History is not created only by ‘the People” or by great individual leaders written about in the history books, but I believe that history creates them. Throughout history people’s minds have been shaped by history and then they change the history. These two things, the people of the world and history, form a cycle. One leads to another. History as shown us that history shapes the future years, for better or worse. Another aspect of this question is that do ‘the people’ create the individuals? All of these questions form a cycle of ways to look at which creates which. In reality, one couldn’t be created without the other.
In shortened terms, history is everything that has happened before right now, important or trivial. The important individuals that have made their mark on history and the rest of the population all have their own influence on history. History isn’t just the major events; history is made up of everything. The individuals throughout history have presented great ideas and really changed the world, but the rest of the population, or ‘the people’, are the ones who can make their ideas a reality. Without the great individuals and ‘the people’ history wouldn’t have any of the great breakthroughs. If not for many leaders like Muhammad Gandhi, Thomas Jefferson, and other big figures in history, the history of the world would never be what it is, but with the people who they influence are the ones who make their visions come true, so in reality history is made up of a combination of these two things, the individuals and ‘the people’.
Mankind has look back to history for centuries. We look to find answers to problems that exist today. Looking back into history has altered the minds of people which turn them into the people that they become. Martin Luther King Jr. looked back to the Declaration of Independence and got his views that all men are created equal. Then look at how many people look back at Martin Luther King’s ideas and bring them into today’s world. Everything that has been done in the past can bring something new to the future. Ideas in today’s world may soon affect people’s outlook for years to come. The ideas of the population can be altered and can make normal people become heroes in the hearts of many with just looking to the past.
On the other hand, ‘the people’ can also form the great leaders of the world. Countless important people throughout world history are affected and grow from the environment they are born into and grow up in, for better or worse. The environment that Adolph Hitler grew into led him to have a hate for the Jewish people. The popular opinion can have a huge affect on people’s individual mind. The main population can also create great leaders. Going back to Martin Luther King Jr., the environment he grew up in while being suppressed because of racism caused him to have strong opinions that won over the hearts of Americans and started the civil rights movement which changed the face of America and the world forever (Wikipedia).
History is sculpted from all angles and even the slightest change in anything can totally rearrange history forever. History truly does hang by a thread in that sense. If not for the ideas on the colonists in America that initiated the Revolutionary War against England and won, picture the world today, none of the ideas created by America would ever be put to good use throughout the world. One small event in the war that could have been taken back and changed may totally change the world forever. If not for the European renaissance, the artists of today may never have been inspired to create the paintings that they have, if not for the industrial revolution today’s major corporations may not have been created (History-world.). The world hangs in the balance of people learning from history, and then those people making history through their ideas and actions.
The public can also help to create history without just influencing the major individuals throughout history. The public can do many things by boycotting something, rioting, or other things. The African Americans inspired by Rosa Parks refusal to sit on the back of the bus cause the people of the area to boycott the bus service which helped in the struggling the civil rights movement (Wikipedia).
In the Revolutionary War, the public took part in the Boston Tea Party which was one of the first major acts to oppose the England rule in America. Europeans helped to oppose the rule of Julius Caesar which eventually led to the assignation of him, freeing Rome from his rule. The public has a very important role throughout history but at time is forgotten about because the majority of people focus only on the big leaders. The public is the responsible for world changing events like electing a president every year. The public is largely responsible for all transactions initiated by leaders around the world, and without ‘the people’ their efforts would be futile. Individuals throughout history have had their minds altered by other great leaders, past poems or documents, the public opinion, or other factors but in some way, the history has formed their ideas based on previous events, and history is made up of those great individuals and the population. History has a way of going through a cycle between creating great leaders and new public ideas, and then those people they create shaping new portions of history, and the cycle just keeps on repeating. This cycle is what allows the world to move forward by learning from the past to create a better future for everyone. The ideas created by past leaders still is in the minds of people today, whether it’s that all men are equal, slaves are wrong, or another issue that has been resolved based on the timeless values given by inspiring voices throughout history, without which the world would be different.
Works Cited
1. "African-American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) -." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Web. 20 Feb. 2010.
2. "History of the Renaissance in Europe: A rebirth, renewal, rediscovery." World History International: World History Essays From Prehistory To The Present. Web. 20 Feb. 2010.
3. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rosaparks.jpg
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