A retired man (L) looks toward two girls wearing miniskirts, July 13, 1969 in Nice, France. (Photo by AFP Photo)

Dried and shrivelled corpses, some fully clothed and some in coffins, line the wall of a vault of the Pantheon Cemetery on the summit of Cerro del Trozado in Mexico. They were removed from the crypts because of non-payment of cemetery fees. The hot dry air stopped the bodies from rotting. Most of them were placed here between the turn of the century and WW I. (Photo by Three Lions/Getty Images). Circa 1955

A group of Maasai women march while dancing traditional songs during a Maasai cultural festival in Sekenani, on June 10, 2023. The Maasai people are a Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting Kenya and northern Tanzania. The Maasai cultural festival is a popular gathering and celebration of the Maasai cultural heritage and aims to showcase the community's traditional activities and fashion. (Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Photo)

Leonhard Nienbling is shown with his 6-month old pet baboon Jackl, who holds a 6-month old kitten, its playmate, June 29, 1952. Niebling has quite an animal collection at his home in Zirndorf, Germany. (Photo by Heinrich Sanden/AP Photo)

Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Queen Elizabeth II (as Princess Elizabeth) writing at her desk in Windsor Castle, Berkshire. (Photo by Lisa Sheridan/Studio Lisa/Getty Images). 30th May 1944

Adolf Hitler (left), German Nazi politician, in a deck chair next to is niece Angela (Geli) Raubal – around 1930. (Photo by Ullstein Bild/Ullstein Bild via Getty Images)

A view of a vintage Rolls Royce limousine with a female driver. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images). Circa 1935