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Essay about The Black Death

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Since the beginning of civilization, humanity has battled with the forces of nature in order to survive. One of the most terrifying of these forces is disease. Diseases can come in many different forms. They are caused by many things, such as viruses, bacteria, and some are even non-infectious and can be transmitted genetically. A select few of these ailments, called pandemics, are highly contagious and can afflict mass amounts of people in a short period of time. One example of a pandemic is the Black Death. It swept through Europe in the 14th century, killing an estimated 75 million people and causing the collapse of the Feudal system. The Black Death is considered one of the deadliest pandemics in history because of the speed of its …show more content…

The people tried to get rid of the corpses, but it was far too late. The disease was in the city. The Tartars retreated, and the Genoese boarded ships to Sicily. As a result, the plague followed them to Europe. By spring 1348, the plague hit London, which at the time was a crowded city with a population of about 70,000 (Ibeji). Living conditions in the 1300's were filthy, and nothing like they are today. Butchers would clean animals in front of their shops and leave the blood covering the ground. The people would empty their chamber pots (a bowl shaped container used as a toilet) out of their windows onto the streets. For these reasons, along with ships full of plague victims sailing through the city, the plague flourished. In 1349 The Scots heard of this English plague and believed the English were being punished by God (Ibeji). They gathered and prepared to invade England, but without warning, soldiers began to die out in rididiculous numbers. Before they could even launch the invasion, most of the army was dead. The remaining army decided to retreat back to their home country. Consequently, soon after they returned the plague was in full swing in Scotland. In just a few short years, it had spread all the way across Europe, and massive amounts of people were dying every day. People had never seen anything like this before and were terrified to walk out of their front door.
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