George Santayana Essay

George Santayana noted that those who do not remember their own history are doomed to repeat it. There is an extreme truth in the observation and leaders and nations who have not learnt from the mistakes faced ramification down the ages. It can be stated that history is a subject that acts as a reference point to the future generations and asks them to learn from the mistakes committed earlier. In this context, it is a curious notion to point out that the United States was formed from the ashes of British colonial attitudes in the America. The American citizen fought against the British rule through revolution in order to gain freedom and autonomy. The irony of history is that the US tried to set up colonies themselves in Cuba during the 40’s and 50’s only to be defeated by local revolutionary forces lead by Fidel Castro. (Kar, 1996) The French had their share of mass revolution during French revolution that should have taught them not to oppress a population beyond a certain limit. However, they took little education from this incident and oppressed the local population of Indo-Chine with severe brutality. The result was general upraise that put an end to the French control in the Asian parts. (King, 1999) Similarly, Napoleon attacked Russia during the summer hoping to capture all of Russia by the beginning of winter. He was a failure and was forced to face humiliating defeat. This should have been reference point for Adolph Hitler. He tried to follow the same path of Napoleon and faced the same result, only this time he lost the entire WWII due to this Russian campaign. (Lamb, 2004) Thus, it is clear, whenever a leader or county fails to learn from history, it is evident, there would be misery. References: Kar, P; (1996); History of United States: Colonized to Colonials; Kolkata: Dasgupta & Chatterjee King, H; (1999); Historical Principals: Communism; Auckland: HBT & Brooks Ltd Lamb, D; (2004); Cult to Culture: The Development of Civilization; Wellington: National Book Trust