Without a Fire to save us.....

[SKILORD]

The London fire destroyed a magnificent city, killed thousands, probably more.

and ended an outbreak of the bubonic Plaugue.

what could have happened without it, would the plauge have made it's way to the Americas to assist other disease? a worldwide plauge? stagnation of Europes growing might?

 

[stalin006]

it was indeed a world wide plague, from asia to euope, and it was too late for the plague to coem to america, plus if one person was infected there is virtually no chance the whole ship popuplation could make the long voyage to america, they all would proably die half way or something, plague or not, the native americans died by the millions cus of other european deseaes

 

[onejayhawk]

The great Chicago fire was the best thing to happen to the city in the long run. Whole sections of the city had to be rebuilt, and were generally rebuilt much better.

In the ecology of a grassland, certain flowers only germinate if the seeds are heated over 150 degrees, as in from a fire.

None of this matters to germs. Plague was spread by the fleas that live on vermin and infected people. All that the fire mnaged to do was halt the spread by halting the people.

J

 

[EQandcivfanatic]

Halting the people, sounds extremely ruthless, but that is the way it goes i guess.

However should the plague have spread i am sure it would have died out eventually, at worst case putting the world into another Dark Age. That overall would mean if we were to be conversing right now at all it would be in some log wooden meeting hall and definately not by any means of electronics.

 

[SKILORD]

The great Chicago fire was the best thing to happen to the city in the long run. Whole sections of the city had to be rebuilt, and were generally rebuilt much better.

chicago!?

 

[knowltok2]

Originally posted by SKILORD


chicago!?

Fairly large city at the southwest end of Lake Michigan. Michael Jordan used to play there, the show ER is set there, and they had a major fire once upon a time. Something to do with a cow knocking over a lantern if memory serves.

 

[SKILORD]

what does that have to do with the london fire though?

 

[knowltok2]

Originally posted by SKILORD
what does that have to do with the london fire though?

Well, in both there was a fire that wound up have a good side effect. I think it was just a similarity.

 

[napoleon526]

Originally posted by knowltok2
...and they had a major fire once upon a time. Something to do with a cow knocking over a lantern if memory serves.

Tradition says that it was "Mrs. O'Leary's" cow that knocked over the lantern and started the Great Chicago Fire, though I doubt that there's any evidence to support this theory, or if there even was a Mrs. O'Leary.

 

[allhailIndia]

The Reaichstag fire also rid Hitler and the NAzis of their "plague"... the Commies

 

[A_Bashkuev]

Excuse me, but Black Plague (or global pandemy) was event of XIV century (around 1360), London Fire was event of XVII century (1666) & Chicago Fire - event of XIX century. What is your method of intermixing these events if they took place in 200 years apart between them as minimum?
If you connect London Fire with some "minor plagues", that hit England in Stewartian times, they was comparatively small & irrelevant for World, due to fact that Black Plague (or Black Death was carried away by thair & known as "vesicular form of Plague") but "small Plagues of XVII century were Bubonic by its Nature (i.e. was carried through "boubons" - it means that it was "skin decease" - very scary thing but not so lethal as "vesicular" form.) Never Bubonic form of Plague began any "great pandemy of some sort - then what reason of your question?

Sincerely yours, Alex.

P.S. By the way - with Bubonic form of Plague you could cross Atlantic in XVII & there were cases when some guys made this trip & stayed alive .

 

[SKILORD]

You are no fun when it comes to Alternate History man.

 

[Ozz]

Originally posted by SKILORD
The London fire destroyed a magnificent city, killed thousands, probably more.

and ended an outbreak of the bubonic Plaugue.

what could have happened without it, would the plauge have made it's way to the Americas to assist other disease? a worldwide plauge? stagnation of Europes growing might?

1635? Great fire of London

It was choleora, spread by contamination of the drinking
water by sewage seepage in to the wells from inflected
people (dung). Some wells were OK, some were death.

 

[SKILORD]

really...

i thought it was the bubonic plauge......


i feel realllyy dumb now

 

[Ozz]

Originally posted by SKILORD
i feel realllyy dumb now

Don't, I just read it last week.
Two weeks ago i would have
thought the black death too.

 

[stalin006]

no wait.......one of the fires of london did helped to stop the bubonic plague or a disease taht was carried by rats, i am sure i read it somewehre, the fire helped by burning the old houses and cooking the rats , or am i wrong?

 

[Ozz]

Originally posted by stalin006
no wait.......one of the fires of london did helped to stop the bubonic plague or a disease taht was carried by rats, i am sure i read it somewehre, the fire helped by burning the old houses and cooking the rats , or am i wrong?

A major fire would curb any diease simply by cooking the carriers
(humans, rats, fleas, dung etc in open sewers) steriitizing and clearing the built up area.

 

[Rodgers]

In 1665 there was a major outbreak of "plague" (I'm not sure which variety) in London causing many thousands of deaths. This outbreak also spread to the provinces causing further fatalities, but was mainly London based.

The fatalities had started to decrease by 1666 (the really weak types - kids and oldies - having already been killed and the remainder either were uninfected or had developed some form of immunity though infection and recovery) but were still present. The fire destroyed large sections of the city (having started in a bakers shop in Pudding Lane - I forget which district).

The results of the fire were an end to the spread of the infection due to the "fumigation" effect of the fire and destruction of many of the crowded and narrow streets that allowed the disease to spread so easily (poor sanitation etc). The city was partially rebuilt with a view to reducing the risks of another fire (ie wider streets etc) which had the added bonus (possibly unintentional) of making the city a little more healthy a place to live. A by-product of this rebuilding was the St Paul's Cathedral which graces the London skyline today - designed by the main architect of the city's reconstruction - Sir Christopher Wren

As for the plague being a threat to the rest of Europe, I doubt that very much - there were periodic outbreaks of "plague" in all parts of Europe for hundreds of years after the "Black Death" swept the continent in the 14th Century - none of them travelling very far from their "epicentre". The 1665 was one of the last of such outbreaks.

 

[Ozz]

Originally posted by Rodgers
As for the plague being a threat to the rest of Europe, I doubt that very much - there were periodic outbreaks of "plague" in all parts of Europe for hundreds of years after the "Black Death" swept the continent in the 14th Century - none of them travelling very far from their "epicentre". The 1665 was one of the last of such outbreaks.

The same plague was in Paris before London and the first
sign of it was people's faces would turn blue. Like most
plagues it stared in the east and spread west reaching
Britain last.

The reason it was the last of this particular form of
plague (cholreau) was that a British Doctor (can't remember name, and i'm at work ) discovered the means of transmission
(inflected wells) and was in fact shutting down the inflected
wells when the fire occured.