"The study of history places too much emphasis on individual

[nithyanjali]

I do not agree with the statement that history has given too much of emphasis to only a very few people and ignoring groups of people.History is a subject that studies about the important events that had occured in the past and the people who have been the tools for such important events to have taken place.It also includes the study of culture, customs,laws and people in genral.

 

First,importance to these few people have been given because they have really contributed or in some cases changed their society in a significant way.For instance we have learnt more about prominent leaders,who had initiated people for some good cause of thier society.Thus they take their place in the history and are living in the memories of the people even after their death.Mahatma gandhi,Dr.Ambedkar,Martin luther King,Karl marx,Nelson Mandela are some of the people who have initiated thier people and have brought about some revolution in their society.Scientists,such as Louis Pasteur,Alexander Fleming,Newton,Edison Have contributed a lot to the society by thier valuble work in thier respective fields,without which we would not be in a place where we are today.We cannot reject them as ordinary people and they need to get thier place in the History.

 

The reason for us to emphasise on the few important people is that the future generation might tend to forget about these people and their valuble service to mankind.People ahould also know about the tyranist rulers such as Hitler and Saddham Hussain so that the mistakes what ocurred in the past will not be repeated in the future.It is because history tends to repeat,though not in the same manner but a closely similar circumstance may occur.

 

 

Second,the groups of people who had also worked for the good cause of the society were either guided by a single leader or were not differnt from other common people.Thus we do not know their identities.But,we have not forgotten them for we still read about the social culture,customs,practices and the other important things that had occured in the past.For instance ,the Jallian wala Bagh masacre(1919) that took place in India during the fight for Independece holds such an example.We do not know the identity of the individuals,but still we honor those martyrs by having built a monument in that site.

 

Also,what is common does not stay in the memory of the people.Thus identifiying the groups of people and learning about them will make the work of studying history tedious and will not solve the purpose of studying history.However,we do have records of the common people too,which had been discovered by the archaeological department.These records are being saved in the historical museums for further research.

 

In summary,i would conclude that the emphasis is given to the few individuals because they deserve it.For they were the people who have made a magnanimous contribution to their societies and have brought the world to the place where it is today.On the other hand,the groups of people have not been ignored .Thier joint efforts is still been included in history,it is only that we do not know these people's individual identities.