Update (08 March 2022): In the earlier version of the article, we took the date of the First World War as 28 June 1914 (the day of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to WW-I). It has been corrected to 28 July 1914 (the day on which Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia) and associated changes are made in the article.
A post is being shared on social media with a claim that there is a similar pattern in the dates on which the two World Wars and the Russia-Ukraine war began. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: The calculations show a similar pattern in the dates on which the two World Wars and the Russia-Ukraine war began.
Fact: The last calculation in the post is tweaked. The day is taken as ‘DD’ instead of their earlier pattern of ‘D + D’ in the last calculation. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
The dates of the First World War, Second World War, and the Russia-Ukraine war given in the post are correct. The First World War began 28 July 1914 (the day on which Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia) whereas the Second World War began on 01 September 1939. Even though there were tensions between Russia and Ukraine for a long time, it was on 24 February 2022 when Putin announced a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine.
Now let us look at the calculation. Two methods of addition are used in the posted calculations. In the first method, day (DD), month (MM), year (YYYY) (of a date) are added in the following manner – DD + MM + YY + YY. All the given dates give the result as 68 for the above type of addition. But, in the second method, where dates are added in the following way – D + D + M + M + Y + Y + Y +Y, all the dates do not give the result as 32. The given two World War dates when added in the above way, give the result as 32. But the Russia-Ukraine war date gives the result as 14 (2 + 4 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 0 + 2 + 2 = 14). To make it 32 and show that there is a pattern in the dates, instead of taking the date as 2 + 4 (‘D + D’), it is taken as 24 (‘DD’) in the calculation (which is contrary to their above logic).
To sum it up, one of the calculations in the post is tweaked to show a pattern.
