what does it mean when people say history repeats itself?

Question

thanks

Answer 1

Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. If you do not know what mistakes were made, you will make them again.

Answer 2

The idea is that people keep making the same mistakes (or, if not mistakes, doing the same things). For example, the same missteps keep leading to wars; fashions are in style, go out of style...and then come back in; people swear they will never drink again, but do.

While certain events throughout history have been strikingly similar, 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.

Whatever the case may be, many people believe we humans refuse to learn the lessons of the past. According to George Hegel, "The one thing history undoubtedly teaches us is that people have never learned anything from History."

Answer 3

Here is a real life example. I'm not saying I agree with this, but some people are saying our current Iraq war may turn out to be another Vietnam war if we pull out like the US did in 1973. If that happens and the whole Iraq govt. falls into chaos there would be parrelles there so that would be an example of history repeating itself.

PS- Not looking to turn this into a debate about the war, I was just using an analogy to try to give a practical answer to the question. No one needs to contact me to argue this point.

Answer 4

Pick up Edward Gibbon's - History of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire (1776) - read about the Roman's during their coming doom. You will be shocked at how simular there final days are like our current days in the United States.

Which causes one to wonder, did all of our leaders fail their ivy league history classes or are they driving us into a new dark age on purpose.

Answer 5

It means the same things happen again and again, sort of. Of course, they don't always happen in exactly the same way or to the same people or at the same place but the same kind of incidents kinda, sorta happened again, kinda like. What it actually means is that someone thinks a current event resembles a previous event.

Answer 6

People who don't study history, generally tend to repeat it (they keep making the same stupid mistakes).