Pseudohistory is a type of fake scholarship that tries to change or mislead people about what really happened in the past. It often uses methods that look like those used by real historians. A similar term, cryptohistory, refers to pseudohistory that comes from beliefs tied to secret or supernatural practices. Pseudohistory is connected to pseudoscience and pseudoarchaeology, and the words used to describe them sometimes overlap.

Pseudohistory can take many forms, but scholars have noticed common traits in these works. Most pseudohistorical writings are driven by modern political, religious, or personal goals. They often share exaggerated or false claims about history that would require changing well-known facts. A common feature is the belief that powerful groups are hiding information to stop the writer’s ideas, a claim often supported by complicated conspiracy theories. These works usually rely on unreliable sources, such as myths or legends, treating them as true facts while ignoring real evidence that disagrees. Some claim that there is no such thing as true historical facts, saying all ideas are equally valid. Others mix what is possible with what actually happened, assuming that if something could have occurred, it must have.

Examples of pseudohistory include British Israelism, the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, the myth of Irish slaves, the witch-cult theory, denial of the Armenian genocide, denial of the Holocaust, the clean Wehrmacht myth, and the claim that the Katyn massacre was not carried out by the Soviet NKVD.

Definition and etymology

The term "pseudohistory" was first used in the early 1800s, making it older than similar terms like "pseudo-scholarship" and "pseudoscience." In a record from 1815, the word was used to describe the Contest of Homer and Hesiod, a story that claimed to be historical but actually described a fictional competition between two Greek poets. Another record from the same year used the term in a negative way to describe a work of history that was incorrect or dishonest. Pseudohistory is similar to pseudoscience because both use methods that claim to follow research standards but do not actually meet them, and they often lack strong evidence to support their claims.

Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman define pseudohistory as "rewriting the past to serve personal or political goals." Other writers, like historian Douglas Allchin, argue that simplifying the history of scientific discoveries—by exaggerating drama or making scientists seem overly heroic—can create false ideas about how science works. Even though such stories are based on real facts, they still qualify as pseudohistory.

Characteristics

Robert Todd Carroll has created a list of rules to help recognize fake history. He says that:

Pseudohistory is claimed history that:

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke prefers the term "cryptohistory." He identifies two necessary elements as "not knowing about original documents" and the repetition of "incorrect information and exaggerated statements."

Other common traits of pseudohistory are:

Categories and examples

The following are some common types of false historical theories, with examples. Not all theories in a listed category are necessarily false; they are categories that often attract people who create false historical claims.

An alternative chronology is a different order of events that does not match the timeline of world history accepted by most historians. An example is Anatoly Fomenko's New Chronology, which claims that recorded history began around AD 800 and that events before that time either did not happen or are incorrect retellings of later events. One idea connected to this is the Tartary conspiracy theory. Other less extreme examples include the phantom time hypothesis, which says the years AD 614–911 never happened, and David Rohl's New Chronology, which claims the accepted timelines for ancient Egyptian and Israelite history are incorrect.

In the eighth century, a fake document called the Donation of Constantine, which claimed the Pope gained authority over Rome and the western Roman Empire, was widely shared. In the twelfth century, Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote The History of the Kings of Britain, a false historical work that described the ancient history of the British people. This book combined earlier Celtic myths to exaggerate the achievements of the mythical King Arthur. A historian named William of Newburgh wrote in 1190 that "everything Geoffrey wrote about Arthur and his successors, or even his earlier kings, was made up, partly by him and partly by others."

The Shakespeare authorship question is a fringe theory that claims the works written by William Shakespeare were actually created by someone else, not the man from Stratford-upon-Avon.

Another example of historical revisionism is the idea, promoted by David Barton and others, that the United States was founded as a nation exclusively for Christians. Most historians disagree, stating that the founding fathers intended to keep religion and government separate.

Confederate revisionists, "Lost Cause" supporters, and Neo-Confederates argue that the Confederate States of America's main goal was to protect states' rights and limit government, not to preserve or expand slavery.

Connected to the "Lost Cause" is the Irish slaves myth, a false story that mixes the experiences of Irish indentured servants and enslaved Africans in the Americas. This myth, promoted by Irish nationalists like John Mitchel in the past, is now used by white supremacists in the United States to downplay the suffering of African Americans and oppose calls for reparations for slavery. It also hides the role of Irish people in the transatlantic slave trade.

Historical negationism, or denialism, is a type of false history that completely denies events that are well-documented, such as massacres, genocides, and national histories. Examples include denying the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the Nanjing Massacre, and the Nakba, as described in the 1984 book From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters.

Mainstream historians classify psychohistory as pseudohistory. Psychohistory combines psychology, history, and other social sciences. It aims to explain the reasons behind historical events, especially the difference between what people claimed to do and what actually happened. It also tries to use psychology, especially psychoanalysis, along with research methods from other fields, to understand the emotional causes of individual, group, and national behavior in the past and present.

Pseudoarchaeology is the incorrect interpretation of physical evidence, often by people without proper training. These interpretations rarely match what experts agree on. Nazi archaeology is a well-known example of this. People who practice pseudoarchaeology often have strict views about evidence and refuse to change their opinions, leading to simple and incomplete explanations.

(These examples may fit into the categories above or other categories not mentioned).

Immanuel Velikovsky's books Worlds in Collision (1950), Ages in Chaos (1952), and Earth in Upheaval (1955) became popular bestsellers. They showed that false history based on ancient myths could be financially successful and set a model for similar works.

In 1968, Erich von Däniken published Chariots of the Gods?, which claimed that ancient visitors from space built pyramids and other monuments. He later wrote more books with similar ideas, all labeled as pseudohistory. Zechariah Sitchin also wrote many books claiming that a group of extraterrestrials from the planet Nibiru, called the Anunnaki, visited Earth long ago to search for gold and genetically altered humans to serve them. He said these events are recorded in Sumerian myths and other global myths. These claims are also considered pseudohistory.

The ancient astronaut hypothesis was popularized in the United States by the History Channel's Ancient Aliens series. Professor Ronald H. Fritze noted that pseudohistorical ideas promoted by von Däniken and the Ancient Aliens program often gain popularity in the U.S. in cycles, similar to fashion trends.

Graham Hancock wrote books selling over four million copies, promoting the idea that major ancient monuments like Stonehenge, the Egyptian pyramids, and the moai of Easter Island were built by a single ancient supercivilization that existed between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. He first presented this idea in his 1995 book Fingerprints of the Gods, which was widely read but criticized by scholars. Christopher Knight wrote books like Uriel's Machine (2000), which claimed ancient civilizations had technology far more advanced than modern technology.

The idea that a lost continent called Lemuria once existed in the Pacific Ocean has also been labeled as pseudohistory.

Other similar conspiracy theories suggest exaggerated or made-up stories about ancient civilizations like Khazaria and Tartaria.

The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is a fake document that falsely claims Jews planned to take over the world. It was proven to be a forgery in 1921 when The Times showed large parts of it were copied from a 1864 satirical book by Maurice Joly and an 1868 anti-Semitic novel by Hermann Goedsche.

The Khazar theory is a fringe academic idea that…

As a topic of study

Some college courses that examine pseudohistory are part of liberal arts programs. For example, Claremont McKenna College offers such courses for undergraduate students.