The laws of history

Idiosyncratic observations on humanity’s crooked path

A questioner asked Charles Beard what history had taught him. The famous American historian replied,  “First, whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. Second, the mills of the gods grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small. Third, the bee fertilizes the flowers that it robs.” The questioner went away satisfied. But Beard was still thinking, and when he encountered his interlocutor a few days later, he added a fourth lesson. “When it gets dark enough you can see the stars.”

           Georges Clemenceau, the French premier during World War I, was informed that Woodrow Wilson, the American president, had issued a plan for peace, in fourteen points. Clemenceau, no fan of Wilson, reportedly observed that God had confined himself to ten commandments. And humans had broken all of those, Clemenceau added.

            In four decades of teaching, writing and thinking about history, I’ve inferred more lessons than Beard and fewer points than Wilson. Here I call them laws of history, but the first law—“There are no laws of history”—tips my hand that these laws are more suggestive than definitive. The subtitle of this post aims to convey my acknowledgment that these laws, such as they are, are simply my interpretations of the past. I used to call these “Brands’s Laws of History,” not wishing to burden any other historians with responsibility for them. But I now have a son who practices history, and I certainly don’t presume to speak for him. He speaks quite well for himself. So I’ve abandoned the family trademark while still relying on the reader to impute to me alone any deficiencies in what follows.  

1. There are no laws of history. (History isn’t physics, but neither is it pinball)

2. History is complicated. (For simple, see myth)

3. Great leaders have limited vision. (People who look too far ahead stumble over the present)

4. Nothing is inevitable till it happens. (Surrender hindsight if you seek historical understanding)

5. Sooner or later, countries get the foreign policies they can afford. (Poor countries bend to fate; rich countries try to change it)

6. Sex makes babies; war makes heroes. (Which is why humans are so attached to both)

7. Even monsters sleep well. (The human capacity for rationalization is boundless)

8. There are no heroes. (Only people who sometimes do heroic things)

9. You can’t fix the past. (It’s not broken. It’s a work in progress)

10. It’s not about you. (Ten thousand generations have come before you; more will follow)

The laws explicated:

1. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/the-laws-of-history

2. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/its-complicated

3. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/brandss-third-law-of-history-part;

   https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/brandss-third-law-of-history-part-8b5

4. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/brandss-4th-law-nothing-is-inevitable

5. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/brandss-5th-law;

   https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/brandss-5th-law-part-2-of-3;

   https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/brandss-5th-law-part-3-of-3

6. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/sex-makes-babies-war-makes-heroes;

   https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/why-wars-are-so-common; warhttps://hwbrands.substack.com/publish/post/46258906

7. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/even-monsters-sleep-well

8. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/there-are-no-heroes-only-people-who

9. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/9th-law-you-cant-fix-the-past

10. https://hwbrands.substack.com/p/10th-law-its-not-about-you