Historic or historical?

Historic means ‘important or likely to be important in history’:

• I feel that this is a historic moment for our country.
• When the Berlin wall came down, it was a historic occasion.

Historical means ‘related to the study of things from the past’:

• I love reading historical novels.
• Archaeologists found a large number of historical objects when they excavated the field.

See also

• Adjectives and adverbs