It has aspects of both--kinda. I think there's a large degree to which "history repeats itself", but I don't see it as cyclical so much as events and progressions (with an eventual end such as a revolution) repeating themselves at different places at different times. (I suppose you could call those progressions followed by destruction cycles even if they don't happen with regular timing.) Then there are kinds of progressions that take us gradually more and more into territories we've never been in. Some of those aren't progressive in the sense of actually making us happier though (like technology and capitalism) and some may be (such as fewer wars over time). Agriculture and medicine give with some hands and take with others so it's hard to say about those. As for which takes the front seat--progression or cycles, I'm not sure. It depends on whether you call repeated history "cyclical", and also, there are probably fewer things that are truly progressive than things that repeat, but those fewer things that are truly progressive are a lot more important. Also it depends on whether you call things that change over time but don't actually make us happier "progressive."