Hi Martin,
The context will tell you if 'l'histoire' is the story or History and the story wouldn't make any sense here.
Also, history is often capitalized in French and is mainly used with a singular definite article unlike 'story' which can be pluralized and have different articles or pronouns -
Son histoire m'a perturbé = His story disturbed me
Mon grand-père me racontait de bonnes histoires de sa jeunesse = My grandfather used to tell me great stories of his youth
but
L' histoire vous apprend de bonnes leçons. = History teaches you good lessons.
Bonne Continuation !
