In a lecture delivered at Oxford in 1896, historian Mandell Creighton contrasted England’s relatively untroubled past with that of nations, where bewildering changes of border and swirling political extremes had been much more common, and had left a lasting impression on their national character.

A study of history, said Creighton, is a useful discipline for the English, because it helps us to understand peoples who have suffered more than we have. Perhaps we would not meddle so officiously in the affairs of foreign countries, if we took time to learn a little more about the hardships they have had to live through.

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