Why do you people like history? How did you first get interested in it?

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To understand the present you must know the past.

I had a somewhat eccentric history teacher who would always go on huge tangents. He was a really interesting person and, despite being an actually terrible teacher, would always get good exam results. He was never afraid to hide his opinion but wasn't dogmatic. He would also shout and terrify you if you misbehaved.
He once went off on a tangent about going off on tangents.

Think Hector from The History Boys but minus the touching boys bit.

Escapism.
Also for arguments, for instance monarchs wanting to connect to earlier leaders, warriors et.c.

It’s crazier than any fiction because it actually happened
The stories of old can be told and retold for endless enjoyment

This.

This. I was an extremely anxious child, but instead of acting out like some faggot I redirected it into curiosity about the world, especially the past, which just seemed fascinating. Going with my family to see colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown and Plymouth plantation really galvanized my interest, along with collecting little tin army men. Interest in battles, exotic costumes, maps gave way into a broader appreciation for the humanities in high school and college. Now I'm a graduate student with a BA in history/Russian, mostly focused on cultural/intellectual history. Funny how being fascinated with little painted tin men can lead to that.

I grew up in Mississippi and got the full lost cause interpretation of the civil war from my rural high school. I remember watching Gone with the WInd in history class and being told that it was a fairly accurate portrayal of the era.

I had ancestors who fought for the Confederacy and my family are proud of this. The house I grew up in had a rebel flag out front. I believed the civil war wasn't about slavery and was states rights/tariffs, and that the south left the union to preserve limited government. That changed when I went to university for a degree in history. Reading first hand sources from southerners pretty much killed my lost cause sympathies. Ever since then I've been interested in history and how perceptions of history are shaped and changed throughout time.

Got into politics and wanted to know how we got to this point. Seeing everything fall into place was cool. One side effect is that I no longer like politics as much, but that’s probably a good thing.

First went into school in Virginia where every teacher had a boner for pulling out battle maps of the Revolutionary War and the Civil War, and apparently I also became obsessed with Rome after reading a book on ancient engineering.
During Middle School I read a World History textbook for a 'read a long book' thing.

Seeing things fall into place or connect is one of my favorite parts as well.

In regards to politics, I wouldn't say history taught me to like it, but it did get me to pay closer attention to the world around me. I love analyzing recent political speeches like I do primary sources.

I started playing EU4 and got more and more interested in the countries i was playing

y*nkee LARPer detected

no southern public school teaches the civil war that way

When i was a kid, around 6 or 7, in 2004, we didn't had a good pc, we had a really old one, with win97 lol. So the only games that we could run where old strategy games or emulators from sega and such.

My parents bought us Age of Empires 2. Loved that game so much, it sparked my interest in history since then. Im 20 now and studying to become a history teacher.

if I liked history I wouldn't be on Veeky Forums

My dad was the world champion at an obscure little wargame called World in Flames. When I was about 8 years old, he started teaching me the game, and being a champ against a child, he crushed me effortlessly when I was learning the rules.

I started studying up on WW2 history to have some idea what I was doing in that phase where I knew how to make moves and play the game but not have any idea what I was doing. After all, mimicking what people historically did couldn't be too bad, right? I don't even remember what the first book I picked up was, but I remember enjoying reading it thoroughly, and then I got a few more, and I liked them too, and then I got into history in general.

I read some WW2 history books, played with toy soldiers (Counted casualties by breaking them), and got into hetalia.

I was really into fantasy novels as a kid. Started with Redwall and The Hobbit, worked my way up. One time when I was in the library I picked up a copy of "The Middle Ages" by Morris Bishop. After finishing it, I had the twin realization that the past was a foreign country, but that the people living in that country were still more or less like us. It's been my favorite place to visit ever since.

truu

Did you ever beat him?

I got a 10 (full score) from my history test at the start of 8th grade in school despite not really practicing for it. Till that point I did not care about the subject at all and didn't give a fuck what kind of number I was going to get at the end of the school year. But somehow getting that good number witouth much effort made me realise that I could get fulls from the coming tests and so I started listening during classes and made my own research. One time I even read through the school history book cause it was so interesting. Not to mention the fact that the next subject we talked about was about was WW2, arguably one of the most interesting parts of our history.
Then I started playing grand strategy games, reading books, watching videos and movies on history etc.
History is just full of interesting tales and bigger than life moments.

It's cool to know how things have been and how they influenced the world today

>How did you first get interested in it?
read horrible histories as a kid, expanded from there

Went to college in North Carolina, they very much so teach history this way. Everyone I met from nc believed the states rights, war of yankee aggression bullshit. Was pretty mind blowing, got into serious arguments

To all regarding the US Civil War.
The Southern States were not the 1st to propose leaving the USA and forming their Country. Several New England States threaten to do the same thing if they did not get their way about 30 years earlier.

PLUS you Yankee poorly educated People need to Google the "GHOST AMENDMENT" aka "The Corwin Amendment".

Where two Yankee politicians (Ohio & NY) wrote and got it approved by Congress and the US President a US Constitutional amendment to allow the South & North to keep Slaves . If they stayed in the USA.

The Lincoln Gettysburg Speech was almost 2 years after the war started.

Plus the Union had 3 states that kept slaves all thru the War.

So was it Slavery , Federal Northern favoring Taxation, vs state rights opposing Federal Gov. dictatorship.

I think war is retarded and so got to studying all the things surrounding conflict to get a better understanding of why we kill each other. My country used to be run by people /pol/ tards lie about all the time, decided read up on them and all the nonsense /pol/ talks about to find the truth.

Also, History is more exciting than what's on TV.

Never in a full game, (Those take a long time), but I've beaten him in some shorts and these days he generally acknowledges I'm a stronger player. But that's with some 15+ years of practice

It’s interesting to see the reasons why society today is the way that it is. Also it’s fascinating to me that my life is so drastically different than 99% of humans who have ever lived. I like looking at old photographs and thinking that every person had their own life, dreams, fears, struggles, happiness, etc.

I got interested in it mainly through reading the Bible during church to avoid actually listening to the sermon. Also going to civil war battlefields with my dad since he’s always liked history

This is also a good answer

From Mississippi also. Can confirm this is true. All I've ever heard is "slaves", not once anything about state's rights.

Grew up in and go to Uni in Michigan. I've had so many teachers and professors who disagree on the causes.

Always pretended to sleep next to my father on couch while he was watching documentaries about the third reich

When I was like 6 I had a book about the history of flight, started with the Icharus story until present day. It fascinated me. Guess it's just a natural inclination on my part.

side note: I have a professor from Mississippi who strongly argues against the Lost Cause

Keep up these stories, they are giving me feels

I am just here for the roman memes to be honest.

just for the hell of it, i read a book my father read when he was a boy, "Lest Darkness Fall."

it's about a man who accidentally goes back in time and tries to prevent the Dark Ages. and it made me interested in what happened earlier (roman empire). so i read about that next.

and the rest is history.

Vidya, movies, horrible histories and other books found in the library.