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Madeleine Dalton
Professor Feveryear
American Civilization 1700
August 2, 2014
Does History Repeat Itself?
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana
Over the centuries, there have been many arguments involving history, and whether it
repeats itself. It would be easy to assume that it does. However, most professional historians
believe the past doesnt reoccur more than once. There are many things to consider when it
comes to a historical event; time period, economic standing, the people in power, etc.
Circumstances are almost never the same.
No two historical events are identical. So, how could they be repeated? Only if we let it.
We, as humans, make decisions every day. We also make mistakes, and often learn from them in
order to avoid a reoccurrence in the future. History cannot repeat itself. Its just like attempting
to predict the future. Only peoples decisions can be repeated.
During the second battle at Cold Harbor (June 3, 1864), Ulysses S. Grant gave an order
to attack Robert E. Lees troops, who already had the opportunity to entrench. It resulted in a
tragedy for the Union; there were 13,000 casualties out of the 108,000 troops, and only 2,500
casualties out of 62,000 for the Confederates. At the battle of Petersburg, however, Grant dug in
and laid siege instead of attempting a frontal assault. He chose to learn from his past experience
and felt as though a different technique would be more beneficial.
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President Barrack Obamas decision to not become involved with Syria in 2013 is a more
current example of why history cannot repeat itself. From the bad experience with Iraq, Obama
decided to hold off on military action because of George Bushs decision to declare war.
According to an article from the New York Times, he then chose to pursue a Russian proposal
for international monitors to take over and destroy Syrias arsenal of chemical weapons
(Landler, Weisman 2013).
We can only endure consequences from the past, and the decisions that people made. We
cannot predict the future, nor can history repeat itself. In George Santayanas quote, I believe he
actually meant something different. If we fail to remember or study the past, we are condemned
to repeat the same mistakes made by other people, not history itself. All we can do is learn from
past experiences, and avoid making the same errors.












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Works Cited
Battles of Cold Harbor. History. A&E Television Networks, LLC, n.d. Web. 2 Aug. 2014.
Landler, Mark and Jonathan Weisman. Obama Delays Syria Strike to Focus on a
Russian Plan. New York Times. New York Times Mag., 10 Sept. 2013. Web. 3 Aug.
2014.