The August curse is a perceived phenomenon in Russia, in which tragic events are felt to occur unusually often in the month of August. Many possible explanations have been presented for the phenomenon.
Contents
Overview
Many journalists and experts have noted that, beginning in 1991, the most tragic events in Russia tend to take place in August. Examples include many deadly accidents and incidents, terrorist attacks and two major wars.
Explanation attempts
There has been a lot of speculation in Russian media about possible explanations for the perceived phenomenon.
It has been pointed out that the fact that many people take vacations in August may be a factor: the vacations leave a power-vacuum which terrorists and malefactors can then exploit. Yevgeny Nadorshin, chief economist at Trust Bank, has pointed out that for many of the events the fact that they take place in August is only a coincidence, but for some the phenomenon can be explained. For example, Nadorshin said that vacation and inattention were certainly key factors in the 2009 Nazran bombing.
Some have also presented supernatural explanations for the August curse. Astrologist Yelena Kuznetsova said in 2009, that the chaos will likely continue until mid-September because of the relative positions of Saturn and Uranus, and that Russia's horoscope is directly connected to the annual August turmoil.
The usually hot weather of August has also been named as an explaining factor.
It has to be observed that tragic August events in Russia tended to occur before 1991 as well. For example, the Eastern Front of World War I was opened in August 1914 with German invasion of Congress Poland, part of the Russian Empire; subsequent victories of the Central Powers led to the collapse of the Empire, rise of the bolsheviks, Russian Civil War and the creation of the Soviet Union 8 years later. The bloody and devastating, though ultimately victorious to the Soviets, battle of Stalingrad also commenced in that month (August 23rd 1942), as did the disastrous Siege of Leningrad (August 22nd 1941).