'World could be plunged into crisis in 2014'

CAMBRIDGE EXPERT PREDICTS ' A GREAT EVENT WILL DETERMINE COURSE OF THE CENTURY

A 'Doomsday' moment will take place in 2014 - and will determine whether the 21st century is full of violence and poverty or will be peaceful and prosperous, according to a Cambridge University professor.
In the last 500 years there has been a cataclysmic 'Great Event' of international significance at the start of each century, he claims.
Occurring in the middle of the second decade of each century, they include events which sparked wars, religious conflict and brought peace.

- In 1517 Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door of Wittenburg church, sparking the Reformation of the church and rise of Protestantism.
- 1618 marked the start of the 30 Years War and decades of religious conflict in Western Europe
- That conflict ended with the establishment of the Hanoverians in 1715. They ruled over Great Britain and Ireland, and Hanover (in Germany).
- The enlightened Congress of Vienna took place in 1815, following the defeat of Napoleon, and heralded a century of relative stability across Europe.
- In 1914 the First World War broke out, a catastrophic conflict that would claim millions of lives and set the tone for international discord throughout the 21st century.

Professor Nicholas Boyle of Cambridge University, who carried out the research, has pinpointed the global financial crisis as the trigger for the next 'Great Event'.
And he claims the U.S., with its waning economic influence but unrivalled military power, holds the key to determining the course and character of the next 90 years
Professor Boyle said: 'The character of a century becomes very apparent in that second decade, so why should ours be any different?

'Everything, in the end, may depend on whether America can react more imaginatively to that decline than Britain was able to do in the years before 1914