Capella University
HIM-FPX 1150
Professor Name
November 2024
Historical Analysis
Historical analysis is a purposeful study of past occurrences to predict the cause-and-effect relationships and context. This analysis comes with the need to review both primary and secondary sources of information and historical events to provide an objective narration and interpretation of future events (Marist.edu, 2020). That is why historical analysis which helps to find the main trends in the development of societies, and their social, political, economic, and cultural changes is critical. Through history, we see how people act and react, organize, and form institutions, leading to the current global problems, and preventing the making of similar blunders.
Credibility of Sources
This is particularly central in examining history as a form of analysis to guarantee the credibility of the source of information and accordingly ascertain proper historicity. They are sources like original documents; letters; official records; and any other records by people who either directly or indirectly witnessed events or incidents. According to the U.S. National Archives, primary sources are invaluable because they do not include opinions or interpretations from the present time, and history students can evaluate things by using information that was available during the particular event for example, speeches or policy records during the World War II are the primary sources that show intentions, strategies, and feelings of people during that time.
Secondary evidences which include scholarly books, journals, and history articles give backgrounds as well as analyzes accounts of primary materials. From the Library of Congress, secondary sources are particularly important in historical studies because they aggregate, analyze, and synthesize primary data from different angles to enrich the researcher’s perspective. A historian for instance when researching the Industrial Revolution would use secondary sources which attempt to explain changes in the economy, conditions of work, and the rise of technologies. It is suggested that, when assessing the credibility of both, the characteristics such as the authorship, the publication source, or possible bias in frequently employed to guarantee the accuracy of the given information.
Impact of Historical Events
Social changes have occurred in the past in manners that influence political, cultural, and international interactions. For example, technological advancements such as the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries shifted labor relations and practices, social classes, and the economic rates of growth from an agrarian form of economy to an industrial way of economy (Npr.org, 2019). The second global conflict cut political, social, and financial changes as fundamental systems of commitments, national identities, and technological advancements. The American Historical Association notes that it is possible to fix those events to better understand what societies have done in the face of change; further, the occurrence of change at various periods also defines how those periods are linked and can impact future ones. It is through such events that the social historian can interpret modern challenges and achievements arising from past experiences and thus explain present events.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is crucial to history to defend its results, categorize the sources, and make a definite conclusion. This means it focuses on giving a detailed consideration of the key assumptions and, as well, the available evidence and also embracing a consideration of the various perspectives regarding the happenings of history (Historymatters.gmu.edu, n.d.). Critical thinking also involves the ability to understand and establish bias, raise textual issues of concern about historical documents, and evaluate causality and motives in historical perspectives. According to Stanford University, critical thinking in historical writing makes historians not only search for facts but to look at deeper things like; culture, power, and social relations existing in society. This skill is more evident especially when researching sensitive issues since it can prevent the analysis from being reduced to simple binaries.
HIS FPX 1150 Assessment 1 Conclusion
To sum up, historical analysis of events is an important contribution to understanding past and present occurrences. Thus, utilizing credible sources, evaluating the prior effects, and applying the historicity of thinking historians assist the people in offering comprehensive histories that enlighten them. Looking at corroborated information and discussing the general consequences, seen from a historical perspective, enables an understanding of our past to guide the future (Historymatters.gmu.edu, n.d.). Historical analysis not only teaches society relevant lessons but also aids in the understanding of people’s character, society’s development, and the causes of change or stability in the world. All these are important factors of efficient historical analysis, which are met by the application of this approach.
HIS FPX 1150 Assessment 1 References
Historymatters.gmu.edu. (n.d.). “Sir I Will Thank You with All My Heart”: Seven Letters from the Great Migration. [online] Available at: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5332/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2020).
Marist.edu. (2020). On the Bank Crisis – March 12,1933. [online] Available
at: http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/031233.html.
Npr.org. (2019). NPR Choice page. [online] Available at: https://www.npr.org/2014/01/27/267145552/the-middle-class-took-off-100-years-ago-thanks-to-henry-ford.
