Terrorists Use Sarin Gas in Tokyo Subway Attack.

In early 1995, the Aum Shinrikyo religious movement had fewer than ten thousand members in Japan, thirty thousand members in Russia, and a scattering of followers in the United States. Aum Shinrikyo was established primarily on peaceful Buddhist principles, but it also drew heavily from Hinduism, the apocalyptic ideas in the book of Revelation in the Christian Bible, the ideas of Adolf Hitler, and the writings of sixteenth century Christian monk Nostradamus, and the group held strong beliefs in a nearing Armageddon, or cosmic war. Fanatical Aum Shinrikyo leader Chizuo Matsumoto, known to his followers and the world by the holy name of Shoko Asahara, forecast that this Armageddon would come very soon, and as he and his followers saw increasing evil in the world, they began to pursue the notion that their group would be instrumental in forcing this Armageddon into being.