Talk about a rare coincidence. This fact is somewhat of a joke among the people of Russia as it has been ongoing for nearly 200 years. It even has a name, the bald-hairy theory of Russian leaders.
Since the reign of Tsar Nicholas I in 1825, every Russian leader has been either bald (or in a state of balding) or hairy, aka, a full head of hair. You might be saying “so what? Whats so odd about that? Every leader of a country either has a full head of hair or is losing it.” What makes this so interesting is that the leaders have been taking it in turns. In other words, one will be bald, followed by one with hair, then another baldy followed by a hairy.
This phenomenon began with the reign of Tsar Nicholas I in 1825 who just happened to be bald. It began with him because his father, Alexander I was also bald. Following Nicholas I came Alexander II who had a full head of hair. After him came Tsar Alexander III who, you guessed it, was bald. This pattern continued beyond the end of the Romanov’s, through the Soviet era and onto the current leaders. Gorbachev was bald, Yeltsin hairy, Putin bald, Medvedev hairy, and finally Putin again who is still bald.
This amazing pattern would have to be one of the most amazing coincidences in world politics as it has been a continuous pattern of bald=hairy Russian leaders for nearly two centuries. Now we only need to await the successor of Mr Putin to see if the joke continues.
