Impartial History: Does It Really Exist?

Assignment Part 2
Hope Varley
Period 2 Howard Zinn once stated “Anyone reading history should understand from the start that there is no such thing as impartial history.” Impartial history is when records have no bias or favoritism toward either side of a conflict. I agree with Howard Zinn's quote because nothing is ever completely fair and most times people will be portrayed as a bad person and people will not care to tell their side of the story. For example the treaty of Versailles was not fair to Germany but they were forced to sign it. As the west fought with Hitler some people such as the Nazis may have agreed with him. Most often students will learn from their countries point of view. The country always likes to believe they had made the right decisions. As a result they are going to blame the opposing forces for any harm done to the country. Another example of history not being fair is when the explorers found “The New World” the Native Americans were kicked off their land, killed, and taken as slaves. Americans have a national holiday for Christopher Columbus regarding him finding the Americas even though people were already civilized on the land. African People were also enslaved. The African civilizations were not advanced enough with technology and weapons and were not able to resist very well. The British made A White Mans Burden in order to justify their actions. History from one sides point of view may seem like it was the right thing to do or they are the victim often times you do not hear the complete story from both point of views. Neither the Native Americans or the Africans did anything to deserve the slavery or punishment. There are many other events throughout history that prove impartial history does not exist.