I wonder, how much does the average person know about the history of the world?
I got the feeling Caesar chose Rome because not many people knew about it, at least among the tribes he conquered ("because it was so alien," I think were his words.)
Do they know what year the bombs fell? Do they realize how much was lost with civilization? How many people can actually read, outside of factions and places that are specifically mentioned to have education or special pre-war knowledge/technology like the Enclave? If the average person (like, say, Trudy of Goodsprings) went back in time, would they be able to adapt to the sole survivor's world?

I would say that it depends on the person and their upbringing. I'd imagine that a tribal would have a very hard time adapting to the pre-war life-style. It would essentially be the same as if we try to absorb an isolated tribe into modern society. It would most likely end in violence and be better off with their own devices(i.e. Sentinelese people.) The tribals of Fallout seem to have adapted in the wasteland and developed their own cultures. They developed their own languages,thus the use of translators like Joshua Graham are required when communicating with them,but it can still be dangerous if you make a mistake. On the other hand,someone who was born and lived in the New California Republic might be able to adapt pretty well to pre-war life due to the fact that the NCR is the closest thing the wasteland has seen to a pre-war government and lifestyle.

As for how much pre-war history your average wastelander would know,it would probably be very limited. When the bombs fell,most sources of knowledge such as history books and what not were probably annihilated. The few that were left were probably casted aside by survivors as they would have been more focused on food,water and medicine to keep themselves alive. That means that by the time any of the games start,they're would probably be very little sources of information outside of certain factions such as the Brotherhood of Steel and Vault-Tec. The only other people who would be aware of such knowledge would be pre-war ghouls,but due to the fact that many non-ghoulified wastelanders don't like ghouls and may even outright kill them on sight and because the ghouls will sooner or later go feral,they probably won't be giving any history lectures to the wasteland any time soon. The NCR may have some information,which is probably how they set up their government and why it is modeled so closely to the pre-war U.S. government.

I get the feeling that by 2281, most of that distant history was annihilated. With a few exceptions, like the Enclave and Brotherhood, post-war cultures' understanding of history would be irrevocably corrupted. Being born past 2200, what little knowledge of history you would gain would be riddled with misinformation from both your surroundings and the rest of the world. I imagine the stories traded from community to community would also conflict with each other.

In addition to that natural degradation, the information that survived will have been subject the United States' wartime propaganda and censorship. American historical texts would be the most readily available to the average scavenger, but the information inside would be what the author 200 years ago would have wanted the original audience to think. Post-war people of influence would also be likely to suppress information that they don't want the wastelands to know.

For example, Mr. House is the most prominent figure in New Vegas, yet none of the people who live there know anything about him. The one character who has the most accurate knowledge of him is Raul Tejada. I know he is a ghoul, but my point still stands. The information he got was from Mexican sources. I think if the NCR were to expand south, and absorb knowledge from Mexico, their citizens would have a better understanding of modern history.

As for ancient rome... films make up a lot of what people know I guess.

The misunderstanding of baseball was done for humor in Fallout 4, but it's probably a good example of just how warped the common person's knowledge of the past really is.

I think that preserving history in such post-apocalyptic times - is good deed. I would explain.

1. By preserving history remaining humanity learning about mistakes of past times (WW2/WW1/and many war) and would trying to prevent humanity from self-degradation (Followers Of Apocalypse detected).

History is such intresting things, so many intresting events, science evolving, many intresting persons - and it would be eternal if people will remember it - even in post-apocalypse.

I think it depends on that persons upbringing. If that was a person who was taught to read and has access to historical information such as the Followers of the Apocalypse, Enclave and the Brotherhood of Steel for example then they would know a fair amount of the happenings during the past.

Wastelanders who have degraded to savagery however would probably just rely on hearsay which is not that reliable and would be susceptible to people like Edward Sallow who introduced an effective way of waging war.

Let's take someone like Benny. He used to be basically a raider pre-House, but is fairly well spoken and doesn't actually seem like he was ever truly a mindless savage like the typical raider. Can he read? I wonder if he knows anything about the world, pre-war.

I think a lot of people will still know basic facts about history, passed down by word of mouth but most likely a warped version of history that has been embellished over the years to make it a more entertaining story. For example most people in the wasteland will know that the world was destroyed following the detonation of atomic bombs after the U.S. and China went to war but people like Moe Cronin from Diamond City believe that baseball was a sport where people beat each other to death.

@Sirdanest

I think he can.

Mr. House rehabilitated the tribals that were living in New Vegas and if he wanted these individuals to run his casinos he would need to teach them to read and write. It would not be a stretch to believe that Benny read a pre-war book that led him to the idea of taking over the Strip.

IIRC, there's free public education in NCR controlled territory. I'd probably guess that most, if not all citizens of the NCR have some form of historical knowledge, although how far that extends is open to debate. The Brotherhood of Steel is also pretty adamant on keeping track of history, and also has an education system, as seen in New Vegas. Aside from those two, I'd guess most don't have even a clue about what happened to the world, or what the world was like before the war. Pretty much every tribe or group you meets either a.) doesn't care about knowledge, or b.) actively punishes attempts to learn more about the world (e.g. Caesar's Legion, Dead Horses, etc.) The common wastelander probably has a mix of knowledge from whatever they picked up, although it probably varies too much to make an overall statistic. There's probably some people unaffiliated with the factions that have alot of knowledge, and then there are those who obviously know nothing.

I think Caesar was inspired By ancient Rome, its control and its power. He was so eager to recreate it that he took not only the best but also the problems of Rome.
On account of the fall of bombs. I think the data when the bombs fell, has roots from the inhabitants of the shelters, the Brotherhood of Steel, and those who tried to survive the war outside the shelters Vault-tec. Ghouls, diaries during the fall of the bombs, survivors, although here is the last less likely, because I think little who remained on level civilization.
If to speak, as far as people know on the wasteland, it is not enough, due to the fact that it is primarily the goal of survival than the study of the history of the world and their country.