Napoleon: Does History Repeat Itself From People Seeking Power? Does history repeat itself because people become power hungry? In the years from 58 B.C. to 1821 A.D., two infamous generals led armies to great success, yet met with similar fates. It is my belief that through the use of similar tactics, one general fell victim to a fate shared by another, earlier general. Could this fate have been avoided, if he'd carefully studied his predecessor's mistakes? Introduction: There have been several great military geniuses to come from Europe. Edward Rommel won a lot of victories against the British in World War