Chapter 278: The Clash of Two Views of History

Chapter 278 – Collision of Two Views of History

“Heroes and Sage Kings?”

Paul was a bit surprised.

“That’s right! Only strong heroes and wise kings can lead their people to victory. Those major turning points in the vast history have proven this countless times.”

Mond Langdon smiled as he voiced his opinion, but he soon saw that Paul showed a noncommittal look.

“What? Count Greiman, don’t you agree with this point of view?”

Paul smiled and waved his hand and said, “It’s not that I don’t agree la, I’m not a scholar who studies history, and I don’t have my own conclusions on this aspect. But I have heard others talk about a viewpoint that is diametrically opposed to yours.”

“Oh? Please be more specific.”

“It might be better to call your view that only heroes and wise kings can lead the people to victory [Heroic View of History].”

Mond nodded, “Well, that’s an apt term.”

Paul continued, “And I’ve heard a [people’s view of history] from others.”

This time it was Mond Langdon who was taken aback, “A people’s view of history? What’s that about?”

Paul thought about it and finally copied the phrase as it was, “The people, and the people alone, are the driving force behind the creation of world history.”

To Paul’s surprise, Mond’s face didn’t immediately show opposition, but rather new curiosity, “Where does this viewpoint come from?”

Paul asked rhetorically, “Then how did you form your [heroic view of history]?”

“Isn’t it obvious? The mythological age is nebulous, and there are no credible historical sources, so let’s leave it at that. Let’s take the ancient Bella Empire as an example, before its establishment, mankind was under pressure from alien races from all directions, it was under the leadership and conquest of Leon the Great that the greatest empire in human history was born, and the ambitious Leon the Great led the human armies to fend off wave after wave of incursions from the alien races. After that, the Bella empire has experienced five successive generations of wise rulers, and has accumulated overwhelming strength compared to the foreigners. Finally, under the command of many famous generals led by Aryan, the human race began a major counterattack against the foreigners, since then, the orcs far away from the grasslands, dwarves avoid living in the mountains, the elves are hidden in the forest. As long as you carefully study history you will find that in this process, the essence of humanity represented by Leon and Aryan, these admirable and outstanding people, what a great role they played, without them, there would be no place for us humans now, there would be no history of those waves and waves.”

Mond said all this in one breath, and concluded by emphasizing, “It is recognized as such in the world of historiography.”

Paul nodded, “Well, it’s true, I’ve also carefully read about the history of the Gubela Empire and those heroic deeds. But have you ever thought about it, those heroes were only making the right choices at key points in history. And it was the people at the bottom who provided them with many options.” Looking at Mond’s incredulous eyes, Paul emphasized, “Once again, I’ll state ah, it’s coming through from others as well.” He didn’t want to make himself too much of a maverick just yet.

Paul continued, “The reason why the Bella Empire was able to realize the unification of humanity was because under the threat of the foreigners, not only the nobles above, but also the vast number of people at the bottom longed for a more powerful collective to provide shelter for themselves. In addition to the threat of the foreigners, there are many other important reasons, such as the development of agriculture requires the construction of large-scale projects, the development of commerce to open up well-connected roads. It was only that each power thought it should be done by itself, and Emperor Leon happened to be the most powerful of the many, so it was only logical for him to complete the unification, but of course his power was also inextricably linked to the support of the people he ruled over as well.”

“And the Bella Empire’s counterattacks and great expeditions against the foreigners were due to the fact that the empire nourished a growing population and inevitably needed more land to feed it, and it wasn’t just the foresight of the emperors and renowned generals, but also the second sons of those who didn’t have the right to inherit, and the soldiers who longed for wealth also joined together to promote the great expeditions, and were even the main driving force behind it, and the whole society developed an desire for expansion.”

Mond said in slight amusement, “That merely lays out the causes, and many people, myself included, agree with those. But the outcome – the victory of the expedition, for example – the hero is the deciding factor.”

Paul shook his head, “Uh …… according to the people’s view of history, the heroes should take a back seat. In the case of the Great Expedition, for example, the main factor determining the victory was not the outstanding military skills of Aelian and the others, but because the empire was able to smelt more metals, build more weapons, produce more food, and form more obedient and disciplined armies, and because the centralized system produced by an agricultural society was more powerful than the loose tribal alliances of the foreigners …… In short, all these factors gave the human army an unparalleled advantage, without which Aelian and the others would not have been able to win, even if they had been favored by the gods. How did these factors come about? It was the countless peasants, artisans and soldiers who had not even left a name in the long history. But history only records the names of those who have risen to power, so that’s how the wise kings and heroes were born.”

Mund said in surprise, “This is the first time I’ve heard such a statement that so belittles the heroes.”

“No, Mr. Scholar, you are wrong!” Paul hastily denied, “It’s not a slight on them, their talents were undoubtedly outstanding, their feats were undoubtedly great, their names are undoubtedly worthy of posterity – it’s just that they weren’t irreplaceable,”

“Looking at it from a macroscopic point of view, history seems to be full of inevitability, the human race after mastering advanced technology and making great leaps in productivity would inevitably give birth to a centralized empire, and an increasingly prosperous empire would inevitably give rise to the desire for expansion, the heroes just happened to be in that position, if there was no Emperor Leon, if there were no famous generals such as Aelian. Then their roles would have been played by another group of people to fulfill the mission given to them by history in their place.”

Just as there was bound to be an industrial revolution with the development of productivity even without him traveling here, his arrival merely catalyzed the process.

Mond stiffened his body and jawed, “History was inevitable? That sounds like what those godly men of the Church preach, that the Lord of Light arranged everything long ago.”

Seeing the other party’s appearance, Paul’s vanity was greatly satisfied, never imagining that some of the garbled fragments he had seen from the Internet in his previous life had shocked a scholar of the Bachelor’s Tower.

He continued, “Specifically, history is inevitable in the general direction of the macro, but specific to a certain event is still a little more contingent, but the contingency only plays a role in accelerating or delaying. The actions of heroes can, to a certain extent, advance or delay the course of history, but will not change its direction. The reason why [the heroic view of history] occupies the mainstream also has the inevitability, the writers of history will unconsciously will be around the heroes to start the narrative, after all, limited by the way of recording, can not be all the people’s names and things down, can only record those who are particularly prominent, particularly good. And readers of these historical materials to see the deeds of heroes is easier to produce a sense of immersion, inevitably produce a sense of worship. But if it is to analyze the social system, introduce the relations of production and other historical materials, let a person feel boring, many people see here hastily skimmed.”

Mond was speechless for a long time after hearing this, he wanted to retort, but then he felt that in some ways, Paul was right.

“Be that as it may …… well, there is some truth in what you say …… oh no, there is some truth in that statement.”

In the end Mond had to say this, his worldview had taken a bit of a hit today.

(End of chapter)