diff --git a/builtin-log.c b/builtin-log.c
index 5b0ea28346..f4d974a7b8 100644
--- a/builtin-log.c
+++ b/builtin-log.c
@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ int cmd_whatchanged(int argc, const char **argv, char **envp)
 	init_revisions(&rev);
 	rev.diff = 1;
 	rev.diffopt.recursive = 1;
+	rev.simplify_history = 0;
 	return cmd_log_wc(argc, argv, envp, &rev);
 }
 
diff --git a/revision.c b/revision.c
index 6a6952cd55..75c648c13c 100644
--- a/revision.c
+++ b/revision.c
@@ -303,7 +303,7 @@ static void try_to_simplify_commit(struct rev_info *revs, struct commit *commit)
 		parse_commit(p);
 		switch (rev_compare_tree(revs, p->tree, commit->tree)) {
 		case REV_TREE_SAME:
-			if (p->object.flags & UNINTERESTING) {
+			if (!revs->simplify_history || (p->object.flags & UNINTERESTING)) {
 				/* Even if a merge with an uninteresting
 				 * side branch brought the entire change
 				 * we are interested in, we do not want
@@ -519,6 +519,7 @@ void init_revisions(struct rev_info *revs)
 
 	revs->abbrev = DEFAULT_ABBREV;
 	revs->ignore_merges = 1;
+	revs->simplify_history = 1;
 	revs->pruning.recursive = 1;
 	revs->pruning.add_remove = file_add_remove;
 	revs->pruning.change = file_change;
@@ -756,6 +757,10 @@ int setup_revisions(int argc, const char **argv, struct rev_info *revs, const ch
 				revs->full_diff = 1;
 				continue;
 			}
+			if (!strcmp(arg, "--full-history")) {
+				revs->simplify_history = 0;
+				continue;
+			}
 			opts = diff_opt_parse(&revs->diffopt, argv+i, argc-i);
 			if (opts > 0) {
 				revs->diff = 1;
diff --git a/revision.h b/revision.h
index 7d85b0f2e9..4020e25c33 100644
--- a/revision.h
+++ b/revision.h
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ struct rev_info {
 			no_merges:1,
 			no_walk:1,
 			remove_empty_trees:1,
+			simplify_history:1,
 			lifo:1,
 			topo_order:1,
 			tag_objects:1,