What Is History?

History is a very important part of our lives. It tells us more about the past and we learn more cultures. There are four types of history: linear history, cyclic history, Hegel history, and vortex history. Linear history is like a timeline giving the dates and what happened during that time period. Cyclic history is a theory that dictates that the major forces that motivate human actions return in a cycle. Hegel history is thesis= antithesis= synthesis. Vortex history is cyclical behavior. How something becomes big and the goes small. These are all valuable to history.

I think that the most valuable type of history is the linear history. I like this one because it puts the history all in order which makes it easy to understand. It goes in a timeline and a timeline has dates and tells you what happened during that date or time period. When you look at a timeline it is almost like a schedule of the past. Everything is in order with a date and it gives information on what happened. It is very easy to follow because it is just a straight line with dates on it. When something important happened on that day they draw a line and put the information there so you can see when it happened, what happened before it, and what happened after it. Usually the timeline is a category. Like there might be a separate timeline all about one subject. For example there is a timeline all about Roman history. The first year is 753BC and it says mythical founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus. The last year is 1453AD and it says Byzantine empire defeated by Ottoman Turks. Between these two years are a lot of different years and different things that happened on those days. Also there can be a timeline about someone's life. It usually will start with the day they were born and end with the day they died. I think this is the easiest way to look at history. Everything is just put out right in front of me and all I have to do is read them.

One man Karl Marx said that linear history is a two dimensional linear chain of events. He thought that since history was linear and predictable he thought he was able to predict what will happen. He thought that all the stages of history would eventually come together and make a perfect end and there will be no more change after that. He thought that capitalism will end and communism will succeed. This way every one will have the same everything and he thinks that this would be perfect. In one way he could be going somewhere with him thinking that he can predict the future. Because everything goes in time order we can look at how the timeline of the world has gotten better. Technology has gotten better, we have found out more things about mankind. and we have improved our ways of living. All these things will get better because you can't lose the technology we have. For example since the light bulb was invented after that more types of lights were invented and improved. There is no way that that invention will just go away because we all know about it. It can only be changed and improved.

Linear history is the series of events going in order. There are different stages of history and they all follow each other. This is why you can easily use timelines to show linear history. Because when everything goes in order it is easy to lay out with dates and time periods. Linear history does not go back and forth and it does not repeat itself. It just all goes in order. A timeline will start with a date and end with a date. Everything in between will bring the two points together and tell you what happened and how you got from the first date to the second date. It goes in order. It doesn't repeat dates or time periods because in realuty that is impossible. Years can not repeat themsleves which means dates and time periods can not repeat themleslves. And we will never go back into something like the stone age because the Earth has matured and we have found out more technology and in the Stone Age they had no technology like we do. The only thing that can happen from here is ther future and we can't go down from here. We won't lose any technology we have. The only thing that will happen is that we will improve technology and get more inventions that can help humankind.

I think this theory works best for many reasons. First of all timelines are the easiest way to read history and find out what you need to know. They are much easier than reading a whole summary or essay or book. All you have to do is figure out what you are searching for and you can easily find a timeline on that topic. Then if you need a specific date you can easily find it almost like a calender. When you see the captions over the dates in tells you exactly what happens and it goes right to the point. It doesn't go into a lot of detail and it saves lot of time. And if you do need a lot of detail once you find it one the timeline you can go look for an article on it and it will be easier to find because you know a little bit about it and you will know when it happened. This is the easiest way for me to look at history and it makes the most sense. The man Karl Marx had a good point how history goes in time sequence. But he's a bit crazy for thinking he could predict how the world will end. I think it will go on and keep changing and not just end in communism. Also I don't think communism would be perfect I like having diversity and different classes. It would be bad if you were rich and lived in communism because you have to go down to everyone else's level. Linear history makes the most sense because it says that everything happens in order and in stages. It makes a lot of sense because the world does not repeat time periods. For example the year 1567 will not happen again and not repeat itself. So history has to go in order. Linear history is a simple an easy way to describe history and I think it is the best type of history.

sources:

A detailed Summary of Karl Marx's theory of history." Direct essays. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. . http://www.directessays.com/viewpaper/36534.html

"Timeline." Answers. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. http://www.answers.com/topic/timeline

"Timeline of Roman History." History link 102. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. http://historylink102.com/Rome/roman-time-line.htm

picture from:

"One and Other Plinth timeline." Flickr. Web. 27 Jan. 2010. . http://www.flickr.com/photos/meg/3698746028/