Sir John Seeley was the Regius professor of modern history at the University of Cambridge and is best known as the author of the 1883 masterwork The Expansion of England. Yet 13 years prior to the publication of that famous treatment of British imperialism, in an 1870 lecture delivered to an audience of students, Seeley offered what surely remains one of the most arresting statements ever made about the power — and purpose — of historical scholarship. He asked, “Why should History be studied?” There was one reason above all others: “History is the school of statesmanship,” Seeley confidently declared.
In Seeley's mind, the thing that made history worthwhile as an academic discipline was its status as a source of education for decision-makers and others involved in the public realm. Seeley did much to ensure that the curriculum at Cambridge largely echoed his vision. Of course, while Seeley expressed it in an undoubtedly provocative fashion, his argument had a long lineage, with roots deep in antiquity. The idea that studying the past could help one to navigate the present, and respond to future challenges, was an old idea, one that went back to Thucydides and Polybius.
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