In class tok question

Can history provide a guide to understanding contemporary affairs? Can it provide a guide to the future? What might be “the lessons of history” for future generations?
History can absolutely provide a guide to understanding contemporary affairs, and to the future but to a lesser extent. The lessons of history for future generations will consist only of conditions under which major political shifts occur. For example, a competition of politics between countries tends to spread into foreign policy and economics: in IRL 12 I looked at a source that described Comecon- the USSR's answer to the American economic plan against communism. The use of propaganda (IRL 13) is essential in all political systems as a means of swaying public opinion and is seen across several continents and multiple generations. My IRL 14 is a document on the lessons of the Vietnam War- so this is a great example of where we are already using lessons of history to provide a guide for the future. The reliability of the recordings of history (IRL 15) place a limit on our accuracy when making predictions but we can almost always relate it to current affairs. In the Arab-Israeli crisis, which still continues to this day, history is the key to understanding the sources of conflict (IRL 16). The very core of the crisis is centralised around the history of the crisis itself. Thus history is closely connected to current affairs and can the lessons we gain can provide a guide to the future.