPT can make things seem human. But insight comes from challenging your beliefs. Historical analysis will always fail when people impose modern ideas on history.
We have to read the context and reflect.
Want to learn history well? Look at the critics of your long held stance. You will find much propaganda. But you’ll also find people with sane points. Find people who give different angles, rather than confirm your historical perceptions.
Final Thoughts
None of these are easy. And really can’t be taken lightly. I’ve done this for years, and you find out every time there’s something new to learn.
Its not so much knowledge that you know, but how much you’re keeping up with it. And how much you’re trying to talk to people to broad your perspective.
Learning from history is a process, and applying is even harder. If you learn the lessons, you can apply to your own life.