We do learn from history but sadly we usually need more than one lesson.

when I read this question i think about a quote attribute to Mark Twain: ‘History never repeats itself but it rhymes,’ - more about this subject you can find here: 

p.s. politics is the way from morality to immorality, so it's normal to have a penchant for repeating itself

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/12/history-rhymes/.

We do learn from history but sadly we usually need more than one lesson.

Mircea Eliade deals with the the myth of cycles of History, which is really discussed.

History sometimes seems to be repeating itself, especially when election time comes around and around and around.

Pete Townshend of The Who makes a similar point through his music. You may want to turn up the volume on your computer before clicking on the following link, and plug in some headphones or earbuds if you happen to be in your office.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_SWP3qI7Rg

Here are the lyrics.

"Won't Get Fooled Again"

We'll be fighting in the streets

With our children at our feet

And the morals that they worship will be gone

And the men who spurred us on

Sit in judgement of all wrong

They decide and the shotgun sings the song

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Smile and grin at the change all around

Pick up my guitar and play

Just like yesterday

Then I'll get on my knees and pray

We don't get fooled again

The change, it had to come

We knew it all along

We were liberated from the fold, that's all

And the world looks just the same

And history ain't changed

'Cause the banners, they are flown in the next war

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Smile and grin at the change all around

Pick up my guitar and play

Just like yesterday

Then I'll get on my knees and pray

We don't get fooled again

No, no!

I'll move myself and my family aside

If we happen to be left half alive

I'll get all my papers and smile at the sky

Though I know that the hypnotized never lie

Do ya?

There's nothing in the streets

Looks any different to me

And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye

And the parting on the left

Are now parting on the right

And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I'll tip my hat to the new constitution

Take a bow for the new revolution

Smile and grin at the change all around

Pick up my guitar and play

Just like yesterday

Then I'll get on my knees and pray

We don't get fooled again

Don't get fooled again

No, no!

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Meet the new boss

Same as the old boss

(A-Z Lyrics, http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/who/wontgetfooledagain.html)

Yeah, it is very common in my country 

@ Laurence Doremus - Mircea Eliade write about tendency to return to a lost paradise by canceling time (going out of time).

So I can say people have a penchant for repeating, but is not only about history.  

By observing what's happening to us now and in the past, we can say that history repeats itself.

Yes. I saw (I actually read from history books) and am seeing (from television news) history repeats itself. Like technology, knowing history can be used for good or bad and "learned" leaders indeed learn from history, by becoming "smarter" but the environment also gets smarter. Leaders who do not read history just commit (for the first time) what their predecessors did. But learned or not, leaders simply follow their "instincts" usually driven by the desire for power and more power.

Scientists are now starting to see history repeat itself. Studies have shown that many animals, including polar bears and some reptiles, have started shrinking as carbon dioxide levels increase

http://www.businessinsider.in/22-Devastating-Effects-Of-Climate-Change/articleshow/36405612.cms

Inspired by Forrest Gump I would say that history is like a box of chocolates.  We select the flavours we like best every time.  Even those who have learned from history still keep making the same selections, they draw their inspiration from the historical events that appeal most to them.

This is most obvious in military history, Generals look to the Generals of the past for inspiration in tactics sometimes with great success but more often leading to disaster.  It has often been said that military tacticians are always training to fight the previous war. 

It need long term observation to conclude the same. To understand it we need to understand our past carefully. 

I fully agree with Barry Turner. The story is, of course, teacher of life, but we usually we need more than one lesson ...

It's sad but true, really!

Tomasz

Several examples we see history repeating itself, nature of a person do not change, a bad person will keep on repeating the mistakes, a good person will always do good for the society inspite of any kind of obstruction. In Hindu mythology, the giants like Ravana kept on repeating his mistakes in his earlier as well present lives and subsequently killed by the almighty god. Ultimately the truth prevails.

In rare situation, the nature of a person gets changed, keep on doing the same mistakes again and again. 

Similar thing is noticed in occurrence ofextreme/episodic events in nature, and we have to prepare ourselves for sustenance

regards

History walking in a straight line, but the events swing down or to the top, that the world is experiencing a period of wars followed by a period of peace, and so few people are benefiting from the events of history.

History repeating itself, you can't look at a situation in a way that one has not already looked at before in a similar situation. Reality is only a pretty pictures made from brilliant artist and that reality which those artist become history

Dear Vibha

I guess it's an unwritten law: repeat to learn ... and I'm a good example. Let's see if, indeed, at least one thing, I get over...

Thank you for this question!

Regards!

Dear @Vibha, thanks for sharing the question. We should learn better from history!

Enemy At The Gates – History Repeating Itself In Serbia!

"Serbian FB Reporter, Miodrag Novakovic, wrote an interesting article in late December warning the world that history was getting ready to repeat itself in the Balkans. We propose that you read this article, and then pause for a moment and think of what is happening in Syria and you will see very striking similarities...

Interestingly, Western allies (Britain and the US) committed large scale atrocities during WWII by bombing indiscriminately, and almost exclusively against several large Serbian cities. This is apparently how they paved the road for a communist dictator, and “self-declared” President of Yugoslavia, Josip Broz Tito, who then used the old rule: “divide and conquer” to occupy Serbia and the rest of Yugoslavia, and to firmly establish the new communist regime. These actions destroyed any resistance in Serbia (by using “self-invented” formula, commonly known as “Weak Serbia- Strong Yugoslavia”).

Obviously in the 90s history just repeated itself.

Zoom to the present day, and an autonomous Kosovo. The author believes that the “killers” are returning to the original crime scene and are more than eager to once again chop Serbia into pieces for their own imperialistic reasons and/or agendas. Also, they are returning because the ultimate goal is to undermine Russian interests in this part of Europe, and maybe set the stage for a “final military solution”. (This time though… the killers the author is probably referring to is radical Albanians who want to create a “Greater Albania” through Kosovo).

The question is, will Russia still stand idle this time and allow these interests to roam freely and shift boarders again in the Balkans? No one in their right mind wants that. In fact we believe that this time Russia will defend Serbian independence and this country’s national integrity, because if it doesn’t then it will not be defending itself."

https://serbianjournal.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/enemy-at-the-gates-history-repeating-itself-in-serbia/

I think history does repeat itself however much of this is down to human nature. We refuse to learn lessons from our past and continue making the same mistakes over and over again despite our best endeavours. We take the eye of the ball by this I mean what is happening on the world stage this failing to stem the coming disaster. We replace one corrupt regional.e with another thinking we can control them to discover that the dog bites the hand that feeds him the country involved and its people become more oppressed. Instead  of creating ng a free nation and putting a better ruler in place the individual uses the position to rise in power becoming a bigger demon than that which was slain.this results in the removal of the next leader to make room for another more despicable than the last.

it may repeat itself if people do the same event

Leadership Cycle: Is History destined to repeat itself?

"World history is usually taught as the history of civilizations. The significant facts are generally the ones that have had a bearing on the development of those civilizations. Human history is an unending series of repeated cycles. The world is round and almost everything goes through cycles. There are life cycles, climate cycles, economic cycles and political cycles to name a few...

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." ~ George Santayana 

If we would study the past, it has the keys to unlock the mysteries of the future. The beliefs, habits and practices from our past are powerful tools if used as a springboard into the future. Are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes? Not necessarily, that is why it’s important to understand the lessons from the past, the realities of the present, and the likely consequences of a decision for the future. We don’t just enter the future. We create it..."

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/leadership-cycle-history-destined-repeat-itself-brigette-hyacinth?trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A577811291457279187650%2CVSRPtargetId%3A6033443409002270720%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary&trk=vsrp_influencer_content_res_name

I utterly concur with Georgina Boyd.

In my opinion, the history does repeat itself and we should learn more from history to keep away from repeated mistakes. 

Who says history insinuates a milestone in time. It is not history that repeats but those are much more human nonsense that come through the time.

I agree with your answer Fadel. This is not the time is continuous, it is marred by our actions that mark the periods

Yes history does repeat itself, as Georgina and Seyed said. But we, especially those who are in the position to influence history more than we normal people, did not learn their/our lesson. Therefore the impression occurs, that history always is changing.

Peter

History repeat itself .Since the beginning of the time human beings have witness the part play while the rulers of the said period of the time & their credibility  & other war incidents between one state to another had become the order of the day during that time.

This become the history & it is in one or another way continue process at that time .For history repeat itself we have not to go far long period as we all are aware that the world has witness first & second world war .

This becomes the history that political environment in different parts of countries whether they are wedded to democracy ,socialism ,communism ,even dictatorship ,their political games always create the problem initial with the tech of discussion & dialogue but with the failure in the said line it creates a war like issue .

Such political involvement every where in the world create the problem of history & we all are accustomed  with the saying ''HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF''.

This is my personal opinion 

Yes, definitely, when we read history and know how Hulagu destroyed libraries and schools in Baghdad after the development of science in this city. Today note how terrorists destroying the heritage of ancient civilizations and schools in the cities occupied by them, and it was history repeating itself.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulagu_Khan

History may be repeating itself in western society. Despite some great thinkers, the culture of the Roman Empire appeared to become self-indulgent and degenerate over a prolonged period, before it 'fell'. But then, western philosophy returned to higher standards..... Perhaps history is cyclical - or is it human behaviour?

Sadly, as in the UK at present, history is not always valued by political governments. Surely, history's lessons would be learnt better if they were valued - and grave mistakes of our past would not be repeated. Do we simply need leaders who are willing to learn from history?

History repeating in Bangladesh. It seems that we never learn from the past- power makes us blind.

We in India too do not learn from history and keep repeating the same follies......

Every time there is a natural disaster we say we will not allow it to happen again and the same thing happens. we forget why did it happen very soon...

Every time there is a social conflict we say it will not happen again till it happens again ...

Many times when the government is formed the parties commit the same blunders and then loose face...

Historical events are repeated. Their solution - with the development of technology - can still be more dangerous - or better?

Yes, it always repeats itself. Nations like living organisms have a curve, starting to grow and after reaching its maximum stage of growth, it declines. This is a rule of nations history. Rules of wars, revolutions, ruling are the same from the past till now. Even the ends of rulers having the same path, are the same. 

Following on from my earlier comment:

'If history records good things about good people, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good; or if it records the evil of wicked people, the godly listener or reader is encouraged to avoid all that is sinful and bad, and to do what he knows to be good and pleasing to God.'

The Venerable Bede [early 8th century AD] - our first historian. [He is in the UK news now, as 'his' museum in Jarrow was closed down this month.]

Good and educational question, Dear Vibha. Thanks for sharing. Human evolution is a natural iterative process. Is a time scale question also. It is always different. However, the history may repeat itself with similar patterns, particularly when societies are not able to learn or are not interested to learn with the errors of the past, e.g. armed conflicts or cyclic or permanent wars.

“There are only patterns, patterns on top of patterns, patterns that affect other patterns. Patterns hidden by patterns. Patterns within patterns.

If you watch close, history does nothing but repeat itself.

What we call chaos is just patterns we haven't recognized. What we call random is just patterns we can't decipher. what we can't understand we call nonsense. What we can't read we call gibberish.

There is no free will.

There are no variables.”

― Chuck Palahniuk, Survivor

This is a "historical" fact!

Dear Vibha Sharma , Excellent  Question  

This is My View !!! 

Old & Middle human-beings  are thinking that and trying to Implement Olden-Era Activities But in " New-Era Entirely Stylist " and Varies from Olden-Era.

Nowadays Each and everything in Online then How can be imagine the historical movement Will be repeating ??? Impossible .

For Example : Olden-Era Food Cultivation in the Ground itself But Nowadays Doing Cultivation in the Roof  Lvl . New-Era ............???????????

Sequence of Food  : -  Most Healthy Food - More Healthy Food - Healthy Food - Nowadays Becoming Fast Food and Tablets for Breakfast , Lunch , Dinner .

Future Where Will Be Standing .................... ????????????????????????????????

How Can Anticipate the History Repeating ?????

Alexander the Great wanted to win the world. Hitler had the same blood lust. Now the ISIS wants to rule the whole world. So sometimes history repeats itself. Another example is the repetition of the ice age on earth. Every ice age may give birth to some new species and can also eradicate some species. It changes the shape of the earth. Some rivers may alter course. But after some years, the ice age returns to the earth.

Yes history repeats itself and truly it seems that one lesson is insufficient. Furthermore it usually takes around 50-100 years for people (usually an entire nation or groups of countries) to forget, and for another generation/cohort to re-learn the lessons afresh. Hence it is less common for history to repeat itself during an individual's lifespan.But more apparent if we consciously stand back/detach ourselves from the immediate and the current, to grasp and to discern the patterns that a broader perspective and longer time frame affords. 

What comes to mind for me is the case of Russia, where there were at least 4 incidences of military defeat ( of invading forces/civil war) during the winter. Some say the winter is not a direct contributing factor to the defeat, but merely a coincidence, or rather it was the "straw that broke the camel's back".

Historical determination can be the product of  the mind's need to organize and filter everything through a funnel so that there is some semblance of order and meaning. Especially when more information and events seem to unfold at faster rates than before.

History does not repeat itself. Rather it seems like as any event's circumstances are look like.

history may repeat but not in the same manner. Observe the fashion/dresses, business cycles, etc..

Dear all

History repeats because human always forget history. Or politicians conceal history.

Dear all

History repeats because human nature never changed. Having war for example, human always get into war as avarice. What human get in a war is how to fight well in nest war.

Well said, @Pierlorenzo - our first historian, Bede [in the early 8th century AD] would probably have agreed with you in encouraging the English to repeat good precedents in our history, when he wrote that sentence in his Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum:

'If history records good things about good people, the thoughtful hearer is encouraged to imitate what is good'.

Of course! Every time somebody asks this same question! It has been asked ever since Marx stated it, and added "first as tragedy, then as farce"...

But, whatever Marx said, dear Vibha! I think this is still a question we must ask.

Best regards, Lilliana

Does history repeat itself?  You need only look at the current U.S. election and compare it to the 1932 German election.

If history is to be our guide in a Trump administration, then we can expect a Reichstag fire type of incident - possibly an ISIS attack inside the continental U.S. - that will propel Trump past president and into fuhrer.

Dear Dr. Vibha Sharma,

In my opinion, a history is once and recorded. The replica, the rhythm and playback is possible.

Playback of history is with politicians of Bangladesh and natural calamities.

Large immigration that occurs now toward Europe from the Middle East are the same force when it has migrated from Europe to the US territory. The history repeats itself.

History repeats itself. Normally not in exact events, although those do occur (i.e. corrupt governments tend to always be at fault for the same thing no matter the period in history or person).

Even then I believe that the true way that history repeats itself is unlearned patterns. In a micro view, in our own lives we often repeat the same mistakes because we forget or think it will be different this time. We then either react differently, or do something the same which may or may not give different results. For example, the biblical pride cycle: Pride, I am all high and mighty; Things go wrong or punished; Humbled and asks for forgiveness; Does really well in doing unselfish acts and remembering their place; Rewarded; Becomes prideful again.

Behaviors definitely repeat themselves but maybe one of the big reasons history repeats itself is because education is not genetic. We should learn from ancestors and we often take part in the changes of lifestyle and ways of thinking but that does not mean that we understand why the change occurred or why it couldn't be different this time.

If Caesar was alive today, would he tell us to pick better friends? Would he do things differently? Because I wasn't him, would I try to imitate his successes in my personal life and hope I don't get burned? Do I actually know what it is like to be Caesar? Do I have his wisdom and intelligence that produced the society he did?

Nope.

I am a unique individual with a mindset of my own with my own set of mistakes and learning. I could read all the motivational stories I want and act on them however I please, but my experiences are still mine and I cannot share them or relive another's.

History is not caused solely by people but by the interaction of complex events and the human reaction to them.  people are often said to have 'made history' for better or worse but it is never simply the individual or group of individuals who were solely responsible for the outcome of events.  

Hitler is rightly denounced as an evil monster but it is not true that he caused WW2.  If Hitler had been born in 1945 instead of dying in 1945 he would most likely have been just another unknown misfit.  His hideously distorted and exaggerated political views would never have have caught on in a prosperous world as they did in the terrible instability of the interwar years.

The times we live in are shaped by chaotic and random events, we can only ever react to them and never can have complete control.  History is a continuum, not a catalogue of events where one historical event can be compared with another as if they were items.  We tend to look at history qualitatively and the highest concentration of historical 'events' are found in times of adversity.  The more adversity the more pronounced the events.  

History does not really repeat itself it just continues ever onwards   

"Those Who Do Not Learn History Are Doomed To Repeat It." Really?

"History shows that both those who do not learn history and those who do learn history are doomed to repeat it. If it's also true that those who do learn history are doomed to repeat it, then the saying doesn't really add anything at all...

It may be that all of the good things and all of the bad things about people and the way that we organize ourselves are simply going to breed patterns as we continue to make history as a species. It may be that we are simply given to a certain irrationality which leads us down paths, some disastrous, again and again.

Consider what Mark Twain famously said on the matter: "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."..."

http://bigthink.com/the-proverbial-skeptic/those-who-do-not-learn-history-doomed-to-repeat-it-really

History is the guide path for planing , yes one should either individual or an organization has to do regular perusal. There are many issues of pride and problem solving solutions always seen in history.

“History is Philosophy teaching by examples” – Thucydides

Harry Potter - History Repeats Itself

http://archiveofourown.org/works/4304088/chapters/9754968

There is a said in my country: "Los pueblos que olvidan su historia están condenados a repetirla".

Translated approximately: "The peoples who forget their history are condemned to repeat it".

History repeats itself because historians chose to look for the 'repeats'.  In view of the origin, or at least one of the origins of this cliché we should perhaps refer to echo rather than repeat.  History is often an echo of itself.

 Marx in Eighteenth Brumaire corrected Hegel's observation that all great events occur 'twice'.  He concluded that the first occurrence was tragedy and the second farce.  

Slavoj Žižek suggests that Marx, in A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right was comparing the tragedy of the dramatic and tragic fall of the French Ancien Régime with the farcical decay of the German establishment in the mid 19th century.

Hegel, Marx and Žižek perhaps look for too much meaning in similar events.  The decline and fall of all regimes will bear similarities to those that declined and fell in the past.  It is an evolutionary process that is bound to happen.  Everything has a beginning a middle and an end.

Hei Peter. Ultimately, I believe that we can, in a socially just world, "predict" a different and, crucial this, a better society if we choose to do so. At the very least, we can seek - often through one step back, two steps forward - to avoid the repetition of mistakes, particularly, the tragic examples of crimes against humanity. Some might say, that my optimism is naive. But I prefer to be naive and hopeful than cynical and resigned. Best Paul

Then I think Vibha that there is an important message in what you say. We the people must strive to remind those in political power that social justice is realistic policy. Paul

The author Christopher Booker tells us that in all stories there are only seven basic plots.  All the stories in history distill down from these seven possibilities.  There is no wonder then that these stories keep repeating themselves.

The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories, Christopher Booker 2004

Hi

I think that following paper are useful.

Regards

Article History Repeats Itself ?

Article History Repeats Itself: Concomitant Tricuspid Regurgitation

Article Introduction: History repeats itself repeats itself

When it is said that, history repeats itself is a saying and every saying has meaning, purpose based on observations. Repetition is a time phenomenon takes it's own time. History is what? a series of incidences, actions that is Karmas and Karmas are like bum rang coming back in suitable time. One may not observe the repetition  of history in his life time but we see some incidences in nature getting repetition like eclipse, famine, floods etc.  

If History Repeats Itself, Who Is Bernie Sanders?

"Bernie Sanders is like Jefferson or Adams defying the King of England at the very beginning of the American Revolution. Many upstanding and reasonable citizens felt that it was far too impractical, too radical, or just plain mad (because of the violence that would ensue) to seek such independence.

Now present day corporations and other powerful elite constituencies that heavily influence American politics and economics are basically just as corrupt and restrictive as England was on the Colonies back then. A crucial difference is that it’s not a matter of land and course taxes, but plausibly deniable subjugation that runs deep at the systemic level, while parading a story of progress and western, white, humanistic triumph (it is everything but humanistic)..."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-schmanko/if-history-repeats-itself_b_9479622.html

It is said History repeats itself. Have you seen history repeating itself?

Depending on the operational definition of "repeats" in this context i.e. repeat similarly or repeat exactly.  Very low probability history repeat exactly but very likely history can repeat similarly so that we can summarize its outcome / morale of the history & get the benefits out of it.

Don't we learn from history? Does it have a penchant for repeating itself?

We can read on history but to learn from history we need to internalize it in our heart so that any event unfold before us we can immediately recall the history outcome & thus influence our next step accordingly.  Whether there is tendency for history to repeat itself also depending on how much we know about the history - if we don't know, every event / occurrence is a new experience.

depends also which history

History of climate

history of mankind

history of wars

history of vulcan eruptions

history of Evolution

history of technical developments

history of turtels

history of ploitical decisions

??????????????????????

Peter

In Germany, the school curriculum helps students to comprehend the notion of a collective "moral burden" that the nation carries for its cruel and destructive Nazi past.

This is clearly a different kind of burden than that carried by individual persons who committed crimes against humanity during the rise and era of German Nazism.

I would like to think - and perhaps other readers can help me here - that this kind of schooling nurtures a learning from the past that categorically says: ´Never again in my name´. Paul

I do not think history repeats itself, errors are repeated, because our race does not take into account the history or the experience that leaves the past.

Sometimes. Germany teaches school students about the collective responsibility that society has never to repeat the horror of the Holocaust. To what extent students heed this message is hard say. For all that, I think - I hope - the vast majority do. Paul

dear Paul,

I agree deeply.

Thank you for your comments!

Peter

Dear Concha

Thanks for the links. I will certainly go through them.

Dear Peter

I am basically talking about History repeating itself politically - Political decisions taken time and again that prove to be disastrous for the party! We have seen that happening in our country a large number of times!

Regards

Vibha 

dear Vibha,

after having sent my comment, I saw that you narrowed to politically.

Best regards

Peter

Dear Vibha,

It’s hard to disagree with. Over our history, wars ended with confiscatory terms of surrender inevitably breed more wars. Revolutions that give an individual absolute power inevitably end up as brutal dictatorships. Even individuals are subject to this advice. Couples who do not learn from their fights break up. People who don’t learn from their mistakes don’t mature. So it is the ruling of The Proverbial Skeptic that this saying is true

seen and experienced 

Yes . History Repeatedly repeat but process is lengthy and no one predict the time. It Is natural phenomenon and observed in all fields. History is a guiding road  or map to learn or to find a solutions for problems. Essence Or extract is important rather than description part, true historians are few. History Writing is a art and science also.

History may repeat, but not in the same manner.  usually we see in politics, fashion,...