https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/may/25/considering-history-covid-19-is-hardly-a-plague/Considering history, COVID-19 is hardly a plagueHowever, it may well have catastrophic consequences for Western Civilization
The emperor Justinian
By Peter Vincent Pry - - Monday, May 25, 2020
Great plagues have changed the course of history.
Best known is the Black Death (1347-51), introduced to Europe from Asia through trade routes, carried by rats and transmitted by fleas.
This bubonic plague killed up to one-third to one-half of the population of Europe, almost literally burying the old social order that was medieval feudalism, wiping the slate clean for the rise of mercantilism, the Age of Exploration and the Renaissance.
Lesser known is the Antonine Plague (165-180 A.D.), introduced to the Roman Empire through trade with Asia, probably the measles or smallpox.
The Antonine Plague, according to contemporary accounts, caused 2,000 deaths daily in Rome, an estimated 5 million deaths throughout the Empire, and devastated the Roman legions, hampering defense of the eastern and northern frontiers.
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