“Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.” – Philosopher George Santayana, Reason in Common Sense, 1905.
Arguably, no truer words were ever written. For we humans have a terrible habit of not learning from our own mistakes, or those of others, for that matter. The past lessons of history are left to prior generations and too often forgotten, or even worse, ignored. For millennia of our human history, destructive campaigns were repeated, either though ignorance or hubris. There are sadly countless examples, varying in length and impact to consider. Here are six of the most memorable.
1 – The Rise and Fall of Empires
These once great empires of Earth had one thing in common, over-expansion. They grew so large, they stretched beyond the reach of their own rule. Emperors, Kings or Sultans, sometimes over several generations and centuries, continued imperial expansion, regardless of the risks or cost. The Roman Empire stretched from England to Africa to the Middle East. The Ottoman Empire spread from Turkey to North Africa to the Balkans. The Spanish Empire was truly global with control over northwest Africa and most of Latin America. The Japanese Empire swallowed China, Southeast Asia and the South Pacific in its pre-World War II expansion.
Over-expansion created difficulties in governing, economics, military rule and, most importantly, containing outside threats and wars. Did that stop any of them from continuous expansion via military conquests? NO. The Roman Empire ultimately faced the invading Goths and Huns in the 500’s. In the 19th century, the Spanish Empire faced multiple wars for independence from its many American colonies. The Ottoman Empire was carved up by the Allies following its 1918 loss in World War I, creating our current Middle Eastern countries. The Japanese Empire, fighting a war on multiple fronts, likewise surrendered its invaded territories at the end of World War II to China, Britain, and the U.S. in 1945. The British Empire would soon learn the same over-expansion lessons.
2 – The American Revolution and French Revolutions
Both the American and French Revolutions were sparked by decades of unfair representation of the common people, who finally had enough of it, and rose up. In the case of the Americans, they had been loyal British subjects for over 100 years. They slowly turned against English King George III in the early 1770’s. Repeated, unfair governing and taxation by the British Parliament ultimately lead to the Revolutionary War in 1775 and Declaration of Independence in 1776. It took 8 long years of war, however, to finish it. In 1783, the American Continental Army, under the command of General George Washington, defeated the British Redcoats and gained independence. This was in part thanks to Benjamin Franklin and his strategic negotiated alliance with the Kingdom of France.
The French Revolution followed the American Revolution’s enlightened ideals of equality and liberty. The Third Estate (bourgeoisie and poor commoners) revolted against King Louis XVI and the French military following years of costly wars, royal overspending, uneven taxation, and famine. The hungry people rose up against their king in 1889. An armed mob of commoners stormed and took the hated Bastille prison in Paris. They then marched on the Palace of Versailles, demanding the King return to Paris. They negotiated with the Estates General to form a new French Republic, just like the United States of America. In the end, The Great Terror resulted in the guillotining King Louis, his wife Queen Marie Antoinette and many of the French aristocracy.
3 – Napoleon’s and Hitler’s Failed Russian Invasions
Regardless of Russia’s point in history, whether an Imperial Empire or Communist stronghold, its vastness (from Ukraine to Siberia), has been both an intimidating foe and a tempting target. Two of Europe’s most power hungry rulers would learn the same hard lesson. By 1812, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte had subjugating most of Europe through a series of “Coalition” wars with Prussia and Austria. Russia’s Tzar Alexander chose not to comply with Napoleon’s Continental System and its embargo of Great Britain. So Napoleon decided to invade Russia and expand his Empire yet again. It was an unmitigated disaster.
Begun in late June of 1812, the French Grand Armie of 600,000 invaded Russia. They managed to rapidly advance and capture Moscow by September. However, the harsh Russian winter soon arrived and Napoleon was forced to retreat. Due to hypothermia, poor supply lines, disease, starvation and the unrelenting Russian Army, he lost 500,000 men on the march back to Europe. Napoleon was ultimately defeated and exiled to the island of Elba in 1813.
During World War II, Germany’s Adolf Hitler likewise set his eyes on Russian expansion (then Communist Soviet Union). After invading Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Holland, Norway and France, the Nazi Army of 3 million men invaded the Soviet Union with Operation Barbarossa in late June 1941. Like the French Grand Armie, the German Army moved swiftly and neared Moscow by late September. By November however, the Russian winter dropped upon them like a glacier.
Just like Napoleon, Hitler had severely underestimated the Russian winter, proper supply chains, and the relentless Red Army. Though the Nazis would make substantial progress towards St. Petersburg and Stalingrad, the freezing winter caused them to halt. The eastern front war would continue for 4 more years with the Nazi Army slowly retreating back into Germany. The Red Army would ultimately advance and invade Berlin in May 1945. Hitler committed suicide in his bunker that same month.
4 – The American and Chinese Civil Wars
The American and Chinese Civil Wars may not seem similar from the outside, but common roots exist between them. What does it take to no longer compromise and coexist, but rather turn to violence against each other? The U.S. War Between the States came about primarily due to the South’s perceived threat to its state’s rights, and very way of life. The industrialized, abolitionist North versus the agrarian, slavery-dependent South. Following the election of Abraham Lincoln, seven southern states seceded from the Union in early 1860, forming the Confederate States of America. The war began with the South’s attack on the Union-controlled Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor in April 1861. Four more southern states then seceded. Competing armies were formed and the first battle took place at Bull Run near Washington. It ending four bloody years later, when Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant in Appomattox, Virginia.
The Chinese Civil War also divided the country geographically and politically. After the collapse of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the Republic of China was formed. The Chinese Communist Party began in 1921, in opposition the the ruling Nationalist Party. Two very different social and political systems evolved that refused to work or live together. Nationalist President Chiang Kai-shek ordered the killing of Communists in Shanghai in 1927. The Communists responded with an uprising, resulting in a full blown Civil War. Young Communist leader Mao Zedong led a peasant revolt in Hunan. He eventually led the Red Army, declaring a separate Communist Republic of China in the north.
During World War II, Chinese Nationalists and Communists together fought the Japanese Empire under a “United Front.” After Japan’s surrender however, they turned on each other once again and fought for control. Communists controlled most of northwestern China and Manchuria. The Nationalists controlled southern China and the major cities. Civil War broke out again when Nationalist troops occupied Shenyang in Manchuria. Battles raged for three years as the Communist Red Army gradually pushed south and defeated the U.S.-backed Nationalists in 1949, forming the Peoples Republic of China, with Mao as Chairman.
5 – The Armenian and Jewish Genocides
Before the Nazi’s horrific Jewish Holocaust of World War II, there was the Turk’s Armenian Genocide of World War I. It is hard to fathom the human intentions behind genocide. Not just the killing, but the attempted extinction of an entire race of people. What dark calculations go through the minds of the planners and the perpetrators? From the spring of 1915 through the fall of 1916, as many as 1.2 million Armenian Christians died, either in massacres or from systematic exposure and starvation. The World War I Ottoman government was controlled by the so-called the Young Turks. Their goal was to purify Muslim Turkish dominance over the empire by exterminating the Armenian presence. Their propaganda painted them as Christian, Russian-leaning traitors.
It began with forced deportation of Armenians from their homeland in northeastern Anatolia to the Ottoman Empire’s southern deserts. There were no gas chambers then. The victims were either shot in village massacres by Turkish troops, or died during forced marches due to starvation, dehydration, exposure, or disease, en route to the deserts of northern Syria and Iraq. If they made it through the death marches alive, they were placed in concentration camps. The western nations knew of it, but did nothing. For decades after the war, western governments sadly declined to call it “genocide,” in order to stay on good terms with their Turkish allies.
Merely 20 years after the Armenians, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi leadership began plotting out their Final Solution to the Jewish Problem. Hitler had a clear and successful road map to follow in the Armenians. First, scapegoat a population as the cause of all the countries woes. Then build up fear and hatred towards their entire population. Next, confiscate their homes and business, then forced deportations in the name of racial purification. Once again, the world watched and did nothing. In some cases, countries like the United States restricted Jewish immigration with limited quotas. Finally for the Jews came isolation in Nazi concentration camps, where they were dehumanized. Last came the horrific gas chambers of the death camps, where 6 million Jews perished. The world was horrified when the Allies liberated the camps … yet genocide would occur again, in Rwanda in 1994.
6 – World War I and World War II
This is the most common, sad example of history repeating itself. Just 20 years after the end of World War I, The Great War, The War to End All Wars in 1918, World War II erupted between the exact same countries. The spark for World War I was the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian teenager in Sarajevo in 1914. Europe was already polarized with shaky alliances and imperial posturing. Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Russia mobilized its military in support of Serbia, so Germany declared war on Russia. Germany invaded Belgium, so Britain and France declared war on Germany. Three years later, after near stagnant trench warfare, that included mustard gas, the U.S. joined the war. This ultimately lead to Germany and Austria’s surrender under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Eleven million soldiers lost their lives.
Germany, humiliated by the strict terms of surrender and loss of territory, fell into an economic Depression with rampant inflation. This resentment by the German people allowed the Nationalist Socialist German Workers (Nazi Party) to form in 1920. It slowly gained in popularity under the charismatic leadership of one Adolf Hitler. When Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, the Nazi Party began to remilitarize Germany in direct defiance of the Versailles Treaty. The Allies did nothing to stop them. In 1938, Hitler annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia, and the Allies did nothing. In 1939, Hitler invaded neighboring Poland. Britain and France declared war against Germany and Austria, and World War II began. After five years of war, 25 million soldiers had lost their lives.
Why Does History Keep Repeating Itself?
There are countless more examples throughout our history – political, economic, social, religious and militarily. Several general reasons exist for these unfortunate recurring patterns.
Human Nature: History is ultimately driven by human behavior. Regardless of political, intellectual or technological advancements – human greed, ambition, hatred, fear, anger, ambivalence, distrust, and power remain constants.
Collective Memory: As time passes, the memories of a generation fade into distant narratives. This loss causes newer generations to forget, or ignore, past failures, and commit the same, often preventable mistakes.
Historical Cycles: Some theories suggest that history moves in predictable cycles or waves roughly every 80 years (about a generation) that alternate between eras of relative peace and stability, and those of severe crises and wars.
How can we prevent repeating our past mistakes as humans? Are we even capable of preventing them from happening? HISTORY has so many lessons to teach us, if we but listen – and learn.