The 942 predictions of Michele de Nostredame, commonly known as Nostradamus, stretch into the future, all the way up to the “end year” of 3793. Nostradamus had a flair for predicting doom, gloom and devastation, and predicted a time when “the East will weaken the West”.
Questions have been raised as to whether his predictions were coming to a head after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine.
On February 24, Russia began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, marking the largest conventional military attack in Europe since World War II.
In the early hours, Putin announced a “special military operation” and minutes later, missiles struck places across Ukraine, including Kyiv, the national capital.
The invasion has been condemned on an international scale, prompting new sanctions imposed on Russia and triggering a Russian financial crisis.
As both countries locked horns, many feared the tensions could escalate into a full-blown World War 3 scenario.
But what did Nostradamus have to say about the possibility of a war breaking out in the future?
The French prophesier is most famous for his book Les Prophéties, which was a collection of 942 poetic quatrains that were said to predict future events.
Described as the ‘Prophet of Doom’, the French astrologer and doctor used biblical texts and his own experiences of plague as inspiration, with many of his predictions focused on famine and sorrow.
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However, according to Nostradamus specialist Bobby Shailer, a Third World War could occur “within the next several years.”
In 2021, he said: “Nostradamus believes it will be a great protracted war, 25 to 29 years, followed by lesser battles.”
However, he added, there will be an “age of Saturn” in its wake which will last a thousand years and be a time of peace.
Nostradamus’ other predictions for 2022 included that the world will suffer from an asteroid strike, floods and droughts will devastate entire countries as well as mass starvation.
Supporters of Nostradamus claim he predicted such events as the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1933.
However, the predictions require a great deal of hindsight to match up with historical events.
The author of the Skeptoid podcast Brian Dunning said: “Nostradamus’ writings are exploited in a number of fallacious ways.
“Ambiguous and wrong translations, ‘creative’ interpretations, hoax writings, fictional accounts, and the breaking of non-existent codes within his quatrains all contribute to a vast body of work, all of it wrong, and many times the size of everything Nostradamus ever actually wrote.”