Quotes About History

the Indian population of Hispaniola declined from around 8 million, when Columbus arrived in A.D. 1492, to zero by 1535.

Thus, part—not all, but part—of the reason for Japan initiating World War Two against such hopeless odds was that young army leaders of the 1930's lacked the knowledge base and historical experience necessary for honest, realistic, cautious self-appraisal. The result was disastrous for Japan.

Two million years ago, several proto-human lineages had coexisted side by side until a shake-up left only one. It now appears that a similar shake-up occurred within the last 60,000 years, and that all of us alive in the world today are descended from the winner of that upheaval. What was the last missing ingredient whose acquisition helped our ancestor to win?

Great-Man" view of the British historian Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), who asserted that history is dominated by the deeds of great men, such as Oliver Cromwell and Frederick the Great.

the author Leo Tolstoy, who maintained that leaders and generals had minimal influence on the course of history. To make his point, Tolstoy included in his novel War and Peace fictitious accounts of battles in which generals issue orders, but the orders are irrelevant to what is actually happening on the battlefield.

In addition, in one of the largest child evacuations in history, 80,000 Finnish children were evacuated (mainly to Sweden), with long-lasting traumatic consequences extending to the next generation

suggests that tribes were emerging in some areas by at least 13,000 years ago. In recent times tribes have still been widespread in parts of New Guinea and Amazonia.

Based on such evidence, archaeologists infer that chiefdoms began to arise locally by around 5500 BC.

Stories keep memories alive and people real to us.

On this voyage, you will witness the marvels that this city has brought the world. It

Geography shapes history; men only add a little colour to its surface.

It's not quite true that history is written by the winners. It's written by the best publicists on the winning team.

So this is where the CIA began—with J. Edgar Hoover telling the British to go to hell, and the British not appreciating it.

The president of Harvard changed admissions rules to keep Jews out

A library, properly maintained, could save the world, or burn it down.

America First," a campaign slogan of Woodrow Wilson, had been adopted by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s

For the first eight months of the war, as incredible as it sounds, William and Elizebeth, and their team at Riverbank, did all of the codebreaking for every part of the U.S. government: for the State Department, the War Department (army), the navy, and the Department of Justice.

There were possibly three or at most four persons" in the whole United States who knew the slightest thing about codes

It was anti-Nazi Google.

What history does prove is that how risky stocks seem, and how risky they actually are, are inversely correlated.

History has rewritten itself so many times I'm not really sure how it was to begin with -- it's a bit like trying to guess the original color of a wall when it's been repainted eight times.

You'll also be pleased to know that no resident has been eaten in their sleep here for almost thirty-seven years.

Do you know what happened when they tried to upgrade SCROLL?" said Bradshaw. "The system conflict wiped out the entire library at Alexandria—they had to torch the lot to stop it spreading.

Humans are more or less identical except for a few peculiar habits generally delineated by geographic circumstances and historical precedent. But essentially, they´re all identical and reading from the same rulebook. To get along you have to appreciate the rules, but also know that other people know the rules - and that they know that you know the rules. Get it?