Pseudohistory

Pseudohistory is a form of <a href="/facts/Pseudoscholarship/NK46gUNw">pseudoscholarship</a> that attempts to distort or misrepresent the <a href="/facts/Recorded_history/pnBxFEvW">historical record</a>, often by employing methods resembling those used in scholarly <a href="/facts/History/bSKgXaCA">historical research</a>. The related term cryptohistory is applied to pseudohistory derived from the <a href="/facts/Superstition/XB63u3qt">superstitions</a> intrinsic to <a href="/facts/Occult/G59eqens">occultism</a>. Pseudohistory is related to <a href="/facts/Pseudoscience/kdNzoLeS">pseudoscience</a> and <a href="/facts/Pseudoarchaeology/M1jpxztJ">pseudoarchaeology</a>, and usage of the terms may occasionally overlap. 
Although pseudohistory comes in many forms, scholars have identified common features in pseudohistorical works. Pseudohistory is almost always motivated by a contemporary <a href="/facts/Political_agenda/w8neN6NN">political</a>, religious, or personal agenda. It frequently presents sensational claims or a <a href="/facts/Big_lie/AnDy6k6j">big lie</a> about historical facts which would require unwarranted <a href="/facts/Historical_revisionism/208NF3ms">revision</a> of the historical record. Another hallmark is an underlying premise that scholars have a <a href="/facts/Furtive_fallacy/SaYjUT5m">furtive agenda</a> to suppress the promoter's thesis—a premise commonly corroborated by elaborate <a href="/facts/Conspiracy_theory/sNr2Kmh8">conspiracy theories</a>. Works of pseudohistory often point exclusively to unreliable sources—including <a href="/facts/Myth/kG8UTfem">myths</a> and <a href="/facts/Legend/z1qgeFQQ">legends</a>, often treated as literal historical truth—to support the thesis being promoted while <a href="/facts/Special_pleading/tmyFWVwU">ignoring valid sources that contradict it</a>. Some works adopt a position of historical <a href="/facts/Relativism/a6s6dGtw">relativism</a>, insisting that there is no such thing as historical truth and that any hypothesis is equal to any other. Many works conflate mere possibility with actuality, assuming that if something could have happened, then it did.
Notable examples of pseudohistory include <a href="/facts/British_Israelism/RqAcA0R0">British Israelism</a>, the <a href="/facts/Lost_Cause_of_the_Confederacy/PmMJXwzW">Lost Cause of the Confederacy</a>, the <a href="/facts/Irish_slaves_myth/gdyMbYtb">Irish slaves myth</a>, the <a href="/facts/Witch-cult_hypothesis/Hf1ABsKY">witch-cult</a>, <a href="/facts/Armenian_genocide_denial/qfIAblGw">Armenian genocide denial</a>, <a href="/facts/Holocaust_denial/PLP99orD">Holocaust denial</a>, the <a href="/facts/Myth_of_the_clean_Wehrmacht/T0cj1vTh">clean Wehrmacht myth</a>, and the claim that the <a href="/facts/Katyn_massacre/DkNsKbTm">Katyn massacre</a> was not committed by the Soviet <a href="/facts/NKVD/IA8Nwh1T">NKVD</a>.

Pseudohistory open-in-new

Pseudohistory