Hanyi #15 - Remembering History
"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
These words of George Santayana were one of the first ideas my AP Euro teacher taught to us last year. He explained this idea to be the primary reason why we study the history of our civilizations. We have to learn from the past mistakes of previous generations, otherwise, as said by Santayana, we will repeat them.
On a superficial level, it does make sense. If our civilization in general understands the catastrophes of certain events in the past, we would theoretically ensure such mistakes would not occur again. Why would we logically wish to inflict more disasters upon ourselves?
However, is this really the case in our history? Anyone who has studied world history at all would know the names of World War I and II. When World War I had ended, it became the deadliest human conflict in history with more than 21 million causalities ("World War I"). The war demonstrated to humanity the depth of destruction one can inflict upon one another, and the war's severity even earned itself the title the Great War, symbolizing that no past or future warfare can outweigh the devastation it has caused. But a mere 21 years later, World War II began. History has repeated itself.
Certainly, when World War II began, not a single person had forgotten the tragedies of World War I; yet, they still chose to conduct global destruction on one another. They definitely remembered the past, but they still had repeated it. Considering this, do Santayana's words still reign true?
Work Cited
“World War I.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I.
Hi Hanyi! While it is true that it might seem at first glance mankind doesn’t learn, I would urge you to look at the 60 odd years of general peace that has reigned since. War is actually on the downlow. Health is better than ever before. Poverty is decreasing faster than ever. While looking at the past we must remember that cherry picking our sample is not a good idea. Don’t look at two points in the past and think “Wow they sure didn’t learn from that”, just look at what you have now and think “Have we learned from that?”
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi, I believe that we do remember the past, it's just that we repeat it anyways. Everyone knows what we should and what we shouldn't do, but a part of human nature is doing something you know is wrong in pursuit of power and money. Remembering the past is very important, and we are by learning about our history in schools, but just because we remember the past does not guarantee that we will not repeat it.
ReplyDeleteHey Hanyi! I remember my AP Euro teacher repeating the same wise words to us throughout the year after analyzing every blunder and success in European history. We all have to collectively learn from our mistakes, and that’s what makes this concept extremely hard. Any one person can tip this productive growth in the wrong way by incepting harmful ideologies within groups of people. Manipulation is a strong tool and can often infect people’s judgment, making them take action despite their better judgment, even history. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHanyi, this blog post is definitely applicable in today's world events. As the war between Russia and Ukraine wages on, I cannot help but think how similar these events are to the Cold War. The Cold War occurred due to the expansion of the Soviet Union and now that is what Russia is trying to accomplish again. Santayana words do have value and his words are the basis for why we study history in school but sadly people do not understand the value of history.
ReplyDeleteHey Hanyi, Santayana’s words are true in that not only does history help us realize we shouldn’t repeat past mistakes, but it also allows us to evaluate the present by comparing with past events. Whether it is using history to better understand why certain events have happened or to widen our perspectives on different situations, it demonstrates how important it is to remember history and to be able to apply it to present times. While we didn’t see this with what happened with WW1 and WW2, there are still other various instances in history where people have shown to have learned from mistakes in the past. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi! I think that people fully remembered World War I and did not want another one like it, but their efforts to prevent another one sadly backfired. As we learned in AP Euro, the Treaty of Versailles imposed massive reparations on Germany and placed the war guilt entirely on them. This caused resentment that Hitler was able to use to gain support and start World War II. Santayana's words are definitely true, but I think that this can also depend on the situation. For example, people often do things anyway, even if it caused harm in the past. Human nature can be quite unpredictable..
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi, I think that learning about history does help an individual to reconsider their actions, however, sometimes greed and power fogs their common sense. It gives them false hope and makes them disregard the suffering of others because they feel that it will be worth the victory. But, war almost always leads to detrimental losses for both sides. Countries are put into debt and families are devastated from the loss of their loved ones. Still, wars are similar to wildfires because they give way to rebirth and reforms to make society a better place similar to how wildfires give way to new plants and provide nutrients for the soil.
ReplyDeleteHi Hanyi! I definitely think there is some truth to the statement that people learn from past mistakes. This idea reminded me of a story my band teacher shared about how he was the second child and he learned from his older siblings' mistakes to do better. However, this is not always the case. Even though it is the rational thing to do to learn from our mistakes, humanity is not always rational and sometimes we make the same mistake over and over again. There are many benefits to learning from our mistakes and I think it is important that everyone keeps that in mind for a brighter future. Thank you for sharing!
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