In the writing of my term paper rough draft, I have noticed that, as historians, we are constantly comparing the issues of the past to issues of the present day. Perhaps characteristics of a certain historical dictator remind us of a modern leader. Maybe the causes and effects of a war fought long ago might be similar to a war we are engaged in today. In the conclusion of my term paper, I linked 16th century New World slave labor to the sweatshop labor of today. These comparisons beg the question: Is the repetition of history a bad thing? Are we repeating the same errors?
Or perhaps the repetition of history is beneficial because it allows us to prevent future errors. If we see a certain conflict occur multiple times, it is a clue that something is wrong with the general situation which brought about that conflict. In fact, one of the most important parts of studying history is using history to predict the future.
But maybe, no matter what we do, history will always repeat itself. There will always be horrible dictators and bloody wars. There is no way of stopping them. Human struggle is inevitable. Although we might believe that we are capable of changing the course of history, human beings simply do not have that power.
This observation links to the "Great Man" theory of history. I say that great, historical events will eventually happen and it doesn't matter who makes them possible. Certain things are inevitable.
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ReplyDeleteI like how you showed both answers for your question, that either we can prevent history from repeating, or that history will inevitably repeat itself. Personally, I feel like history will repeat itself in one way or another (although I do not have evidence off the top of my head to support this...).
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