Is all history hissing about history?

The tragedy of all history and historians down the ages is that most histories of wars are written mostly by the winners. Churchill correctly said ‘history is written by winners’ and went on to write the history of a war, in which he was the chief dramatis personae.

by Gamini Weerakoon-Sep 2, 2018

( September 2, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Until the lions have their own historians, the tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters — An African proverb. I was reminded of this quote while reading a Sunday Times political commentary about President Maithripala Sirisena’s attempt to get former top brass of our defence services to compile the history of the near-three-decade “War” against the terrorists.

Undoubtedly the retired service chiefs will have intimate knowledge of what went on during the three decades. But they are all honourable men who can’t let their own side down. ‘Simply not done old boy’, is the motto of the officer class. The esprit de corps prevails among our retired warriors like most of those in other countries who donned the military regalia, and it is quite unlikely that they will let their own side down. They need not, and perhaps will not, utter falsehoods. Like in most professions the military, too, has its ways of saying things in their gobbledygook — what George Orwell referred to as ‘double speak’. Sri Lanka, too, was developing its own strategic defence lingo in the closing stages of the conflict. Remember that classic: ‘Humanitarian War’?

As a journalist who has known both military top brass and historians, I have grave doubts about military men becoming historians in as much as professional historians closeted in academia turning out to be admirals or generals. Nonetheless, in these days, there is a substantial proportion of the populace that believes in military men being Supermen capable of any feat such as repeating Dutugemunu feats or beautifying Colombo-7 roads. Some generals have already dashed out lengthy ‘Rambo’ tracts on how the ‘War’ was won.

That, however, is not the main problem of our military historians. The history of the Sinhala Lions will demand on what the Tamil Tigers did for three decades. Despite the ghastly and reprehensible performances in many respects they did give the Lions a good 30-year run. Can our former top brass even under patronage of the President be able to present that aspect too?

President Sirisena’s proposal obviously demands an editor — preferably a historian — to collate the accounts of the former service commanders. But whether it will reveal what really happened during the period in question is anybody’s guess.

The tragedy of all history and historians down the ages is that most histories of wars are written mostly by the winners. Churchill correctly said ‘history is written by winners’ and went on to write the history of a war, in which he was the chief dramatis personae.

Winners write about the valour and heroism of their combatants on land, air and sea, brilliant strategies of the generals and admirals and flying chiefs: And, of course, of their commanders-in-chief — the war commissars. The losers don’t write the history of their battles; nor are they able to do so even after decades of the war ending. There are no Nazi historians and Japanese war lords as historians of note to speak about.

There are professional historians of note, particularly in academia meticulously trying to separate facts from fiction and propaganda but even these historians are at times accused of being biased. European (including English) historians by remarkable coincidence are unanimous on controversial issues particularly during World War 11. Has there been prosecution of war criminals of the Western Allied Forces in World War II?

Despite the notable and quotable treating history — their versions — as something sacred and sacrosanct, it is taken with a pinch of salt by a great many, including historians. Sri Lanka’s unique history as stated in the Mahavamsa has generated fume and fury to explosively high levels. The ‘War’ is over but not the furious arguments on reconstruction and deconstruction of history.

All history is about news of the past. So it is natural that just as much there is ‘Fake News’ and News, there will be ‘Fake History’ and History.
Bertrand Russell described the history of the British Conservatives (Tories) as – ‘Hiss Tory.

Is all history hissing about history?