Comparative History: What is it, and why is it useful?
History does not just write itself. Individuals across the centuries have sought to understand their circumstances by looking both to current events near and far (both geographically and temporally). Below is a summary of how I have understood the comparative method. Marc Bloch was a pioneer of the Annales school and a critical thinker of the benefits of comparison for historians. In an article from 1963, he argues that it is “one of the most pressing needs of present-day historical science.” [1] He is, in some ways, right. Historians need to take comparison as essential for exposing questions which would not otherwise have become visible. To Bloch, sources would not expose their answers without careful questioning. Comparison, as such, enables this. We can take a period, time or place and compare how similar elements (e.g., governance or slavery) were conducted. Yet, as my class has illuminated, we must also take into consideration the context of these different societies in ...