Why doesn't mankind learn from past mistakes?

Question

Why is it that we seem doomed to forever repeat the mistakes of the past in a cyclical fashion?
With the hideous wars and genocides of the 20th century behind us, and images such as the Napalm girl or Hiroshima forever burned into our minds, I am astonished that the leaders of the world continue their war-mongering.
There are still war veterans around today to remind us that in war, no-one wins - but there are between 15 and 20 wars raging in the world at the moment. With dramatically rising populations and deadlier and deadlier weapons being invented all the time, are we doomed to blow ourselves up?

For those of you who think I'm being simple, well my apologies. But put it this way - if you burn your hand on a hob in the kitchen, you learn not to do it again. Even if you watch someone else burn themselves, you don't do it. So why can't we learn when it comes to more complex issues?

Also I would like to add that although you may technically have a winner in a war, I feel that there are many wars where this isn't the case, such as Vietnam, or the current situation in Iraq.

Answer 1

I don't think your being simple, I think you are being to idealistic.

Conflict is a part of life. As much as some people would like to believe we as humans have moved away from our base instincts we have not.

There are people in this world who do not want peace. Today being the ideal day to mention Hitler for example. Negotiations did not and would not work for the simple fact he wanted war. It was unavoidable, and short of rolling over and letting him have what ever he wanted the only course of action was war. Now remember Europe was just coming out of the first world war not 30 years before, the scars were still fresh and yet Germany wanted to fight.

What do we do if you have an enemy intent on causing harm? your words don't stop him, appeasement has failed and the only options are surrender or fight... which do you choose?

War is not a losing proposition by the way, yes it is bloody and horrible and it seems at the moment things are at it's worst. But look at the end result of war. Berlin burned to the ground, millions dead, today the most metropolitan modern and populated cities in the world. Tokyo, ash and ruin not 60 years ago, today thriving and a technological hub.

Technology too is forged in war. medicines and devices used to save lives and that are a common sight today came from military necessity in war. Plastics, synthetics, computers, micro technology, food preservation, jet propulsion, rocket propulsion, cellular communications and even the modern combustion engine were either forged by war or improved thanks to war.

You want to see the Blood and death of war with good reason, but understand War and conflict are as much apart of life and human development as breathing and drinking.

if you sit down and open a history book and read about the reconstruction that happens after war, the way the world looked when the fighting is done and rebuilding has started. I think you will understand the place war and violence has in our world and our lives.

It's painful, but it is true.

Answer 2

Because the lesson isn't nearly as clear as you seem to think it is. Sure, Hitler and Napoleon came to bad ends in defeat, but think of all of those people who have prospered from war. Genghis Khan lived to the ripe old age of 65 and founded an empire that stretched across Asia. Horatio Nelson rose from an ordinary seaman to Vice Admiral, a peerage, and national hero in his day. The Duke of Wellington and Ulysses S. Grant both capitalized on their victories by becoming the leaders of their respective nations. Instead of talking about individuals, let's talk about wars that have made all of civilization better. Alexander the Great spread Hellenic civilization from Greece clear to India during his short life, improving the lot of countless backwards people. In the same way, Julius Caesar brought the light of civilization to Gaul and Britain. If you take the time to study the subject, you will find that one of the most important aspects of the Crusades was that they introduced the concept of romantic love to Western civilization. That's right, you wouldn't have written bad poetry to your girlfriend in junior high school if it hadn't been for Richard the Lion-Hearted. (In fact, C. S. Lewis's most remembered academic contribuition lies in the fact that he proved this.) So, before we start asking why mankind has not learned that wars are mistakes, let's take a good look at some of the things wars have produced and realize that good as well as bad can emerge from warfare. After all, wasn't it good that the Allies prevented Hitler from slaughtering even more Jews by going to war with Germany?

Answer 3

I agree absolutely with Morgan J. History is poorly taught and most people either know nothing of their own history at all, or so distorted a version of it as to do more harm than good to their sense of perspective.

Ultimately, wars will continue as long as there are such things as national self-interest and religious schism in the world. To get rid of war, you would probably have to get rid of all forms of money, and all forms of national, ethnic and religious identity - and these are arguably among the things that define human beings, or at least the way in which they organise and conduct themselves.

Answer 4

I'm not astonished at all.
I think it'll only get worse.
Are leaders are thinking about us all the time.
They want us to get killed or kill, why you may ask.
Well we all need room to grow, killing people makes this possible.
So they look into the past to see what is the most effective way to kill people off.
The next big killer WILL be a virus that we can't stop, at least that is what they will tell us.
You ever wonder about industry, how is any government going to keep the growth of any economy.
With the new advances in technology, we need less and less people to make things; to actually be useful in society.
Our government's are going to have to release a virus just to save the world.

Answer 5

Part of the reason we fail to learn the lessons of History is the fact that so few know history. It isn't taught accurately in any of the school's I have ever seen.

The Japanese don't teach their kids about Pearl Harbor so they grow up thinking we attacked them.

The Germans teach about Nazis as if they were some foreign invaders not homegrown fascist.

The French teach their kids that hey won both world wars unassisted.

The Philippines tell their kids that MacArthur barely beat the Japanese who were about to fold from the local guerrillas.

And so on. By twisting history to make "our" side look good, perfect and right, the true horror of war fades from memory. We have miles of footage of Viet Nam available but it gets manipulated by both sides, sanitized to be unrecognizable by even the men who were there.
The Right shows only the victories (which was the truth) but not the horrors of life in the Jungle.
The Left shows only the atrocities making our guys look as bad as possible, even claiming we lost battles that were clear victories for the Americans.
In the face of this spin, whose to know the truth? Only serious historians. And nobody' listening to us.

Answer 6

Wars are armed robbery by nation states. I'm afraid the grass always looks greener elsewhere, and the owner of that grass will want to keep it for themselves. If the Heads of State themselves had to fight on the front lines they would learn not to burn themselves, but unfortunately they don't.

Answer 7

The truth is that war is in our nature we seem to breed unlimited numbers of dictators and we don't seem to be able to put our religious, social of ethnic differences to one side. as the population grows worldwide so will the disease called war and I'm sure that there will be many centuries of war yet to come

Answer 8

We are doomed to repeat the mistakes, because of the failings of our Educational system.

Answer 9

Basically we are animal (one of the higher forms) lower animals can't get along, they are territorial, want to be dominate, and just don't like other animals, so why do you think we should be any different just because we are the higher form?

Answer 10

mankind has far too much human nature and pride to learn from past mistakes

if war doesnt make man extinct, natural climate change probably will