After World War Two ended the Nazis were on trial at Nuremberg. Some of them tried to argue they were just following orders. That argument did not work and should not have.
But here is something worth thinking about. If Germany had won that war those trials would not have happened. And the history books written in a world where Germany won would have told a very different story about what happened in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s.
That is not a comfortable thought. But it is an important one.
History is not just what happened. History is what people with the power to record and preserve information decided to write down and keep. And the people with that power have always had reasons to shape the story in ways that served their interests.
How This Has Worked Throughout History
When European colonizers wrote the history of their conquests they described it as exploration and civilization. The perspective of the people being conquered was not included in those accounts. Their version of events did not make it into the history books that got taught in schools for centuries.
When the Confederacy lost the Civil War former Confederate leaders spent decades building what historians call the Lost Cause narrative. They reshaped the story of the war from being about slavery to being about states rights and Southern honor. They built statues and named schools after Confederate generals. They got textbooks in Southern states changed to reflect their version of events. That rewriting influenced what generations of American schoolchildren were taught about their own history.
When corporations face accountability for environmental damage or worker deaths they hire lawyers and communications teams to shape the historical narrative around those events. The official record reflects what was proven in court and what got into the news. It does not always reflect what actually happened.
How to Spot It When It Is Happening Now
Look for who is missing from the story. Every time you read a historical account or a news story ask yourself whose perspective is not represented. Who was affected by these events but is not quoted. Whose experience of what happened is not being described.
Look for what is being emphasized and what is being minimized. When a story is told there are always choices about what to include and what to leave out. Those choices reveal what the teller wants you to take away from the story.
Look for who benefits from this version of events. If a particular telling of history makes one group look good and another group look bad it is worth asking who had the power to write that version down and what they had to gain from it.
Look for the emotions it is designed to produce. History written to make you angry at one group or proud of another without giving you the full picture is usually history that has been shaped for a purpose.
None of this means that all history is fake or that you cannot trust any account. It means that every account of history is told from a perspective and that perspective shapes what gets included. Knowing that makes you a better reader of history not a worse one.
The most honest thing you can do with history is read multiple accounts. Seek out perspectives that were left out. And stay curious about what might be missing from the version you were given first.
Robert Lee Beers III is a writer and digital preservation advocate based in North Charleston South Carolina.
