S.S. DBQ Per. 9
The Middle Ages are a period of European history from around 476 A.D. to 1453 A.D. when society and culture declined. The middle Ages is believed to be started from the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and was ended by the start of the European Renaissance. There are several key factors that led to the end of The Middle Ages other than the start of the Renaissance. The Black Plague and The Crusades undeniably led to the end of the Middle Ages because of the decrease of population from The Black Plague and the increase of foreign goods and trade from The Crusades among many other reasons.
The Bubonic Plague, Black Plague, and Black Death are names for a deadly disease that killed between 75 and 200 million people in Europe. This Disease started and was carried by flees in rats on trade ships. The fleas would be transferred onto the ships cargo, which would in turn contaminate all customers. The disease was easily contagious and basically if you were in contact with anyone who had this disease in their system, you would be dead very soon . As a result of being extremely contagious it was spread very quickly and killed many people. Even though millions died, there is a silver lining. Those who survived the plague were able to move up in the European feudalistic social circle. Peasants were able to gain more powerful positions and in turn make more money. This scenario occurred in many other people's lives and helped end The Middle Ages.
The Crusades were a series of wars taking place in Asia Minor between 1095 and 1291. Pope Urban II was the first person that expressed a need for The Crusades at the Council of Clermont where he said we should invade the holy land and persecute the inhabitants who have taken over the beloved land of Jesus Christ. This was incorrect because most of the inhabitants' ancestors of Jerusalem had always been there and this was their homeland. The Crusaders did not seize Jerusalem for long which is why The Crusades are often called history's greatest failure. The crusaders brutally murdered Jews and Muslims living in this area who had done nothing wrong. Most crusaders were French peasants or serfs who wanted to escape the feudalistic social circle. If you went on The Crusades you became rich and made money. Even though The Crusades were not successful in the sense they didn't seize their homeland, it was still successful because the crusaders brought back many new things. These products were brought back to Europe and people tried to make them there which helped fix the economy in Europe. For example, soap was never used in Europe until the crusaders brought it back from the holy land. This was one of the many important things that were brought back from the holy land, which drastically helped end The Middle Ages.
The Middle Ages were a 977-year period where civilization declined instead of rising. The Black Plague and Crusades helped end the Middle Ages even if they were both devastating in their own way and killed a lot of people. It is up to opinion if these two events were beneficial overall because of some of the extremely destructive results that took place however, they definitely helped end The Middle Ages.
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