5 ms·

History is written by the... victors. It's not surprising to get a single-sided story when the other side didn't care much about leaving written detailed record

by yawz 10y ago

History is written by the... victors. It's not surprising to get a single-sided story when the other side didn't care much about leaving written detailed records.

tonmoy 10y ago
The Huns were victors though, so the age old adage may need some updating
- wu-ikkyu 10y ago
  "History is written by the victors, unless the victors can't write."
- marcosdumay 10y ago
  Yep. History is written by... the people that cared to write it down. And Romans wrote a lot.
  - vetinari 10y ago
    That and the random chance of having your writings preserved through centuries. Burning down the libraries in not something unheard of.
    - clw8 10y ago
      Burning wasn't necessary. Most texts that weren't copied continuously were simply lost. Our oldest sources for written Chinese are on dinosaur bones -- but the script already had characters that clearly show they also wrote with pen on bamboo slips, but we don't have any surviving examples of that until the Classical Chinese era.
- Spooky23 10y ago
  Not really. In my mind, they won the battle but lost the war. It all depends on your point of view. If you look over the last millennia, the Huns didn't leave a lot of legacy beyond finishing off the corpse of Western Roman Empire, which wasn't really an empire then anyway. Their culture was absorbed and we only know of them because of that. End of the day, they were ultimately just another band of warlords.
- mason240 10y ago
  They lost at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains and were driven from Roman lands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plai...
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qordoba 10y ago
History is written by other side as well. Unfortunately layman does not bother to read/listen alternatives.
- slang800 10y ago
  Historians have no problem incorporating reliable documents written by the "other side". You just have to understand the context that it was written in. However, all the "alternative" history I've looked at has ended up being fan fiction, with no real supporting evidence.
mason240 10y ago
A common refrain hurled by those completely ignorant of how historiography works.
- dang 10y ago
  Please don't post snarky dismissals to HN. It sounds like you know a lot about history. If someone is wrong, explain why, so we all learn something. Putting other people down because they don't know as much as you doesn't belong in thoughtful conversation. This applies to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13940423 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13940423 too.

by yawz 10y ago

History is written by the... victors. It's not surprising to get a single-sided story when the other side didn't care much about leaving written detailed records.

tonmoy 10y ago

The Huns were victors though, so the age old adage may need some updating

wu-ikkyu 10y ago
"History is written by the victors, unless the victors can't write."
marcosdumay 10y ago
Yep. History is written by... the people that cared to write it down. And Romans wrote a lot.
- vetinari 10y ago
  That and the random chance of having your writings preserved through centuries. Burning down the libraries in not something unheard of.
  - clw8 10y ago
    Burning wasn't necessary. Most texts that weren't copied continuously were simply lost. Our oldest sources for written Chinese are on dinosaur bones -- but the script already had characters that clearly show they also wrote with pen on bamboo slips, but we don't have any surviving examples of that until the Classical Chinese era.
Spooky23 10y ago
Not really. In my mind, they won the battle but lost the war. It all depends on your point of view. If you look over the last millennia, the Huns didn't leave a lot of legacy beyond finishing off the corpse of Western Roman Empire, which wasn't really an empire then anyway. Their culture was absorbed and we only know of them because of that. End of the day, they were ultimately just another band of warlords.
mason240 10y ago
They lost at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains and were driven from Roman lands. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plains https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Catalaunian_Plai...

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qordoba 10y ago

History is written by other side as well. Unfortunately layman does not bother to read/listen alternatives.

slang800 10y ago
Historians have no problem incorporating reliable documents written by the "other side". You just have to understand the context that it was written in. However, all the "alternative" history I've looked at has ended up being fan fiction, with no real supporting evidence.

mason240 10y ago

A common refrain hurled by those completely ignorant of how historiography works.

dang 10y ago
Please don't post snarky dismissals to HN. It sounds like you know a lot about history. If someone is wrong, explain why, so we all learn something. Putting other people down because they don't know as much as you doesn't belong in thoughtful conversation. This applies to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13940423 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13940423 too.