Márk Gál
In my opinion, history is a wonderful subject and I think it would be meaningless and useless without circularity. When history comes to someone’s mind, it is often just through a remark that the same thing happened again in the study of a new topic, that the person heard it in a documentary, or something similar happened to him/herself and how foolish that act was. Having made this observation, the person then simply drops the subject. However, there is more to it than that, and now I will try to prove this.
The reason why repetition happens is that the doings have mostly the same consequences and we can even make similar “laws” about these schemes, as in physics. To occur, an event needs a chain of acts or activities to become real, and if you are observant enough, you can notice patterns. After you notice a pattern you should try to check out in theory what happens if you change one of its elements, what its aftermaths are, and how you might deal with them. It is not necessary for it to be a wrong pattern, as good ones can end up catastrophically when you apply them in the incorrect conditions (the people you are doing it differ, they know/do not know what you are trying to do, or the situation is distinct from the original sequence).
After you have done a few times what I wrote in the previous paragraph, it is a good idea to compare some sequences with your life, and if you find them promising, apply them to it with adjustments. Here is an example: Hitler was elected in Germany because the country’s economy was in ruins and he promised to solve it just as Caesar had done in Rome. He had ideas on how to do it, which worked, but he had extreme ones too. The German citizens were desperate and trusted in him, and after they saw the first side of the coin the other half didn’t bother them and it led to massive destruction. Now let us suppose that there are problems in your class, workplace, friend group, etc. There is a charismatic member who knows how to get rid of the problem, but has radical thoughts that can also influence your group. Firstly, don’t not let him/her do this, nor have the dangerous ideas done. Secondly, take the advice that works. Without the reforms of Hitler, Germany would still stay in the lurch for a long time. Maybe if another politician had just carried out the reforms and not killed half of a race and overrun Europe, the state and the continent’s fate would have turned out better.
All in all, I think the purpose of studying history is not to explore some tales and cram them for an exam, but rather to learn these chains of actions and consequences and apply them to your situation.