The worst Century?

[Longasc]

1977 to present. All hardship I ever suffered was during my lifetime, not before.

This has much greater impact on me than the 14th Century. I must agree with Reno, for us WW2 and WW1 and recent wars are much more present than wars of the past.

so 1300-1399... as the worst period. This is again limited to an European View: The Aztecs probably enjoyed their live much more in that time. The Conquest of Mexico by Cortez might have been THEIR worst century.

 

[Lonkut]

Whoops wrong thing to say.

Moderator Action: Warned. - XIII
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[Kafka2]

The 6th century, without a shadow of a doubt. After 535AD the poo-poo hit the fan just about everywhere. Plague, famine, war, barbarian hordes, empires collapsing. It had it all.

Nearly all attributable to one volcanic eruption, would you believe?

 

[Yuri2356]

Nearly all attributable to one volcanic eruption, would you believe?

Realy, which one?

 

[Gladi]

Bright day
It is impossible to categorize some century as worst of all for all people.
For example many people here said 6th century, but my people were the barbarians, it is height of our Heroic Age. Different people said 13th and 14th centruries- these are for change our Golden Age! Worst century for Czechïa would be 17th; two-thirds of people dead, mineral resources depleted, elite of nation exiled, czech protestant culture brutally supressed, trade routes abandoned, industries bankrupt and more...

 

[Xen]

The 6th century, without a shadow of a doubt. After 535AD the poo-poo hit the fan just about everywhere. Plague, famine, war, barbarian hordes, empires collapsing. It had it all.

Nearly all attributable to one volcanic eruption, would you believe?

thieres evidence that an asteroid(!) also contributed ot these events

 

[Yuri2356]

thieres evidence that an asteroid(!) also contributed ot these events

Yes, I belive that was Haley's comet (or some other comet, I can't be sure.)

 

[stormbind]

Dysentery is a nasty way to go. Afaik, it was most common in those times which combined large cities with poor sanitation, and afflicted massed armies in terrible numbers.

Would I be correct in suggesting that the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries suffered this problem the most?

 

[Abulafia]

If it's the worst century to live in then I'm voting for the 20th Century. I couldn't possibly comment on any century prior to that and I'm willing to give the 21st a chance.

The 20th Century has seen the worst attrocities and created more fear than any other - Holocaust, Cold War, Nagasaki and Hiroshima,AIDS, WWII, WWI, Vietnam, terrorism, transport accidents, industrial accidents, and Take That.

 

[emzie]

Listing 9/11 as a reason for any century to be "the worst" is a classic example of recent trauma. While the full outcome of 9/11 has yet to be seen, the event itself was only 3,000 people killed and a huge economy chipped. The firebombing of Dresden killed far more and was just as much an act of terrorism. Don't be mistaken though, I'm not one to sit around and blame past events for current woes. I just think the prospective is a bit skewed towards the last ten years.

Anyway, the worst thing about the 20th century: Genocide (Holocaust, Rwanda, Yugoslavia....) The 20th century showed the worst that man could do to man... the 13th showed the worst that could be done to man by nature. So it's a toss up. Considering the population and technological differences aside, I'm going to go with 20th was the worst for mankind and the 13th was the worst to be alive.

 

[Provolution]

Clearly, the seventh Century (Formation and Expansion of Islam) and the collapse of the Roman civilization was a dark time for our culture. However, the fourteenth century, killing off 30-40 % of the population in the Black Plague, Mongol expansion, Ottoman expansion, numeroud fedual wars in Europe, the atrocities done by the emerging Aztec Empire, the problems in China and India, Africa in some Apocalysis Now state and the world in general was messed up. Add the coming of the little ice age, killing off the entire population on Greenland - and it looked pretty bad.

Also add that this was the peak time of the Roman Vatican, which is pretty bad to.

16th Century made up for some of the 13th Century, which was the century where we got some development and regained the population pre 1350.

 

[Kafka2]

Realy, which one?

Krakatoa's biggest bang- considerably more violent than the 19th century eruption. Some vulcanologists credit the 535AD eruption (dated by dendrochronology and ice-core samples) with blasting out the straits between Java and Sumatra.

 

[Xen]

Also add that this was the peak time of the Roman Vatican, which is pretty bad to..

if it wasnt for the Vatican excesing even limited cohesion and control, and even a small amount of unifacation in the name of rleigion to the variors war lords of europe after the fall fo the Roman empire, thier would be no such thing as western civlization today.

As much distaste I might find for the vatican, and its actions over the years, I will also be first to say that without it, it slikelly that without, westenr civlization woudl have been snuffed out.

 

[Provolution]

The high time was when the Northern Europe threw teh gluttoned French, Italian and Spanish papal officials out and cut all money transfers south. At that time the North of Europe sprung to the occasion and vastly outcompeted Southern Europe.
Following the Black Plague, the Vatican had played out its role, and did more harm than good, which is why Northern Europe eventually threw them out and built futurist powerhouses which won the world.

 

[Abulafia]

Clearly, the seventh Century (Formation and Expansion of Islam)

Saying that a peaceful religion developing in the seventh Century is a frankly ridiculous excuse for tainting any century with the tag of worst.

Since I don't know where you are from (although I'm guessing America) I can't accuse you (in much the same way you are obviosuly accusing all Muslims) of having a one way (and clouded at that) opinion on recent issues.

I believe you are confusing Islam (peaceful religion) with Islamism (a political ideology coupled with Muslim fundamentalism). Islamism was not borne of the seventh Century. That's like me accusing a Century for the settling of Ireland which would later lead to the IRA bombing Britain and Northern Ireland, accusing the Germanic tribes for the later formation of the Baader-Meinhof organisation, or the birth of Catalonia creating ETA.

 

[Provolution]

Abulafia, I stand corrected, I meant Islamism, and that is the problem.
Yet, the spread of Islam was indeed conducted very violently after 622.

 

[Abulafia]

Yet, the spread of Islam was indeed conducted very violently after 622.

What about the spread of Christianity throughout history? From humble beginnings to killing a few Jews to killing others based on branches of what is, essentially, the same doctrine and then even further as we waged Holy War to ensure Christianity ruled the world, and then went to other countries such as Australia and the Americas and destroyed the beliefs there in an effort to convert the masses.

Christianity has proved more murderous than Islam; and Islamism for that matter.

 

[thestonesfan]

Depends who you ask.

The 20th century is probably the one most people would complain about, but only because there were more people. For all the death and destruction that came out of the World Wars, the rest of the century was relatively pretty good. Looking at our technological and engineering achievements, it was arguably our best century.

I'm sure most of us would choose to take our chances in the six years of World War 2 instead of living out our 30 years in the misery of Pre-Industrial Revolution Europe.

 

[Provolution]

I got the impression WW2 was an exciting time by some, which surely would not be the case with the Black Plague. I prefer WW2 Europe to living in the Middle East during any time period.

 

[thestonesfan]

Yeah, things have pretty much always sucked for a lot of the world.