Bubonic Plague Dbq Analysis

In some places however the Government believed the Jews should be left alone. This caused an uproar among the people of Strasbourg, because of the public demand the Jews of Strasbourg were arrested and a meeting was held. “The money was indeed the thing that killed the Jews. If they had been poor and if the feudal lords had not been in debt to them, they would not have been burnt.” This shows that since the Jews were wealthy at the time many Europeans

During the mid-fourteenth century, a plague hit Europe. Initially spreading through rats and subsequently fleas, it killed at least one-third of the population of Europe and continued intermittently until the 18th century. There was no known cure at the time, and the bacteria spread very quickly and would kill an infected person within two days, which led to structural public policies, religious, and medical changes in Europe. The plague had an enormous social effect, killing much of the population and encouraging new health reforms, it also had religious effects by attracting the attention of the Catholic Church, and lastly, it affected the trade around Europe, limiting the transportation of goods. As a response to the plague that took place

During the thirteenth century, a disease known as the Black Death spread from Asia to Europe at an alarming speed. It travelled through the trade routes, in the form of infected fleas carried from town to town on rats causing catastrophic loses of population . The Black Death consisted of two forms of the disease; the pneumonic plague, and the bubonic plague . Since it was unknown as to what caused the disease at the time, their responses to the plague’s outbreak were almost entirely futile. Since religion was a big factor in nearly everybody’s lives, the records of the Black Death that we do have are heavily influenced by religion, and as such, their views strongly swayed things like treatments and medicine that were used against the plague.

The Christians claimed that the Jews were “poisoning food, wells and streams,” as a way to eliminate the Christians and become the dominate religion in Europe (Cohn 3). As a result of this, Jews were taken and “tortured into confessions, rounded up in city squares or their synagogues, and

People began attacking the Jews with pogroms, burning them at stake or exiling them from the country. On August twenty fourth, 1349, the largest Jewish community in Europe found in Mainz was killed with six thousand Jews being executed (Wein, The Black Death). Some Jews were taken in, tortured and forced to falsely accuse others. By 1351 there were no Jews left in Germany or Southern Europe. Those that survived the Black Death were either murdered or forced to escape to Poland or Russia.

An image created by Givoennni Srcambihas, a pharmacist in the 14th Century, shows the intensity that the Black Death hit Europe with. In his image, an Angel of Death appears to be shooting arrows to everyone in sight; The author uses this angel to represent how the plague would kill anyone in its path (Document 3). This image accurately represented what was going on in Europe during these times. The amount of lives lost was so severe that Europe ended up losing around one-third of their population. As seen in the chart “Estimated Long Term Impact on Population of Europe”, in 1345 there were around 83 million people.

The Black Death ravaged over 20 million people in China, India, Persia, Syria and Egypt during the early 1340’s. Most of these people were in Europe; this was over ⅓ of the population at the time (“BLACK PLAGUE”). This was the First Pandemic of the Bubonic Plague, killing far more than any Pandemic to follow it. Given the knowledge of medicine and science during this era, the Black Plague spread like wildfire, and caused many hideous symptoms which led to several ineffective treatments. Luckily, scientists and doctors worked together to create a cure, and while the Bubonic Plague does still infect people to this day, the wave that killed countless Europeans died out by 1400 (“IN THE WAKE OF THE PLAGUE:

The Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black death is a disease that ravaged Europe in the 14th century. The disease seemed incurable and spread like wildfire. The effects were devastating as roughly one third of Europe’s population is thought to have been lost along with countless Jewish people as the subject of blame. The origin of the Bubonic Plague was Central Asia but it made its way to Europe through trade ships. Fleas, the source of the disease, were on the rats carried over by these ships.

The disease wreaked havoc on the continent for three long years, and it eventually went into Russia (Whipps). Many people believed that the plague was God’s wrath upon man, and they prayed for long hours about this. Due to the danger of trading goods, the economy went through inflation. The prices of goods spiked, and land workers (serfs) were dying very rapidly. This created a huge demand for land workers, and it gave serfs the ability to choose whom they wished to work for (“Social and Economic Effects of the Plague”).

In 1347, Europe had just been infected by the Black Death. This epidemic killed over 2/3 of Europe’s population and lasted for over five years. The pathogen that caused the Black Death was Yersinia Pestis which causes many forms of plague. The Plague originated in central and south Asia then traveled through trade routes like the Silk Road, all the way to Sicily The Black Death killed most of Europe’s population, thus ending Feudalism by having not enough serfs and workers to run fields and farms. The land owners started to offer more for their work and labor, making the lower class more wealthy, and providing more jobs.

As it is with many major crises, the Jews were blamed during the time period of the plague. The people during the time thought that they may have had a disease bestowed upon them because they were living amongst Jews. They began exiling or murdering many Jews. Many Jewish areas were completely abandoned after the exiles, murders, and plague. People were also afraid because the Jews were getting the plague, but not at the same rate as the Jews.

The lack of legitimate scientific knowledge caused people to seek alternative answers. Superstitious beliefs both religious helped to alleviate fear. Many believed that the plague was punishment for their sins and turned to the church for repentance. Flagellantism became a trending movement during the time, and thousands of citizens gathered in processions, whipping themselves as a way of repenting. Feeling powerless, the majority of Europeans turned to the church for hope, especially the poor, who did not have the resources to flee the city like the rich, and were the most affected by the plague (Doc 3).

The Bubonic Plague, a Turning Point in World History During the 14th century CE, in Medieval Europe, the Bubonic Plague started in Mongolia (China) spreading west through trade routes bringing illness and death. The Bubonic Plague is an epidemic disease that resulted in big swellings in the armpits and couldn’t be cured with medicine. Based on an evaluation of the Bubonic plague, it can be considered a turning point in world history because it was a major factor in the decline of population, economy, and affected religion.

Often as a result of overpopulation, pandemics—like swine flu and ebola, for instance—have affected life on Earth for centuries; one of the most well-known, and possibly the most unforgiving epidemics was the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Death . Although the first symptoms of the Plague trace back to the Mongol Empire in 1331, the disease first struck Europe in Venice and Genoa during the winter of 1348. In the following years, the Bubonic Plague spread rapidly throughout Europe, killing roughly a third of its population. It is suggested that the rapid spread and extreme severity of the Black Death was partially due to the weakened immune system of the Europeans, which had been caused by the Great Famine, a period of food scarcity that affected Europe from 1315 to 1322. Additionally, the lack of knowledge about the spread of

Thus, began the persecution of the Jews which involved burning all those accused, no matter age or gender. The last document however, states that the blaming of Jews was wrong and that they could not have possibly done such a heinous crime. The sickness had affected everyone regardless of who they were. The documents show and describe the Black Death and how it happened in many ways.