--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Recounting the experience of individuals…" description: "\"“Recounting the experience of individuals brings home, as nothing else can, the sheer complexity of the choices they had to make, and the difficult and..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0a/richard-j-evans-35875_foreign-country_recounting-the-experience-of-individuals_1110856.jpg" --- # Recounting the experience of individuals brings home, as… ![“Recounting the experience of individuals brings home, as nothing else can, the sheer complexity of the choices they had to make, and the difficult and often opaque nature of the situations they confronted. Contemporaries could not see things as clearly as we can, with the gift of hindsight: they…” quote by Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0a/richard-j-evans-35875_foreign-country_recounting-the-experience-of-individuals_1110856.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0a/richard-j-evans-35875_foreign-country_recounting-the-experience-of-individuals_1110856.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c0a/richard-j-evans-35875_foreign-country_recounting-the-experience-of-individuals_1110856.jpg) > ““Recounting the experience of individuals brings home, as nothing else can, the sheer complexity of the choices they had to make, and the difficult and often opaque nature of the situations they confronted. Contemporaries could not see things as clearly as we can, with the gift of hindsight: they could not know in 1930 what was to come in 1933, they could not know in 1933 what was to come in 1939 or 1942 or 1945. If they had known, doubtless the choices they made would have been different. One of the greatest problems in writing history is to imagine oneself back in the world of the past, with all the doubts and uncertianties people faced in dealing with a future that for the historian has also become the past. Developments that seem inevitable in retrospect were by no means so at the time, and in writing this book I have tried to remind the reader repeatedly that things could easily have turned out very differently to the way they did at a number of points in the history of Germany in the second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth. People make their own history, as Karl Marx once memorably observed, but not under conditions of their own choosing. These conditions included not only the historical context in which they lived, but also the way in which they thought, the assumptions they acted upon, and the principles and beliefs that informed their behavior. A central aim of this book is to re-create all these things for a modern readership, and to remind readers that, to quote another well-known aphorism about history, 'the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.”” [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. History is shaped by contingent choices and limited knowledge; hindsight reveals many possible outcomes. **In simple terms:** History depends on chance and limited foresight. Key Takeaway Recognize the uncertainty in past decisions. Themes history philosophy causality Mood analytical thoughtful Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - policy analysis - education curricula - public discourse Key Concepts Counterfactual reasoning historical determinism Questions to Reflect On - How would you evaluate decisions with limited information? - What lessons can modern societies draw from past uncertainties? A Different Perspective Predicting outcomes remains speculative; present choices still constrained. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Foreign country](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foreign-country/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [Nature](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nature/) [Retrospect](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/retrospect/) ## Related quotes > [“I will love you past your doubts if you can love me past my faults.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirk-diedrich/i-will-love-you-past-your-doubts-if-you-can-love-me-past-my-faults/) [Kirk Diedrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirk-diedrich/) > [“Yes, the past is a foreign country", I said, "but some of us are full-fledged citizens, others occasional tourists, and some floating itinerants, itching…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-aciman/yes-the-past-is-a-foreign-country-i-said-but-some-of-us-are-full/) [André Aciman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-aciman/) > [The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-p-hartley/the-past-is-a-foreign-country-they-do-things-differently-there/) [L.P. Hartley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-p-hartley/) > [Everyone is used to speaking a slightly different "language" with their parents than with their peers, because spoken language changes every generation - like…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elif-batuman/everyone-is-used-to-speaking-a-slightly-different-language-with-their/) [Elif Batuman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elif-batuman/) > [“The past is a foreign country.” —L. P. Hartley”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-jacobsen/the-past-is-a-foreign-country-l-p-hartley/) [Annie Jacobsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-jacobsen/) > [It is the mark of a good action that it appears inevitable in retrospect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/it-is-the-mark-of-a-good-action-that-it-appears-inevitable-in/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [“It would in retrospect appear to be a stop on a narrative path that was inevitable, but this is only because most events, most…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/curtis-sittenfeld/it-would-in-retrospect-appear-to-be-a-stop-on-a-narrative-path-that/) [Curtis Sittenfeld](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/curtis-sittenfeld/) > [The mark of a good action is that it appears inevitable in retrospect.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-louis-stevenson/the-mark-of-a-good-action-is-that-it-appears-inevitable-in-retrospect/) [Robert Louis Stevenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-louis-stevenson/) > [Innovations seem inevitable in retrospect, but at the time it's an uphill battle.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-livingston/innovations-seem-inevitable-in-retrospect-but-at-the-time-it-s-an/) [Jessica Livingston](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-livingston/) > [Life is not simple, and therefore history, which is past life, is not simple.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-shannon/life-is-not-simple-and-therefore-history-which-is-past-life-is-not/) David Shannon > [Sometimes, we should know that ex is like a history. A history is a past. That certain people will never forget.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shakay-kaichi/sometimes-we-should-know-that-ex-is-like-a-history-a-history-is-a/) Shakay Kaichi > [The same way one tells a recipe, one tells a family history. Each one of us has our past locked inside.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-esquivel/the-same-way-one-tells-a-recipe-one-tells-a-family-history-each-one/) [Laura Esquivel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-esquivel/) > [The history of the past interests us only in so far as it illuminates the history of the present.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-dimnet/the-history-of-the-past-interests-us-only-in-so-far-as-it-illuminates/) [Ernest Dimnet](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-dimnet/) > [Each age tries to form its own conception of the past. Each age writes the history of the past anew with reference to the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-jackson-turner/each-age-tries-to-form-its-own-conception-of-the-past-each-age-writes/) [Frederick Jackson Turner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-jackson-turner/) > [Remove from the history of the past all those actions which have either sprung directly from the religious nature of man, or been modified…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-hopkins/remove-from-the-history-of-the-past-all-those-actions-which-have/) [Mark Hopkins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-hopkins/) ## More by Richard J. Evans > [As the Prussian historian Treitschke later complained, the proponents of free trade in Hamburg had 'in German fashion made out of necessity not just…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/as-the-prussian-historian-treitschke-later-complained-the-proponents/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“A historian once speculated on what would happen if a time-traveller from 1945 arrived back in Europe just before the First World War, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/a-historian-once-speculated-on-what-would-happen-if-a-time-traveller/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“The extermination of the Jews has sometimes been seen as a kind of industrialized, assembly-line kind of mass murder, and this picture has at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/the-extermination-of-the-jews-has-sometimes-been-seen-as-a-kind-of/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“Thus the pace, justification and mode of implementation of the genocide changed repeatedly from its inception in the summer of 1941. Examining the origins…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/thus-the-pace-justification-and-mode-of-implementation-of-the/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [ “What’s the difference between India and Germany?’ went one popular joke reported in the spring of 1943. ‘In India, one person \[Gandhi\] starves for… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/what-s-the-difference-between-india-and-germany-went-one-popular-joke/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“In each of the following chapters, dealing in turn with policing and repression, culture and propaganda, religion and education, the economy, society and everyday…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/in-each-of-the-following-chapters-dealing-in-turn-with-policing-and/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“Narrative history fell out of fashion for many years in the 1970s and 1980s, as historians everywhere focused on analytical approaches derived mainly from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/narrative-history-fell-out-of-fashion-for-many-years-in-the-1970s-and/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“Some judicial officials began to notice the unusual frequency of deaths among the inmates of institutions and some prosecutors even considered asking the Gestapo…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/some-judicial-officials-began-to-notice-the-unusual-frequency-of/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [ “His order \[Hitler's\] to stand firm not only created clarity about what the army was doing but also had some effect in improving morale.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/his-order-hitler-s-to-stand-firm-not-only-created-clarity-about-what/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [Visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., for example, I was struck by its marginalization of any other victims apart from the Jews,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/visiting-the-holocaust-memorial-museum-in-washington-d-c-for-example/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“In the penal system, where many of these people would eventually end up, the rapidly growing problem of petty crime had already led to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/in-the-penal-system-where-many-of-these-people-would-eventually-end/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) > [“Some authors have argued that a direct historical line can be drawn to Nazism from the French Revolution of 1789, the Jacobin 'Reign of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-j-evans/some-authors-have-argued-that-a-direct-historical-line-can-be-drawn/) [Richard J. Evans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) [Explore all 13 Richard J. Evans quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-j-evans/) ## More Foreign country quotes > [“insanity is the inability to communicate your ideas. It’s as if you were in a foreign country, able to see and understand everything that’s…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paulo-coelho/insanity-is-the-inability-to-communicate-your-ideas-it-s-as-if-you/) [Paulo Coelho](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paulo-coelho/) > [There are not a lot of German players out there who are successful in a foreign country.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/per-mertesacker/there-are-not-a-lot-of-german-players-out-there-who-are-successful-in/) [Per Mertesacker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/per-mertesacker/) > [I think Indians will pick up on a lot of the direct commentary on Delhi, which Americans will obviously miss, while Americans might get…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karan-mahajan/i-think-indians-will-pick-up-on-a-lot-of-the-direct-commentary-on/) [Karan Mahajan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karan-mahajan/) > [I went to a foreign country as a Japanese actor, not a Hollywood actor. 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I went to middle school in a foreign country, but I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/min-jin-lee/i-moved-to-queens-new-york-when-i-was-seven-and-a-half-i-went-to/) [Min Jin Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/min-jin-lee/) > [“In the foreign country, we call the past, crucifixion was a common punishment. It was invented by the Persians, carried back to Europe by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pinker/in-the-foreign-country-we-call-the-past-crucifixion-was-a-common/) [Steven Pinker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pinker/) > [“Waiting for a late friend. Waiting in line at the movies. Waiting for the phone to ring. Waiting for the mail. Waiting at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kyo-maclear/waiting-for-a-late-friend-waiting-in-line-at-the-movies-waiting-for/) [Kyo Maclear](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kyo-maclear/) > [I think many years from now, people will still watch television, though it will probably be 150 inches wide. 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Whenever I go into a foreign country or a prison or any similar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bertrand-russell/here-there-comes-a-practical-question-which-has-often-troubled-me/) [Bertrand Russell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bertrand-russell/) [Browse all 200 Foreign country quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/foreign-country/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Recounting the experience of individuals brings home, as nothing else can, the sheer complexity of the choices they had to make, and the difficult and often opaque nature of the situations they confronted. Contemporaries could not see things as clearly as we can, with the gift of hindsight: they could not know in 1930 what was to come in 1933, they could not know in 1933 what was to come in 1939 or 1942 or 1945. If they had known, doubtless the choices they made would have been different. 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