The Plague DBQ

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.

If war can eliminate people 's lives, so can a plague. The Black Death was the disastrous pandemic of mankind. This plague swiped over Europe and parts of Asia and Africa. Back then, insufficient of research of medical studies aided the spread of the Black Death. Variety of factors contributed to lack of research.

The Black Plague was a horrible epidemic that killed between 25 and 45% of the populations it encountered. The plague spread from China to Europe and the Middle East quickly. While the Black Plague hit the Middle East and Europe, Christianity and Islam were the dominant religions. Though they both lived through the horrifying experience of the Black Plague, they had different responses, and Muslims had the most reasonable one.

Rats acted as vectors as they carried the infected fleas into the cities. One factor that influenced the spread was that in 1350 hygiene was inadequate and often food and faeces were left in the streets this meant that the cities ect was teeming with rats as they had an appropriate food source and habitat. Humans lived alone side rats but since the rats carried the fleas the fleas would bite the people who lived there thus infecting them. The next factor is that the rats began to die of the plague so household pets or other animals started feeding on them thus becoming infected. Since pets were becoming more common they had access to the household.

In 1340 an infectious disease was spread by wild rats that carried bacteria. The reason why it was so deadly and gross was because the wild rats would carry Yersinia Pestis, which the fleas of the rats would bite into them and then bite into the humans. This was called The Black Death, also known as the Plague. The Black Death killed millions of people. The Black Death was one of europe 's most devastating widespreads in human history.

The tragedy of The Black Death affected the Christian and Muslim cultures equally in the fourteenth century. However, these two groups responded to the situation in very different ways. This difference can be a window of insight into their core religious beliefs. By looking at what the Christians and Muslims thought the causes of the Black Death were, the differences in the Christian and Muslim response to the plague, and the similarities of how the two groups reacted, Muslims and Christians responded in very different ways because of their thoughts and actions to the plague that ended the lives of many.

The Black Death was a pandemic of plague that swept through Europe during the years of 1346-1353 (Benedictow). The plague is a disease that is caused by a bacteria called Yersinia pestis. This bacteria commonly infects rats and other rodents and is most often transmitted to humans by fleas that feed on the infected rats and then feed on humans (CDC). Rats are common, unwanted companions in large urban areas and more importantly, on ships. There are conflicting theories on where the plague that caused the Black Death pandemic originated from, but most agree on the location where the plague first started its journey to Europe.

This Primary Source is an excerpt from "The Cremation of Strasbourg Jewry, St. Valentine's Day, February 14, 1349—About the Great Plague and the Burning of the Jews" This document talks about how the Jews were blamed for the spread of the plague by putting poisons into water and wells. Because of this it was decided that all Jews would be burned to death and none would be allowed to enter specific cities for 200 years. Our primary source gives us an idea of what people thought started the plague. Many people blamed the Jews saying that they had killed christ and that they poisoned the water and the wells with the plague. The Black Plague allowed a new wave of Anti-Semitism to spread through Europe.

The Black Death “How many valiant men, how many fair ladies, breakfast with their kinfolk and the same night supped with their ancestors in the next world!” (Giovanni Boccaccio). Millions infected, millions died; This is the black death, one of the most destructive and widespread pandemics recorded in our history. Nearly 80% or more of the victims perished, their death sentence carried out within a period of days. The main cause of the black death is still between stories but the symptoms and social toll that it took on Europe are well known as well as genuinely horrifying.

The Black Death The Black Death, also known as the Bubonic Plague, was one of the biggest pandemics in the world. It started to spread from Eastern China, to Europe in the early 1300’s, and it reoccurred multiple times during the years to come. Merchant ships and rodents were the two main ways this disease spread and infected humans (The Black Death 1348). The symptoms for this plague were extremely painful and death was the most likely outcome in most cases.