Do You Know What Triggered Your Love For History?

[Anticleia]

I have ALWAYS loved history, right from an early age. I must credit this to my Mum and Dad for dragging me around countless ruins and castles every Sunday as far back as I can remember. This made me think about the past, and I have always been of curious nature.

 

Some of my earliest books were children's books on Ancient Egyption archeology, and books on the war - which I was really interested in as my Dad was born in an airaid shelter in London during the blitz!

 

So I credit everything to my parents! what about you?

[Ursus]

Just was. I was fairly bored with life while growing up, and found history, etc, to be much more interesting than most of the stuff I was expected to care about.

 

In fact, I can't understand people who aren't interested in their past. I know a lot of people whose idea of "history" is who won a national football game five years ago, or what was the biggest selling musical album last year. I think they are sad creatures.

[Q Valerius Scerio]

From the earliest I can remember, I was always fascinated with dinosaurs and those colored picture books that explain away both the natural and ancient world (a childhood series I long forgot about). Dinosaurs, medieval pugnation, then I picked up linguistics about 11 (what a fascinating subject!) and took Latin in High School and voila, Roman History in particular developed.

 

But all in all, I think I'm just more curious than anything else.

[Moonlapse]

A lot of things motivated me to learn history but mostly I'm curious about why I'm here and why things are the way they are...

[skel]

for me i think it was all those over glorified battles in the epic movies that turned me on to history...

[Marcus Regulus]

Can't remember what started it. I am getting to old I guess. My interest in history stems from the fact that it seems ot repeat itself. I guess I have never found a pattern to history, but things do repeat themselves.

 

Like Ursus, I think people wh do not have an interest in the past are a little short sighted and can realize that people have been people for a long time. Civilizations rise and fall and will continue to do so. I find it funny that such people think they have found something new that is going to revolutionize the world for ever and then I point out ot them it has already been done by someone else in another time and it didn't revolutionize the world then. People who have noconcern for the past are doomed to waste a lot of time, in my opinion, thinking they are doing something new and then getting surprised that it doesn't have the affect they desire. "There is nothing new under the sun " is what it has taught me and the real issue is putting the right thing to do with the right time to do it. History helps me a lot when doing that.

[Spurius]

I can pretty much put a date to the birth of my interest in history.

 

In November of 1972 my nine-year-old mind was blown away by two books "Classical Myths of Greece and Rome" and Bullfinch's "Greek and Roman Myths." There were great artists drawings in the first, especially of the Trojan War, and the second gave me a depth of reading that blew me away (I was "borrowing" my eldest sister's book for her college class.).

 

The final blow came a month later with the purchase of "The Illustrated History of the War between the States" by my Dad at the same time as buying me both Confederate and Union caps. (I was the rebel in my group of friends- I liked to wear Union Blue )

 

The rest, as they say, is history.

[skel]

marcus... one example i can think of off the top of my head of history repeating itself is Nepolean taking his troops into russia during their winter and that leading to his defeat in waterloo... well Hitler did the same thing, he led his troops into russia during the cold russian winter and like wtih the corsican "king" the russia did a scorch and burn (?) policy... destorying everything as they retreated leaving hitlers army with nothing. leading to many of the factors that aided to hitlers fall...

 

i have also noticed many other thing that tend to repeat... i find that aspect of life most interesting

[Marcus Regulus]

i have also noticed many other thing that tend to repeat... i find that aspect of life most interesting

 

 

Ain't it grand. People will do the same stupid things that others ahve done thinking this time it will be different.

[Hamilcar Barca]

What is interesting about that story is that when the Monguls successfully invaded Russia during the winter of 1241, it was the onset of summer which forced them to leave.

 

I can't pinpoint why I love history, it's mainly an interest which I've simply fostered over the years. Like most of you, I despise ignorance about the past and do as much as I can to constantly learn more.

[Germanicus]

I have always been more interested in other times, as a matter of fact, in things outside my own exsistance in general. My parents played a role too, by encouraging my interests and taking me places I could indulge them when young. It just never stopped.

[longbow]

Growing up near Hadrians wall got me interested in history,i would read anything i could about the romans when i was a kid.And watching Spartacus (the movie,not the ex crazy member,lol) and all the other old movies.L

[Maximus]

I first read a book on the Easter Islands when I was 10 and I got hooked. Then I started researching the history of my home town. I then met my husband who was into Roman Archaeology and I used to accompany him on digs. Then he got involved with another roman group but was disillusioned so we decided to set up our own group.

[Zeke]

I was never good at anything when I was younger. I sucked at everything, I didn't learn to ride a bike till I was about 8, I couldn't draw, I had a hard time reading up until about 10, I couldn't run very fast or climb trees or do math or play a muscial instrument. I can't spell (as you can tell) and well I was basically SUCKED at everything.

 

Then one day I saw a history book laying in my 5th grade class and I started to read it, within about a day or so I had memorised the whole chapter of the "Early History of North America and its Geography"

ANd then we took a test on it and I got the first A+ of my entire life! I was overjoyed and from that point on the joy of history has never left my eyes. I just love facts, and dates and wars and the past. ANd how could people not like history????!?! It is the most wonderful thing in the world.

 

Zeke

[Silentium]

I've always been surrounded by history and was simply curious to know where I came from, what the things that surrounded me were and why they were there. You just can't walk past a statue or a certain building and ignore it or look at it and say "Oh, nice columns" and then go away. I guess it's part of my life. I think history should be taken the right way though, I remember of reading something by Nietzsche in german literature about this subject that really hit me, it's called "Vom Nutzen und Nachteil der Historie f