The Black Plague: The Worst Pandemic In Human History

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From the year 1347 through 1351, the biggest pandemic in human history had occurred. This pandemic killed at least 75 million people within the short four year time span. It is estimated that this widespread death, from western Asia throughout the entire continent of Europe, killed between one to two thirds of the world population. This mass amount of deaths is known as the Black Death. As with all plagues, there is a cause for the plague. Since the cause for this plague was unknown to the civilians at the time, and officials can not just ignore the mass public since they too did not have a reason, the Jews were blamed for somehow causing this pandemic. There were three different types of plague that had occurred during the Black Death.…show more content…
It is unknown where these ships came from, but this really is not so important. The people of Sicily realized three days later that the plague that had recently been afflicting them came from these ships, so they made them leave immediately. It did not matter, though. Sicily had already been infected. These twelve ships found other docks close to Sicily to land and broaden the span of the Black Plague (Cohen pg 27). Through water was not the only way that disease had spread. It had also spread throughout trade routes from east to west. Trade had been increasing throughout the known world, so it was obvious that trade would be spread this way. It is known that major outbreaks occurred in the Middle East and in Europe. It was also spread to Russia (Wikipedia). As a result of the Black Death, both good and bad consequences had occurred. Since there was a shortage of personnel to go to work and produce crops, wages of workers and the prices of products rose ( David). This was good for peasants, because it led to social mobility for those who had survived. Peasants were now in high demand because of the shortage. This was not so good for those that wanted to keep their high status, though. Higher classmen tried to limit the prices of food and wages, but to no avail. The government now had no control over the common people because they could not control the disease…show more content…
But did anyone know of this while it was happening? No. And what does a church official or a king, who are supposed to have all the answers, do when they do not have the public’s answers? They make up an answer so that they can feel superior. This answer that they officials give must also have a cure. It was officially declared that the Jews had caused the Black Death. There is absolutely no scientific reason, though, as to why the Jews are blamed for the Black Plague. Persecutions had been going on around Europe at this time. There was a rumor started that Jews had poisoned the water system. Due to this rumor, in Lake Geneva, Jews were gathered and tortured until they had admitted that they had poisoned wells and who else was involved. This led to a chain reaction of Jews being killed throughout Europe. Thousands of Jews in at least 200 towns were butchered and burnt at the stake. In the end, over (Marcus pg
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