Crisis and Awakening

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

As Abraham Lincoln noted, the American Civil War occurred about 90 years after the Revolutionary War. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was 81 years after the Secession Winter.  88 years before the Declaration of Independence was the Glorious Revolution.  Major wars like these seem to repeat quite regularly. Predictably, even. 

Less obviously, the Progressive Era of the late 1800s was about halfway between the Civil War and The Great Depression. The Great American Awakening was about 40 years before the American Revolution. Spiritual upheavals like these, too, recur on some predictable schedule, one that has been observed at least as far as the early 1500s, with the Protestant Reformation. 

Taken together, there is a recurring cycle comprising major conflicts every 80-100 years, and spiritual upheavals  about halfway between them. Different mechanisms have been proposed for how this is so consistent over a period of centuries. In the Strauss & Howe model, this cycle is driven by those generational archetypes  - and vice versa. As mentioned, the archetypes are dependent on what happens during childhood and young adulthood:

* Artists are born during a secular Crisis (like World War II)

* Prophets are raised after the Crisis, becoming young adults who drive and support the Awakening. 

* Nomads are born during a spiritual Awakening (like the Great Awakening in the 1730s)

* Heroes are brought up after the Awakening, becoming young adults who unite to take on enemies during the Crisis.  

The particular group of archetypes active at any point in time influences the kind of period that it is.  During periods of major secular conflict, the Hero archetype - who were brought up to work together and taught that they were Special -- are  young adults. They bring a unified front against outstanding problems, which problems are often pointed out by the older Prophet generation. Meanwhile, the practical and cynical Nomad generation can temper extremes and set up executable plans for victory, however it is defined. In World War II, goals were set under the leadership of FDR, a Prophet of the Missionary generation. Mid-level management was by Nomads from the Lost generation, such as Eisenhower and Patton. Young Heroes from the GI generation - JFK, Glen Miller, Ronald Reagan - battled together on air, land, sea, and elsewhere, to win whatever the cost. 

For the spiritual upheavals, on the other hand, the influence of the practical (and cynical) Nomads is mostly absent. The young adults at this time are passionate Prophets, raised in a postwar period that was safe and confined and perhaps  self-righteous, as defined by the formerly triumphant - now older - Hero generation. Rather than taking on management roles, the middle-aged Artists (raised and carefully protected during the crisis period) instead help guide the Prophet generation's passion, identifying areas where justice is yet to be served.  With this group of generations, the result is a wave that assaults existing societal structures,