History Main / HistoryRepeats

* The ''{{Gundam}}'' series, according to ''TurnAGundam'', is all one timeline with this going on. Mankind keeps making space colonies, having a civil war with them, getting a bit too violent and inventing gundams that are too powerful, and destroying said colonies, forgetting about it, then sending out new colonies, only to have a civil war with ''them''. Then gundams get too powerful... and each time, they progress a little further, with the destruction and casting back of mankind going further each time. By the time of ''TurnAGundam'', they're at an early-1900s level of technology. And history repeats again ''anyway'', using LostTechnology.
** This is also specifically the point of the ideological debate in ''MobileSuitGundamWing'''s [[TheMovie movie]], ''Endless Waltz''. The villainess argues that war is an inevitable part of human nature (the titular "endless waltz" of war, peace, and revolution), while the female lead says that lasting peace can happen if people are willing to put forth the effort to end the ViciousCycle. Needless to say, at least in the ''TurnAGundam'' version of events, she does't succeed in spreading that idea.

--> - "History Repeating", by the Propellerheads and ShirleyBassey.

--> ''Do you want to see the future, read the past''

** This is also specifically the point of the ideological debate in ''GundamWing'''s [[TheMovie movie]], ''Endless Waltz''. The villainess argues that war is an inevitable part of human nature (the titular "endless waltz" of war, peace, and revolution), while the female lead says that lasting peace can happen if people are willing to put forth the effort to end the ViciousCycle. Needless to say, at least in the ''TurnAGundam'' version of events, she does't succeed in spreading that idea.

* How about situations where something happens on a ShowWithinAShow and then something like it happens in the main show? Like in ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'', when Joe makes a HeroicSacrifice in ''{{Gekiganger3}}'' and in the same episode [[spoiler: Jun attempts to make a HeroicSacrifice but survives- then Gai Daigouji gets killed suddenly and pointlessly at the end of the episode.]]

* In the series finale of HBO's ''TheWire'', several characters end up in situations that harken back to the pilot episode (in tandem with {{CallBack}}s). Most notably, Detective Leander Sydnor goes to Judge Phelan and asks with his help investigating a major case (which Detective Jimmy [=McNulty=] did, in a conversation with the exact same character, five seasons prior). The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue insinuates that Baltimore is a cyclical place, and that characters will always end up in certain roles (e.g. [[spoiler:Michael]] becomes the new [[spoiler:Omar]], [[spoiler:Dukie]] becomes the new [[spoiler:Bubbles]], etc).

There are some films where they deal with the world repeating over and over, e.g. ''GroundhogDay'' and the similar film ''12:01''. But this trope happens when history repeats itself without a GroundhogDayLoop.

* The {{Gundam}} series, according to TurnAGundam, is all one timeline with this going on. Mankind keeps making space colonies, having a civil war with them, getting a bit too violent and inventing gundams that are too powerful, and destroying said colonies, forgetting about it, then sending out new colonies, only to have a civil war with ''them''. Then gundams get too powerful... and each time, they progress a little further, with the destruction and casting back of mankind going further each time. By the time of TurnAGundam, they're at an early-1900s level of technology. And history repeats again ''anyway'', using LostTechnology.
** This is also specifically the point of the ideological debate in ''GundamWing'''s [[TheMovie movie]], ''Endless Waltz''. The villainess argues that war is an inevitable part of human nature (the titular "endless waltz" of war, peace, and revolution), while the female lead says that lasting peace can happen if people are willing to put forth the effort to end the ViciousCycle. Needless to say, at least in the TurnAGundam version of events, she does't succeed in spreading that idea.

[[folder:Unsorted Examples]]
* In ''ACanticleForLeibowitz'', the readers know the world had had a great nuclear sometime in the past (our present). Then there's The Simplification, which is another world-wide war, and a third war (nuclear again) in the third part. The book ends with what's left of humanity moving on to a new planet, to probably keep the cycle of stupidity going.
* ''MaisonIkkoku'' has an example where Kyoko romantically pursued her teacher, and when Godai gets a teaching job at her old school not only is he also romantically pursed by a student, but the several of the methods used are very similar. (Tagging the teacher with a heart on the back when he's not looking).
* How about situations where something happens on a ShowWithinAShow and then something like it happens in the main show? Like in ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'', when Joe makes a HeroicSacrifice in ''{{Gekiganger3}}'' and in the same episode [[spoiler: Jun attempts to make a HeroicSacrifice but survives- then Gai Daigouji gets killed suddenly and pointlessly at the end of the episode.]]
* In ''IkkiTousen'', the fighters (who are reincarnations of the various generals of ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'') are destined to fight and die in the same battles, in similar ways.
* Played straight, then [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], in ''TheBelgariad'' and its sequel series ''The Malloreon''.
** Indeed, cherished by the ''[[{{Belgariad}} Mallorean]]''. Due to a mistake in the fabric of the universe, events recur with minor changes throughout history. By the end of the series, the heroes are actively noticing the recursion and using it to their advantage. The ultimate goal of the series is to fix this, so that time can finally move ahead.
* Geo-Force tries this gambit against Deathstroke in ''FinalCrisis: Last Will and Testament'' by luring him to the location where Deathstroke's son had his throat slit. [[spoiler:Deathstroke claims that Brion isn't the first one to try this, but Brion is the first to slit his own throat for full effect.]]

* In ''TheWave'', a {{high school}} history teacher is trying to show his class just how easily [[ThoseWackyNazis the Nazis]] came to power, only to be met with disbelief by students who think that "it can't happen here." So he shows them otherwise by starting a fascist movement in the class.
* ''AmazingSuperPowers'' [[http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/2008/08/olympics/ demonstrated]] how frequently those who ignore the past are [[NoOneHasAMemoryOverTwoYearsOld doomed to repeat it]].
* Used so often in ''{{Homestuck}}'' that the concept is almost weaponized by the various textual and visual callbacks. Many of these instances, such as stairs, are subject to [[MemeticMutation memery]] both in-story and out.

----

* Pretty much the entire moral of [[AClockworkOrange Anthony Burgess']] ''The Wanting Seed''.

* The ''TalesOfPhantasia'' and ''TalesOfSymphonia'' timeline has this going on. Periodically, mankind invents magitechnology, culminating in a Mana Cannon, the use of which kills large numbers of people and depletes so much mana as to threaten the life of the Mana Tree. Things progress too far, the Mana Cannon causes too much destruction, and civilization is cast back into the Dark Ages for a while. Then somebody starts exploring ruins, and finding out about this thing called "magitechnology"...

* ''RudyardKipling'' in '[[http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_copybook.htm The Gods of the Copybook Headings]]' pointed out how political ploys of the time are less than fresh by mockingly attributing them to prehistoric times -- "When the Cambrian measures were forming..."

* ''{{Lost}}'' starting in the season 5 finale. Its implied that people have been coming to the island only to be wiped out over and over again as part of [[spoiler: Jacob and the Man in Black's grand morality test]]. Taken to an extreme in "Across the Sea" where it's revealed that [[spoiler: Jacob isn't even the original protector of the island and that there had probably been many previous protectors before he was born]].

* ''IAmLegend'': Like ''LittleShopOfHorrors'', another Warner Bros. film, a FocusGroupEnding causes all meaning in the story to be lost, and the editors of both films are so damn lazy they forget to take out the foreshadowing.
* In ''ACanticleForLeibowitz'', the readers know the world had had a great nuclear sometime in the past (our present). Then there's The Simplification, which is another world-wide war, and a third war (nuclear again) in the third part. The book ends with what's left of humanity moving on to a new planet, to problably keep the cycle of stupidity going.
* ''MaisonIkkoku'' has an example where Kyoko romantically pursued her teacher, and when Godai gets a teaching job at her old school not only is he also romantically pursed by a student, but the several of the methods used are very similar. (Tagging the teacher with a heart on the back when he's not looking).
* ''{{Naruto}}'' has this due to the CycleOfRevenge, primarily between the Uchiha and Senju/Uzumaki clans,
* How about situations where something happens on a ShowWithinAShow and then something like it happens in the main show? Like in ''MartianSuccessorNadesico'', when Joe makes a HeroicSacrifice in ''{{Gekiganger3}}'' and in the same episode [[spoiler: Jun attempts to make a HeroicSacrifice but survives- then Gai Daigouji gets killed suddenly and pointlessly at the end of the episode.]]
* In ''IkkiTousen'', the fighters (who are reincarnations of the various generals of ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'') are destined to fight and die in the same battles, in similar ways.

* In ''ThirdWatch'', Ty's father is murdered years before the series starts. His partner Sully finds out the truth behind the murder (that the murderer was paid by a corrupt cop, CT Finney) but says nothing in order to protect Ty's family's police pension. Fast forward to 2004, where CT Finney is exposed and commits suicide. Ty ends up helping Finney's son to make it look like an accident - so that Mrs Finney can still get her police pension.

* Played straight, then [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], in ''TheBelgariad'' and its sequel series ''The Malloreon''.
** Indeed, cherished by the ''[[{{Belgariad}} Mallorean]]''. Due to a mistake in the fabric of the universe, events recur with minor changes throughout history. By the end of the series, the heroes are actively noticing the recursion and using it to their advantage. The ultimate goal of the series is to fix this, so that time can finally move ahead.
* Pretty much the entire moral of [[AClockworkOrange Anthony Burgess']] ''The Wanting Seed''.

* Geo-Force tries this gambit against Deathstroke in ''FinalCrisis: Last Will and Testament'' by luring him to the location where Deathstroke's son had his throat slit. [[spoiler:Deathstroke claims that Brion isn't the first one to try this, but Brion is the first to slit his own throat for full effect.]]

* ''MahouSenseiNegima'' is shaping up to be this, with Negi and his GenerationXerox crew facing more or less the same scenario and villains that the last generation did.
* The ''TalesOfPhantasia'' and ''TalesOfSymphonia'' timeline has this going on. Periodically, mankind invents magitechnology, culminating in a Mana Cannon, the use of which kills large numbers of people and depletes so much mana as to threaten the life of the Mana Tree. Things progress too far, the Mana Cannon causes too much destruction, and civilization is cast back into the Dark Ages for a while. Then somebody starts exploring ruins, and finding out about this thing called "magitechnology"...
* The {{Gundam}} series, according to TurnAGundam, is all one timeline with this going on. Mankind keeps making space colonies, having a civil war with them, getting a bit too violent and inventing gundams that are too powerful, and destroying said colonies, forgetting about it, then sending out new colonies, only to have a civil war with ''them''. Then gundams get too powerful... and each time, they progress a little further, with the destruction and casting back of mankind going further each time. By the time of TurnAGundam, they're at an early-1900s level of technology. And history repeats again ''anyway'', using LostTechnology.
** This is also specifically the point of the ideological debate in ''GundamWing'''s [[TheMovie movie]], ''Endless Waltz''. The villainess argues that war is an inevitable part of human nature (the titular "endless waltz" of war, peace, and revolution), while the female lead says that lasting peace can happen if people are willing to put forth the effort to end the ViciousCycle. Needless to say, at least in the TurnAGundam version of events, she does't succeed in spreading that idea.
* In ''CodeGeass'', Lelouch lost his mother to an assassin, which shattered his cozy, comfortable worldview and inspired him to change the world with [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremism]] in order to give his beloved sister a better life. [[spoiler:His father the Emperor, who is the biggest obstacle on his quest, went through pretty much the exact same thing in his lifetime and is himself trying to change the world -- along with his wife, who's NotQuiteDead. You can imagine Lelouch's shock when he learns all this...]]
* In ''TheWave'', a {{high school}} history teacher is trying to show his class just how easily [[ThoseWackyNazis the Nazis]] came to power, only to be met with disbelief by students who think that "it can't happen here." So he shows them otherwise by starting a fascist movement in the class.

* [[DichterUndDenker German philosopher]] Oswald Spengler claimed in his non-fiction book ''{{The Decline of the West}}'' that this happens in every major culture: A culture emerges among until then barbarian people, fuses them together to nations. The great myths, art styles and religions develop. At the beginning, [[TheKingdom strong kings rule]], but their power soon is weakened by their noble vassals. A great movement reforms the religion. Meanwhile, in the cities a somewhat-privileged middle class has risen, replacing feudalism economy slowly but steadily by capitalism. By cooperating with them, the crown can weaken nobility and the church, forming an absolutist state. Science and capitalism develop further, and an enlightened philosophy spreads, weakening the hold of religion. Then, the middle class will decide to get rid of the old system, usually in the form of a revolution - which starts civilization. This marks the fall of the culture - wars will get worse and worse (NapoleonicWars -> AmericanCivilWar -> WorldWarOne -> WorldWarII), art will become more and more [[TrueArtIsOffensive offensive]], and capitalism runs rampant (not without provoking [[DirtyCommies counter movements]]). At the end, one state will conquer/control all other states, and one man will rise to the top of this state - voila, TheEmpire.

* IAmLegend: Like LittleShopOfHorrors, another Warner Bros. film, a FocusGroupEnding causes all meaning in the story to be lost, and the editors of both films are so damn lazy they forget to take out the foreshadowing.

* In'' IkkiTousen'', the fighters (who are reincarnations of the various generals of ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'') are destined to fight and die in the same battles, in similar ways.

** Justified, and indeed cherished, by the ''[[{{Belgariad}} Mallorean]]''. Due to a mistake in the fabric of the universe, events recur with minor changes throughout history. By the end of the series, the heroes are actively noticing the recursion and using it to their advantage. The ultimate goal of the series is to fix this, so that time can finally move ahead.

* The various incarnations of the [[BabylonFive Shadow/Vorlon War]], up until the point where Sheridan [[ScrewDestiny punches History in the face]] [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome and throws it out of the galaxy]].

* The TalesOfPhantasia and TalesOfSymphonia timeline has this going on. Periodically, mankind invents magitechnology, culminating in a Mana Cannon, the use of which kills large numbers of people and depletes so much mana as to threaten the life of the Mana Tree. Things progress too far, the Mana Cannon causes too much destruction, and civilization is cast back into the Dark Ages for a while. Then somebody starts exploring ruins, and finding out about this thing called "magitechnology"...

* ''Lost'' starting in the season 5 finale. Its implied that people have been coming to the island only to be wiped out over and over again as part of [[spoiler: Jacob and the Man in Black's grand morality test]]. Taken to an extreme in "Across the Sea" where it's revealed that [[spoiler: Jacob isn't even the original protector of the island and that there had probably been many previous protectors before he was born]].

* Justified, and indeed cherished, by the ''[[{{Belgariad}} Mallorean]]''. Due to a mistake in the fabric of the universe, events recur with minor changes throughout history. By the end of the series, the heroes are actively noticing the recursion and using it to their advantage. The ultimate goal of the series is to fix this, so that time can finally move ahead.

* In the past, Chrono of ''ChronoCrusade'' (the manga version) was in love with a woman called [[spoiler:Mary Magdalene]], who was [[spoiler:[[BodySurfer possessed]] by Pandaemonium, the demon's HiveQueen. This kicked off the events which led to her death.]] When Rosette is placed in a frighteningly similar situation, Aion feels the need to [[LampshadeHanging point out]] that history is repeating itself.

* In the series finale of HBO's ''TheWire'', several characters end up in situations that harken back to the pilot episode (in tandem with {{CallBack}}s). Most notably, Detective Leander Sydnor goes to Judge Phelan and asks with his help investigating a major case (which Detective Jimmy McNulty did, in a conversation with the exact same character, five seasons prior). The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue insinuates that Baltimore is a cyclical place, and that characters will always end up in certain roles (e.g. [[spoiler:Michael]] becomes the new [[spoiler:Omar]], [[spoiler:Dukie]] becomes the new [[spoiler:Bubbles]], etc).

* ''{{Naruto}}'' has this due to the CycleOfRevenge, primarily between the Uchiha and Senju/Namikaze clans,

* The {{Gundam}} series, according to TurnAGundam, is all one timeline with this going on. Mankind keeps making space colonies, having a civil war with them, getting a bit too violent and inventing gundams that are to powerful, and destroying said colonies, forgetting about it, then sending out new colonies, only to have a civil war with ''them''. Then gundams get too powerful... and each time, they progress a little further, with the destruction and casting back of mankind going further each time. By the time of TurnAGundam, they're at an early-1900s level of technology. And history repeats again ''anyway'', using LostTechnology.
** This is also specifically the point of the ideological debate in ''GundamWing'''s [[TheMovie movie]], ''Endless Waltz''. The villainess argues that war is an inevitable part of human nature (the titular "endless waltz" of war, peace, and revolution), while the female lead says that lasting peace can happen if people are willing to put forth the effort to end the ViciousCycle.

Or it can happen in an adult show where the characters have had flashbacks to show some of the older characters backstories, and then you have an episode that focuses on the younger characters who experience the same thing.

* Justified, and indeed cherished, by the ''[[{{Belgariad}} Mallorean]]''. Due to a mistake in the fabric of the universe, events recur with minor changes throughout history. By the end of the series, the heroes are actively noticing the recursion and using it to their advantage. The ultimate goal of the series is to fix this, so that time can finally move ahead.

* Not sure if it fits, but [[OrSoIHeard I heard that]] in'' IkkiTousen'', the fighters, who're reincarnations of the various generals of ''RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' are destined to fight and die in the same battles, in similar ways.

* Played straight, then {{Lampshaded}}, in TheBelgariad

* In ''CodeGeass'', Lelouch lost his mother to an assassin, which shattered his cozy, comfortable worldview and inspired him to WellIntentionedExtremist in order to give his beloved sister a better life. [[spoiler:His father, the Emperor, lost his mother to an assassin, which shattered his cozy, comfortable worldview and inspired him and his beloved brother to change the world with WellIntentionedExtremism. Too bad Big Bro crossed the line by murdering Charles' wife and Lelouch's mother, which put him in the crosshairs of TWO {{Chessmaster}}s...]]

* In ''CodeGeass'', Lelouch plots to change the world partly out of revenge for the murder of his mother and partly out of desire to give his beloved sister a better life. [[spoiler:His father, the Emperor, wants to change the world partly because his mother was assassinated and partly because of a pact between him and his brother. Too bad Big Bro crossed the line by murdering Charles' wife and Lelouch's mother, which put him in the crosshairs of {{Chessmaster}}s...]]