Chinese calendar, Lunar Nodes and history
The Chinese calendar (see also Chinese zodiac) is related to certain repetitions of historical events. There are 12 sacred animals (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig) and five natural forces (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth) in this calendar. A repetition of a given combination (sacred animal, natural force) occurs for the first time after 60 years. And it is indeed possible to find many examples of couples of analogous historical events that have taken place after a period which is a multiple of 60 years. We mean important events related to changes of the parameters of power, such as gain and loss of independence or territory, large scale rebellions, change of dynasty etc. Here we give some examples in this sense. The reader can find a lot more in the books [1] and [2] and also some in the books [3] and .[4]
The sixty years period[edit]
Mexico has been conquered by the Spaniards in 1521. In 1821 (five cycles of 60 years later) it has declared its independence of Spain.
Cuba has ceased to be a Spanish colony in 1898, after the Spanish-American War. On January 1, 1959, the revolutionary movement of Fidel Castro stripped the pro-American dictator Fulgencio Batista of power.
Europe was shattered by revolutions in 1848. In 1968 (2x60 years later) the continent witnessed the Prague Spring, May 68 in France, the students' movement in Western Germany. In Mexico there was the Tlatelolco massacre.
Austria has lost its influence upon the other German states once in 1806, following the defeats at Ulm and Austerlitz in 1805 against Napoleon Bonaparte, and again in 1866=1806+60, in the aftermath of the defeat at the battle of Sadowa in the war against Prussia.
In 1588 the defeat of the Invincible Armada was a severe blow for the Catholic countries. In 1648=1588+60 the peace of Westphalia which put an end to the Thirty Years War was more favourable to the Protestants than to the Catholics.
The Spanish Civil War ended in 1939. Two years after that the attack on Pearl Harbor took place. In 1999=1939+60 the wars of ex-Yugoslavia ended with the one of Kosovo. And two years after that the attack on World Trade Center took place.
In 1950, the Belgian king Leopold III abdicated in favour of his son Baudoin in order to avoid the splitting of the country along ethnic lines. His decision was dictated by the results of a referendum on which the majority of Wallonians voted against while most of the Flemish voted in favour of him. (The total score was in his favour.) Whether he should remain or not king of the country was to be decided by a referendum because his behaviour during the German occupation was considered as ambiguous. In 2010=1950+60, Belgium remained several months without government and many Belgians consider the separation of the two ethnic groups as highly probable. It is curious to observe that it was in 1830=1950-120 that Belgium became independent as a result of the Belgian Revolution. Luxembourg remained under the Dutch crown till 1890=1830+60=1950-60, when the rule of Queen Wilhelmina started; the salic law of Luxembourg forbade the duchy to be ruled by a female.
There have been two congresses of Vienna that have taken important decisions about the future of Europe. The first one, of 1515, has decided to limit the power of the Jagiellon dynasty in favour of the one of the Habsburgs. The second one, of 1815=1515+5x60, has fixed the European borders in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars.
The half-period of thirty years[edit]
There are many examples of similar couples of events which combine analogy with contrast and the period between which is an odd multiple of 30 years. We list here some of them:
In 1870 France and Germany were at war with one another. In 1900=1870+30 their troops were quelling together the Boxer rebellion in China.
In 1878 Austria-Hungary occupied Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Bosnian milice resisted by arms. In 1908=1878+30 the empire annexed the province. There was no armed resistance. The annexation of 1908 (a refusal of independence to another people) contrasts with the Anschluss of 1938=1908+30, when the Austrians by their own will decided their country to become part of Germany.
The years 1618 and 1648 marked the beginning and the end of the Thirty Years War.
In 1795 the Third Partition of Poland, between Russia, Prussia and Austria, made this country disappear from the geographic maps until 1945=1795+150, when Eastern Prussia disappeared (its territory was shared between the USSR and Poland).
The Berlin wall was built in 1961 (year of the Ox of Metal). It was a boundary which separated the two parts of the German nation. In 1991=1961+30 (year of the Goat of Metal) after the fall of the USSR (the country that had built the wall) its internal borders became external ones between its 15 republics. It is also remarkable that the last ruler of the USSR Mikhail Gorbachev and the first president of Russia Boris Yeltsin are both born in 1931 (Goat of Metal), 60 years before the breakup of the country (to which event they were the basic contributors). Khrushchev celebrated his 60-th anniversary in 1954, the year in which he ordered Crimea to be handed over from the Russian Federation to the Ukraine. And Putin turned 60 in 2012, the year when he became again president of Russia after the years 2008-2012, when he was prime minister.
In 1979, the Islamic revolution in Iran ousted the shah. In 2009=1979+30, the students' protests against the power of the ayatollahs were brutally suppressed.
In 1857, the revolt of the Sepoys in India played the role of a war of independence. This war failed. India became independent (peacefully) on August 15, 1947, 90 years later.
Famous historical figures and historical events in the context of the Chinese calendar[edit]
The Chinese calendar has been considered in another aspect in the book [5] (see also [6]). The author Григо́рий Семёнович Кваша́ has considered triples of events having taken place in one of the triples of years: (Rat, Dragon, Monkey) or (Ox, Snake, Rooster) or (Tiger, Horse, Dog) or (Rabbit, Goat, Pig). According to the Chinese horoscope, people born under two of the years of one and the same of these triples can easily get along with one another.
For instance, the triple (Ox, Snake, Rooster) is rich in revolutions and plots: the Russian revolutions of 1905 and 1917 (Snake), the French revolution of 1789, the Decembrist revolt of 1825 and the tentative of October 1993 to oust Eltsin (Rooster), the abortive attempt of 1961 to oust Fidel Castro (the Bay of Pigs Invasion) and the coup d'état of 1973 staged by the general Augusto Pinochet in Chile (Ox).
The author of [5] and [6] has considered also triples of political figures (from one of these triples of years) having played a role in one and the same historical event. He has studied the qualities of these persons and the aspects of the given events. For instance, several famous women rulers from Russian and world history are born in years of the above triple: Elizabeth Petrovna (1709–1762) and Margaret Thatcher (1925–2013) (Ox), Catherine the Great (1729–1796) and Sofia Alekseyevna (1657–1704) (Rooster), Indira Gandhi (1917–1984) and Benazir Bhutto (1953–2007) (Snake). One could add to the list also the former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (b. 1937, Ox).
Among the men this triple of years has given many outstanding military commanders: Alexander the Great (b. 356 B.C.), Mikhail Kutuzov (b. 1745), Napoleon Bonaparte (b. 1769), Alexander Menshikov (b. 1673), Alexei Brusilov (b. 1853) (Ox), Pyotr Rumyantsev (b. 1725), Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly (b. 1761), Alfred von Schlieffen (b. 1833), Mikhail Tukhachevsky (b. 1893) (Snake), Alexander Suvorov (b. 1729), Pyotr Bagration (b. 1765), Mikhail Frunze (b. 1885), George S. Patton (b. 1885) (Rooster).
In the book [5] there are several examples of important wars that have taken four years to finish. This time interval is connected to the above triples because four years is the time between two consecutive years of a triple. Examples of such wars are: the Great Patriotic War of the USSR (1941–1945, part of World War II), the Russian Civil War (the military actions took part between 1918 and 1922), the American Civil War (1861–1865), the Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923). One can add to this list wars having lasted eight years, such as the wars of the ex-Yugoslavia (they started in 1991, they finished with the Kosovo War of 1999 and in the middle there was the Dayton agreement of 1995) or the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783).
On the role of the five elements[edit]
Each of the five elements governs two consecutive years. If one neglects the fact that Chinese New Year is celebrated at a New Moon under the sign of the Aquarius (i.e. if one neglects this small discrepancy between a civil and a Chinese year), then one could say that the last digit of a year of Metal is 0 or 1, of Water (Wood, Fire and Earth) respectively 2 or 3 (4 or 5, 6 or 7 and 8 or 9).
The Earth could be associated to questions relative to land and territory. For instance, in 1929 the economic crisis in the USA has ruined many farmers (people working on land) and during the same year the collectivisation of land in the USSR has destroyed the kulaks as a class. Several years of Earth are connected with historical events that have left lasting territorial changes. These include:
1. The end of World War I and the peace treaties that have followed it (1918-1919).
2. The Munich Conference (1938) had to resolve certain territorial issues raised by Germany. World War II began in 1939 as a result of the desire of Nazi Germany to acquire vital space (Lebensraum). The eastern border of Poland remained practically the same as of 1939.
3. Two of the three Partitions of Luxembourg have taken place in years of the Earth (1659 and 1839).
4. The Ottoman Empire has conquered Albania, Montenegro, important Mediterranean territories and Tbilisi with most part of Georgia respectively in the years 1478, 1498, 1538 and 1578. The Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 has determined its gains and losses. It was followed by the Treaty of Belgrade (1739). In 1878 the empire has lost territories following a war with Russia. In 1878 Austria-Hungary occupied and in 1908 it annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina, a former Ottoman territory.
5. The Thirty Years War ended in 1648 and resulted in important territorial changes in Europe.
6. The state of Israel is created in 1948.
7. The Kosovo War was fought in 1999. In 2008 Kosovo, Abkhazia and South Osetia declared their independence.
Years of Water have been connected with the resolution of certain maritime issues. These include:
1. Gain or loss of overseas territories (recognition of the independence of the USA in 1783, former British overseas colonies; signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713; France selling Louisiana to the USA in 1803), islands (Venice having lost Cyprus to Turkey in 1573, the Falkland War being fought in 1982) and peninsulas (Russia having annexed Crimea in 1783).
2. The borders of modern Turkey, including the maritime ones, have been fixed by the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Turkey had to renounce to Cyprus and the Dodecanese Islands. The latter and Libya were ceded to Italy in 1912 (another year of Water). For Italy Libya was an overseas colony. The Corfu incident took place also in 1923.
3. The Seven Years' War ended in 1763 by status quo ante in Europe and transfer of colonial possessions between Great Britain, France, and Spain.
4. The discovery of America, the shipwreck of Titanic and the Caribbean crisis (connected with the island of Cuba) have taken place in 1492, 1912 and 1962. The independence of Panama in 1903 paved the way towards the construction of the Panama canal.
The Great Fire of London has taken place in 1666 (year of Fire).
Lunar Nodes and history[edit]
The Lunar Nodes are the points at which the orbit of the Moon around the Earth intersects the plane of the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. The North Node is the one at which the Moon goes toward the Polar Star. The straight line defined by the Nodes rotates. For an observer placed at the Polar Star this rotation is clockwise and one complete turn takes approximatively 18.5 years. In astrology the position of the Lunar Nodes is interpreted with regard to the karma. The North Node is associated to Jupiter and the future while the South Node is related to Saturn and the past.
The book [2] contains many examples of couples of analogous historical events the time interval between which is a multiple of 18.5 years (i.e. 18.5, 37, 55.5, 74 etc.). Here are some of them:
1. The Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye signed on 10 September 1919 was forbidding the Anschluss of Austria and Germany without the consent of the United Nations. The Anschluss took place on 12 March 1938, exactly 18.5 years later.
2. The Treaty of Riga was signed on 18 March 1921 between Poland and Soviet Russia. According to the treaty the Polish border was moved eastward. On 17 September 1939 (exactly 18.5 years later) the Soviet Union invaded East Poland.
3. The second of the Canut revolts in Lyon (France) took place in 1834. In 1871=1834+2x18.5 France was insurrectional again - it was the time of the Paris Commune.
4. Japan has attacked the Russian naval base Port-Arthur in 1904 and the American naval base Pearl Harbor in 1941=1904+2x18.5. In both cases the country was opening war hostilities without declaring war. For Russia these years have been ones of foreign intervention (Japanese in 1904 and German in 1941).
5. Japan has intervened militarily in China in 1900 (to quell the Boxer Rebellion) and again in 1937=1900+2x18.5.
6. The French king Louis-Philippe I was born on 6 October 1773. He had to abdicate in 1848 at the age of 74=4x18.5. The Austrian emperor Ferdinand I was born on 19 April 1793. He had to abdicate in December 1848 at the age of 55.5=3x18.5 years.
7. The American War of Independence started in 1775 and 37=2x18.5 years later was followed by the War of 1812 which was another war with Great Britain.
8. The interval between the First and Second French Empires was equal to 37 years. In 1814 Napoleon Bonaparte abdicated for the first and in 1815 for the second time. In 1851=1814+37 Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte seized power and in 1852=1815+37 he proclaimed himself emperor under the name Napoleon III.
See also[edit]
- Chinese calendar
- Lunar node
- Astrology
References[edit]
- ↑ Vladimir Petrov Kostov, L'histoire et ses règles. Editions Bénévent, 2010, ISBN 978-2-7563-1841-7.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Vladimir Petrov Kostov, Astro-Historical Promenade, Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-3-659-44222-3.
- ↑ Vladimir Petrov Kostov, Les règles de l'histoire. Editions Bénévent, 2009, ISBN 978-2-7563-1204-0.
- ↑ Vladimir Petrov Kostov, The Rules of History, Lambert Academic Publishing, 2013, ISBN 978-3-659-30512-2.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Григо́рий Семёнович Кваша́, Принципы истории, Москва, издательство «Астрель», «АСТ», 2001, ISBN 5-17-006898-0 ISBN 5-271-01796-6, http://www.xsp.ru/sh/pub/outbook.php?id=7 and http://www.xsp.ru/sh/pub/outbook.php?id=10
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Григо́рий Семёнович Кваша́, Принципы истории. Россия: от Востока через Империю к Западу, Москва, издательство «Поколение», ISBN 5-9763-0009-X
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