It’s clear that the tired Santayana quote utterly fails in its supposed purpose. I’ve read that Santayana meant it sardonically, which would make sense. I don’t know if that’s true.
In simple fact the rulers DO read history and they DO learn from it. They learn how to make more war, how to organize tyranny more effectively, how to enrich themselves faster. In other words they repeat BETTER because they learn from their mistakes.
For peasants, knowing history doesn’t help us to “hold the rulers accountable” because that’s a meaningless phrase. Never happens.
Knowing history does prevent us from believing propaganda. Knowing real history teaches us that everything we hear in school and media is intended to deceive and betray us.
Summing it up with a snappy phrase:
When you know the history, it’s not a mystery.
Polistra's Mill 