> John Lukacs used to tell us is that we "must consider the battle of Salamis as if the Persians might still win." Meaning that you want to understand what hap

> John Lukacs used to tell us is that we "must consider the battle of Salamis as if the Persians might still win." Meaning that you want to understand what happens in 1633, you can't consider things learned in 1687 or 1803. The mid-17th century had no clear concept of inertia, of gravitation, of forces, etc.; So basically we should avoid to do any kind of anachronism, which people do as well, while interpreting historical events or even worse historical figures.