Does history repeat its self, or do people repeat history?

Answer 1

well the question itself is redundant.
people repeat history with their seemingly collective, innate inability to learn from past mistakes, and as people fall into documented examples of poor judgement, history is made and the repetition of history is evident. I heard this on a radio station. If i had to pick one, i would say that people repeat history.

Answer 2

History does tend to run in cycles most of the time;
4X: day & night, winter & summer, birth and death,
planting & harvest, and so on ... but I can't say that
history actually repeats itself because it would be
far better to say that 'history never repeats itelf'.
This is because although the same themes endure
(4X: the struggle for power, and for control over
the hearts and minds of the people), the historical
process itself is constantly changing as more and
more people are caught up in the grand evolutionary
process of universal rationalization. Thus history
changes people, and because people change, history
changes right along with them. A, B, C, D, Easy! :)
.
As for people repeating history ... I would say that
people often repeat the same mistakes over and
over again; but this is chiefly because most people
are simply incapable of learning anything from the
past. If you understand all this, then you'll soon
come to appreciate the value of studying history: ie.
it tells us where we came from *AND* who we are!

Answer 3

Neither.

This is for two reasons. The first reason is the definition of "repeat". If all one needs if for a son to be a farmer like his father, then yeah, people repeat history. But if one refers to "repeat" as applying to larger social or political paths, neither or your questions criteria occurs.

The second reason is that looking for repetition is like reading tea leaves, you'll see what you want. Without care, one will recognize a few similarities, and fail to recognize the vast differences, and claim repetition in history. This is especially significant where the records of history are vague, unknown, or politically incorrect. But in reality, very little repetition has occured at the larger political or social-economic levels of humanity.

Answer 4

Well, if history does "repeat itself" in a bad way then people just haven't learned from their mistakes and got themselves back into a bad situation. Think of it this way, history must repeat itself until we learn that what we are doing is wrong and when we finally make an effort to undo the damage and prevent it from happening again, is when it won't happen again.

Answer 5

History repeats itself when a set of circumstances remain constant.

If somebody slips and breaks their neck on an icy piece of sidewalk, if nothing is done to fix it then it is probable that sometime later somebody will also suffer the same fate.

Likewise if a country is set with a similar set of circumstances it may end up repeating history, although hopefully astute and historically aware leadership may forcefully steer towards a more desirable outcome

Answer 6

that kinda means the same thing because history can only repeat itself if the people repeat history so... yea it goes both ways at the same time

Answer 7

People who don't learn repeat history. Since the future is what we make it, it cannot repeat unless we make it do so.

Answer 8

well the question itself is redundant.
people repeat history with their seemingly collective, innate inability to learn from past mistakes, and as people fall into documented examples of poor judgement, history is made and the repetition of history is evident.

Answer 9

People repeat history
For explain am gonna use Hitler and Napoleon. Napoleon attacked Russia in the winter and failed because it was so cool their weapons freeze and they suffer of frost bites. Then Hitler when and made the same mistake instead of learning from Napoleons mistake he also attacked Russia in the winter and loosed if he had attacked then during the summer then he would have won but Thank god he didn't

Answer 10

People repeat history, definitely!

Seemingly, it is only consciousness that is capable of making history fold back on itself.