The Eightfold Path affected people "back then" in the same way as it does now. It presents a roadmap to let you conduct your life more skillfully with the goal of reducing desire and thus reduce the feeling of unsatisfactoriness that desire causes.
The eightfold path is path of Buddhism.
Buddha taught the Eightfold Path so that people could stop being reincarnated into more suffering.
The eightfold path is linked to samsara because if you do everything in the eightfold path you will get really good karma, which will help you in your next life
A person does not complete the Eightfold Path, he follows it for all the cycles of life and death. After a person becomes enlightened (integrates the Eightfold Path into their being) they may reach Nirvana. This is not however "peace". Nirvana is a state of selfless existence.
the eightfold path is a devolpe of deep uderstanding of the four noble truths
Suffering, because the eightfold path is a way to end suffering.
The Middle Path, The Way
The eightfold path is the 4th noble truth, the way to remove suffering or dukkha.
Buddhism
the eightfold path is the path that Buddha taught.
The Five Noble Precepts are not explicitly contained in their entirety in the Noble Eightfold Path. However: The First Precept, Not Killing, the Second Precept, Not Stealing, and the Third Precept, Not Stealing, are part of the fourth point of the Noble Eightfold Path, Right Action.The Fourth Precept, Not Lying, is part of the third point of the Noble Eightfold Path, Right Speech.The Fifth Precept, not drinking alcohol, is not found in the Noble Eightfold Path.
Buddhism