Tag Archives: history

A thousand years that never happened

I had seen many times discussions that mention a shift of our calendar before my visit to India in 2015, that the dates were intentionally advanced to make the history seem longer, likely some time in the 19th century. The thought originates from seeing dates from the 18th and 17th centuries that are written with an “i” – rather “i765” than “1765”, for example. Of course, one starts guessing that “i” is not the “thousand” but simply a mention of the calendar style – “from the birth of Jesus (Iehovah)” to distinguish it from other calendar styles (like, e.g. “from the making of peace” that is 5000 years earlier).

The idea itself is interesting but it is difficult to believe that this kind of atrocity is possible. And how can you be sure about the events that happened long time ago and how those dates were supposed to be written and all that. So you are left with doubts but never with surety. And suddenly all my doubts were blown away at once.

I was in Chennai, India, on a business trip. They have a beautiful church there: St. Thomas Cathedral Basilica. The white stone building, magnificent outside and tastefully decorated with wood inside, is definitely worth a visit. According to the Wikipedia, it exists from 1523.

Walking around inside the church, I suddenly came across several tomb stones mounted into the floor. This kind of thing is often seen in the older catholic churches, so that was not surprising. What was surprising were the dates that can be read quite clearly. This one in the picture is dated as J793, which is absolutely and without doubt 793 from the birth of Jesus, known nowadays more commonly as AD (Anno Domini). Here, instead of “i”, you can definitely read a clear “J”, so that there is no doubt whatsoever left regarding the date.

And so it appears that all our historical dates were reinterpreted at a certain point to give them an extra millennium. And the 2015 is not really 2015 but merely 1015. That is, if it’s the only change and there isn’t more. We also heard about the period of European history known as “dark ages” because we know so very little about. Well, that period never happened. It’s a thousand years sparsely populated with artificially moved around events to make an appearance … -->

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Obama badly needs a lesson in European history

The Barack “Dove of Peace” Obama may need a lesson in European history, pronto. This time around he came to Tallinn to save Estonia from “Russian aggression” and made new historic blunders. The American President has the floor: “reaching back to the days of the tsars – trying to reclaim lands “lost” in the 19th century – is surely not the way to secure Russia’s greatness in the 21st century. (Applause.)”

Russia is no doubt thankful to Mr. Obama for his concern about Russia’s greatness. On the other hand, what lands did Russia lose exactly in the 19th century? Maybe the Crimea peninsula? Well, no, actually, Russia has successfully defended Crimea in bloody battles against Western countries when they tried to seize it in the 19th century. Leo Tolstoy described the Crimean War in his works.

Were there perhaps other territorial losses for Russia that the esteemed Nobel Peace Prize laureate could blather about from high tribunes? Well, no, not really. You see, in the 19th century, Russia has destroyed the Great Napoleon’s army, came to Paris and Istanbul. In general, the whole 19th century Russia was scaring the hell out of Europe and augmenting its territory, but no land has been lost.

Obama continues the tradition of proving to the world that American presidents are uneducated, ill-informed and short-sighted people. Oh, well, who needs history in geopolitics nowadays anyway? Fire away!… -->

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George Orwell, “Nineteen Eighty-Four”

Picture of George Orwell's "Nineteen eighty-four"

There is not much to say about this famous book except that it is completely misinterpreted and misrepresented in mass media. And that is not surprising after reading the book any more.

Basically, there is only one advice to be given about this book: “go read it.” That is all there is to it. Just get it and read it.

The book contains a very good description of how we ended up with the world as it is now. The book “Nineteen eighty-four” is actually a report by George Orwell on the basics of our society, on its functional principles, and on the reasons why the world is the way it is.

“The best books… are those that tell you what you know already.”
— George Orwell, 1984

Look around as you read it. It is our history and our present. Think.… -->

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The Origins of German

I had a long chat with my German teacher the other day about language history and evolution. She mentioned something astounding: the first book, on which the German language is based, that actually created the grammar of the language, was the work of Martin Luther. But if I am not mistaken, that was in the 16th century. So the German language is only about 500 years old. I wonder if the situation is the same then with all European languages…… -->

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