Civilization is a strategy sandbox with a historical theme but no attempt to replicate historical events. But in general that can work - for example, the various grand strategy games by Paradox (Crusader Kings for early middle ages, Europa Universalis for late middle ages/rennaissanse, Hearts of Iron for WW2 era, etc) can bring a lot of perspective in the relevant eras and their events. It also was very useful in learning geography, as it forced me to learn the relative locations and properties of various regions I've never been to.