An example of different countries interpreting the same event in dissimilar manner is the Boston Tea Party. The Boston Tea Party still remains an iconic event in American History as many political protests still refer to it to date. Since this incident is what is believed to have triggered the American Revolution, the Americans view this event as a fight for freedom and equality as they were charged higher prices for the same tea than the British. The British however did not feel that they were treating the Americans unfairly and merely wanted the colonies to bear the expense of their administration and defense as British were facing a lot of postwar debt (Ibis Communications). This example shows that both countries have their own reasons for their actions and both seem to believe that they are correct.
Historical methods comprise of techniques by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then advance further by writing the history of that particular event. Bias plays an important role in this because individual historians interpret the same evidence in their own different ways. Bias is based on many things such as culture, religion, political or social differences, and past experiences (Lagemaat, 309).This is the reason why it is commonly said that no two historians will have identical views on the same event. Proof that historians are influenced by cultural and political factors is shown clearly during the Seven Years War in 1592 when Japan invaded Korea in the hope of conquering over them. Korean historians perceived this event as a tragedy which was not beneficial to Korea at all whereas Japanese historians believed that Japan was able to significantly improve the economic and political status of Korea (Wikimedia Foundation). This is just one example of many which shows both sides of the argument and an outsider can never tell which side is right and which side is wrong.
There are also many faults which historians make while writing the history of an event. To begin with, historians usually only choose the evidence that will be helpful in making their claim or proving their thesis so they sometimes tamper with history by leaving out vital information and therefore provide us with wrong conclusions (Lagemaat, 311) Also, historians usually follow the ‘great person’ theory of history which states that history is mainly determined by great individuals and many facts about less famous people often go unheard of (Lagemaat, 316). A famous historian by the name of Thomas Carlyle agrees with this as he said that “The history of the world is but the biography of great men” (Carlyle on dictionary-quotes).An example where this quote is portrayed clearly is during the Battle of Lexington and Concord. During this time Paul Revere and William Dawes were both messengers in the American Revolution and did the same work. However, historians made Revere much more famous than they did Dawes just because Revere was captured while Dawes was cunning and managed to run away. Revere is very famous today also only because he got caught whereas many people still not even heard about Dawes (Wikimedia Foundation).
As mentioned earlier, each individual has a different view on any given incident. Although this could be due to many reasons history plays a very significant role in this. Each person could have a different perspective on a given event because of their past experiences when they were put in a similar situation. This means that history is very important as it shapes the way we view the present. Also history is constantly changing as new information is revealed day after day which alters what people previously thought about a particular incident. Because of this history is a very subjective discipline as it can be interpreted in any way in which the author wants it to be. It is also subjective because it reminds us that human behavior can never be fully explained in terms of neat and tidy models (Edublogs). The word history itself if broken down becomes his-story. This shows that history is merely the tale of the person narrating it in the way they wanted it to be. Although this is not entirely true for all historical events one can never be absolutely sure as eye witnesses are not always reliable and evidence can always prove to be false or altered.
An example in which history was abused is found in the October Revolution in 1917 in Russia. Historians have found two similar pictures from this event: in the first picture Trotsky is standing in the center of the stage next to Lenin however, later after Trotsky fell from grace and fled into exile he was erased which is clearly shown in the second picture. This has been proven has the two pictures are identical except for this one major difference. This shows how evidence has been tampered with in the past and what a significant impact it has caused on the rest of the world and how they now perceive the October Revolution (Lagemaat, 306).
After having discussed the above knowledge issues, it is clear that history is not always reliable yet it is a very important for one to study history since knowledge of the past is vital if we want to make progress in the future. Although interpretations of the same event are confusing they may also be beneficial as it allows people to think of all the possibilities that could have occurred.
I would like to conclude with the following quote "we do not live in the past, but the past in us” (Phillips on Primal-Page). This means that even if one tries to ignores history it is not possible as history is inevitable and very important in order to succeed in life.
Works Cited
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Ibis Communications, Inc. “The Boston Tea Party, 1773 .” http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2010. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/teaparty.htm>.
Jézégou, Frédérick. “Dictionary of Quotes.” http://www.dictionary-quotes.com/. WordPress, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2010. <http://www.dictionary-quotes.com/the-history-of-the-world-is-but-the-biography-of-great-men-thomas-carlyle/>.
Lagemaat, Richard Van de. Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. Print.
Speyrer, John A. “Searching Literary Fiction for the Elusive Dissociative Amnesia Syndrome.” http://primal-page.com. The Primal Psychotherapy Page, n.d. Web. 8 Dec. 2010. <http://primal-page.com/memories.htm>.
Stewart, Anthony. IB Theory of Knowledge. N.p.: Teaching Point, n.d. Print.
Wen, Yan. “History.” Edublogs.org. WordPress, 20 Nov. 2009. Web. 20 Dec. 2010. <http://yanwen.edublogs.org/>.
Wikimedia Foundation. “Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598).” http://en.wikipedia.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasions_of_Korea_(1592%E2%80%931598)>.
- - -. “William Dawes.” http://en.wikipedia.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Dec. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dawes>.