As a research field, the history of western historiography was formed at the end of 19 and the beginning of the 20th century. It is believed that it was born under the influence of Italian Croce School, Marxism and New Historiography School. Croce's view that "all history is contemporary history" makes historians think about the historical development of historical research. Both Marxism and New Historiography have seen that historical writing in history has answered contemporary social problems in one way or another, and historical discussion and historical writing represent a constantly changing system. The school of critical historical philosophy, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century, highlighted the upsurge of western historical consciousness and the great concern of ideological circles about history as a form of development in the field of knowledge. Several important early general history works appeared in the first half of the 20th century. For example, Ford's History of Modern Historiography (191), Gucci's History and Historians in the 9th Century (19 13) and Riter's The Development of Historical Science (.

In the second half of the 20th century, history has generally become the main subject of humanities and social sciences in universities all over the world. The influence of historical theory and historical consciousness on social development is more and more obvious, and the great influence of Marxism on the 20th century is one example. Academia and society pay more attention to the significance and nature of historical writing and the development process and form of history as a discipline.

The current historical compilation mode in China is inherited from the modern western historical compilation mode.

China's own way of recording history can often be seen in China's classical collections.

The title of Herodotus' father of history is that Cicero, a Roman orator, rated him as "the father of history", but many historians and philosophers doubt the authenticity of Herodotus' records and call him "the father of lies" or "a liar". The truth of his remarks has been confirmed in modern archaeological appraisal, which only shows the accuracy of his record of history as a historian. His leading thought is that he is the first to adopt a certain degree of analysis and criticism of historical materials in European historians, instead of blindly believing all rumors. He created a new method to describe history, which organically combined the recording of historical facts with the interpretation of historical facts. Herodotus did not always explain the causes of historical events. Sometimes he turned to God's will and destiny, sometimes he relied on the talents of individual characters, and sometimes he relied on the analysis of historical or geographical conditions. Although Herodotus admired Athenian democracy, he also fully affirmed the cultural achievements of ancient Asian and African people.

It has a certain influence on historiography.