Roots In History

Many people would be surprised at how much most events that take place in the world have deep roots in history. Let's look at a few recent examples. It does not mean that everything that happens has to be securely rooted in history, but that things that could potentially happen are more likely to happen if historical roots are present.

in early 2015, there have been mass demonstrations in the eastern part of Germany against the "islamization" of the country by immigrants, centered on the city of Dresden. The protesters are worried about being overwhelmed by Moslems. The protesters were raising crosses, as if this was a holy war. But this is largely a reflection of the two sieges of Vienna by the Ottoman Empire, about 160 years apart. The first was led by the legendary Suleiman. Both advances were halted at Vienna, but had that not been the case then the areas where these protests are taking place would have become Ottoman Territory.

There was an attack by gunmen on a newspaper in Paris, to avenge caricatures of Muhammad. To fully understand this, it is necessary to go back to the French Revolution of 1789. One of the primary goals of the French Revolution, which is what opened the modern political era for the world, was to curb the tremendous power of the church in France. Sometimes caricatures were drawn, making fun of the alleged hypocrisy of the church. Today, the country has the greatest number of Moslem immigrants of any European country and the insistence on limiting the power of the Catholic Church has been transferred to the religion of these immigrants.

Last summer, there was more warfare between Israel and Gaza. Why? The historical answer is simple. As anyone who is familiar with the Bible knows, the Philistines were the scourge of Israel for about two hundred years. A major preoccupation of the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David, was battling with the Philistines. The territory of Gaza occupies almost exactly the same land area that the Philistines did. In fact, the Philistines actually lived in five semi-autonomous city-states, of which Gaza was one. This means that the name of Gaza actually comes from one of the Philistine cities. The area of Palestine was actually named after the Philistines by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. Should we be surprised that combat periodically flares up between Israel and Gaza? Philistine raids have just been replaced by rockets fired into Israeli towns.

The split between Russia and the west over Ukraine is a really simple one. It dates back to the schism of the year 1054 when the Orthodox Church split from the Catholic Church. The split is even right along the dividing line in the Ukraine. The western part of the country is traditionally Catholic, and favors Europe, while the eastern part is traditionally Orthodox, and favors Russia. The Iron Curtain, as well as the Berlin Wall, was like a mirror reflecting the year 1054, except now in a secular way with secular ideologies.

The U.S. Civil War of 1861-65, by the way, is just about a perfect, but secular, mirror image of the Reformation which began in Europe in 1517. The Reformation resulted in the split between Protestant and Catholic, followed by over a century of warfare. Fort Sumter, a federal fort off the coast of South Carolina, was like a Catholic community that suddenly found itself in secessionist territory, but refused to renounce it's loyalty to the pope. Remember that, when a country is religious for a long period of time, but then becomes more secular, the patterns of the religion will remain but will be manifested in secular ways.

There have been recent mass killings in Mexico involving drug cartels. There are about seven cartels in Mexico, which often battle one another as well as the authorities. In particular, there has been warfare between the Gulf Cartel and their former enforcers, the Zetas. But this has roots in history, in the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Mexico had an earlier war of independence from Spain and then from France, which moved in afterward. But Mexicans then found it necessary to rise up against a leader of their own, Porfirio Diaz because he allowed a few wealthy people to virtually dominate the country. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 was far from unified, and factions often battled with each other. The revolution against the government of Porfirio Diaz includes names like Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Victoriano Huerta and, Venustiano Carranza. Notice how the battle of the various cartels with the government, and with each other, is practically a mirror image of the Mexican Revolution of 1910. The United States was not directly involved in the Revolution, other than exerting pressure against Mexico becoming Marxist, the U.S. military expedition in pursuit of Pancho Villa was after he raided a town across the border, claiming that an American arms merchant had sold him ammunition that turned out to be useless.

The U.S. Government recently moved in the direction of restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba. It would seem that the overreaction to the Cuban Revolution of 1959, which brought Fidel Castro to power, was a reflection of concerns about the Mexican Revolution of nearly sixty years prior. It doesn't often get written about but the Mexican Revolution of 1910 could have been the beginning of world Marxism, instead of the October Revolution which came seven years later. The Mexican Revolution involved extensive land redistribution from extremely wealthy landholders, and ultimately resulted in the presidency of the extremely popular socialist Lazaro Cardenas. It did not turn into the beginning of global Marxism, but memory of the Mexican Revolution must have alarmed the U.S. Government when the Cuban Revolution came along enough to enforce the embargo on the country. The Bay of Pigs operation, a U.S.-backed attempt to overthrow Fidel Castro, can be seen as having historical roots in the pursuit of Pancho Villa during the Mexican Revolution.

Remember that an event does not have to be rooted in history in order to happen. but it is more likely to happen if it is. Why is Las Vegas where people go to gamble? Because it is rooted in the history of would-be gold miners looking to strike it rich in the west.