Why History is Important

History is important because it gives us insight to impending dangers. History repeats itself and the patterns of the past can predict future events.  History teaches us what worked in our past and we can see things like the family structure standing the test of time. We see civilizations forming around needed resources like water, arable land, comfortable climate, food supply and ease of trade and commerce. Ancient History explains how settling in areas that offer these resources was critical and remains so today.

Pre-History shows us living in families and forming clans. We found food, water and shelter. We learned how to preserve fire for warmth.  It was primitive and dangerous, but we survived.

Ancient History shows us how we survived the Ice Age that ended in 11,700 BC and developed settlements. It shows us moving from hunter gatherers to farmers with livestock and building structures.  We used fire to cook and developed metallurgy by 5000 BC.

History important because it repeats itself. We have a better idea of what disasters are ahead that we can either prevent, escape or survive through. We know where disasters might happen based on the last disaster. 

When countries invade each other, those who were invaded and brutally attacked are likely to want to extract the invaders or escape to less dangerous lands. A long view of history chronicles these cycles of violence and payback and tells us where and sometimes why these wars occurred.

Neighboring countries affected by drought and famine will surely cause migrants to move where food and water are available.

Many countries have attempted to establish Empires through wars of expansion and occupation to acquire resources, trade routes, power and wealth. 

The History of Empires shows how and when this land changed hands. The Greek Kingdoms were conquered by the Persian Empire in 490 BC. The Greek Empire conquered the Persian Empire in 331 BC. The Eqyptian Empire was annexed by the Greek Empire in 332 BC and was later conquered by the Roman Empire in 30 BC. The Roman Empire ran out of money by 490 AD.

The Egyptian Empire lasted 3000 years, because it was small enough to defend. The Western Roman Empire lasted 500 years, because it had become too large to defend and simply ran out of money to pay its armies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_empires

There were leaders who arose to turn their kingdoms into Empires through wars of expansion. Cyrus the Great created the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great created the Greek Empire to end Greek submission to the Persian Empire. This was an early example of “payback”.

Countries developed armies to protect their borders and repel invasion. Empires were established to expand resources, power and wealth. Rulers who established Empires and conquered other countries ranged from those who killed all those they conquered to prevent future wars to those who enslaved conquered populations. Some Conquerors were more benign and allowed conquered populations to keep their religions, freedoms and possessions.

After 10,000 years of war, we are attempting to avoid war. We use trade sanctions and tariffs to dissuade aggression by cutting off their funding. But old dynamics are still in play. Russia wants to expand and regain some of the territories it lost in 1989. China is threatening its old enemy Japan with expansion of military bases on islands near Japan. Europeans are tiring of their loss of sovereignty to the EU.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader