‘Much of the chaos in today’s world arises not because we forget history but because we seek to relive or reverse it’
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
In March 2025, a wave of textbook revisions such as omitting or vilifying figures like Babur and Aurangzeb while glorifying select native rulers, coincided with rising public anger demanding the renaming or even destruction of Mughal tombs. There were viral campaigns that called for vandalising historical monuments, driven by narratives that paint centuries of India’s past in black and white. While advocates claim that such moves correct colonial or biased portrayals, the selective rewriting of history often fuels polarisation, not clarity. When history becomes a battleground for ideology rather than a source of reflection, it can fracture society and foster hatred instead of understanding.
The discipline of history demands a careful and nuanced discernment of the past. It is not merely a recollection of events but a study of causes, consequences and context. However, when history is weaponised in the form of revisionism, especially with an intent to restore a perceived lost glory or correct historical wrongs by reverting to a “status quo ante”, it ceases to be a guide for the present and becomes a tool for division.
Such revisionist exercises are not only dangerous but have been the root of conflicts, wars and prolonged suffering across different parts of the world. The grundnorm of this discussion is that while historical wrongs must be remembered to avoid their repetition, they must not be interpreted as mandates to reclaim past statuses or boundaries. Much of the chaos in today’s world arises not because we forget history but because we seek to relive or reverse it.
Revisionism versus reckoning
It is important to distinguish revisionist history from historical reinterpretation. Reinterpretation is a legitimate academic exercise, where new evidence or perspectives reshape our understanding of the past. Revisionist history, however, especially in the political sense, seeks to reinterpret the past to justify present-day political agendas, often tied to nationalism, identity politics, or territorial claims. This has been evident in various religious and political conflicts, such as the Crusades, which were themselves sparked by the belief in the sanctity of Christian control over Jerusalem. The First Crusade (1096–1099) was launched ostensibly to reclaim the Holy Land from Muslim rule, despite the region’s diverse religious history. What followed were centuries of bloodshed, occupation, and retaliatory campaigns, none of which restored any meaningful peace but, instead, deepened divisions between civilisations. It is a classic example of trying to correct a perceived historical wrong through a violent reversal — not reconciliation.
The European Wars of Religion in the 16th and 17th centuries, such as the Thirty Years’ War, further demonstrate the dangers of historical grievances being revived under the banner of religious or political legitimacy. The Protestant Reformation challenged centuries of Catholic dominance in Europe, leading to a brutal struggle to “restore” previous religious hegemonies. The outcome was catastrophic: millions perished, economies were ruined, and societies were devastated. Here again, the danger was not in recognising the grievances of the past but in weaponising them to reshape the present based on historical constructs. Rather than moving forward with mutual tolerance and understanding, European States plunged backward into a cycle of vengeance, each side justifying their acts through selective memories of the past.
Twentieth century examples
Perhaps the most infamous example of dangerous revisionism is Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler’s ideology rested heavily on the notion of reclaiming the glory of the German Reich and correcting the “humiliation” of the Treaty of Versailles. His rhetoric about the Aryan past, the “stab in the back” theory, and a need for Lebensraum (living space) were all rooted in a highly manipulated version of history. The attempt to reverse the outcome of the First World War by restoring German supremacy led to the Second World War and the Holocaust — a catastrophic result of trying to reengineer history through conquest and genocide.
Similarly, the Partition of India in 1947 was marked by competing historical narratives — Hindu and Muslim nationalists invoked centuries of grievances under previous rulers. What should have been a peaceful transition into two sovereign States turned into one of the worst episodes of communal violence in history, killing over a million and displacing more than 10 million. The violence was not about the future; it was about reclaiming identities and rights rooted in selective versions of the past.
In the contemporary world, Israel-Palestine remains a deeply complex and tragic case of historical grievances clashing with present-day geopolitics. Both Israelis and Palestinians stake claims based on history — often diverging, irreconcilable, and deeply emotional. Efforts to reverse history, whether through settlements, territorial claims, or denial of nationhood, have prolonged a conflict that cannot be resolved by appealing solely to the past.
In Eastern Europe, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was partly justified by revisionist arguments about the historical unity of the Russian and Ukrainian people and the invalidity of Ukraine’s post-Soviet independence. This attempt to undo post-Cold War borders in the name of historical continuity has led to massive human suffering, economic crises, and a destabilisation of the entire region.
History as a teacher
History should be a teacher, and not a template. The purpose of understanding past wrongs is to ensure they are never repeated — not to demand restitution through acts that recreate the very conflict that they seek to avenge. The obsession with returning to a perceived golden past blinds nations and people to the opportunities of the present and the possibilities of the future. As philosopher George Santayana aptly put it: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But equally dangerous are those who remember the past only to relive it, seeking justice through reversal, not reconciliation. The greatest service we can do to history is not to rewrite it, but to learn from it — with humility, not hubris.
K. Kannan is Senior Counsel/mediator and a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court
Published – April 15, 2025 12:16 am IST