Wikipedia's first sentence called it “french historian”. Today it says “french historian and author of several histories and studies about the arab-muslim world”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Henry Laurens at a conference in Paris, 2012 Henry Laurens (born 1954) is a French historian and author of several histories and studies about the Arab-Muslim world. He is Professor and Chair of History of the Contemporary Arab World at the Collège de France , Paris. Laurens specializes in several related areas of research: European-Ottoman contacts in the 19th century, Franco-Arab relations, Middle-Eastern politics, European thought in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the history of modern Palestine. He has written a four-volume work about the latter, covering the period from 1799 to 1982.1He also teaches this subject at the Collège de France.2Since 1999, Laurens has served on the Administrative Council of the French Institute of Oriental Archeology in Cairo. In 2004, he became a member of the High Council of the Institute of the Arab World (IMA) in Paris. He is also on the editorial board of the journal Maghreb-Machrek .3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 867252512.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Henry Laurens (born 1954) is a French historian, one of France's foremost experts on the Middle East , and author of several reference works about the Arab-Muslim world. He is Professor and Chair of History of the Contemporary Arab World at the Collège de France , Paris. Laurens specializes in several related areas of research: European-Ottoman contacts in the 19th century, Franco-Arab relations, Middle-Eastern politics, European thought in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the history of modern Palestine, about which he has written a three-volume work covering the period from 1799 to the present day. Since 1999, he has served on the Administrative Council of the French Institute of Oriental Archeology in Cairo. In 2004, he became a member of the High Council of the Institute of the Arab World (IMA) in Paris. He is also on the editorial board of the journal Maghreb-Machrek .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 343861412.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Henry Laurens at a conference in Paris, 2012 Henry Laurens (born 1954) is a French historian, and author of several reference works about the Arab-Muslim world. He is Professor and Chair of History of the Contemporary Arab World at the Collège de France , Paris. Laurens specializes in several related areas of research: European-Ottoman contacts in the 19th century, Franco-Arab relations, Middle-Eastern politics, European thought in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the history of modern Palestine, about which he has written a four-volume work covering the period from 1799 to 1982 and teaches the period to present days at the Collège de France. Since 1999, he has served on the Administrative Council of the French Institute of Oriental Archeology in Cairo. In 2004, he became a member of the High Council of the Institute of the Arab World (IMA) in Paris. He is also on the editorial board of the journal Maghreb-Machrek .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 661797864.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 5 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
French historian and author For the American Revolutionary statesman, see Henry Laurens . ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Henry Laurens at a conference in Paris, 2012 Henry Laurens (born 1954) is a French historian and author of several histories and studies about the Arab-Muslim world. He is Professor and Chair of History of the Contemporary Arab world at the Collège de France , Paris.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1153276238.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
French historian and author ( Learn how and when to remove this message ) Henry Laurens at a conference in Paris, 2012 Henry Laurens (born 1954, Neuilly-sur-Seine ) is a French historian and author of several histories and studies about the Arab-Muslim world. He is Professor and Chair of History of the Contemporary Arab world at the Collège de France , Paris.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1274177435. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “french historian”. Today it says “french historian and author of several histories and studies about the arab-muslim world”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
french historian
Now
french historian and author of several histories and studies about the arab-muslim world
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
