History is important. With history, you can copy what those have done in the past to greater effect; you can get many opportunities (take, for instance, one of my favourite historians, Peter Lieb, who, simply due to his knowledge in WWII has been featured on many documentaries such as Greatest Events of World War II in Colour and Hitler's Circle of Evil (dumb title, yes, I know, but good show nonetheless); and best of all you can win debates simply by knowing more than the opposition.