How would an historian best response to the comment . "history is simply a series of events in chronological order

That depends on which historian you ask. The phrase "series of events" seems to denote that things simply happen in history because that's that way things played out. So a historian who disagrees with that viewpoint may say that "Not only is history repeating itself, but people/forces are making it happen." Check out the book "The Enemy Unmasked."

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