History doesn't repeat itself, people do.

 We often congratulate ourselves on living in the most advanced period of human history. And in many respects, we do. We possess knowledge, technology, and capabilities that our ancestors could scarcely have imagined. Yet when it comes to understanding human nature, we may not have traveled nearly as far as we believe. The weapons have changed. The borders have changed. The political systems have changed. But the ambitions, fears, prejudices, and rivalries that have shaped human history remain remarkably familiar.

The world has so much history to draw from, and it's become so much easier to do so. Digging through tomes in the stacks is no longer necessary, technological advances have put any topic imaginable at our fingertips within seconds. One no longer needs to rely on their own library for knowledge, the internet has made available the best and most extensive libraries in the world to everyone. And of all the things we could learn about, history will always be one of the most interesting. 

Which I think begs the question, with so many blunders, mistakes, miscalculations, oversights and failures that have happened throughout history, why does humanity seem to repeat them so often. 

One reason is that each time history appears to be repeating itself, each generation believes it faces unprecedented challenges, even when history offers remarkably similar examples. Years, decades, perhaps centuries may have passed, but if a cultural, social experiment failed then, ignoring the lessons of the past certainly wont increase the chances for success today. . But each time, the circumstances of today make it convincing that somehow, it'll work this time. 

There are some basic tenets of human nature that inevitably get in the way of progress. Ambition, greed, fear, tribalism, prejudice, and the pursuit of power transcend generations and civilizations. No matter how advanced our systems of law and social structure may advance, these constants are not likely to ever go away. 

In spite of the availability and accessibility of history, knowing it and understanding its lessons are two very different things. We must learn no only to understand the scope of historical events but the circumstances and reasons they came about. 

What caused them? 

What could have been done to avoid them? 

These can and do include some of history's greatest and most pivotal events. 

History is not a study of failures though. People have demonstrated courage, compassion, ingenuity and the capacity to learn throughout history. History contains many examples of those qualities as well. Perhaps the greatest value of studying history isn't learning what happened to those who came before us. It's recognizing that we are capable of doing the same things, making the same mistakes, and suffering the same consequences. History offers no guarantee that we will learn from it. It simply gives us the opportunity.