Patterns of History

Let’s explore a bold idea that history doesn’t just progress in a straight line; it follows patterns that repeat over time, and right now, we may be approaching a turning point.

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Cindi Blackhall

Retired Teacher and Educational Consultant

Why do major events like wars, revolutions, cultural shifts, and economic crashes keep coming back in new forms? History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself, but it does rhyme. 

Some historians believe those rhymes follow a pattern so clear, you can start to get a glimpse of what’s coming next. The book The Fourth Turning lays out a cycle of four repeating phases, called Turnings, that shape how generations rise, clash, and rebuild the world around them.

We’ll trace those cycles through Greece, Rome, Britain, and the United States, and you’ll see how societies break down and bounce back, and how people like you are growing up in the middle of it all, preparing to shape what comes next.

Once you spot the pattern, the headlines start to look different. History starts to sound familiar.

Course Content

Ancient Greece: 800 BCE–146 BCE 1 Knowledge Check
The Roman Empire: 753 BCE–476 CE 1 Knowledge Check
The British Empire: 1600–1997 1 Knowledge Check
Colonial America to Independence: 1607–1783 1 Knowledge Check
Westward Expansion to Post Civil War: 1787–1870 1 Knowledge Check
Post Civil War to WWII: 1866–1941 1 Knowledge Check
What’s Next? 1 Knowledge Check