What does “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce” mean? Karl Marx said this to draw attention to the truth that when history repeats itself for the first time, it's a tragedy. But when it repeats itself again, it becomes almost comical because people still haven't learned the lesson.

What is history repeating itself called?

The concept of history repeating itself is also known as historic recurrence.

Why does history keep repeating itself?

History has a tendency to repeat itself. As memory fades, events from the past can become events of the present. Some, like author William Strauss and historian Neil Howe, argue that this is due to the cyclical nature of history — history repeats itself and flows based on the generations.