[zetalyrae]

I've thought about this a lot and I don't have an answer. History is very prose-like and unstructured and that makes it hard.

My tentative thought (and I haven't validated this entirely) is to try to structure it. Make a spreadsheet with tables for people, events, etc. Look at Wikipedia infoboxes for inspiration into the types of things that should go as columns in the tables.

You can also try hierarchical periodization. Like if you were making flashcards about the life of Peter the Great you'd divide his life into:

    1. Early life
    2. Grand Embassy
        2.1. Austria
        2.2. The Netherlands
        2.3. England
    3. Great Northern War
        3.1 Start
        3.2 Founding of St. Petersburg

And put information under each of the leaf nodes.