Who first published the claim that Pike predicted three world wars and when did it appear?
Executive summary
The story that Albert Pike predicted three world wars traces back to an alleged letter from Pike to Giuseppe Mazzini dated August 15, 1871, which conspiracy sites reproduce as the primary source of the claim [1] [2] [3]. Contemporary reporting and skeptics say the provenance of that letter is dubious and that the claim first became widely visible through conspiracy websites and tabloid articles rather than verified historical publication, but the precise first publisher or publication date is not established in the available sources [4] [5] [6].
1. The supposed primary document: an 1871 “Pike to Mazzini” letter
The narrative rests on an alleged letter dated August 15, 1871, in which Pike supposedly outlined three world wars designed to bring about a “New World Order,” and many reproductions and summaries cite that date and text as the origin of the prophecy claim [1] [2] [3]. Several websites and a circulated PDF present the letter verbatim or in synopsis, asserting it was on display in institutional collections such as the British Museum Library until the late 20th century — a claim repeated in secondary reproductions [3].
2. Where the claim first appeared in print or online — available sources do not say
None of the supplied reporting establishes a verifiable first publication or the original outlet that first made the “three world wars” claim public; the record in these sources jumps directly to modern reproductions on conspiracy sites and popular tabloids without documenting an original 19th- or early-20th-century publication [4] [5] [6]. In short, the provided material does not identify who first published the claim or exactly when it first appeared in print or online in a way that can be independently verified from these sources [4].
3. Modern amplification: conspiracy websites and tabloid coverage
In the internet era the claim has been amplified by dedicated conspiracy pages such as threeworldwars.com and podcasts that treat the Pike letter as authentic or revealing, and it has been recycled into mass-market tabloids like the Daily Mail, which ran a prominent piece in March 2016 repeating the purported predictions [5] [1] [7] [6]. Academia-hosted PDFs and compilations have also circulated versions of the letter, furthering its reach among audiences predisposed to apocalyptic or anti-Masonic narratives [3].
4. Scholarly and skeptical assessments: a hoax narrative and Leo Taxil connections
Critical assessments cited in the available material label the Pike/Mazzini letter narrative as a hoax and note the absence of corroboration in serious historical literature; researcher.life explicitly states the letter is “widely considered a hoax” and that academic papers do not support Pike’s alleged prophecy [4]. Anti-Masonic scholarship and debunkers point to discrediting precedents such as the 19th-century hoaxer Leo Taxil and conclude that the three-world-wars story is part of long-standing anti-Masonic mythmaking rather than a documented prophetic text [8].
5. Why the uncertainty matters and the working answer
Because the supplied sources do not document an original publisher or a verifiable first appearance, the most supportable, evidence-based answer is that the claim originates from circulation of an alleged August 15, 1871 letter attributed to Pike and that its public prominence arose through modern conspiracy websites and tabloid coverage — with a noticeable tabloid resurgence documented in 2016 — while historians and fact-checkers regard the letter as inauthentic or unproven [1] [3] [6] [4]. The exact identity of the first person or outlet to publish the Pike-three-world-wars claim and the precise date of that first publication cannot be asserted from the provided reporting; the sources instead document modern propagation and skeptical debunking [4] [5] [8].