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Jan 1, 1315
The Great Famine in England
In 1315, the population in England grew significantly, so there was just enough food for the people, and no room for crop failures. In the spring and summer, there was excessive amounts of rain, which made it nearly impossible to plow the fields. The next harvest was much smaller than usual, which majorly decreased the peoples food intake and made them weak. As a result of this, the people were weaker when the plague strunk, which made the disease even worse then it already was. -
Jan 1, 1330
The Bubonic Plague begins
The Bubonic Plague was a deathly disease that originated in China in the early 1330's. This disease, otherwise known as the "Black Plague," mainly effected rats, but fleas began infecting people. Once a human is infected, the disease spreads rapidley among anybody who comes in contact with this infected person. This is significant because it was the beginning of an epidemic that caused millions of deaths. -
Jan 1, 1348
Winter brings hope
While the plague brought many deaths and disasters, the winter of 1348 brought hope that the plague had passed. Since it was so cold in the winter, many of the infected rats had died, causing a significant decline in the deaths by the plague. During this time, the people let off their guard, thinking the plague had disappeared forever. This was a problem because when the winter ended and the weather started warming up, the plague returned even stronger, and none of the people were prepared. -
Jan 1, 1349
The Scots invade Northern England
In Fall 1349, the Scots reconized that England was swarmed with the plague, and they decided to attack England at it's weakest time. They attacked England, but the majority of their soldiers had caught the plague, and when they returned to Scottland, they brought the disease with them. This invasion was significant because although it was unintentional, Scottland brought the plague amoung themselves, which then lead to a massive epidemic in spring 1350. -
Jan 1, 1350
Not enough workers
The Plague spread so quickly and affected so many people that by 1350, one third of the European population was demolished. Because of the mass death that the plague caused, there was a massive labor shortage in Europe. Since so many people were dying, there were less and less people to work in factories and other needed jobs. This is significant because without these workers, much less product can be made, which means there will be a shortage of things. -
Jan 1, 1381
The peasants revolt
In 1381, peasants from Kent and Essex invaded London and captured the Tower of London, which had never been done before. The peasants revolted because during the plague, since there were shortages of workers, to encourage the slaves to stay on the manor, were given freedom and jobs on the estates. When the plague ended, the peasants were worried that these privlages would be revoked, so they invaded and demanded these rights. -
The Great Fire of London
The great fire began on the evening of September 2nd, 1666, as a small house fire that soon became larger. Since most houses in London were made out of wood and and other highly flamable building materials, it wasn't hard for the fire to spread all across London. Although the fire caused mass destruction, the positive effect it had was it killed all the rats that carried the disease. As a result of this, the plague died out a significant amount. -
Scientists discover the carrior
In June, 1894, bacteriologist Shibasaburo Kitasoto discovered a bacillus from a dead organism, which he believed to be the plague bacillus. A few days later, another bacteriologist named Alexandre Yersin arrived, and he joined Kitasoto in his studies. He conducted an experiement with mice and guinea pigs, and realized that the disease was spread by fleas carried on rats. This was a huge discovery because knowing what caused the disease brought the people one step closer to defeating it. -
The plague spreads to England
The plague arrived in England on the summer of 1348, and it hit them surprisingly hard. The disease arrived when an infected sailor entered England from Gascony and contaminated the first victoms. Since Bristol was a large trading point in England, it was no surprise that this was the first major city in Britain to be infected. Bristol tightly packed around 10,000 people in it, so the disease went rampant. Since Bristol was a large trading spot, the disease left on ships, which only further -
Plague spreads to Sicily
Two merchant ships sailed from Sicily all the way to China for trade, and upon their return, several of the boats were infected with the Black Plague. In only a matter of days, the disease rapidly spread all around Italy. This was the first major city that the plague was spread to, and it started the first consistant span of infection.
