Bubonic Plague Dbq Analysis

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Throughout history, from ancient times to modern day, countless diseases and sicknesses have stricken societies all across our planet. Many of which, whether it be chickenpox or malaria, have been cataclysmic to the societies which they afflicted. However, the Bubonic Plague, also known as the Black Plague, was distinctly devastating to European society. From just 1348-1351, the Black Plague killed somewhere between 25% to 50% of Europes population. (document 1) Also, the Black Plague brought persecution to Jews living in Europe.(document 7) Given Europe's lack of medical knowledge at the time, the major loss of life, and the horrible persecution of the Jewish people, the Black Plague was exceptionally devastating to European society. First of all, the Bubonic …show more content…

In fact, so many multitudes of people died that mass graves had to be made to bury the dead. "And then more bodies were put on top of them, with a little more dirt over those; they put layer on layer just like one puts layers of cheese in a lasagna." wrote Marchione di Coppo StefaniIn describing the mass graves the victims of the Plague were buried in.(document 4) Many countries populations dropped down at such an alarming rate that the economy couldn't recover. For example, In France the pre Plague population was 13 million, but the Plague took 37% of its population leaving only 8.2 million people in France by the time it was subsiding.(document 8) England, Belgium, Italy, and many other countries in Europe saw dramatic drops in population due to the Plague as well. These gigantic drops in population caused a chain reaction. First, economic production halted. Then this eventually caused major inflation to the economy. All together, this had such lasting effects on the European economy that it took nearly 100 years to recuperate. Furthermore, the major loss of life was devastating to Europe's economy and society in the long

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