Disasters That Shook The World Quiz

Answer: Bohemia

Approximately 900 people (including 400 children) died because of this tornado near Vysherad, Bohemia (now Czech Republic). (This was one of the relatively few documented tornadoes in Europe during the Middle Ages.) A contemporary account describes the tornado as "a strong wind like Satan himself".

The tornado would destroy or damage many buildings in the town including Vysherad Castle.

Answer: Netherlands

The flooding permanently reshaped some features of the Dutch coastline, including interior lakes which became extensions of the North Sea. Several coastal islands were largely destroyed. The flooding is also credited with largely ending the Friso-Hollandic wars of the previous two centuries. Estimates for the number of casualties are 50,000 to 80,000, one of the deadliest floods in world histories.

Answer: Novgorod

Located in northern Russia, Novgorod in the thirteenth century had a limited growing season because of generally cool weather and was periodically affected by famine. A contemporary account describes "..some of the common people killed the living and ate them, others cut up dead flesh and corpses and ate them, others ate dogs and cats...Some fed on moss, snails, pine bark, lime bark, lime and elm leaves and whatever each could think of..." While I was not able to find an indication of the casualties of this famine, I was able to find that in the 13th century, the approximate population of Novgorod was 30,000.

Answer: Attila

The battle took place in Gaul (modern France). Leading up to this battle, the Huns had conquered large pieces of Europe. Contemporary accounts describe the level of slaughter in the battle as "incalculable" before the Romans defeated the Huns. It can been seen as the beginning to the end for Attila (who would be dead two years later) and his army of Huns. Though the Romans won the battle, the Western Empire would come to an end by the end of the century.

Answer: England

The White Ship was sailing from Normandy to England when it struck a rock and sank. Of the approximately 300 passengers aboard, only one person survived. Included among the casualties was William Adelin, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England. With William's death, Henry's dynastic hopes rested upon his sole surviving legitimate child--a daughter, Matilda. Though Henry remarried, he had no additional legitimate children which survived him. Before his death, Henry had his nobles swear fealty to Matilda.

However, after Henry's death, his nephew, Stephen (son of Henry's sister, Adela), claimed the English throne. The resulting Civil War between Stephen and Matilda engulfed England over most of the next two decades and only ended with the ascension of Henry II (son of Matilda) to the throne after Stephen's death.

Answer: Blues and Greens

While there were Red and White factions, the Blue and Green factions were much more prominent in Constantinople. Justinian, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, was already unpopular because of the Empire's high taxes. On January 13, during the day's series of races at the Hippodrome, the chants of the crowd gradually changed from "Blue" and "Green" to "Nikia" (Victory). Over the next few days, the city was in chaos as the Royal Palace came under siege. Justinian considered abdicating and/or fleeing, but was bolstered by his wife Theodora.

At the conclusion of the riots, an estimated 30,000 people were dead.

Answer: Vesuvius

Mount Vesuvius is located on the Bay of Naples in Italy and may be best known for the destruction of the Roman city of Pompeii in AD 79. In 512, Theodoric, the Gothic King, granted a temporary exemption from taxes to people who lived in the vicinity of Vesuvius.

A contemporary account of this event describes "a burnt ash flies in the sky, and, forming ashy clouds, it rains with ash droplets also in the provinces beyond the sea".

Answer: London

A common danger in many medieval cities (mostly filled with wooden buildings) was fire and London was no exception. Estimates of the number of deaths because of the 1212 fire stand around 3,000. If not an over-estimate, this represents a significant portion of London's population (about 50,000 in the thirteenth century). London Bridge, itself relatively recently rebuilt in stone, survived the fire, although wooden structures on the bridge were destroyed. Several churches were also destroyed.

Answer: Black Death

The peak years for the Black Death in Europe were about 1347 to 1351, where about 40-50 million people died. The estimate for all of Eurasia is about 75 to 100 million people. The disease gets its name from the blackish colored buboes that often appeared on the lymph nodes of the infected villains.

It is thought that many human victims were infected by the bites of infected fleas carried by rats. The short-term impact of the plague was enormous as some rural areas and cities were severely depopulated. Long-term, the drop in population would lead to enormous tension between nobles and commoners over issues like the obligations of serfs.

Answer: Sicily

Centered near the eastern coast of Sicily, the estimated strength for the earthquake was 6.4-7.3 on the Richter scale. Casualties are estimated at about 15,000. Several towns and cities in eastern Sicily--including Catania--were seriously damaged. Some contemporary accounts describe an eruption of Mount Etna, occuring at about the same time, as maybe playing a role in the earthquake.

A tsunami that resulted from the earthquake also caused significant damage.