Further Reflections on the Meaning of History

"History is a record of exploded ideas" - British Admiral John Fisher, as quoted in "To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World" by Arthur Herman.

If history is as, Fisher said, nothing but a record of failed ideas than what does it mean to study history? Are we trying to learn why these mistakes were made so we can avoid the same path, or just avoid being exploded along with the ideas?

For those that don't know but do care, Fisher was the architect of the concept of the British Navy in the pre-World War One period and a mentor to Winston Churchill. It was he who forced the British navy to adopt submarines, torpedoes and the concept of the fast attack battleship. His naval policies are often held at least partially to blame for the rise in in Anglo-German antagonism and the eventual arms race, a subject of no small interest to myself (and one I think that is well worth studying, given the possibility of an arms race between the US and either [or G-d forbid, both] Russia and/or China).