main weakness of the hero interpretation is that it overstresses the
role of individuals at the expense of larger cultural, religious, social,
and economic circumstances, circumstances that form the back-
ground without which there can be no meaningful exercise of
leadership. Although it is undoubtedly true that leaders mold events,
it is no less true that events mold leaders.

The fourth pre-Marxist approach to the understanding of history
was through the impact of ideas: ideas were conceived (by Hegel,
for example) to be the principal causes of the historical process, and
the material conditions (social, economic, technological, military)
of society were thought of as essentially derived from, and caused
by, the great motivating ideas. This emphasis on ideas often also
implied that history was progressively evolving toward the realiza-
tion of key ideas, such as freedom and democracy. While undoubt-
edly containing -- like the other interpretations -- much that is valid,
the exclusive emphasis on ideas as the main driving force in history
overlooks the fact that ideas not only generate events but also reflect
them. Therefore, to isolate ideas as the chief agent of human action
is to neglect the framework of circumstances; circumstances, after
all, make some ideas possible and others not, and it is circumstances
from which ideas derive their vitality and practical impact.

Finally, the study of history may be focused on war: the phe-
nomenon of conflict is present in all phases of human development,
and the birth, rise, and decline of states are often directly connected
with warfare. The shortcoming of the military interpretation of
history lies in its failure to see war as the result, rather than as the
cause, of events. There is no doubt that war often marks a turning
point in the life of nations and civilizations: yet the dramatic swift-
ness and decisiveness of war should not draw our attention from
the multitude of psychological, ideological, and material factors
that lead to war and contribute to its complexity.

Marx's main premise in the analysis of society is his economic
interpretation of history: the production of the goods and services
that support human life, and the exchange of those goods and serv-
ices, are the basis of all social processes and institutions. Marx does
not claim that the economic factor is the only one that goes into
the making of history; he does claim that it is the most important
one, the foundation upon which is erected the superstructure of
culture, law, and government, buttressed by corresponding political,

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