Imagine yourself alone on a street corner, coughing up bloody mucous each time you exhale. You are gasping for a full breath of air, but realizing that is not possible, you give up your fight to stay alive. You're thinking, why is this happening to me? .
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That is how the victims of the Black Death felt. The Black Death had many different effects on the people of the Middle Ages. To understand the severity of this tragic epidemic you must realize a few things about the plague. You should know what the Black Death is, the cause of the plague, the symptoms, the different effects it had on the people, and the preventions and cures for the plague. .
The Black Death, also known as the Black Plague or the Bubonic Plague, which struck in 1349, and again in 1361-62, ravaged all of Europe to the extent of bringing gruesome death to many people of the Middle Ages. The Black Death struck in 1349, and again in 1361-62, but was restricted just to Europe (Rowse 29). .
It was a combination of bubonic, septicaemic, and pneumonic plague strains (Gottfried xiii) that started in the east and worked its way west, but never left its native home. One of the things that made the plague one of the worst was that there were outbreaks almost every ten years (Rowse 29), but still restricted to Europe. It is thought that one third to one half could have possibly died by the plague (Strayer and Munro 462), with some towns of a death rate of up to 30 or 40 percent (Strayer and Munro 462). Very few who were infected with the plague actually survived more than one month after receiving the disease (Strayer and Munro 462). .
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The Black Death was an incredible event that effected everyone on either a physical or emotional level, or both. The Black Death was more terrible, and killed more people than any war in history (Strayer and Munro 462). The plague was so horrible and terrifying that people said it made all other disasters in the Middle Ages seems mild when comparing it to the Black Death (Gies 191).