What is history?

History: the study of the past. Well, yes, but it’s not quite as simple as that.

“There are many approaches to the study of history. You could view history as a millennia long conversation about philosophy between great men or you can see history through the lens of traditionally neglected populations, like women or indigenous peoples or slaves.” –– John Green, CrashCourse

Take the latter part of that then, and you get history ‘from below’ – the notion of studying history from the perspective of those usually forgotten. Historians may choose to study the lives of ordinary people as opposed to monarchy, rulers or governments, and the high society individuals of tradition. This has become a more popular way of studying history in recent years, as opposed to the more traditional ‘history by the victorious’.

Other approaches to the study of history involve the inclusion of other subjects to better understand a period of time or a specific region. These relevant other subjects include, but are not limited to: international relations and politics, geography, sociology, language, literature and law. These relationships work both ways of course – it’s difficult to study any of these subjects without at least a hint of historical knowledge.

International relations and politics are crucial to the study of history, as is history to the study of international relations and politics. Even when studying a region or specific country domestically, a knowledge of international relations is required, to see how a country is affected by its surroundings. Also, past issues (history) are important to be aware of when it comes to understanding current affairs when studying international relations.

Geography is another subject that can be important in understanding the ways history develops. The geography of a region, for example, may affect the way trade is able to work, and the success of invaders into that region. Geopolitics is “the study of the way a country’s size, position etc. influence its power and its relationships with other countries” and also “political activity as influenced by the physical features of a country or area of the world”. Using those definitions then, most history students will notice they’ve been studying history using geopolitics without even realising.

Sociology is also critical to a deeper understanding of historical periods, as “the study of the development, structure, and functioning human society” and “the study of social problems”. This is more obvious when directly dealing with ‘social history’ however is an important consideration when studying history. After all, the study of history would be very difficult if not for the development of different societies across the ages.

Language and literature are undoubtedly crucial to the study of history. The way language develops can tell a historian about the movement of people, and the way dialects evolve within a language over time. Literature can be used to understand popular opinion (or at least the opinions of writers) in a particular period, as a writer is always influenced by their surroundings. Looking at literary sources is often a good way of getting a different view to traditional history – literature written by educated individuals is not necessarily the picture of a period given by official documents and accounts.

Law is another subject that can be used in the study of history, however perhaps not as much as those subjects mentioned before. When new policies or leadership are introduced, the laws of a people may also change. It is by studying those changes that interesting conclusions can be made about the thoughts and feelings of (at least those in an official capacity) in a country at any given time.

History is the study of the past, but it is certainly not a subject on its own. Just as other subjects need their histories to be understood properly, History needs other subjects to be more deeply understood. For this reason, Aberystwyth University has a range of Joint Honours courses available, to study History alongside some of these linked subjects, details of which can be found here.