History is not created equal. There are some aspects of modern history – for example, the Holocaust, the World Wars and the Industrial Revolution – that most are very familiar with. This familiarity does not, unfortunately, lie within smaller ideas, especially regarding the growth of minority groups or history that was never discussed in educational facilities (medical history, for example). Thus the question arises: what is it that makes some parts of history more memorable than others? Is it the violence, or the interesting tension and drama? The answer, however, is… not quite. While a human interest in history can add to its impact, it is the concept behind the idea – the simplicity of it – that bears the weight of its importance. Major changes in history (notably wars) are easier to recall due to the overarching concepts that ultimately reveal that the event was a cause of change. These events are easy to follow and simply exude so much importance and purpose; it feels, arguably, that being clueless about them is a disadvantage.
To begin, a few important aspects in the memorability of an event is how drastic it appears to be, how easy it is to understand and, of course, its emotional appeal. For instance, many people are informed about the basic structure of the Holocaust – Adolf Hitler, his rise, and desire for racial purity, the concentration camps, and the brutal murder of millions of innocent Jews. The key word in the previous sentence was “millions”. The huge number of people whom the Holocaust affected gives it a separate and unique identity in the brains of many, simply because it was so big. As the Holocaust is also an umbrella to a bigger part of German social change, it is easy to generalize and remember. The negative connotation of the word and the simplicity in the concept of hurting innocent people to prove a point makes the idea of the Holocaust effortless to recall. Based on a simple analysis of human nature, there is nothing absurd about the underlying concept of the Holocaust – what is absurd is the lengths that the Nazis went to ultimately achieve and prove their concept. On top of this, Gizmodo states, “In order for us to exhibit this enhanced memory phenomenon, it seems critical that we feel a sense of personal or cultural connection to the event that results in a strong emotional reaction.” When discussing the Holocaust, the most common and powerful reaction within the average person is sympathy. The atrocities committed during the Holocaust are so inexplicably horrible that learning about the event – even once – can commit it to memory. Of course, if an historical event acts like an emotional catalyst, is easy to remember and is obviously crucial to history itself, it mentally registers itself in one’s mind as something that should be remembered. Clearly, the action and scale of an event combined with its ability to induce a passionate emotional response makes it much more memorable than the average history lesson. Humans are compelled to find importance in and prioritize the event within their memories because it is portrayed as worthy of such attention.
Similarly, another crucial contributor in the integration of history into our minds is trends. Common patterns between ideas make them easier to recall. A popular example of this theory is visible within the World Wars and their impact on the United States. World War 1 completely transformed America’s economy, making it exponentially stronger due to the excessive war-time demand. In fact, this was the war that made the United States a crucial creditor nation, rapidly shifting away from its previous state as a struggling debtor nation. To the average person, this information – the economic impacts of World War 1 on America – might not be worth remembering. However, when examined a little closer, it becomes clear that World War 2 displayed the same pattern. It dragged the United States’ economy out of the depths of poverty, unemployment and instability thrown upon it by the Great Depression. Wartime demand didn’t just recover the American economy – it transformed it into a superpower. Due to the repetition of this wartime boom, this becomes a very easy fact to remember. The trend becomes a point of association for the mind, making it easy to connect finance to both the wars and thus recall the specifics as well.
In conclusion, the parts of history that are engraved into the minds of most are powerful because of four main things: their simplicity, their subjective importance based on how the concept is presented, their emotional appeal, and occasionally trends that are impossible not to commit to memory. In history, the events are not what define themselves; the ideas, concepts, and emotions behind that are what illuminate their relevance.
