Plagues And Diseases Essay -- essays research papers fc

Plagues and Diseases     Plague. A word that has potty fear in the hearts of man since theearliest of times. It has also orchestrate to some of the coarseest historical eventsand stories of our time. The ancient cities of Rome and Athens, in theirdown autumn, were terminate off by pestilence. The Bubonic Plague, also cognize asThe dark-skinned Death, devastated Europe in the 14th century, starting a new age. Thegreat warrior Ivan the Terrible was stricken with disease, and driven mad.During the "exploration" of the new world, Cortess greatest partner over against theAztecs was smallpox. Napoleons Grand Army was defeated by the Russians, andtyphus. Queen Victoria strewing hemophilia to her heirs, leading to the illnessof the only son of Czar Nicholas, and the fall of monarchy in Russia.1 All theevents are horrible in every way, moreover pee struck a chord with race around theworld. by chance it is our inherent morbid curiosity. So, the questio n is, ifthese events happened once, why cant they happen again?      allow us take a look at the most horrible, so far, of the plagues TheBlack Death. It took Europe by storm from approximately 1345 to 1361. It wouldalso concur small comebacks by dint ofout the next 400 years, and never akin it didthe first time. It also reached into Africa, China, Russia, and theScandinavian countries. It was truly a worldwide pandemic. But, it has asecondary effect that not many people are awake(predicate) of. The colonies of Greenland,settled by the Vikings, were stricken by the plague and they soon disappeared.It is known that these colonies kept in contact with "Vinland", which was nearNew Foundland, in Canada. The Vikings had already discovered North AmericaBut, alas, with these colonies all dead, Greenland was forgotten, and notdiscovered again until 1585.2 It is estimated that the plague took 24 millionlives, about a quarter of the European population. This m ay seem incredulous topeople today, but it happened. During those times, where in that respect were humans, there were black rats. And where there are rats, there are fleas. And wherethere were fleas, there was the plague. Bubonic plague, and also pneumonicplague, were everywhere. France, Italy, Russia, England, you name it. When avillage was infected, people fled, most likely taking the plague with them tothe next village.3 One ca... ...nt, but itsure does sound good. I hope to have entertained you through this paper, andgiven you something to chew on for a few weeks. And I have just one morethought. When people infer of the blockade of the world, they think of a bigmushroom cloud destroying everyone in a towboat of light. But, I just dont seethat. I see something less spectacular. When the end comes, it wont be with abang. No one will see it coming. An phalanx of the smallest soldiers will attackus from the inside out. One-billionth of our size, and theyll beat us.BIBLIOGRAP HY1. Abel, Ernest L. Americas fall 25 Killers. Hillside, N.J. Enslow     Publishers Inc., 19912. Archer, Jules. Epidemic New York Harcourt Brace Jovanich, 1977.3. Berger, Melvin. Disease Detectives. New York doubting Thomas Y. Crowell,     1978.4. Cartwright, Fred F. Disease and History. New York Thomas Y.     Crowell, 1972.5. Guerrilla Warfare. "Time Frontiers of Medicine." Vol. 148, No.4, Pg.     58-62.6. McNeill, William H. Plagues and Peoples. New York strand     Press/Doubleday, 1976.