Description

The acclaimed historian demonstrates a link between climate change and social unrest across the globe during the midseventeenth century

Revolutions droughts famines invasions wars regicides government collapsesthe calamities of the midseventeenth century were unprecedented in both frequency and severity The effects of what historians call the General Crisis extended from England to Japan and from the Russian Empire to subSaharan Africa and the Americas

In this meticulously researched volume historian Geoffrey Parker presents the firsthand testimony of men and women who experienced the many political economic and social crises that occurred between 1618 to the late 1680s He also incorporates the scientific evidence of climate change during this period into the narrative offering a strikingly new understanding of the General Crisis

Changes in weather patterns especially longer winters and cooler and wetter summers disrupted growing seasons and destroyed harvests This in turn brought hunger malnutrition and disease and as material conditions worsened wars rebellions and revolutions rocked the world