For Norway in my opinion its the Black Death. the black death first came in 1348 but disappeared pretty fast, than it came again in the fall of 1349 and the last known victim of the black death died in January 1350.
Of the 350.000 people living in Norway before 1349, between 175.000 and 200.000 people died in less than a year.
29 comments
The plague too, of course. Do man-made disasters like wars count? In that case, besides WW2 the [30 Years War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War) definitely has to be mentioned. Absolute devastation, in large parts of the country [the population dropped by 50% and even up to 70%](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Bev%C3%B6lkerkungsr%C3%BCckgang_im_HRRDN_nach_dem_Drei%C3%9Figj%C3%A4hrigen_Krieg.PNG). In [an infamous case, the city of Magdeburg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Magdeburg), beforehand one of the largest and most important cities, dropped from 35.000 people to 450(!).
For natural disasters, there were several devastating floods that shaped the German North Sea coast, like the [Grote Mandrenke](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Marcellus%27s_flood) of 1362, where around 25.000 people lost their lives and [whole islands disappeared](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Nordfriesland_um_1240.jpg) overnight.
Though that’s of course more regional.
I think the Black Death is a pretty universal answer for all of Europe. It certainly is the case for Denmark as well.
Well, the stock market was invented on the Netherlands, I believe that caused destruction on a global scale.
It could be Thirty Years’ War, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease in Central Europe.
The population of the Bohemian lands fell by one third and after the war 20% of the estates in Bohemia and 22% in Moravia were deserted.
Peter Lehnstein described the devastated land: “One walks ten miles and does not meet a man, a piece of cattle, does not see a starling. In some places he finds an old man, a child, or two old women. In all the villages the houses are full of corpses. Men, women, children and cattle, pigs, cows and oxen lie side by side. They have been tormented by hunger and strangled by the plague. They are full of maggots and worms. Wolves, foxes, dogs, ravens, crows, and other birds devour them, for there was no one to bury them, to pity them, and to mourn them.”
[deleted]
Just… history in general 😀
Estonia was occupied by a foreign force (Danes, Swedes, Germans, Russians etc) from early 13th century to late 20th century, so our history is pretty much just 700 years of slavery.
Hmmmmm … As a Pole I am spoilt for choice here.
Tbh the Black Death did not impact is as much as other nations.
The greateat disater was Swedish Deluge. PLC survived it but it was never the same and rapidly starter to decline. The distraction both in terms of infrastructure, cities and number or calualties was larger than either WWI and WWII.
As others have mentioned, the Black Death would probably be the worst for Britain. It killed millions, and a time when the population was much lower anyway. In absolute terms of just the number of people who died, the 1914 Spanish Flu and Covid would both rank pretty highly.Â
However, there’s probably other candidates if you look at something more general like disruption to daily life etc. The Blitz during the Second World War was massively destructive. The War of the Roses had enormous battles relative to the population size. The Anarchy was a period of many years where government and the rule of law broke down almost entirely.Â
My vote for the second worst disaster – after the Black Death – would go to the English Civil Wars though. The number of people who died, the number of towns caught up in fighting, the social breakdown, the religious and political factions created by it, and the years of political gridlock which followed it meant that it effected everywhere in the country. It wasn’t just a war, it was a revolution, upturning huge amounts of normal life.
Other than the Black Plague, which seems to be a standard for all of Europe, it was definitely the [1755 Lisboa Earthquake](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1755_Lisbon_earthquake).
It absolutely decimated most of downtown Lisboa, killing around 50.000 people (a quarter of the population) and the tsunami/ subsequent mayhem/ fires destroyed 85% of the cities buildings. About 10.000 people in Morocco died as well and the massive damage was sustained along all of the portuguese coast.
The massive waves reached as far as Brasil, the Caribbean, Greenland and Finland. This event effectively birthed seismology and earthquake engineering with the Marquis of Pombal building some of the first ever “earthquake proof” buildings (Baixa Pombalina). It was also the coup de grace for the Portuguese Empire.
Communism. There were disasters before, but Communism has been the longest with worst long-term impact. Changed people’s lives, minds, torn apart families and still looms in the background.
🇮🇪 An Gorta Mór the great famine. The island was under British control at the time and they deliberately mismanaged it to cause genocide against a belligerent local population. Our population still hasn’t recovered after 170 years.
Hmmm. Romania. It would either be the 1977 Earthquake which razed many cities and buildings to the ground. Or the political class post 1989
This poor guy slipping on the ice on the National news:
https://youtu.be/h3vVDUuC0yw?si=xqiOyiD7uGhdVoiS
Oh yeah, we also had a famine in the 1840s that effectively halved our population.Â
The 4th Crusade was just the beginning of the worst disaster of my people / country (Greeks – Romans / Greece – Roman Kingdom), after that came the Fall of Constantinople and the colonization by the Ottoman Empire, which turned us into poor, illiterate peasants (especially in Southern Greece, where I’m from). And no Turks, our coexistence in your empire was never peaceful, unlike the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire never became our home. My country has not been a big player in land (in sea it still is) since the 13th Century After Christ. In just modern Greece (after independence), I would say WW2 since we lost over 10% of our population, and after that, our economy was in ruins, it’s a miracle we recovered from the Nazi occupation. But a disaster that still takes place (not in my country, but still affects our psyche) is the illegal occupation in Cyprus by Turks. Furthermore, the Occupation of Northern Cyprus not only is bad for the Cypriot Greeks but also for the Cypriot Turks who get exploited, held back and harmed by those who were supposed to protect them, that’s what I learned about Northern Cyprus from communication with Cypriot Turks, who now despise the Mainland Turks.
I guess it’s one of these three:Â Â Â
Suuret kuolonvuodet (The Great years of Death): Famine in 1695–1697. About a third of the population died.  Â
Isoviha (The Great Wrath): Russian occupation in 1714-1721. Torture, murder, and being sold into slavery, slaves sometimes ending as far as Persia.  Â
Suuret nälkävuodet (The Great Years of Hunger): Famine in 1866–1868. 8.5% of the population died. Â
When something is titled great (suuri, iso), it usually is not.
The Black Death in the mid-1300s caused England to lose half of its population. This was just several decades after the Great Famine of 1315-1317, which also led to population decline. It wasn’t till the 1500s that healthy population growth returned to the country.
So I’d say the Black Death, especially in the context of following a major famine.
[The Justinian Plague (541-549 CE)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Justinian) caused the death of 15 million people throughout the empire (estimated over 100 million), the plague was followed by a mini ice age which further contributed to the depopulation of city centers paving the way for feudalism.
The Greeks that had recently reconquered much of the Italian peninsula from the Ostrogoths were cut short and the Germanic tribe of the Lombards took this opportunity to descend from Pannonia and invade Italy unopposed (no signs of battles were found in modern day Veneto, hinting at the fact that the locals probably allowed the Germans to freely occupy city centres and outposts being unable to fight back).
This signals the beginning of the dark age for the Italian peninsula, Italy would bounce back only 800 years later with the Renaissance.
WW2.
First an invasion, then ruthless occupation, massacre and genocide, and after it more ruthless occupation, ethnic cleansing and rape
To THAT i also say ”never again”.
Or as someone else here said, the Deluge is also a contender.
I guess the Black Death is a major disaster, not only exclusive to France.
If I should pick only one disaster almost exclusive to France, it would be the French Wars of Religions between 1562 and 1598. It was a series of 8 civil wars between Catholic and Protestants in France, which caused sieges, slaughters and destruction. It is estimated that the population dropped from 17.5 millions to 16 millions during this period. Economically it crippled the finances and the economy and it took a lot of time for France to recover.
Those with interests for football probably know Martin ØdegÃ¥rd. His last name is indeed a heritage of the black death here in Norway. Øde = Deserted and GÃ¥rd = farm… ØdegÃ¥rd = deserted farm. ØdegÃ¥rd is a last name that is somewhat common after the Olsens, Hansens etc.
Mongol invasion in 1241-1242. It’s quite uncertain but about 40-60% of Hungary died in that very short time. It had many other negative consequences even on the longer term.
However, if we look at everything the Ottomans caused as one event (during a period of 200+ years -wars and invasion) it’s gotta be the most destructive one.
Honourable mentions: Treaty of Trianon, WWI and WWII causalities, communism
An Gorta Mór: the Famine which wiped out much of our population to the point we’ve only got it back to pre 1840s level. Also The Troubles in the north from the 1960s-90s, as well as the bombing of Cork.
Drawing the 30-years war.
Had the Edict of Restitution and ascension of the Duke of Bavaria to the palatinate not been repealed, I firmly believe the HRE could have centralized around the Emperors following Ferdinand II.
However, with drawing the 30-years war and France helping and supporting the German Protestant electors and nobility and Sweden so much, they basically wiped their asses for them, too, the Empire could not centralize, thus leading to the decline of the HRE and the emergence of Prussia, which led to 1866x which led to 1867, which led to the death of the Austrian Empire.
For Spain, I think it’s the civil War of 1936-39
It’s specific for our country, and almost 90 years later it’s still impacting our society and culture. Not to mention all the loss of life, economic repercussions and others.
Aside from the Black Death, then probably the Danish-Swedish War (1657-1660).
Denmark partly caused the disasters to itself through bad leadership.
Denmark lost a lot of land, most notably Skåne/Scania. It was also devastating because of how many people were killed and how extensively the Swedes plundered the country. Both common people and castles. National treasures are still in Swedish hands today. It took several decades before the country started to recover.
One that’s rarely mentioned… The Desmond Rebellions of 1569-73 and 1579-83 destroyed the province of Munster, saw tens of thousands slaughtered and even more starving and dying through man-made famine and pestilence.
The English pursued an absolutely ruthless scorched earth and terror policy. It broke the power of the Geraldines but destroyed the most prosperous part of Ireland.
Well, I’ll divide this between categories to make it a bit more interesting.
**Pandemics:** as in the rest of Europe the plague of 1347 takes the price, though apparently it hit Spain less so than other regions of europe. The king of aragon estimated that around 1/3 of his subjects died.
**War:** it’s actually pretty hard to say wether more people died in the Civil War or the napoleonic invasions, at lest percentage wise, so pick either. Both had devastating effects on Spain.
**Natural disaster:** it was likely the famous Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Around 5000 people died, mostly in the region of Huelva.
Holodomor – famine artificially made by Soviets that killed millions of Ukrainians, including member of my family.
But in general, living close to Russia is a permanent disaster. :/
The biggest disaster for our country was the Nazi occupation and then the communist coup in 1948.
Before WW2 we were in the top ten most advanced economies in the world, women had the right to vote in our country since 1920 (France since 1928), and in the late 1930s we were the last democracy in the Central European region. The standard of living and education of the population was extremely high for the time. Of course our first republic had its problems and imperfections.
After 1939 it all collapsed and by 1989 we were a developing country. If you look at pictures of cities in 1939, you see the developed Western world. If you look at pictures of the same cities in 1989, you see Eastern Europe.
People’s health and lives deteriorated incredibly between 1939 and 1989. The environment was destroyed by the communist drive to promote heavy industry at any cost (increase in cancer, allergies, depression). The cleanliness and maintenance of cities was disastrous. As a result of totalitarianism, people stopped caring about their environment and themselves. From throwing rubbish on the street to neglecting their health.
From the Middle Ages until 1939, we were one of the more civilised parts of Europe. Even after so many years since the Velvet Revolution in 1989, the culture of society has not returned to the level of 1939.