Title: Why does history matter? | The Historian's Apprentice
Headings: Why does history matter?
Why does history matter?
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Content: Nationalism is at the core of our educational system, if not always at the core of our policy aims. In the early twentieth century significant portions of state budget was focussed on improving education with the central goal of disciplining children via nationalistic ideologies in north-western Europe. This was implemented by further secularising schools and training the youth with the morality of patriotism by teaching them the history of their ‘great’ nation. Whilst being highly educated is key to a free and democratic society and providing a strong sense of devotion to one’s country, can instil a sense of heritage and belonging, already we can see the beginnings of a secret agenda and the building of a biased collective memory. The aforementioned steps to improving education in the early twentieth century were undoubtedly steps towards the militarisation of their individual nation with the aim of indoctrinating the country to form a united front. Stefan Berger deals with the complexity of differentiating between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ nationalism, arguing that ‘both shared a high potential for xenophobia and violence’ [7]. Knowing this, we can see that whilst history matters as an instrument for uniting people nationally by providing them with a common history and heritage, it has the potential to incite violence through nationalism’s ability to be both inclusive and exclusive in its memory; i.e. by marking only events in history which penalise a certain country or race as a nation’s enemy, a nation may become resentful towards said country or race. For example, blaming the Jews for extreme social changes in early twentieth century Europe without considering their status as an important economic group, contributed to the growth of anti-Semitism. This trend is also politically significant, as it has destructively impacted upon both the left and right, with both communism and fascism now subject to negative connotations as a result of brutal regimes.