Is it true history repeats itself?

Question

Best Answer will go to anyone who can provide examples and/or (in)direct proof.

Answer 1

Certain events throughout history have been strikingly similar, but the idea that history repeats itself is questionable. The causes of World War I and World War II, for example, were different (although, if anything, World War II is best viewed as "The World War, Part II").

The historian Daniel Boorstein wrote "History does not repeat itself...but it rhymes all the time." He may have been playing a game of semantics, but I agree with his sentiments. The direct causes and effects of historical events are never exactly the same. Still, certain themes are constant (good/evil, greed, ignorance, arrogance, progress, etc.), and we seem to repeat the same mistakes...but under differing circumstances.

"History teaches us that people have never learned anything from History"--Hegel

Answer 2

"History repeats itself
Has to
No-one listens." Steve Turner.

There are only so many human motivations, so they tend to crop up again and again.
Ecclesiastes could observe "There is nothing new under the sun". Technology has pushed the coveted 5-series chariot of his day to a BMW or Ferrari, but the "latest" remains "in".

The young complain about the staidness of the old, the old complain about the unruliness and disrespect of the young.
(This can be chased right back to a quotation attributed to Socrates by Plato.)
"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people oftoday think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."
Peter the Hermit A.D. 1274

On a larger scale civilizations rise and fall.
Depeletion of natural resources has killed some (running out of trees, more than once), success followed by decadence and decline, others.

The classic book on this which caught the American imagination was
"The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000" by Paul Kennedy (1988)
It wasn't the examination of the factors, and their similarities, in the fall of China, Spain, Holland or Britain that caused the frisson, but the closing speculation on whether the same could be seen beginning in the USA.

Answer 3

It is true without a doubt. I wouldn't go as far as the kind of stuff that Husserl speaks of when he claims to have the answer to all of philosphy as a result of discovering the cylce of history.
But i do agree with Marx "theory" that history is a cycle.
One of my best examples is republicanism/ nationalism in Ireland. Even if one only goes as far back as the 1798 rebellion, it is very easy to point out a trend in history; 1803, 1848 and the climax being 1916. The cycle of nationalists favouring parliamentary politics, and then changing to armed struggle has been repeated many times in Irish history. Now we are currently in the phase of favouring parliamentary politics, and if one looks back through the history books one will be able to gain some insight into the future of Irish nationalism, as the cycle will continue as it has before.

Answer 4

If it's allowed,through ignorance.
It seems that some humans are destine to try to grab more power than they need or deserve.
The quest for power has been going on since Cain and Able and not much has changed except the numbers of victims and the means of extermination used..
There are many parallels to Nazi Germany and America today.
The Nationalism,the detestation for anyone who disagrees with the government policy,the spying on the citizenry,the decline of civil rights of a certain group of people.
There's another saying that goes"Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it."

Answer 5

Yes.

For example:

World War I and World War II

genocides (Armenians in World War I, Jews and other groups in World War II, the genocide in Rwanda in 1990s, and Durfar (recent)

The Communist Scare in the US in the 1950s was a witch hunt like the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690s

Answer 6

Well, one of the best examples is the parallels between the 14th century and the 20th century. There were wars for the best part of both centuries. Rampant disease pandemics (the plague in 14th century, Flu and HIV in the 20th). Economic upheaval (famine in the 14th century, the depression of the 1930s). The change of the social order, (End of serfdom and a wage based economy in the 14th, end of the royal empires in the 20th). Try reading Barbara Tuchmans "A distant Mirror"

Answer 7

You want proof of it just compair Dec 7, 1941 to 9-1-1, each was a surprise attack, both killed many in a short time, both caused us to go to war with another country. Both also happend in the early morning hours of the day, and both are still and will also affect each and everyone of us who was alive when it happened. Just like those who remember when Kennedy was shot, or the Shuttle disasters.

Answer 8

It sure seems to. The Holocaust seems to mirror many times in history. The Salem Witch Trial, the Spanish Inquisition, Ancient Egypt with the Jews - the list goes on.

Answer 9

Yes, unfortunately it does. Especially in the safety vs rights area. After Pearl Harbor, people discriminated against the Japanese and internment took place. After 9/11, peopl discriminated against people of middle eastern descent and the gov't unjustly violates the rights of these people :for the greater good."

Answer 10

People are repetitious. They do the same things over and over, and since the subject "history" usually refers to people, and what people did at a particular time, then history is repetitious, history repeats itself.

See Gertrude Stein writings.