What is the benefit of historical studies for the process of creating tactics and strategies in foreign policy?
Upvote:0
"Was die Erfahrung aber und die Geschichte lehren, ist dieses, daß Völker und Regierungen niemals etwas aus der Geschichte gelernt und nach Lehren, die aus derselben zu ziehen gewesen wären, gehandelt haben." (Hegel)
Upvote:2
Ever heard the phrase 'generals are always fighting the last war'? It's poignant applied to France and Britain's strategy during the Second World War, when they assumed, based on WW1, that the advantage would always be to the side using a defensive strategy. That's why they constructed the 'Maginot Line' and refused to attack Germany.
Have you heard the proverb 'the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there'? This has the opposite lesson to Hegel's dictum which was posted above: that you can't just assume that the present is 'like' the past and use it to teach you lessons about what to do.
I can't give a definitive answer to a broad question like this: In other words, what is the benefit of retrospective analysis for dealing with the future on a political level?
It varies. A lot. Someone who draws the wrong lessons from history may suffer as much as he who learns nothing from it. How do you know for certain what lessons are wrong? I wish I knew.
More post
- 📝 What did the Russian ambassador to Japan do during his trip to London?
- 📝 Why was Nixon never tried for treason for allegedly sabotaging the 1968 Peace Talks?
- 📝 Where did Carlson's Raiders get Boys anti-tank rifles in 1942 and why?
- 📝 When was the idea of a unified India conceived?
- 📝 What role did the media have in the outcome of the "Arab Spring" revolt in Tunisia?
- 📝 Why didn't British colonists in Canada join the American revolution?
- 📝 Did the Germans fuel the general's purge?
- 📝 Why does the USA only have two political parties?
- 📝 Is the position of women as portrayed in the Mad Men series historically accurate?
- 📝 Do Pashtuns belong to Greek heritage?
- 📝 What is the original provenance of Lincoln's "of the people, by the people, for the people" and why is Wikipedia so confused?
- 📝 What class / type of ship was the "Dragon" from Rotterdam c. 1732?
- 📝 Can you identify this Soviet uniform from the 1970s to ~90s
- 📝 Which was the first civilization to ban slavery?
- 📝 What is the reasoning behind these huge numbers for participants in the Battle of Grunwald 1410?
- 📝 Was Napoleon as short as "common knowledge" states?
- 📝 What was the context of this famous Genghis Khan quote?
- 📝 What was the average size of French families during the Middle Ages?
- 📝 Columbian exchange in European grades K-12
- 📝 In medieval England was heresy dealt with in the king's courts or church courts?
- 📝 Why were submarines not made sound proof?
- 📝 Why isn't there a single trace of Germanic influence in Iberian Languages?
- 📝 Why did Burgers' Transvaal try to build rail east?
- 📝 What were the circumstances surrounding Forrest's injury at Shiloh?
- 📝 What are some other celebrated military failures, besides Gallipoli?
- 📝 How common are historical instances of mercenary armies reversing and attacking their employing country?
- 📝 How did the Jats come to own so much land in North West India?
- 📝 How would residents of Central Slovakia travel to seaports in 1880's?
- 📝 Why did conquered countries after WWII recover, but countries conquered later continue suffering?
- 📝 When did chairs with arms and backs develop in Europe?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the benefit of historical studies for the process of creating tactics and strategies in foreign policy?
- 📝 What are the historical reasons for religious and political negative attitudes towards h*m*sexuality?
- 📝 What is the historical evidence for asserting Huns were one and the same as Xiongnu?
- 📝 What is the historical name(s) for area between Syria and Mesopotamia?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the Exodus?
- 📝 What is the historical basis for the claim that "Taiwan has always been part of China"?
- 📝 What was the shortest time between a historical event occuring and a museum opening dedicated to said event?
- 📝 What is the primary source for this quote by Julius Caesar's on Celts and Germans?
- 📝 What historical reasons did the Nazis give for hating the Jews? How did they identify non-practicing Jews?
- 📝 What historical evidence is there for the existence of Jesus Christ? What do we know about him?
- 📝 What was the original process for becoming a US citizen?
- 📝 What is the historical reason for 18 years being the most commonly accepted age of adulthood?
- 📝 What are the most comprehensive historical references for ancient India?
- 📝 What were the original casualty projections for Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
- 📝 What are the historical reasons for the conventional map orientation?
- 📝 What historical evidence do we have for the existence of Mohammed?
- 📝 What was the primary motivation for a historical figure like Xenophon to create an extensive collection of written material?
- 📝 Historical examples and numbers for the value of ‘Jizya’ levied by Muslim states
- 📝 What was the motivation for the Church of England to begin recording births, marriages and deaths in 1538?
- 📝 How difficult was Muraviev's amassing of troops for the forcing of the Treaty of Aigun, and what effects on development did it have?
- 📝 What Land Runs were there in the U.S., and were the Indians paid for their land?
- 📝 What is "discovery" in the historical sense? How do historians today view and describe "discoveries"?
- 📝 What were conditions like for Chinese men subject to recruitment by the army during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War?
- 📝 What is the term for a person who surveys the land and relays messages from a noble to his governed village?
- 📝 What was the process for the Japanese to sign up for the Kamikaze suicide program?
- 📝 What were Helfrich's orders for Doorman in 1942 prior to the Battle of the Java Sea, and did he comment on these in later life?
- 📝 What is the nature of questions that can be answered by historical sources and methods?
- 📝 What is the source for the Arabic name of the penguin and when it is first used?
- 📝 What is the historical relationship between Yule and Christmas?
- 📝 What were the requirements for Iron Cross first and second class?