History is made by those least conscious of it.

"It is natural for us who were not living in those days to imagine that when half Russia had been conquered and the inhabitants were fleeing to distant provinces, and one levy after another was being raised for the defence of the fatherland, all Russians from the greatest to the least were solely engaged in sacrificing themselves, saving their fatherland, or weeping over its downfall. The tales and descriptions of that time without exception speak only of the self-sacrifice, patriotic devotion, despair, grief, and the heroism of the Russians. But it was not really so. It appears so to us because we see only the general historic interest of that time and do not see all the personal human interests that people had. Yet in reality those personal interests of the moment so much transcend the general interests, that they always prevent the public interest from being felt or even noticed. Most of the people at that time paid no attention to the general progress of events but were guided only by their private interests, and they were the very people whose activities at that period were most useful.

"Those who tried to understand the general course of events, and to take part in it by self-sacrifice and heroism, were the most useless members of society, they saw everything upside down, and all they did for the common good turned out to be useless and foolish--like Pierre's and Mamónov's regiments which looted Russian villages, and the lint the young ladies prepared and that never reached the wounded, and so on. Even those, fond of intellectual talk and of expressing their feelings, who discussed Russia's position at the time, involuntarily introduced into their conversation either a shade of pretense and falsehood, or useless condemnation and anger directed against people accused of actions no one could possibly be guilty of. In historic events the rule forbidding us to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge is specially applicable. Only unconscious action bears fruit, and he who plays a part in an historic event never understands its significance. If he tries to realize it his efforts are fruitless.

"The more closely a man was engaged in the events then taking place in Russia the less did he realize their significance. In Petersburg and in the provinces at a distance from Moscow, ladies, and gentlemen in militia uniforms, wept for Russia and its ancient capital and talked of self-sacrifice and so on; but in the army which retired beyond Moscow there was little talk or thought of Moscow, and when they caught sight of its burnt ruins no one swore to be avenged on the French, but they thought about the term's pay, their next quarters, of Matrëshka the vivandière, and like matters."

[emphasis mine]

--Count Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace, Book XII, Chapter II

Very often we are inspired by the very things we read, and history is filled with what we call great men and great events--the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, the discovery of the New World, etc. But we get so starry-eyed over such grand tales that we forget their significance was only realised through hindsight. No one, for example, could have forseen that the 1970s would enjoy a revival at the turn of this century. The main participants of these historic events never had the expectation of posterity at the forefront of their minds. They almost always concentrated on the present and their very surroundings, and what they were doing at the very moment. History is made by those least conscious of it.

Terry Brighton alluded to it when he wrote on the Charge of the Light Brigade. He calls it the "Tennyson effect". The survivors never understood the significance of what they did until they returned to England and received the accolades and saw their own actions from a distance. Then they began to be caught up in the whole hysteria as well.

Therefore something to keep in mind for those inspired by past events and seek to perform something as great: you don't create history by studying history. You make history by forcusing on the present. Which is also to say, ungratefully for me, historians almost never create history.

Hence it is up to the individual to choose, whether to stand in awe of past greatness, or to make his own history, and let others stand in awe of him. The choice is yours.