Humanity has lived
through some horrific periods in history, including natural disasters, plagues,
and man-made crises. Plagues have threatened to wipe out civilization more
than once, while famine, floods, and fires have brought devastation and
destruction. Wars, depressions, and atomic weapons have also contributed to the
darkest times in human history.
How did the world
recover from calamities like the Black Death, the Great Depression, and
the Spanish flu? Sometimes it takes years or decades to bounce back after
a crisis. Consider the worst year in human history.
Millions succumbed to plague and famine, but society eventually bounced back
and even found a silver lining in the crisis. The same can be said of the recovery from the general
crisis in the 17th century, which gave society new ways to end
wars.
Looking how people
recovered from the worst periods in history reveals the importance of
perseverance and innovation in the face of devastation.
The Spanish Flu Led To Public
Healthcare In Europe
What Happened: In 1918-1919, a
devastating pandemic known as the Spanish flu swept
across the world. Its death toll dwarfed the destruction caused by WWI, with
the virus claiming up to 100 million lives, while the war took 18
million.
The Bounce Back: The pandemic
eventually ended, but it triggered major changes for European states. Rather
than approaching health as an individual challenge, several European
governments moved toward universal healthcare to treat health as a public
issue.
In the 1920s, European
governments began offering healthcare to the population without charge. Soviet
Russia was the first to introduce a public healthcare system, with other
Western European countries developing their own state-run healthcare systems.
The US, by contrast, moved toward an employer-based healthcare insurance
plan.
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England's Plague Led To A
Flourishing Era Of Science
What Happened: Many Londoners
believed the end of the world was near in 1665-1666. England's capital faced a
devastating fire, while a horrific outbreak of plague swept across
the country. The Great Plague killed 20% of London's population
while also devastating the country. The Great Fire burned
down 80% of the city, leaving charred remains behind.
The Bounce Back: England quickly
bounced back from the plague and the fire, in part thanks to the efforts of
England's scientific community.
In London,
Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke created new visions of the capital's layout,
drawing on scientific principles. And in Cambridge, the plague forced a young
Isaac Newton to retreat home to conduct experiments. During his annus mirabilis,
Newton developed calculus, experimented with light, and came up with a new
theory of gravity.
What Happened: The stock market
crash of 1929 and the ensuing Dust Bowl of the 1930s created a major
economic crisis in the US. In 1930, unemployment hit 25%, with over 15 million Americans looking for work.
President Herbert Hoover recommended self-reliance to endure what he called
a “passing incident in our national lives.”
Over the next nine
years, Roosevelt’s New Deal created a new role for government in American life.
Though the New Deal alone did not end the Depression, it did provide an
unprecedented safety net to millions of suffering Americans.
The Bounce Back: FDR's New Deal
pulled America out of the Great Depression and helped usher in a new golden
age. The New Deal used government spending to push the economy toward recovery,
while FDR also pushed for banking reforms to prevent crashes. The New Deal also
brought new social safety nets like the Social Security Act and
the National Labor Relations Act.
Industrial production
during WWII helped end the Great Depression, but it was the federal
government's massive investment in workers' rights, regulations, and a social
safety net that helped the US bounce back from the Depression.
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What Happened: The Black Death wiped
out 60% of Europe's population in the 14th century. A Florentine chronicler
wrote, "All the citizens did little else except to carry dead bodies to be
buried." The devastating pandemic was more than a demographic disaster
- it also caused an economic collapse.
Trade halted, unemployment skyrocketed, and many simply gave up hope.
The Bounce Back: Europe's population
didn't recover from the plague for centuries. Still, humanity bounced back and
reshaped society. A smaller number of workers led to higher wages for
agricultural and urban laborers. Peasants demanded an end to serfdom as
feudalism slowly ended.
The plague also
convinced Italians that their society was broken. Instead of continuing on the
medieval model, many Italians looked back to the last era where Italy dominated
the world: the Roman Empire. The return to classical models to rebuild society
sparked the Renaissance.
536 CE: 'The Worst Year'
Created A New Medieval Economy
What Happened: In the "worst
year to be alive," millions perished from famine and plague. After
volcanic eruptions blanketed the world in hazy fog, crops failed in the fields.
One chronicler reported "a
failure of bread from the years 536–539." The famine was quickly followed
by the Justinian Plague, which claimed 50 million lives.
The Bounce Back: It took time to
recover from the devastation of the sixth century, but eventually humanity
bounced back. The climate warmed up after the volcanic eruptions stopped,
and wetter weather helped
the Middle East flourish.
In
Constantinople, Emperor Justinian reformed
the Byzantine Empire to set it on a stable path. In the seventh century,
Europeans began mining silver, a
sign of a new medieval economy. "It shows the rise of the merchant class
for the first time," archaeologist Christopher Loveluck explains.
The Irish Potato Famine
What Happened: The Irish Potato Famine struck
in 1845 when a fungus attacked Ireland's potato crop. For seven years, 75%
of the country's potato crop failed, leaving thousands on starvation rations. A
million people perished from starvation, while over 1 million more left Ireland
behind as refugees.
The Bounce Back: Although the
famine eventually ended, Ireland continued to suffer in the years after the
Great Hunger. But the Irish refugees who settled in countries around the world
helped spread Irish culture and
enrich areas like the United States, which welcomed nearly 1 million Irish
immigrants in the 1840s and 1850s.
Although Irish
immigrants experienced bigotry in the US, Irish laborers became the backbone of
the new industrialized economy. By the 20th century, the descendant of an Irish
Famine immigrant became president: John F. Kennedy.
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Chicago Bounced Back After The
Great Fire
What Happened: On October 8,
1871, the Great Fire sparked
in Chicago. The blaze would eventually claim hundreds of lives, leave tens of
thousands homeless, and destroy 17,500 buildings.
The Bounce Back: As soon as the fire
ended, Chicago undertook the "Great Rebuilding" to revitalize the
city. Reverend Robert Collyer vowed, "We have not lost, first,
our geography. Nature called the lakes, the forests, the prairies together in convention long
before we were born, and they decided that on this spot a great city would be
built."
New laws improved
building safety, and architects in the Chicago School were soon designing
high-rise buildings that would reshape the city's skyline.
When British
journalist Mary Anne Hardy visited
Chicago after the fire, she remarked, "Phoenix-like, the city has risen
from the ashes, grander and statelier than ever."
Germany Of 1918 Gave Birth To
The Weimar Republic
What Happened: In 1918, Germany lost
WWI and endured harsh penalties in the Treaty of Versailles. In addition
to millions of casualties during the war, the British blockade of Germany claimed 800,000
lives due to starvation and disease. The war-weary country faced economic
devastation and social disorder. On November 9, 1918, Kaiser Wilhelm II
lost his throne, throwing the country into even more chaos.
The Bounce Back: In 1919, the Weimar Republic transformed Germany from a
monarchy into a constitutional republic. Under the country's new constitution,
Germans were granted equal civil rights, including freedom of religion and
freedom of expression. Although Germany battled hyperinflation, the 1920s
brought a vibrant culture to
the country.
The government's
commitment to social democracy fostered a flourishing era of modernist art,
tolerance, and a liberal attitude toward sexuality. Unfortunately, Weimar
culture didn't last long. The liberalism - along with Germany's economic
turmoil - eventually led to a backlash from Germany's right wing.
What Happened: On August 6,
1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on
Hiroshima. The blast claimed 80,000 lives, and thousands more perished
from radiation in the years that followed. Three days later, the US dropped
another atomic bomb on Nagasaki.
The Bounce Back: The power of atomic
weapons was so devastating that WWII represents both the first and last time
nuclear devices have been dropped on cities. Although the Cold War saw several
close calls, the US and Soviet Union came together to agree to stop the spread
of atomic devices in 1968.
The Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons brought together the five states that held
atomic devices in 1970 with the non-nuclear countries. Signatories agreed not
to use atomic devices or help their spread. Under the treaty, countries also
reduced their stockpile.
While the number of
nuclear states has grown, the world's efforts to stop the use of atomic devices
has prevented nuclear war for decades.
What Happened: The French Revolution
and the bloody conflicts it triggered ended the lives of millions. The
Reign of Terror sent thousands to the guillotine, including France's king and
queen. Although the revolutionaries in 1789 pushed for a constitutional
monarchy, the revolution slipped into a radical phase that devolved into a
bloodbath.
The Bounce Back: The revolution
triggered conservative movements in some countries while pushing others to
adopt more democratic means. But perhaps most importantly, the French
Revolution pushed forward the concept of human rights. In 1789, the National
Assembly passed the Declaration of the Rights of
Man and of the Citizen, an influential document that inspired the
Declaration of Independence in the American colonies.
France's Declaration
stated that all citizens hold the right to “liberty, property, security,
and resistance to oppression.” Pointing to natural rights, the document pushed
for a new understanding of human rights.
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What Happened: For
30 years, Europe's major powers waged war against each other. Triggered by
religious conflicts born from the Reformation, the Thirty Years' War dragged
on from 1618 to 1648. The brutal fighting led to over 8 million
casualties.
The Bounce Back: The Thirty
Years' War may have started as a religious conflict, but it quickly became a
battle for Europe's political future. The Peace of Westphalia,
which brought the fighting to an end, laid out a new way forward for
17th-century Europe.
The peace settlement
set the boundaries of Europe's countries through a legal process. For the first
time, Europe resolved an extremely complex geopolitical battle using the law
rather than the battlefield. It also established a new balance of powers and
extended religious freedom to minority faiths in Europe.
Although Europe's
powers continued to wage major wars over the next several centuries, the Peace
of Westphalia provided a new roadmap for solving problems using the law.
Ancient China's Warring States
Led To A Golden Age
What Happened: During ancient
China's warring states period,
rival kingdoms waged all-out war to expand their territory. For nearly three
centuries, starting in the fifth century BC, warriors clashed on the
battlefield.
The era ended with
the Qin unification of China, but the brutal emperor Qin Shih Huangdi suppressed his rivals through a
plan known as the "Burning of the Books and the Burying of Philosophers"
- where he burned books and executed scholars.
The Bounce Back: After
overthrowing the Qin dynasty, China's Han dynasty ushered in a golden age in Chinese
history. A stable, innovative period, the Han era lasted for four centuries.
The Han sent diplomats across Asia, explored new trade routes, and
established the Silk Road. For centuries, China looked back to the Han era as a
peaceful, united time in the country's history.
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