History Repeats Itself
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simonabright
Introduction
Ideas and thoughts about the repetitive nature of everything in the world appeared long before the emergence of historical science in its modern form. Even ancient Egyptians formed the concept of the cyclical nature of everything. At the same time, these ideas were further developed ancient Greeks, and their scientists pondered and created new versions of the concept of history as well as its components. In addition, the cyclicity of history can be seen in the calendars of the Maya, the Aztecs, the Incas, and many other peoples of the world. On the other hand, each civilization has its own history and events that have occurred throughout their entire existence. The most important part is the unique feature of the development and prosperity of such civilizations. The paper affirms that for many centuries, history has repeated itself because each event that happens in one country necessarily occurs in another one, which means history is impermanent and cyclical; moreover, this has a huge impact on the events and countries of the world.
History of the Development of Civilizations
The history of humankind is difficult to imagine as something linear and consistent. In this or that period of time, some civilizations established the destinies of the entire world and moved the humanity forward in its development. For example, the aggressive policy of Alexander the Great led to the spread of a highly developed Hellenistic culture in many regions of the world. One should mention New Times and the Civil Code of Napoleon that formed the basis of legal documents of many countries and buried the archaic feudal order. The development of a powerful civilization often became the starting point of a new historical period, and vice versa - its death could mark the onset of ‘dark’ centuries. This could be seen on the example of the Roman Empire, the collapse of which in 476 A.D. was considered to mark the beginning of the Middle Ages in Western Europe. The issue of the impermanence of history is first appropriately considered on the example of individual civilizations.
All civilizations have several stages their development. For example, such civilizations as the Greek and Persian one had four stages in their histories such as origin, development, peak, and extinction. A civilization originated from the formation of a unifying social philosophy. The next stage of development was associated with the emergence of a holistic social order and the presence of certain basic values ??in society that ceased to be the lot of a handful of marginals. The peak of civilization, despite the qualitative growth in all spheres, could be marked by the creation of an empire and its aggressive foreign policy. However, as strong as a state might be, it still was due to collapse. At the stage of extinction, social economic and political contradictions are sharply exacerbated. It becomes more difficult to maintain a high level of education and science. At this stage, the empire becomes rather vulnerable both to external and internal enemies, including, for example, formerly enslaved peoples. Any civilization has all four stages of its lifecycle before it disappears. At the same time, each civilization had its own characteristics and events that occurred and repeated after some time in another one.
Finally, some unique circumstances were observed in this or that culture, this or that civilization. For example, the decline of the Minoan state in the 1400s B.C. was caused by a natural catastrophe, the strongest volcanic eruption of the time. Consequently, scientists could not affirm accurately and with probability its probable fate if this cataclysm had not occurred. Therefore, it is not possible to judge the cycles of its development unequivocally.
The Recurring Events in the Greek Civilization
The fact that history repeats itself can be noted on the example of Greek civilization. For example, the reason for the plundering of Constantinople was the enormous debts that had accumulated in the West. The expansion of the West to the East was always aggravated in the times of crisis and economic problems of the West itself. Nowadays, not many Greeks can say anything good about the European banking system. They believe that the EU is the cause of their current crisis since it has opened their politicians’ access to easy money and it requires financial blood now.
However, the same thing happened 800 years ago. Participants of the Fourth Crusade, who went to protect Christianity in the Holy Land, eventually plundered Constantinople, the capital of the Greek-speaking Byzantine Empire, because of the huge debts that had accumulated in the West. Nowadays, Greece is on the periphery of Europe, but in the 12th century, high-yielding trade in oriental spices, silks, and luxury goods was conducted through Constantinople. This trade has enriched many Europeans, just like the economies of Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy in the last two decades. At the end of the 12th century, merchants from such cities as Venice, Genoa, and Pisa managed to achieve such advantages and loopholes in Constantinople that today’s young fund managers would stop at nothing to attain the same. The merchants of the past had managed to have such favorable conditions that put them in a more profitable position as compared to local traders, and they signed clever commercial contracts that allowed them to minimize taxes or even avoid paying them. As in the case of modern Greece, this led to an influx of cheap foreign capital into the markets. However, around 1,200, the situation changed for the worse. The sharp decline in turnover in the Byzantine Empire was aggravated by the unrestrained over-expenditure in Venice, the former medieval equivalent of the European Central Bank. Almost overnight, some merchants had to make the transition from easy money to such an unpleasant occupation as tax collection. Therefore, the cyclical nature of history can be observed on the example of Greece.
The Recurring Events in the Persian Civilization
Furthermore, the Persian (Iranian) civilization also had cyclicality in its history. The Iranian people are among the oldest civilized nations in the world. At the time of the Paleolithic and Mesolithic eras, the population lived in caves in the mountains of Zagros and Elburs. At the same time, the origin of Iran was attributed to the middle of the first millennium BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Persian Empire that existed until 333 BC. The Persian Empire was occupied by Alexander the Great. In the 6th century BC, Persia regained its self-government, and the Persian kingdom existed before the 7th century AD. The country was included in the Medina, and later, in the Damascus caliphate, with the advent of Islam on the territory of Persia. The original religion of the Zoroastrians practically disappeared, being completely suppressed by Islam. Up to now, the same plot of unfolding events is repeated in Iranian history: the conquerors of the Iranian territory have finally become the admirers of Iranian society. In other words, they have become Persians, which also shows that history repeats itself.
Civilizations and Modern Technologies
Consequently, different civilizations, regardless of the time of their appearance and the duration of their existence, did indeed go through several cycles. The Greek and Persian civilizations, which repeatedly experienced ups and downs in their histories, reached the highest levels of development and then disappeared due to internecine wars. On the other hand, to date, there is an opinion that human civilization can be repeated all the time to experience the periods of prosperity and decline, birth and death of cultures. However, it might be only partially true. It would be difficult to think about, for example, a return to the legal and administrative system that had operated in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. At the same time, one would find it hard to imagine that in the 21st century, people would still witness wars, similar to those that had rocked the previous century. In the latter case, two factors play a role. First, technologies have reached a level of development, in which the war of two powerful powers threatens to destroy all life on the planet, which is a deterrent. Second, civilized countries have learned to solve problems among themselves peacefully, without bloodshed. Nevertheless, it is important to mention the existence of common values for the states of the post-industrial world that have emerged as the result of the socio-cultural evolution of the previous centuries. This includes such basic values as human rights and freedom of speech.
Conclusion
The phrase about the recurrence of history has the right to exist, but it cannot be applied to all historical events since one event in world’s history does not repeat exactly in another time. This could be attributed to the fact that many centuries later, many structural changes have been observed in the world as well as technological progress has altered various spheres of life. Each civilization had its own periods in history that were unique and decisive in the development and its prosperity. To date, many countries have events that have not been repeated in other civilizations and that are inherent only in a particular country and its history. At the same time, thanks to modern society and technologies, many historical events of the past cannot happen again. New studies and inventions have enabled many countries to avoid repeating the mistakes of ancient civilizations and solve many problems at the political level.
1 year, 5 months ago