by David K McMillin

Created on: December 07, 2009

The interpretation and recording of history inevitably represents the personal biases of the historian. Every historian begins an interpretation of history with certain basic assumptions all rooted in, personal biases, background, moral standards, and understanding of man's basic nature; is it good or evil, and a cultural, religious, and educational background to stir into the historical cauldron.

Without exception every intellectual field of endeavor builds its house from some base assumption. In mathematics these assumptions are referred to as axioms, in religion faith, in science assumptions. From these basic building blocks all interpretations of the facts must follow. Karl Marx, for example, assumed man's basic nature to be good; having a desire to act selflessly toward each other, thus his presentation of history is a struggle of the proletariat to be free of the economic ruling class so that there can be equity among the classes, a kind of Utopian state where everyone cares for everyone else. Forcing the MagnaCarta upon King John in 1215 by the lower lords and freemen based on the good man assumption would mean, according to Marx, the lower classes were rising up against their king to equalize the classes thereby providing better for the peoples needs. The French Revolution would also be an example the proletariat rising up against the ruling elite because of the desire to equalize the classes and care for the impoverished masses.

Another basic assumption historians make about the progresses and change in direction of history comes from ideas that there are charismatic men forcing it to happen, such as Alexander the Great, Hernan Cortez, or Adolf Hitler. This idea of charisma again filters the historians understanding and interpretation of the causes, events, and outcomes: the triumvirate of all historical studies. Without Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian Empire and subsequent division of the known world by his generals there would not have been the Ptolemaic and Seleucid Empires which dominated Western history until the Rise of Roman power. Without Hernan Cortez's conquest of the Aztec capitol city of Tenochtitlan in 1519 we would not have one of the world largest modern cities, Mexico City, or most of the modern Central American Nations. And without the Jewish Genocides of Adolph Hitler and Pogroms of Joseph Stalin the Jews probably would not have moved so quickly toward the establishment of a nation and a Jewish homeland in 1948.

Cultural

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