Asimov submitted the story on 13 September to John W. Campbell of Astounding Science Fiction, who rejected it.
Being a historian, Ullen doesn't know the technical details, only that the skellingbeg could make iron, nickel and cobalt objects turn to powder.
Thorning is able to pick up one or two clues from Ullen's description, but since the Martians long ago decided that science was a bad idea, they no longer have any scientific texts.
He babbles some half-remembered details about the weapon, and one of Thorning's assistants realizes that Earth's scientists are working on something similar.
Despite being written at the height of Adolf Hitler's wartime success in September 1940, "History" predicts his defeat, although Asimov expected that he would be exiled like Napoleon.