HISTORY 21B Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Little Ice Age, English Civil War, Global Cooling
Document Summary
Most severe episode of global cooling recorded in the entire holocene (human) era. Winter temperatures on average 1 degree celsius cooler than the late 20th century. Thames froze for first time in 1607, and last time in 1814. Not consistently cold but zig-zagging of weather events. Severe impact on agriculture, food provision, transport. Or the result of massive reforestation in the americas. Emergence of new ideas, social and religious. Charles the first insisted on divine right. Attempts to crush protestant reformation in netherlands. William the first of orange leads dutch against spanish rule. Often understood as the beginning of state system. But really an exhaustion of universal empire . How do we determine whether a situation is a crisis . Increased mortality, disease, drop in birth rate. Collapse of regimes, invasions, wars, break up of states. The sense of a crisis, loss of cultural production. Breakdown of social structures, the family, education, rights.
