I had exactly one teacher in school who not only loved history, but loved teaching it - especially the history of warfare. Most were like that Ben Stein character - joyless and monotonous.
Most of the class thought him a fuddy-duddy but I really enjoyed his lectures. I don’t think that they make them like him anymore.
I tutor an 8th grader who LOVES military history. I have a book, 100 Great Battles of the World, or something like that, that I bring out whenever I have a minute. “Today we’re doing Gettysburg.” “Oh good,” he responded. “I always wondered why Lee’s troops came up and over the road...” or whatever it is. Hahah, I am a musician — I don’t know beans about the strategy, but my husband loves history and we have visited every battlefield everywhere, so i love it too.
Once he was studying a particularly cool machine gun, to write me an essay. We googled a picture and sent it to the copier. When we got there, we could not find the copy anywhere. Finally I found it wadded up in the trash. Some peace-loving hippie had thrown it away. We made another, of course.
One by one....