History conversation questions

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History

• What kind of history did you study in school - social, industrial, European, Asian, local …?
• How detailed was your study? Was there time to get into the details of what happened or did you just study a broad overview?
• What is the purpose of studying history? What practical benefit is it?
• George Santayana wrote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” What do you think it means? Do you think it is true?
• Did you only learn important dates in history by rote or did you study their context? If the former, do you still remember them? If the latter, do you think the context helps you remember better other details?
• Did you study only the history of your country or did you also study world history?
• How much contemporary history did you study?
• What aspects of history interest you most? Social history? Military history?
• Do you think it’s possible to isolate historical events or are they all related in some way?
• Winston Churchill said that history was written by the victors. Do you agree with that statement? If you do, then how reliable is the history that we study?
• What’s your opinion of historical novels? Do you think they are a good way to learn something about history or do you think they are pure fiction?
• Are there any particular figures from history whom you find particularly interesting? Who and why?
• Which historical time and place would you most like to visit for a holiday? What problems or dangers might you encounter?
• Although we live in the present our experiences will eventually become history. What things which have occurred over the last twenty years do you think will be recorded in the history books?
• Have you ever directly witnessed an event and later seen it recorded differently in the press? In what way was it different? Why do you think it was changed?
• What historical event would you make a movie about if you could?

See also

• Censorship conversation questions
• The media conversation questions
• Politics conversation questions
• Royalty conversation questions