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."

- turning to history for guidance - taking a lesson from history [history's pages] - using history as a beacon - if history is a guide