Simply having knowledge of a set of events does not stop recurrence. Some factors that influence the way human affairs turn out are totally outside of our control. For example, in another post I discussed Mackinder's Heartland theory. The idea here is that geography can influence the conduct of politics (hence why Mackinder is known as the father of geopolitics). Mackinder illustrates his example using the Russian Steppes - countless great empires have been forged there, and in more recent history than Mackinder's time we have seen Hitler repeat Napoleon's mistake of invading Russia.

Geography can also influence the culture of a specific region. Take for example Prussia in Europe. Voltaire once described Prussia as 'an army with a state, rather than a state with an army' due to the extreme militarism of Prussia. This militarism is due to a strategic paranoia that pervades the Germanic region of a war on two fronts, due to its situation between the two powers of Russia and France. Arguably, you could say that this fed into the Prussian (and later German) military ideal of pursuing bewegungskrieg (war of movement) - leading to the creation of, for example, the Schlieffen Plan, or that led to a desire to sign the Nazi-Soviet Pact (WWII).

I don't doubt that geography will lead to history repeating itself, possibly in the near future. A few years ago, Stratfor's CEO, Friedman suggested that he believed as Russia declines in influence, Turkey's current growth would lead to it beginning to regain the influence it had during the Ottoman Empire at some point over the next hundred years. I definitely don't disagree with his conclusions.