Human History s Greatest Plague Known As The Black Death

This paper will argue on one of human history’s greatest plague known as the Black Death. By the 1340s, nearly all of Europe was gripped by a seemingly endless cycle of disease and famine. The fourteenth century dawned with a chill and the Baltic Sea froze over during 1306-1307. The cold weather was an unwelcomed guest arriving earlier in the autumn and staying till the late summer. This freezing cold foretold worse disasters. Rain followed up on it and never stopped, causing villages to flood along the Caspian Sea shores, the fields were sodded making crops rot. Moreover, the late harvest made prices surge which forced King Edward II to impose price controls. Things didn’t get any better from there on. Torrential rains fell again in 1316†¦show more content†¦However, before they withdrew the Prince came up with the plan which turned out to be one of the first and most highly effective forms of Germ warfare. The prince ordered his soldiers to catapult the rotte n plague infested dead bodies of soldiers over Kaffa’s walls. These rotten corpses soon tinted the air and poisoned the water supply and within days the people inside the walls of Kaffa began to die. Few surviving merchants hurried and set sail for their home in Italy and tried to escape this plague. Flea infested rats climbed the ropes of the boat and hid in the holes of the ships that were heading to Rome. These ships sailed port to port in their long journey back to Italy but no one would let them dock when they saw that the sailors were dying. The merchants finally reached the port of Messina in Sicily but the sailors were not allowed to enter the city. However, the brief encounter was long enough for the rats to climb off the galleys and set their journey into the city carrying the Black Death into Europe. â€Å"Alas! our ships enter the port, but of a thousand sailors hardly ten are spared. We reach our homes; our kindred and our neighbors come from all parts to visit us. Woe to us for we cast at them the darts of death! Whilst we spoke to them, whilst they embraced us and kissed us, we scattered the poison from our lips. Going back to their homes, they in turn soon infected their whole families, who in three days succumbed, and were buried in oneShow MoreRelatedThe Black Death And Its Effects On Society843 Words   |  4 Pagesdevastating and tragic mortal disease, the Black Death, spread across Europe in the years of 1346-53. The Black Death became one of the deadliest infectious diseases in history. This fatal and rapidly spreading disease horrified people of its time. The disastrous natural catastrophe was only compounded with other setbacks in fourteenth century Europe. Those set backs include, warfare, religious turmoil and peasant unrest. 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