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The bright example of such a dissonance is the Russian history. By creating the hypothetical scheme of changes of the epochal cycles, one should pay attention to the «interference» of wave-like cycles of the historical processes within nations which were either forcibly or peacefully included in various times to the Russian Empire as the unique Eurasian geopolitic formation. The conception of Klyuchevsky (1841-1911) concerning the Russian civilization as a peculiar synthesis of the Orthodoxy and Islam seems to be efficient. This conception reflected the main peculiarities of the Russian history in the most adequate manner.

The beginning of the first epochal cycle may be identified with the revolutionary stage, whose political sense is connected with radical changes in the alignment of forces between the parental culture of the Kievian Rus and its northern princedoms. The following events may be referred to this period: the first mention of Moscow in chronicles (1147); the transfer of the «capital» princely throne from Kiev to Vladimir (1157). The seizure and destruction of Kiev by the troops of Andrei Bogolubsky (1169) was the symbolic end of the revolutionary phase.

The involutionary period of the first epochal cycle was developing since the latter half of the 12th century. The Mogul-Tartar invasion (1237-1240) became the defining event for this cycle. The Moscowian state was also forced to stand up to the military threats from the West – the opposition of Alexander Nevsky to the Swedish and Teutonic pressure (1240-1242) – which virtually determined the Eurasian geostrategy of the North-Eastern Russia.

The identification of Moscow as a center of collection of lands (1326) is referred to this period – the transfer of the capital from Vladimir-on-Klyazma. The political reinforcement of the Moscowian princes was connected with the successful opposition to the Mogul-Tartars – the Kulikovo battle (1380); the defeat of the Gold Horde by Timur-Tamerlane (1395). The seizure of Constantinople by the Turks (1453) favored the emergence of the ideology «Moscow is the Third Rome, there cannot be the fourth». The collection of lands around Moscow was followed by the addition of the Great Novgorod (1478) and the Princedom of Tver (1485). The victory over the Great Princedom of Lithuania allowed one to annex Pskov and Smolensk to Moscow (1514).

The co-evolutionary transient period is connected with the beginning of the rule of Ivan IV the Terrible. The main events of this period were as follows: the publication of the code of laws (1550); the seizure of Kazan (1552); the establishment of oprichnina (1565-1572).

The evolutionary period of the cycle is connected with the Asian territorial expansion of Russia. In particular, with the campaign of Ermak to Siberia (1581), which ended in the join of the territory that had an area of three Europes. Klyuchevsky said: «The state fattened, and the people languished». The successes of Russia in the west were not so impressive. The destructive Livonia War (1558-1583) did not allow one to solve the task for the Russia to way out to the Baltic Sea. The country remained terrestrial in the geopolitic sense.

The symbols of the evolutionary period were: the establishment of patriarchate (1589) and «troublous times» (1598-1612), connected with cessation of the Rurik’s dynasty and transition of the scepter to the Romanovs. At this time, the influence of the Moscowian czardom on the European part of Eurasia was strengthening, especially after the joining of Ukraine (1654). The new geopolitical situation on the West was legitimated by the «Eternal Peace» with Poland (1686). The analogous functions in Asia were played by the Nerchinsk Treaty with China (1689).

The reforms led by Peter I became revolutionary by the character of social changes. They began in 1698 with «the Great embassy» to Western Europe and ended with the victory over Sweden in the North War and exit to the Baltic Sea. Russia was proclaimed the empire. The involutionary period of the second epochal cycle began with the death of Peter I (1725). This period lasted to the abolishment of serfdom (1861). The following half-way bourgeois reforms of 1870s can be viewed as the co-evolutionary phase of development.

The evolutionary period of the second epochal cycle is connected with Russia’s finding solutions to the tasks of searching for a compromise between the feudalist-monarchic form of governance and the nascent forms of bourgeois democracy. In fact, this process was interrupted by the Great October Socialist Revolution (1917-1921), which established the Soviet variant of the socialist system from Brest (Belorussia) to Vladivostok, from the Arctic Ocean to Kushka (Turkmenistan). In fact, the new economic policy, which became a peculiar pullback process in the USSR, was the continuation of revolutionary processes and had the aim to «make a step back in order to make two steps forward» as Lenin said. After a complete fulfillment of its tasks, the policy was changed with the series of tasks characteristic of the soviet (involutionary) period such as «collectivization», «industrialization», «electrification», «chemicalization» and other programs of establishing an industrially developed society of the «quasiwestern» type.

The period (1954-1964) is famous with the reforms of N. S. Khrushchev and reflected all contradictions of the soviet social system. The following period of L. I. Brezhnev (1964-1982) led the country to the situation, when the USSR became the second superpower after the USA. But, at the same time, the social-economic stagnation and decline of morality became more and more obvious. Together with that, the inner potencies of intellectual and creative self-expression of the nation were growing. The period of Andropov (1982-1983) expressed itself by the attempt to start the «planned» economic transformations according to the Chinese model, preserving the stability of political institutions. Then Gorbachev (1985-1991) expanded the reforms and drove the country to the modern uncontrolled transient processes of co-evolution – the fall of the Berlin Wall and downfall of the socialist system in Europe (1989), the disintegration of the USSR and emergence of new independent states in the Central and Eastern Europe (1990-1991), the catastrophic collapse of economies of these countries, which destabilized the world’s financial system.

8.8. Belorussia

A few words about the development of epochal cycles in the history of Belorussia.

The Polotsk land was one of the first that tried to gain the political independence from Kiev. The revolutionary stage of the first epochal cycle began approximately in the 11th century with the first attempts of Kievian princes to liquidate the independence of Polotsk.

The involutionary stage began in the second half of the 12th century with the gradual development of such towns within the Polotsk Princedom as Minsk, Vitebsk, Orsha. The neighboring states of Lets and Livs in Baltics paid the tribute to Polotsk. In the latter half of the 12th century, the land of Turov separated into the independent princedom. The princedoms of Pinsk and Slutsk politically depended on the more powerful neighboring Galych-Volyn princedom. The system of independent feudal principalities had formed. One of the main events of the involutionary period became the inclusion of the Belorussia lands to the Great Princedom of Lithuania in the latter half of the 13th century and their political subdivision to Poland after the Krevs Union (1385). In the end of the 15th century, the territory between the rivers of Western Bug, Western Dvina, Sozh, and Pripyat received the name of «White Russia». The Lublin Union of Lithuania and Poland (1569) consolidated the European traditions of the history of Belorussia. Francisk Skoryna became the national enlightener of the country.

The influence of the Ukrainian history on Belorussia manifested particularly in the period of the revolt under guidance of Severyn Nalyvaiko (1594-1596), which started in the Left-bank Ukraine and spread to the Mohylev region (Belorussia).

The co-evolutionary stage is identified with the war between Russia and Poland for Polotsk, Minsk, and Vitebsk (1654-1655).

The evolutionary period of the first epochal cycle took its start since the beginning of the 17th century. The most important event of the period was the second division of Poland, which resulted in the inclusion of the Eastern Belorussia into Russia (1793). In fact, that meant a reinforcement of the tendency of changing the European vector of development of Belorussia to the Eurasian one. All territory of Belorussia was included to Russia as a result of the third division of Poland (1795). The processes of russification and spread of political and economic structures on the newly included territories became more active. The evolutionary period of the first epochal cycle chronologically comprises the latter half of the 19th century and the soviet period. The main historical events were as follows: the failed attempt to create the independent Peoples Republic of Belorussia (1918) and the declaration of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (1919). According to the Riga Treaty (1921), Western Belorussia was returned to Poland. However, in September, 1939, the soviet troops occupy Western Belorussia and return its territory to the USSR. The republic suffered the heaviest losses during the Second World War. After 1945, its economy was gradually recovered.

In the Soviet period, Belorussia substantively differed from its co-brother republics (Ukraine and Russia) in mentality and mass behavior, by somewhat reminding the behaviour of the West-European countries. The Soviet hierarchical mentality of servility and subordinance did not get accustomed to this country. The figure of Masherov was a brightly expressed typology in this meaning. He did not review parades on the tribune, as did his colleagues in other republics, and was easily accessible to the broad masses. However, the Soviet mentality of the brother republics identified these peculiarities with consequences of the heaviest losses during the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), calling the behavior of Belorussians the highest expression of internationalism in the Soviet Union.

The 1990’s were the revolutionary expression of the historical peculiarities of the country and the transition of Belorussia to the second epochal cycle. In December 1991, Minsk became the formal capital of the Commonwealth of Independent States, emerging on the ruins of the USSR. That is not occasional. The following events in the country, the victory of Lukashenko at the presidential elections (1994), his behavior as a representative of the present political elite of the republic only confirms the hypothesis on the revolutionary character of the present social-political and spiritual processes in Belorussia. An attentive expert may, without any difficulties, behold the familiar contours of the revolutionary events in the Soviet Russia of 1917 in the national events and facts of the 1990s («the conspiracy of ambassadors», political chase of opposition, very low level, not higher that in the NEP’s period of the USSR, of spread of the private property, and so on).

8.9. China

The national-state epochal cycles have their own peculiarities in the countries of Asia and America. They are conditioned by the chronological differences and the specificity of the historical process. China is a bright example. 2397 BC is the beginning of the Chinese chronology.

The revolutionary stage of the first epochal cycle. 2205-1766 BC – the dynasty of Sa. The origin of the state tradition.

The involutionary stage – 1600-1027 BC – the dynasty of Shan-In. 1027-771 BC – the dynasty of Western Chou.

The co-evolutionary stage, 770-481 BC, the period of «Spring and Autumn» – the obduration of fight between kingdoms for the hegemony over the Celestial Empire. Lao Tzu, Taoism. 551-479 BC – Confucius.

The evolutionary stage. 403-221 BC, the period of hegemony of three kingdoms – Han, Chao, Wei. The beginning of creation of the Great Wall of China. 221-210 BC, Czyn Shikhuan. The unity of China. The Empire of Han.

The revolutionary stage of the second epochal cycle. 316-588 – havoc in China. The Hunnish invasion. 618-907 – the dynasty of T’ang.

The involutionary stage. 751 AD – the defeat by Arabs near the Talas river. The expansion of the Chinese to the West is sustained. The Celestial Empire lose its control over the Great Silk Way. 874-901 AD – the peasants’ war.

The co-evolutionary stage of the second epochal cycle. 1130-1200 – Chou Si. The revival of Confucianism. 960-1279 – the dynasty of Sun. 1190-1206 – the Genghis Khan’s invasion. 1234 – Khublai – the capital – Peking. 1271-1368 – the Mogul dynasty of Juan.

The evolutionary stage. 1368-1644 – the dynasty of Min. 1398 – the seizure of Korea. 1406-1428 – the military campaigns to Vietnam and Burma. 1405-1433 – the Pacific campaigns of Czhen Khe. 1516 – the Portuguese seized Aomin (Macao till 1999). 1624 – the Dutch in Taiwan.

The revolutionary stage of the third epochal cycle. 1639-1644 – the peasants’ war. 1644-1911 – the Manchurian dynasty of Zyn. 1759 – Synczan – a new border. The expansion to the North.

The involutionary stage – «the Opiate Wars». 1795-1838 – the British imported 27 million tons of opium to China. 1842-1997 – Hong-Kong (Xianggang) under the control of England.

The co-evolutionary stage. 1853 – Tai-ping revolt. 1894-1895 – the war between China and Japan. 1866-1925 – Sun-Yat-sen.

The evolutionary stage. 1911-1913 – the Sin-Hai revolution. The struggle for independence of China. 1937 – Japanese aggression. The civil war in China between the nationalists of Gomindan and the Communists.

The revolutionary stage of the fourth epochal cycle. 1949 – the declaration of the People’s Republic of China. 1951-1953 – Korean war. The consolidation of Gomindan in Taiwan.

The involutionary stage. 1958 – «the great jump». 1966 – «the cultural revolution». 1964 – China gained the nuclear weapon. 1976 – the death of Mao Tse-tung.

The co-evolutionary stage. 1978 – Den Xiao Ping – the beginning of reforms. 1989 – the suppression of democratic movement. The return of Hong-Kong (1997), Macao (1999) under control of China. In fact, the People’s Republic of China appeared on the threshold of the evolutionary stage of historical development.

8.10. India

India is an example of the «nonhistorical» civilization, and the time is «afraid» of it. The chronology of the history of the Ancient India is eroded in distinction from the Chinese one. However, the hypothetical scheme of changes of the epochal cycles of the Indian history may be reconstructed.

The revolutionary stage of the first epochal cycle. Ancient civilizations of 2300-1700 BC. Harappa, Mohenjo-Daro near 2000 BC – the incursion of the Aryan tribes. Caste system.

The involutionary period of the cycle lasted approximately since the 10th to 5th century AD.

The co-evolutionary stage. The appearance of Buddhism. 327-325 BC – the campaign of Alexander the Great. 268-231 BC – the rule of Asoka. The wide spread of Buddhism.

The evolutionary period of the first epochal cycle is connected with the emergence of conglomerate of political units, quarrelling with each other. III-VI centuries AD – the Empire of Gupta. 616-647 – the state of Harsha. The Hinduism extrudes the Buddhism from the spiritual life.

The revolutionary phase of the second epochal cycle is identified with the Muslim invasion of the Northern India, what gave another rhythm to the historical cycle. 998-1030 – Mahmud Ghaznavid. 1206-1526 – the Deli Sultanate. The forcible Islamization of the country.

The involutionary period of the second epochal cycle. The Southern India – 1347 – the Sultanate of Bakhmani. The Empire of Widjayanahar.

The co-evolutionary stage is connected with the double pressure of the Europeans (1498 – the discovery of India by Vasco da Gama) and the Mussulmans upon the Indian civilization. 1556-1605 – Akbar. The control over the Northern India, Afghanistan, Kashmir, Bengal, Gujarat, Orissa. 1451-1526 – the dynasty of Lody in the state of Bakhmani. The dynasty of the Great Moguls (moguls was the name given by the Hindu to the Mussulmans).

The evolutionary period. 1757 – the East India Company – the control over Bengal. 1784 – Pitt – the Law on the government of India. 1861-1941 Rabindranath Tagore. 1845-1846 – the first Anglo-Sikh war. 1869-1948 – Mahatma Gandhi. 1885 – the creation of the National Congress of India.

The revolutionary phase of the third epochal cycle is connected with the struggle of India for independence. 1948 – India – dominion. 1950 – the Constitution of India. The egression from the British Commonwealth.

The involutionary stage. 1962 – the Indochina war. 1971– the war between India and Pakistan. The Symla treaties. 1964 – the death of J. Nehru. 1965-1988 – Indira Gandhi.

The co-evolutionary stage. 1991 – the economic reform. May, 1998 – India carried its first nuclear weapon test.

The evolutionary period of the cycle is only taking its start and will develop in the 21st century.

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