The Black Death - Half of Europe in Four Years

Between October 1347 and the end of 1351, the deadliest pandemic in recorded human history swept across Europe and the Mediterranean. Yersinia pestis, the same bacterium that hit Constantinople eight centuries earlier as the Plague of Justinian, came back out of the central Asian steppes carried on Genoese galleys and into every port on the inland sea. Estimates of the dead range from 75 million to 200 million globally, with Europe losing thirty to 60% of its population in roughly four years. This episode covers the three beats: the pathogen Yersinia pestis itself, the historical event from the siege of Caffa to the final outbreaks in northern Europe, and the response from plague doctors, flagellants, pogroms against Jewish communities, and the slow economic transformation that followed. Watch the next video: Episode 6 covers the English Sweating Sickness, a disease that appeared five times, killed thousands, and vanished without anyone ever identifying what it was. ▶ Watch next: The Tudor Sweating Sickness: A Killer Disease That Simply Vanished https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijkjGw1E2zE 📺 Full playlist: Plagues — How Disease Changed History https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlIAFxS29648aq0TyVvsWh9HTO_qjDIGM Chapters: 0:00 October 1347, Messina Harbor 5:58 Yersinia pestis, The Bacterium That Came Back 12:15 Caffa, Genoa, and the Map of the Mediterranean 18:32 The Medical Response, Miasma and the Men Who Tried 25:31 Flagellants, Pogroms, and Pope Clement's Bulls 32:05 The Long Shadow, Wages, Walls, and the End of Feudalism 40:13 Quiz Time 41:57 Key Takeaways #explained #learn #2026 --- Disclosure The avatars and voices in this video are AI-generated. All content -- research, scripts, lesson design, and the custom video engine -- is created by a CISSP, CISM, and PMP certified professional with a Master's in Project Management, a B.S. in Information Technology, and a Doctorate in Business Administration in progress. This channel exists to make learning accessible and straightforward. Educational history-of-medicine series. This channel does not represent any medical institution, public health agency, or academic institution. Every named pathogen, dated outbreak, death-toll estimate, and quoted statistic is sourced from peer-reviewed epidemiology, primary historical documents, and CDC / WHO records. Where death tolls or interpretations are contested by modern scholars, the range is presented honestly. This series presents the historical record — not medical advice. Always consult licensed medical professionals for health decisions.