Humanity’s journey through history is a tapestry woven with remarkable achievements, each thread representing a triumph of innovation, resilience, and collective endeavor.
In the ancient world, civilizations like Mesopotamia and Egypt constructed awe-inspiring structures such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the pyramids of Giza. These architectural marvels stood as testaments to human ingenuity and mastery of engineering. The Renaissance in Europe brought about a revival of artistic expression, with masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael showcasing the pinnacle of human creativity. The Enlightenment illuminated the corridors of reason, challenging traditional authority and promoting ideals of liberty and equality. Thinkers like Voltaire, Rousseau, and Locke paved the way for political revolutions that reshaped the world, including the American and French Revolutions.
But Through out humanities prosperous years there have been utter disastrous ones. Humanity has weathered its share of trials and tribulations. Certain periods stand out as the worst years in human history, marked by profound suffering, upheaval, and despair and today they will be our focus.
Hi everyone and welcome back to the dark history podcast where we explore the darkest parts of human history. hope everyone is well I’m Rob your host as always. Welcome to season 3 episode 3, "The Depths of Despair: Unveiling History's Bleakest Years". today, as you may have guessed, we embark on an exploration of some humanity’s worst years. Reflecting on the worst years in human history is a somber exercise that offers valuable insights into the fragility of civilizations and the capacity for both resilience and destruction. These dark periods underscore the importance of learning from the past to build a more just, compassionate, and resilient future. As we navigate the complexities of the present, the shadows of history remind us of the enduring consequences of our collective actions.
So without further ado please turn off those lights sit back and relax next to the fire for more dark history.
So we’re do we start on this morose journey thro mi ugh time? How about 74,000 years ago, even before recorded history. The Human race was scattered in pockets in Africa, Europe and Asia at the time, these Human populations during this period were predominantly engaged in a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. These early Homo sapiens relied on hunting game animals, gathering wild plant resources, and possibly scavenging for survival. Their movements were often dictated by the availability of resources in their environment.
Imagine the absolute surprise to them when an apocalyptic event occurred on the island of modern day Sumatra which completely changed their way of life.
The Toba eruption refers to a cataclysmic volcanic event that occurred approximately 74,000 years ago at Lake Toba on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. This eruption is recognized as one of the most powerful volcanic events in Earth’s history and had profound consequences for the global environment and the course of human evolution.
The Toba eruption is classified as a supervolcanic event, indicating that it was an order of magnitude more powerful than typical volcanic eruptions. The eruption expelled an enormous volume of volcanic material, including ash and gases, into the atmosphere. The volcanic ash spread over large areas, impacting climate and ecosystems on a global scale. Parts of Indonesia, India and the Indian Ocean were covered by 15 centimeters (6 inches) of volcanic debris. An estimated 1,700 cubic-miles of rock, a volume comparable to almost 3 million Empire State Buildings, erupted, forming a crater lake visible even from space.
The Toba eruption is associated with the theory of a volcanic winter, where the massive release of volcanic ash and aerosols into the atmosphere led to a significant cooling effect on the planet. Ash and volcanic gases released by the eruption into the atmosphere partially blocked the sunlight, causing a volcanic winter where temperatures dropped worldwide by 3 to 5 degrees. This dramatic climate shift had far-reaching consequences for ecosystems and possibly contributed to widespread ecological disruption.
The Toba eruption is theorized to have had a significant impact on biodiversity. The volcanic winter caused by the eruption likely led to widespread environmental stress, affecting vegetation and disrupting food chains. Some scientists propose that this event could have contributed to a bottleneck in human populations, reducing the number of individuals and genetic diversity.
The Toba eruption is associated with the Toba catastrophe theory, suggesting that the volcanic winter and associated environmental challenges led to a severe reduction in the human population. This bottleneck is hypothesized to have had a profound impact on human genetic diversity. Some genetic evidence supports the idea that the population of Homo sapiens may have been significantly reduced during this period. While it’s impossible to say exactly how many humans succumbed to the volcanic winter that lasted around a decade, scientists have come up with a number of how many survived. It’s believed that the human population was reduced to as little as 3,000–10,000 people, suggesting that humanity nearly went extinct long ago.
Geological evidence, including the identification of a massive caldera at Lake Toba, supports the occurrence of this colossal eruption. Additionally, layers of Toba ash have been discovered in various parts of the world, aiding in dating and correlating the event with other geological and archaeological findings.
While the Toba eruption occurred thousands of years ago, its consequences reverberate in our understanding of prehistoric climate events and their impact on ecosystems and human evolution. The eruption serves as a reminder of the dynamic and interconnected nature of Earth’s geology and the influence of natural events on the course of life on our planet.
As we move on in time we come to the year 48 BCE. the world in 48 BCE was a mosaic of diverse cultures, political entities, and historical developments. It was a period marked by transition, as old empires gave way to new powers and as geopolitical struggles shaped the course of history.
The year 48 BCE was marked by significant political and military events, particularly in the context of the late Roman Republic. The major reason it is considered a challenging and tumultuous year is due to the ongoing power struggles and conflicts that unfolded during the Roman Civil War between prominent figures, Julius Caesar and Pompey.
In the years leading up to 48 BC, tensions had been escalating between Julius Caesar and Pompey. The relationship between these two powerful Roman generals deteriorated, leading to a breakdown of political compromise. Caesar famously crossed the Rubicon River, an action that ignited the Roman Civil War.
The year witnessed a pivotal moment in the Roman Civil War with the Battle of Pharsalus in Greece. The forces of Caesar and Pompey clashed in a decisive engagement. Despite being outnumbered, Caesar’s army emerged victorious, resulting in Pompey’s flight to Egypt, where he met his tragic end.
Seeking refuge in Egypt, Pompey hoped for sanctuary, Pompey’s arrival in Egypt coincided with internal conflicts within the Egyptian royal court. Pompey, expecting to be received with hospitality, he was instead betrayed by Ptolemy’s advisors, who saw an opportunity to gain favor with Caesar, who was also present in Egypt at the time.
Pompey disembarked at Pelusium, a city on the easternmost edge of the Nile Delta. Instead of receiving the protection he sought, he was confronted by a group of Egyptian officials led by Septimius and Achillas, who had been influenced by the eunuch Pothinus and the queen’s sister, Arsinoe IV.
Realizing that he was betrayed, Pompey resisted arrest and was slain on the shores of Egypt. The exact details of his death vary in historical accounts, with some suggesting he was stabbed to death, while others claim he was beheaded. Regardless, his demise marked the tragic end of one of Rome’s most influential military and political figures.
This would bring ceaser to Egypt in 48 BCE and cause on for the greatest travesties in human history, the burning of the library of Alexandria. Caesar was pursuing Pompey into Egypt when he was suddenly cut off by an Egyptian fleet at Alexandria. Caesar was outnumbered and in enemy territory, which led him to order that the ships in the harbor be set on fire which spread and destroyed the Egyptian fleet. Unfortunately, it also burned down part of the city - the area where the great Library stood.
Condemning the world to lose the largest library in the ancient world, and containing works by the greatest thinkers and writers of antiquity, including Homer, Plato, Socrates and many more.
Choosing the worst year in history, despite our best research, is a subjective effort. Many years in this episode may have been merely one year in a long series of bad times, or even decades in some cases.
But if we were to have a singular, definitive answer to the question ‘what was the worst year in history’: 536 CE would be right up there.
536 ce was a year of darkness, despair, and unmeasurable suffering. When a fog suddenly fell upon the earth, it instantly blanketed the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Asia in darkness and unexpectedly cold temperatures. In fact, the temperatures were so cold in China that it even snowed during the summer! Not only was its appearance a mystery, but the darkness lasted for an entire 18 months.
Procopius, a Roman-Byzantine historian at the time, described the unusual climate of 536 CE as one without any sun — almost as if the sun was forever stuck in a dark eclipse. Another Roman politician, Cassiodorus, reported that the sun’s rays were faint and had a “bluish” color. Even in the middle of the day, you could not see your own shadow.
As you can imagine, this mysterious phenomenon not only led to widespread fear of a potential apocalypse but also made it extremely difficult to grow crops. This led to widespread famine, disease, and many deaths. For example, the population of Rome alone decreased by nearly 50% due to the strange and sudden change in climate. As the temperatures dropped, crops started to fail in many parts of the world. People suffered from food shortages and famine, leaving them malnourished and susceptible to starvation and disease.
In some places, entire societies collapsed because they didn’t have enough resources to care for their people. To make matters worse, mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects survived in areas where they normally wouldn’t be found due to the cooler temperatures. This led to the further spread of diseases in communities that were not at all prepared for them.
One of the worst consequences was the Justinian Plague — the first wave of the famous plagues in Europe. This terrible event killed 50 million people from 541 to 549 Cr. Europeans were already weak and had very few resources due to the sudden environmental changes. So, the Justinian Plague spread dangerously fast through Roman Egypt, the Mediterranean Basin, Europe, and the Near East. It hit the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire with great force — particularly in Constantinople, where it killed between one-third to one-half of the population. Unfortunately, however, the situation was far from over.
All of these factors contributed to the eventual collapse of the Roman Empire. Some historians hypothesize that these factors may have also influenced the collapse of the Sassanid Empire, the Gupta Empire, and even the fall of Teotihuacán in Mexico.
To make matters worse, the cause of this unusual “dark age” of 536 CE remained a mystery. However, in the 1990s, researchers began looking at tree rings from Ireland. They discovered that parts of Europe and Asia really did get quite cold in 536 CE. Some areas experienced temperatures that were up to 35 to 37 degrees Fahrenheit colder than normal! In addition, scientists led by Michael McCormick and Paul Mayewski at the Climate Change Institute of the University of Maine analyzed ice from a Swiss glacier. They discovered evidence of a huge volcanic eruption in Iceland. This eruption in 536 CE seems to have been the root cause of the worst time to be alive.
For our final years of this part and episode we are going to follow the same trend as the other and talk about more death and destruction. Europe’s Great Famine of 1315–1317 is considered one of the worst population collapses in the continent’s history. Historical records tell of unrelenting rain accompanied by mass crop failure, skyrocketing food prices, and even instances of cannibalism.
Just over Seven hundred years ago, people across northern Europe saw a comet in the sky and feared the worst and in hindsight it did.
Things really started going bad in the summer of 1314: that's when it rained almost constantly, and the ensuing floods ruined crops. While food rotted in the fields, livestock had it just as bad. Animals starved or drowned in the floods. As food stores emptied and prices skyrocketed, famine set in, as even basics like wheat and salt were impossible to get.
In the spring of 1315, unusually heavy rain began in much of Europe. Throughout the spring and the summer, it continued to rain, and the temperature remained cool. Under such conditions, grain could not ripen, leading to widespread crop failures. Grains were brought indoors in urns and pots to keep dry. The straw and hay for the animals could not be cured, so there was no fodder for the livestock. In England, lowlands in Yorkshire and Nottingham were flooded, while stew ponds on the River Foss in Yorkshire were washed away.
The price of food began to rise. Prices in England doubled between spring and midsummer. Salt, the only way to cure and preserve meat, was difficult to obtain because brine could not be effectively evaporated in wet weather. In Lorraine, wheat prices rose by 320%, making bread unaffordable to peasants. Stores of grain for long-term emergencies were limited to royalty, lords, nobles, wealthy merchants, and the Church. Because of the general increased population pressures, even lower-than-average harvests meant some people would go hungry; there was little margin for failure. People began to harvest wild edible roots, grasses, nuts, and bark in the forests.
Famine led to class warfare and political strife that destabilized entire regions. The prices of everyday items, such as grain, wheat, barley, oats, bread and salt soared, so that many people could not afford them even when they could find them. People resorted to abandoning their children and stealing from and murdering others just to feed themselves.
Edward II of England stopped at St Albans on 10 August 1315 and had difficulty finding bread for himself and his entourage; it was a rare occasion in which the king of England was unable to eat. In Bristol, the city's chronicles reported that in 1315 there was: 'a great Famine of Dearth with such mortality that the living could scarce suffice to bury the dead, horse flesh and dogs flesh was accounted good meat, and some eat their own children.
In spring 1316, it continued to rain on a European population deprived of energy and reserves to sustain itself. All segments of society from nobles to peasants were affected but especially the peasants, who represented 95% of the population and who had no reserve food supplies. To provide some measure of relief, the future was mortgaged by slaughtering the draft animals, eating the seed grain, abandoning children to fend for themselves and, among the old people, voluntarily refusing food for the younger generation to survive.
The height of the famine was in 1317, as the wet weather continued. In that summer, the weather returned to normal patterns. By then, people were so weakened by diseases such as pneumonia, bronchitis, and tuberculosis, and so much of the seed stock had been eaten, that it was not until 1325 that the food supply returned to relatively normal levels and the population began to increase. Historians debate the toll, but it is estimated that 10–25% of the population of many cities and towns died.Though the Black Death from 1347 to 1351 would kill more people, it often swept through an area in a matter of months, whereas the Great Famine lingered for years, prolonging the suffering of the populace.
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to listen to this dark episode. So that was just a selection of the worst years in human history, now there are of course more and some that are far worse then some of these and depending how this episode does I can revisit this topic.
One point that is slightly scary about all of these is the effects of climate change, now I’m not going to bang on about fossil fuels or how the world will end but as we have heard one event can shift the worlds atmosphere and cause absolute chaos, whether it be a volcanic eruption or other natural disaster. In most of these stories the worlds population was quite small in comparison to todays standards and if any of these were to happen now well let’s just say there would be a lot of corpses in the street.
One event that really does piss me off is the burning of the library of Alexandria, whether it be ceaser or when the Muslims invaded in 640, it was an absolute travesty. Could you imagine the knowledge that place possessed, answers to some of our most burning historical mysteries could have lay in those scrolls, who built the pyramids and the sphinx, were the hanging gardens of Babylon real etc etc. Some people may call me sad but some of this shit keeps me up at night.
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