It's most natural to say "using history as a guide," as in "Using history as a guide, we can see the disastrous consequences of this policy for the region." There are however many ways to formulate this, such as:
"In light of history, it would be a mistake to pursue X."
"Looking at history, one can see the consequences of X."
"Taking a lesson from history (or a page from history), one can see the consequences of X."