On 23 June 1940, after the German army’s swift conquest of France, Hitler made his first and only visit to Paris. He toured the City of Light, admiring its boulevards and architecture, and paid a visit to Napoleon’s tomb. There he vowed never to repeat the Little Corporal’s mistakes. Exactly one year later, having apparently forgotten his promise, he invaded Russia.

There’ve been many comparisons between the Fuhrer and Napoleon. Both stood under five foot nine. Both had photographic memories. Both were foreigners to the countries they ruled (Napoleon was Italian, Hitler was Austrian). Both planned but never launched invasions of England. Both invaded Russia within days of each other, there to suffer staggering losses and humiliating defeat that spelled the demise of their respective empires.

A comparison of their birth charts reveals further similarities, both in their native dispositions, and in the timing of their attacks on Russia.

Napoleon Bonaparte was born on 15 August 1769, at 11:30 AM in Ajaccio, France. (Birth data courtesy Astro-Databank).

Adolf Hitler was born 20 April 1889, at 6:30 PM in Braunau, Austria. (Birth data courtesy Astro-Databank).


Both men have Libra ascendants, with its lord Venus in a male sign and a positive house. Both have Sun/Mars conjunctions in fire signs and positive houses. Both have Saturn in the 10th house.

The Sun/Mars conjunctions are particularly significant, because both planets are of the kshatriya (warrior) caste. In Napoleon’s chart, the Sun is strong in Leo, and accompanied by Mars. In Hitler’s chart, the Sun is exalted in Aries, while Mars is in its own sign Aries, albeit in a tight conjunction with Venus that spells graha yuddha (planetary war) and thus some erosion of Mars’s essential dignity.

The power of these two warrior planets is echoed within and strengthened by their respective third harmonic charts. The drekkana is indicative of courage, desire and will to action, therefore important to athletes, fighters and competitors of every kind.

In Napoleon’s D3 chart, the Sun is in its own sign Leo, Mars in its own sign Aries. In Hitler’s D3, the Sun is exalted in Aries, while Mars in Sagittarius is in exchange with Jupiter in Aries, thus giving it power as well.

For warriors, we expect courage and the capacity for combat. These factors are seen through strong 3rd and 6th houses in the natal chart. Since both men had Libra rising, Jupiter becomes the lord of both their Sagittarius 3rd and Pisces 6th.

Napoleon had Jupiter in the ascendant and thus by virtue of its lordships, marked his character with the courage/combat nature. Jupiter gets dig bala in the ascendant and occupies its own nakshatra. Rahu in the 3rd becomes a proxy for Jupiter, further strengthening courage.

Hitler had Jupiter in its own sign in the 3rd, along with both Moon and Ketu. Since the Moon reflects essential temperament and Ketu acts like Mars, again we have courage in abundance. Indeed, Hitler was wounded and won the Iron Cross for bravery in WW1.

Personality characteristics aside, Napoleon and Hitler will also stand shoulder-to-shoulder in history for having had the hubris to attack Russia. Remarkably, they did so within mere days of each other.

The Russian Campaign

Napoleon’s formal invasion of Russia was on 24 June 1812. His Grande Armée had massed on the west side of the River Nieman. That morning Napoleon rode out on his horse to survey the best location to cross the river. As he approached the river, his horse stumbled and threw Napoleon to the ground. Some of his staff exchanged looks of horror. It was a bad omen, and if Napoleon had been a Roman Caesar, he would have immediately returned to France.

But that night at 10 PM, he sent three companies of the 13th Light Infantry in boats to cross the river and secure the opposite bank. An engineering brigade raised pontoon bridges and the army followed the next morning. The game was on!


The invasion chart was not promising. Although Sun and Mars are appropriately (for a launch of hostilities) conjunct in the 6th, they’re opposed by ascendant lord Saturn in the 12th. Ominously, the Moon is exactly conjunct this retrograde Saturn in the 12th. If ever there was a formula for defeat by attrition, this was it.

At the time, Napoleon was running Jupiter dasa, Ketu bhukti, Venus pratyantara. As discussed above, Jupiter dasa is already a powerful driver of combat because it is swa nakshatra and owns both the 3rd and 6th.

Ketu bhukti acts as proxy for its associate Venus, its aspecting planet Jupiter and its sign dispositor Mercury. Of these, Jupiter is strongest, and thus repeats the courage/combat theme.

Napoleon was in Venus pratyantara. Venus occupies a Rahu nakshatra, which again invokes the Jupiter effect, but it also acts on its own behalf. Unfortunately, ascendant lord Venus also owns the 8th, and therein lie the seeds of Napoleon’s defeat.


One of the most famous graphs ever produced (courtesy Charles Joseph Minard) shows the size of the Grande Armée on its way to Moscow and back. Out of an original force of 615,000, only 110,000 frostbitten and half-starved survivors stumbled back into France. The Russian campaign was the decisive turning-point of the Napoleonic Wars, and ultimately led to Napoleon’s defeat and exile.

Operation Barbarossa

Although he had vowed when he visited Napoleon’s tomb in Paris in June 1940 not to repeat France’s mistakes, Hitler was already making plans to attack Russia. A year later, he launched his invasion, just two days before the anniversary of Napoleon’s ill-fated Russian campaign 129 years earlier.

Operation Barbarossa began 22 June 1941 at 03h15 with a German aerial bombardment of Russian-held cities in Poland, and a blitzkrieg of men and machines across the broadest land front in military history. In six months the Wehrmacht was at the city limits of Leningrad, Moscow and Stalingrad. But from that winter on, it was tough sledding. Although the Germans killed or captured and systematically starved millions of Russian soldiers, the one thing the Russians had were lots of men and women. They recruited half a million a month, trained them in haste and hurled them at the Germans. The ‘superior race’ was no match for the Soviets’ superior numbers.


Coincidentally enough, Operation Barbarossa was also launched under a Moon/Saturn conjunction. Here it occurs rising in a fixed sign Taurus, perhaps symptomatic of how stubbornly Hitler stuck to this wrong strategy for three long years while Russia brutally bled and froze his armies in their tracks.

In Napoleon’s Russian campaign, the launch date had Sun and Mars conjunct in dual sign Gemini, which hinted at the wavering (dualistic) sustainability of combat operations (Sun/Mars). In Operation Barbarossa, Sun and Mars were both in dual signs too, but here Mars aspected the Sun unilaterally, which suggests the fighting spirit (Mars) was off the leash, doing something that actually undermined self-preservation (Sun).

Both attacks featured an exaggerated Moon. For the French, it was a full moon, for the Germans a very dark moon in its exalted sign, a combination for very mixed prospects. The Moon in both charts was also influenced by Jupiter and Saturn. Certainly it takes optimism to make such a leap, and similarly it takes reality to bring an emperor down off his high horse.

At the time of Barbarossa, Hitler was running Rahu dasa, Ketu bhukti, Venus pratyantara. Rahu gives the results of its associates (none), aspecting planets (Moon & Jupiter) and sign dispositor Mercury. Of these, Jupiter in its own sign is strongest.

Like Napoleon, Hitler’s Libra ascendant meant his Jupiter became lord of the 3rd and 6th, houses of courage and combat. So war was natural in Rahu dasa.

Ketu bhukti gives results of its associates (Moon & Jupiter), aspecting planets (none) and sign dispositor Jupiter. Of these, Jupiter in its own sign is strongest. So Ketu mostly does Jupiter’s job, and goes to war.

Hitler was in Venus pratyantara. Since Venus is swa nakshatra, Venus works for itself alone. But its lordship of the 1st and 8th puts it in a complex role, seeking self-hood and trauma at the same time. Furthermore, Venus is in planetary war with Mars.

Operation Barbarossa opened up the Eastern Front, the site of some of the largest battles, deadliest atrocities, highest casualties, and most horrific conditions for Soviets and Germans alike. Estimates vary, but many place the death toll at over 5 million German and 10 million Russian soldiers. The Eastern Front accounted for 95% of all German casualties from 1941 to 1944.


Although not as distinct as the Minard pictograph, the one produced by Matthew Humphrey (Univ. Waikato, NZ) similarly depicts the grinding down of Hitler’s armies on the Russian Front and, thus, the end of the Third Reich.

Thus we are reminded of the words of the 19th century philosopher George Santayana: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

~~~~~~~