536 AD - Worst Year in History

Mark Twain once stated that “

history

does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes,” which is why historians constantly try to draw parallels between the events of modernity and those that have already passed. In this regard, we turn to the ancient world and look back at one of the many

year

s that rival 2020 in its dubiously notorious status in the human imagination. When the

year

536 AD began, just under a millennium and a half ago, the Eurasian civilizations that often serve as the subject of our videos were undergoing a seismic shift. While war, politics, and other human regularities continued apace, a series of debated cataclysms occurred that, according to some scholars, made the year 536 the

worst

year in all of

history

.

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But in the midst of this attempt at imperial recovery, the chronicler described a phenomenon that is easy to pass off as irrelevant, but that could be the key to the most important episode of late antiquity. Writing almost certainly in 536, the tenth year of Justinian's reign, the Belisarian historian declared: “It happened during this year that a very terrible omen took place. Because the sun gave its dull light, like the moon, throughout this year, and it looked very similar to the sun in eclipse, because the rays it threw were not clear nor like those it usually throws. And from the moment this happened, men were not free from war or pestilence or from anything else that leads to death.” Armed with a scientific understanding of the world, even we might look at the sky with trepidation if we witnessed our sun go dark for an entire year, as if the world had suffered a devastating nuclear war.

Given our own reactions, we can barely comprehend how shocking this apocalyptic solar haze was to the religiously minded people of the 6th century. It could have been seen as a herald of the end of the world, and many certainly came to feel that way. Because the observations of Procopius and several other historians of this period lack any form of explanation regarding the "mysterious clouds", most likely because they had absolutely no idea what was happening, the cause remained for a long time. an elusive mystery that baffled modern historians trying to glean something. from ancient sources. However, using modern and precise dating techniques such as ice core analysis and dendrochronology, the exact cause of what some scholars ominously call "The 536 Event" can be deduced.

By studying the cross section of pine and oak rings within the Altai Mountains, as well as elsewhere within the Northern Hemisphere, there is a trend of abnormally small growth starting at the exact point that can be collated and calibrated to represent around of 536. This indicates an unusual degree of cooling, but does not suggest a cause in itself. To complement this knowledge, ice cores extracted from Greenland and Antarctica dating to around the year 536 contain unusually large sulfate deposits, volcanic glass, and sulfuric acid content. Laboriously weaving together all this disparate data; With biblical dimming, widespread cooling, abnormal chemical content, and more rolled into a single coherent tapestry, most scientists analyzing the 536 event place responsibility on a catastrophic volcanic eruption that might even have exceeded the Tambora explosion in severity. in 1815.

As an aside, it is worth noting that the last eruption also caused visual phenomena vaguely similar to those described by our ancient sources, such as the hazy but beautiful yellow skies depicted in 19th century art. Various locations have been proposed for this shocking volcanic eruption everywhere from Iceland to El Salvador, but that's one detail it wouldn't make sense to get caught up in. The questions of where and what remain unresolved, while some fringe researchers go so far as to denounce the volcanic perspective entirely, pointing instead to certain debris in the historical record as evidence of a particularly violent comet impact.

We will assume that the dominant eruption theory is correct, keeping the possibility that it is wrong in the back of our minds. Whatever happened and however it happened, the results were surprising in their magnitude. Unfortunately, the convenient trade winds blew the blanket of ash across Europe and then Asia, blocking sunlight and causing temperatures to plummet by an average of between 1.5 and 2.5°C. According to some estimates, the consequence was the

worst

shock suffered by the Earth's ecosystem in the last 2,000 years and the advent of the coldest decade in 2,300. The effect on human society was no less devastating.

Poor harvests and dead crops were endemic throughout the Eurasian landmass, fatal to chiefdoms, empires and kingdoms that relied primarily on agriculture to feed their people and collect much-needed taxes. In the southern part of pre-Viking Norway, for example, the entire settlement structure and social organization completely collapsed. Farms were left behind, rich burials became rare, pottery production ended and iron production declined. In some areas, burial finds after this event were 90 to 95% lower than before. Denmark, Estonia and particularly Ireland show alarming disruptions in bread production and the consequent collapse of local societies. We have little evidence to prove this, but if one reads between the lines of the evidence we do have, it can be inferred that there was famine and human suffering on a massive scale.

The same famine, exacerbated by Justinian's war in Italy, supposedly caused mothers in Liguria to eat their babies to survive, as recorded by the bishop of Milan. As if the cold, almost eternal twilight and famine were not enough to topple a political entity, and sometimes they were not, there was a third factor that possibly emerged from the eruption of 536. Half a decade after the explosion, in 541, The first case of bubonic plague struck the Byzantine Pelusium trade nexus in Egypt, probably originating somewhere in the eastern steppe of northern China. Although far from a universally accepted theory, it is widely and credibly postulated that the first onset of what became the "Plague of Justinian" in the early 540s was an indirect consequence of the volcanic eruption at that our ancient sources allude to.

This chain of causality requires some level of explanation. How does a volcanic eruption in Iceland or possibly anywhere else in the world cause a civilization-crippling plague in the distant Mediterranean? At first glance, the two disasters seem unconnected. However, of the seven serious volcanic eruptions that have taken place in the last 2,000 years, six; in 44 BC C., 626, 934, 1258, 1783 and, of course, 536 AD. C., have resulted in a deadly period of epidemic diseases in Europe, the Middle East, or both within one to five years. That this strange trend is pure chance is, as noted NASA scientist RB Stothers put it, “a very unlikely coincidence.” So what is going on here?

The key to unraveling this mystery can be found in the calamitous volcanism-induced crop losses that so often shake pre-industrial societies, the direct impacts of which we have already analyzed. It is a simple truism that if humans do not eat properly, our body's defenses do not function properly as a consequence. Crucially for this particular circumstance of 536, entire continents of people were almost certainly suffering from malnutrition, debilitating millions of humans to an unprecedented pandemic that then spread like wildfire. In what is close to a perfect storm, exposure to flea-carrying rats may also have been dramatically increased by the layer of volcanic dust.

Decreasing temperatures actually slow the development of these insectoid parasites, but, conversely, rats are even more likely to be driven into homes by the cold. This brought the disease closer to humans and provided a perfect environment: houses occupied by people who were hungry and weakened by lack of food, so that the plague could pass from animals to humans. Exacerbated by the cosmopolitan nature of the Byzantine Empire, internal supply routes, trade, and military enterprises initiated by Emperor Justinian I, the plague that came to bear the name of the great ruler infected vast areas of the Middle East and southern Europe. .

Millions of tax-paying citizens died, potentially abundant lands were left uncultivated, and the rest of Rome's empire subsequently buckled under the pressure. Up to half of the population died. The door to Justinian's “rebirth” also closed violently. Weakened to almost breaking point, the emperor could not afford to decisively engage his armies in the conflict in Italy. This, accompanied by other military factors, led to a prolonged war of attrition. When that war finally concluded in the 550s, the territorial spoils were a desolate, unpopulated wasteland, rather than the rejuvenating pot of gold that had previously served as the beating heart of the Roman Empire.

Although the devastation inflicted on the Byzantine Empire is by far the most famous impact of the plague, its Sassanid rival also suffered a less severe blow, as well as other states on its periphery. Even further east, shorter growing seasons and the inability to feed livestock likely caused seismic population movements and political instability within the eastern steppe area. This disruption not only resulted in the usurpation of the Rouran steppe domain by the Göktürks in 551, but also sent wave after wave of nomads pouring into the settled civilizations around them, seeking better lands to occupy. One such confederation, the Avars, arrived north of the Black Sea around 550.

In the Far East, tribes were pushed into China and began a new round of violent settlement and imperial defense. The mysterious but violent eruption of 536 was not allowed to subside before two more explosions followed in 540 and 547 AD. plunging Europe into a century-long state of economic stagnation. Only approximately 640 AD. This grim situation came to an end, as evidenced by a lead spike in the air that signaled a resurgence of silver mining. It was Catalytic Event 536 and its ominous darkness that led medieval historian Michael McCormick to comment on how that cursed year, often as overlooked in popular historical narrative as anything out of the ordinary, “was the beginning of one of the “Worst periods to be alive.” , if not the worst year.” All we can do is wait and act so that the coronavirus-ridden 2020 is not our 536; a terrible year that served as a herald of all the terrible years to come.

Although many scientists support the view that the eruption of 536 was the cause of the great struggle, others downplay its role. A summary of his view is Antti Arjava's statement that "not only is there nothing in our evidence to suggest that the year 536 was a decisive moment between antiquity and the Middle Ages... it is also evident that, although The cloud caused confusion and loss of crops, at the time of its appearance, its effects were notThey lasted long after it dissipated. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if 536 AD. Was it really just a relatively meaningless but lethal footnote, as Arjava suggests, or was it the turning point. year in which the last embers of the ancient world were extinguished, providing the ashes for the medieval era to begin.

This shows that sudden disasters, whether earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, pandemics or man-made difficulties such as political crises or large-scale military conflicts, can completely alter the world we live in in an astonishingly short time. space of time. The late 520s and early 530s seemed to be an unstoppable redemption for the Roman Empire under Justinian, but just a decade later those lofty dreams were almost completely out of reach and civilization seemed to be on the ropes. We always have more stories to tell, so make sure you're subscribed and have hit the bell button. Please consider liking, commenting and sharing;

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