Ada Lin is currently residing in Silicon Valley, and will be starting her college journey at the University of British Columbia in September. With her new interest in European history, she dedicates a few hours each week to her instagram page @agesofeurope. For more links, https://linktr.ee/agesofeurope
1. What got you hooked on history?
I got into history pretty recently actually, only about 2 ish years ago! As an avid Game of Thrones fan, I decided one day to learn about the history (particularly the Wars of the Roses) that inspired the TV series by watching some documentaries. That got me interested in the medieval times. Then I also had to take AP European History in tenth grade, which enormously contributed to my now immense interest in studying history!
2. How does history play a role in your personal life?
In a way, history gives me freedom. And it’s not just history actually - other areas like literature and philosophy apply as well. It’s like I’ve been armed with knowledge to go about freely exploring what the world has to offer, without needing to worry too much about getting completely swayed by some biased or false information, since I have an idea about the context in which things became what they are now. I remember learning about Otto von Bismarck and the unification of modern Germany and being like wow, so that’s what provided the context for World War I. Whenever I get confused by current events or get stuck in existential thought, I turn towards history. Now, whenever I digest things, I have a more inquisitive, calm, and compassionate approach, because things are always more complicated than we anticipate.
3. How does history play a role in your professional life?
I’ll be a college freshman in September and I won’t be majoring in history, but my interest in history will always fuel me to explore more. I think continuing my Ages of Europe instagram and webpage would be a good continuous goal for me to keep on learning and sharing, no matter what other paths I’ll take in the future. I have no idea what careers I’ll be going into, but if it involves history in any way, I’ll be very content!
4. Why is studying/knowing history important?
History is so important for us to contextualize the world we live in today. Tracing the development of wars, rebellions, intellectual developments, and reform movements reveals a lot about how current international relations and world politics can go. As Hegel points out, history operates like a dialectic: we are forever swinging on a pendulum, as trends rise in popularity and invert themselves with a reaction in the opposite direction. Repeating history (or “rhyming history,” as Mark Twain remarks) is inevitable, but we’re able to form more nuanced conclusions, better understand our disagreements, and develop more kindness for others as we realize that history is complicated, and there are always multiple sides to every story.
5. What is your favorite period of history to learn about?
I started out by really loving the medieval times - the wars, the dynastic struggles, the scandals, and the betrayals. Everything seemed like a fairy tale. But then as I took more history classes I began to appreciate the more intellectual aspect of history - how new ideas inspired rebellions and reform that have taken us to where we are today. I make an effort to read the works of thinkers like Marcus Aurelius, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Friedrich Nietzsche; some of these nonfiction texts can be pretty grueling to read through, but in the end their writing reveals so much about both the individual self and society as a whole. It was their ideas that have greatly influenced people to self improve, and to shape the world as they see fit.
6. How did Ages of Europe come about?
The summer after taking AP European History, I wanted a place to store all my historical findings. I started to randomly write about some wars and revolutions in Europe that I was fascinated and relatively knowledgeable in, and post my writing on instagram just to see what would happen. That’s where I found a wonderful network of historians on the platform and decided to continue! Now this has turned into a very enjoyable hobby. I’ve also invited a friend of mine to join me (she helps with visual design).
7. What do you hope your followers on social media take away from your posts?
I sincerely hope that with my instagram page, I am able to encourage more people to turn toward history as a way of making sound decisions and rational conclusions (though, I admit, rationality has its limits) about the world around us. Now that social media is a big thing (and I, like many others, are a part of this wide crazy network), information overflow can be a problem to our comprehension of current events. Even though I’m contributing to that overflow in a way, I hope that, with a better understanding of historical developments, my readers will be more socially conscious, which doesn’t mean advocating for whatever is trendy or sharing news for the sake of popularity, but instead means having the power to think through everything ourselves.
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