What are the goals and objectives of studying history?

Question

What is History? What are the goals and objectives of studying history? Do you believe it is important to study the history of America in today's globalised world?

i have attempted the first part of the question
i just need some poits on which i can eloborate
please help me if you can

or if you can just provide some links
thaks a lot

please friends, its very urgent and important

Answer 1

Put simply, history is the study of the past. The goal and objective of studying history is to determine who we are, because WE ARE the past: we are the sum of all the events--good, bad, and indifferent--that have happened to us. It is just as important for people to study the history of the U.S. in today's globalised climate, as it is for people in the U.S. to study the histories of other countries. The sum product of the past guides our actions in the present.

This is true not only for the individual (imagine what would have happened to you had your parents never met, or had your parents raised you with different values), but for large societies as well (how would the U.S. be different, for example, if it had lost the American Revolution, or if the Spanish had founded the colonies of North America that became the United States?). In both cases the United States as we know it would not exist.

The only way we can understand who we are and how we got to be that way is by studying the past. Similarly, the only way we can understand others is by studying their past. If we don't understand what made them who they are--in terms of how they think and act--we will make all sorts of mistakes in our interactions with them. Think of how you treat people differently based on how you know them. The same is true for countries when it comes to diplomacy. Our failures in Iraq were borne of a limited understanding of who they are (because we haven't taken the time to truly study and understand their past).

"We study the past to understand the present; we understand the present to guide the future." -- William Lund

Answer 2

Gandhi did spend extra time in South Africa than India! According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "Gandhi persuaded British to stop India"! However, Gandhi and his fans did not pursue unhealthy men to stop South Africa! So, the WW2 made Europeans broke. Millions of educated and armed Indians (Bangladeshis, Indians and Pakistanis) transformed the stability of energy. At the tip, the British wanted a negotiator to stop India earlier than being kicked out! Gandhi used to be that negotiator.

Answer 3

Perhaps a goals and objectives of studying history is to know better who we are and why we are the way we are. Didn't George Santayana say, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it," advising us to heed the lessons and not repeat mistakes previously made.