Polina-Maria-Veronika
Creator of ArtUrania
December 31, 2018 · 3 min read

Historical Analogues of 2019

Waves of History

If we look back through the ages we will see that similar celestial configurations appeared in the times of active economic expansion, the rise of national liberation movements and tough totalitarian trends. The history remembers many sea battles and besiegement, as well as an attempt to build the Heavenly Kingdom on the Earth. In fact the three waves including economic, religious and totalitarian ones merged together or followed each other:

  • The decisive battles of the Second Opium War for the opening of Chinese ports, looting and burning of Summer Palace near Beijing (August-October 1860)
  • The decisive battle for Guayaquil Port in the Ecuadorian Civil War (1860)
  • The active offense of Garibaldi troops in the war against Papal States for unification of Italy (August-October 1860)
  • Dunai Campaign of Russian army to defend the “brothers in faith and Orthodox heritage” (the beginning of the Crimean War)
  • The military success of the Taiping Rebellion: The breakthrough operation at the Yangtze River in the end of 1852 and the creation of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in spring of 1853. Despite its “paradise” name the Heavenly Kingdom was characterized by a tough structure and religious intolerance.
  • The victory of the Danish army over the Swedes at Lake Oresund and Stockholm besiegement by Danish troops in 1520
  • The beginning of the Reformation in Germany was a key event of 1518-1520 that led to the division of the united Catholic Church into many national churches in the following centuries
  • Failed Crusade of Aragon of the French in 1284
  • The naval Battle of the Gulf of Naples in 1284

The mankind marked its way with such cruel mass extermination on the orders of kings as the Massacre of Verden during the war of Charles the Great with Saxons in 782 and the Stockholm Bloodbath, as well as the events of the Sicilian Vespers during a national liberation rebellion of Sicilians against the French in March of 1282, or the famine in Norway caused by the embargo of German Kingdom in 1284.

The biggest natural disasters of the time:

  • Great flood at the American Midwest (1851)
  • Destructive earthquake on Sicily (January, 1693)
  • Jamaica earthquake and tsunami that devastated the town of Portland (1692)
  • Earthquake in the Ardennes Mountains that affected England and Germany (1692)
  • Haiti Red Ants Outbreak that destroyed all the harvest and caused the famine (1518)
  • Pandemia in Central American that reached Peru (1518)

Such mysterious phenomena as the dancing plague in Strasbourg and the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin were also registered.

Many research expeditions along the rivers and seas were organized in that period of time starting from the search of the Nile head in Africa to the trips to the New World in search of the Western marine passage to the Pacific Ocean. In September 1519, Magellan set off for his circumnavigation of the Earth! The time was also characterized by active colonization when in 1518 a big fleet of the Portuguese arrived to Colombo, Ceylon, to start the construction of Santa-Barbara fort and when Cortes went to Mexico that was conquered in 1518-1521.

In 1518, the first direct delivery of slaves from Africa to USA began its history. In that very year the first ship with the slaves went directly to the coasts of America.

In the spring of 1851, the gold rush began in Australia.

There were many long-term initiatives concerning laws, science and education. For instance, on this wave the First International Chemical Congress took place in Germany and the first international meteorological organization was founded in Brussels.

It is interesting to note the strengthening of the “firm female hand” – Lady Christina and Lady Anna who put themselves on heroic record while bravely leading the defenses of the besieged Swedish castles and cities – Stockholm and Kalmar, respectively. It is important to remember Constance of Sicily who was the Queen of Aragon, and famed Roxelana or Hurrem Haseki Sultan, who arrived in the harem of the Turkish Sultan around 1520.