Although Nostradamus never specifically names the year in which World War III will begin, Montaigne cites this quatrain:
From brick to marble, the walls will be converted,
Seven and fifty peaceful years:
Joy to mankind, the aqueduct renewed,
Health, abundant fruits, joy and honey-making times.
- Quatrain 10:89
Although it can be debated that the last 57 years have been peaceful and a joy to mankind, Montaigne interprets this quatrain as meaning "progress for fifty-seven years between World War II and World War III." And since the Second World War ended in 1945, 57 years brings us to 2002.
Who will start the war and how? Montaigne points the finger at Osama bin Laden who, he says, will continue to stir up anti-American feelings within Islamic nations and will mastermind his attacks on the West from Istanbul, Turkey (Byzantium):
Of beyond the Black Sea and of the great Tartary,
A king comes who will see Gaul,
Piercing across Alania and Armenia,
And within Byzantium hw will leave his bloody rod.
From there, things get worse, of course. Montaigne suggests that Muslim armies will see their first big victory over Spain. Soon after, Rome will be destroyed with nuclear weapons, forcing the Pope to relocate:
For seven days the great star will burn,
The cloud shall make two suns to appear:
The big mastiff will howl all night
When the great pontiff changes country.
Montaigne interprets Nostradamus to say that even Israel will be defeated in this war led by bin Laden and later Saddam Hussein, both of whom, he says, are the Antichrist. The war goes in favor of the Eastern forces (Muslims, China and Poland) for awhile until the Western allies are joined by Russia and are finally victorious around the year 2012:
When those of the arctic pole are united together,
In the East great dread and fear:
Newly elected, supporting the great trembling,
Rhodes, Byzantium with Barbarian blood stained.
So it all works out in the end, but if these interpretations of Nostradamus are to be believed, it's going to be after a lot of death and suffering, much of it caused by the use of nuclear weapons by both sides in the fight.
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