As many of you know, the Bubonic Plague (I'm talking about the original outbreak), or Black Death, was a Pandemic that swept through much of Asia, Europe, and the Middle East that killed a large portion of humanity at the time (like 100 million out of 450 million at the time). With the general feeling of mortality, it is said that people generally began to just do whatever the hell they wanted to as they felt that life was just a breath away from being over. My question is whether you lot thin that, even through the plague killed such a large portion of humanity, it provided some of the inspiration for Europe's rapid technological advance in all areas of life and machinary. Was it actually a good influence on humanity or was it a massive drain on its potential at the time?
No outside influence from the Arabic and Chinese world influenced and shaped Europe, it's also what brought the plague too (Well the Mongols to be more specific) but really the black plague was treated like a punishment from god and there would be people trying to whip them self (Like Jesus) in order to appease god, not to mention the Huge anti-semitism that came with the Plague. I say it was a massive drain.
Well, despite the horrendous number of deaths, because of those deaths the remaining peasants gained more rights and were valued more because of the shortages on manpower, so this sort of broke the fuedalistic status quo that had been going on. So without the plaque, it might have taken much longer for us to advance as far socially as we have, so I am going to say it actually helped us in th long run.
I somehow think we could've used a fourth of our population more than some illiterate peasants getting "more valued". Not to mention conditions hardly changed. If anything it simply made Nobles stronger as they absorbed smaller Duchies and Counties that had been crippled from the Plague.
As most of the peasants were dying and the landowners needed more men, they upped the pay of the peasants a decent amount. Then the people started to realize that God hated them and thus birthed God-fearing Christians which plague the earth today. Not to mention that little countries started to blob.
Well despite all deaths that happened it did solve the problems of over population in Europe. The Black Death also marked the end of the feudal system in Europe. With members of all classes dying by the thousands, it was no longer as easy or viable to force the lower classes to work for the lords in order to sustain their land. The price of food and goods dropped rapidly, endangering the wealth and power of the aristocracy whose livelihood depended upon their income and the amount of land they owned. The need for people to fill certain important jobs became so great that it allowed lower class citizens the opportunity to work their way up the social ladder. The demand for people to fill jobs also saw an increase in the wages they were paid, giving the lower class citizens further chances to advance socially. As peasants began to see that they were now more powerful than they had previously been, they began to act out against the higher classes, resulting in events as drastic as the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, where peasants in Essex revolted against King Richard II and his government and killed several high ranking officials and burned many others homes and places of worship. The Black Death was a devastating pandemic that ravaged Europe for several hundred years, wiping out over 1/3 of its population. The affects of the plague however, were vital in shaping many aspects of European society. The plague saw the end of the feudal system and the rise of power for many lower class citizens. It also changed the relationship that many European citizens had with the Church. It was a key feature in many literary and art works of the time and offered the people of Europe a new found respect for death and God. All of these elements together forced Europe to become stronger and more advanced both socially and economically. http://voices.yahoo.com/the-profound-effects-black-death-european-5828426.html
I think it would have lasted longer than that if there were more people knocking about. Even more so if you times it by 3.
It was wiped out by the mid-1800s, so unless your saying Serfdom would be around for the Great War and such I don't think your right.
In the 14th and 15th centuries led to the gradual emancipation of serfs in western Europe. In eastern Europe serfdom became more enntrenchedduring that period; the peasants of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were freed in the late 18th century, and Russia's serfs were freed in 1861. (If you want to read more) http://www.reference.com/browse/serfdom
Serfdom was abolished by Tsar Alexander the 2nd of Russia, Ironically the same Tsar was assassinated the day before he was planing to erect the Duma (Russian parliament) and He was killed by the Radical "Marxist" wing of the People's will ( Narodnaya Volya ) Using the Propaganda of the deed as there insperiation. The Question is, imagine if there was no assassination and the Tsar had infact made his social and political reforms, would that stop the Russian revolution taking place or was it an historical inevitability.
Well I would rather have feudalism for an extra 50 or so years than have a 1/3 of the continent wiped out thank you very much.
There would've been a split up of the Russian Empire(they couldn't subjugate everyone forever), but not necessarily a Communist Russia. Hell, by most accounts Russia was one of the least likely countries to become Communist.
Russia had so many ideologies and revolutionaries that something was bound to happen, one of the weakness of the white army was it was full of Anarchist, Monarchist, Liberals, Conservative, Unions, and even some communist. Ironically Marx himself said Russia is not the place for a revolution it was design to happen in Germany or Great Britain (Almost did In Germany)
