Essay – History Repeats itself first as a tragedy and second as a farce
History Repeats itself first as a tragedy and second as a farce Essay: History can be defined as the documentation of events significant to the administration of states, existent and transitioned socio-economic climate, shifting power balances from a particular starting point such as ancient, medieval and modern history in chronological order. While ‘farce” can be defined as an event or situation that is either stereotypical in nature or characterized by excessive exaggeration. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, a German historian and political scientist first quoted, “History repeats itself” in the late 18th or early 19th Century. He propounded that history is a linear process that leads to one predetermined destination i.e: human freedom.
Discussion
The quote, “History repeats itself first as a tragedy and second as a farce” was written by Karl Marx, the father of communism in his essay “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon between December 1851 and March 1852. Through this statement, Marx was pointing out the tendencies of human beings to not learn from one’s own mistakes and allowing them to occur again leading to tragic consequences. The inability to learn and acknowledge flaws in judgment leads to the occurrence of the same mistakes resulting in disasters of a greater magnitude. According to Marx, human ignorance and incompetence in preventing disaster from occurring time and again are farcical as the flaw is subjected to critical humour. Aristotle differentiated between tragic and farcical personality traits as the former implies a greater magnitude of pain and its gravity. On the contrary, farce is humorous in a very dark way.
In the history of India, the drift between the Hindus and Muslims exemplifies the aforementioned phrase. The phase of partition from 1940 to 1945 had been an era of great political and economic upheaval. Lord Minto of the British East India Company had executed the strategy of divide and rule apprehending the Indians’ demand for freedom in the 1940s leading to the partition holocaust. The partition holocaust was characterized by the loss of human lives accounting for approximately 14 to 18 Million civilians along with massive material costs. The disasters caused by the partition were traumatic, having everlasting effects even in contemporary times. Despite the historical disaster caused by the drift between Hindus and Muslims, the trend of disaster hasn’t stopped.
The period between the early 1970s and the late 1980s was marked by severe political and economic upheavals due to communal riots between Hindus and Muslims. Major incidents of violent activities include the Turkman Gate Massacre of 1976, riots in Moradabad in 1980, and Nellie, Nowgong and Assam in 1984. The Bombay Bhiwandi incident is a more recent incident that took place in 1984 and Meerut in 1987. More than 10,000 civilians have been slaughtered and numerous families uprooted by communal riots since the 1950s. According to public records, 6933 incidents of communal riots have been reported till 1982 claiming over a total of 2949 lives in total.
Conclusion
To conclude, history repeats itself for human beings are not prompted to learn their lessons in time. The repetition of mistakes and disasters of human loss such as the partition holocaust have recurred in the nation despite the existence of precedence of traumas. It is tragic when a massive scale of human and material loss occurs, however human ignorance and inability to prevent such disasters become a farce.
FAQs
Q1. Who wrote the quote?
Ans: The quote, “History repeats itself first as a tragedy and second as a farce” was written by Karl Marx, in his essay “The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon between December 1851 and March 1852.
Q2. Who propounded the Divide and Rule strategy in India?
Ans: Lord Minto of the British East India Company had executed the strategy of divide and rule apprehending the Indians’ demand for freedom in the 1940s leading to the partition holocaust.
For more updates follow our net explanations homepage