Does History Really Repeat Itself? Or Reinvent Itself?

The rise and fall of the great powers...we have all seen this played out in our lifetime! Rome,Greece, Persia, and Germany at one point has all gone through the cycle of rising to a point then falling drastically.  In the Comments on Paul Kennedy's The Rise and Fall of Great Powers  article, I felt that some comments were frankly put critical and not offering anything new to the table.  History like it or not, will repeat itself no matter how you try to theorize it. So the question to ask is if a great power will fall, the questions is when will it fall.  For example, if you analyze the rise and fall of the great empires  you will ultimately see a pattern, growth in economy=power. Power results into the "we need to protect our newly found wealth" mode which leads to establishing armies. Armies increase power which leads to  more influences. More influences= more enemies . More enemies=more money=more power. This cycle continues until the leader and it's people loses site as to why they are a country,what they stand fo,r and why they are united in the first place. When a country and or leaders loses sight of itself, then and only then you will see it fall. The important issue to remember in all of this is if given the opportunity, will the country repeat it's own history or will it reinvent it?