If we truly want to understand the whole picture of the biggest historical events, we need to be able to look at more than one point of view. If we were to look at the Holocaust only through the eyes of the German’s, we might have been led to believe that it was a necessary sacrifice. However, because we have the accounts of the other people involved, we understand just the gravity of the situation. With this more accurate and more inclusive view of the past, our understanding of the events is better.
An example of when this kind of historical is important is with the Beothuk. For the longest time historians believed that these people simply fell easily into extinction without much of a fight put up, but that could not farther from the truth. Because of the accounts of the white men in that area at the time, the truth is somewhat skewed; this is due to the fact that, for most of the time, the Beothuk were not in contact with the white men. When the colonists came, the Beothuk eventually moved to the interior of the island they were on, this meant that the colonists did not see much of what went on with the Beothuk people.
When we delve into the recounts of the Beothuk, and the other people involved we get a much more accurate picture. These people were largely reduced by the diseases that the colonists brought over, had to completely change their life styles when the coast was taken over by the white men, and had to essentially fend for themselves when trade between other indigenous peoples was cut off. However, despite these hardships, the Beothuk people fought for a very long time to survive.
When we only look at one side of a story, the real truth is usually replaced by half-truths or opinions. When we consider the other sides, and other versions of a story, we are able to find the reality of the events. This sifting of different accounts to find truth, is an important part of “doing” history, and can take a flat, shallow view of the past, and give it depth, and dimension.