History Repeats: Difference between revisions

== Literature ==

* [[Dichter Und Denker|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, [[The Kingdom|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 ([[Napoleonic Wars]] -> [[American Civil War]] -> [[World War I]] -> [[World War II]]), art will become more and more offensive, and capitalism runs rampant (not without provoking [[Dirty Commies|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, [[The Empire]].

* Pretty much the entire moral of [[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|Anthony Burgess']] ''The Wanting Seed''.

* In ''[[A Canticle for Leibowitz]]'', 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.