Historical Events Database - History

Possibility of Being · Feb 20, 2014

Re: Historical Events Database

I came across a book that perhaps can be helpful. It's "A general chronological history of the air, weather, seasons, meteors, &c. in sundry places and different times; more particularly for the space of 250 years; together with some of their most remarkable effects on animal (especially human) bodies and vegetables" by Thomas Short, published in 1749.

http://books.google.fr/books?hl=fr&id=hTMqAAAAYAAJ&q=vegetable#v=onepage&q&f=false

Christopher Chatfield mentions T. Short here:
http://www.phenomena.org.uk/page93/page95/page95.html

The third century A.D. was a period of fierce winters and eerie portents in Britain, if we are to believe Dr. Short and John Seller, who were both reluctant to divulge their sources, if any. Hail 'bigger than duck's eggs' fell in A.D. 207, and in A.D. 264 hailstones fell weighing over a pound. In the year A.D. 220, there was a frost in Britain lasting five months. This followed the winter of A.D. 134, when the Thames was frozen for two months, and the three-month frost of A.D. 173, when deep snow lay for 13 weeks and was followed by famine. All these winters are on the authority of Dr. Short, who is the first to mention them. C. E. Britton, while compiling A Meteorological Chronology to A.D. 1450, asked the readers of the Royal Meteorological Society journal if they knew of any earlier reference to these severe winters. He received no reply.

I'm not sure how much of that book Chatfield used for his compilation.

Short is also mentioned in Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World by David Keys when talking about the other book, "Meteorological Chronology to A.D. 1450" by Charles Ernest Britton, 1939:

I examined all sixty British and near Continental weather entries for the 480-650 period in the [Britton's book] ... For the period his main source was a survey compiled ... by Dr. Thomas Short ... the work appears to to make use of many medieval sources, some of which are presumably now lost. On balance, I suspect that the six-century entries derived form Short's work are genuine, because many of them are concentrated around the 535-555 period -- the precise time when world climate is known to have been in an unstable condition. Britton, however, unaware of the wider international evidence, naturally thought they must be fictitious. In the introduction to his chronology, Britton says that Short spent fifteen years researching and that 'his labour in hunting down obscure sources must have been prodigious'."

From I could gather, his work is fully accepted by some historians and taken with a grain of salt by others. His descriptions are detailed though it seems not all sources are revealed. A little problem is his way of dating. He uses two systems: A.M. (Anno Mundi, from the day of Creation) and then he switches to A.C. which I think means "After Christ", but after comparing several events I figured out that the calendar starts in 4 B.C. That means that to have an AD year you need to subtract 4 years from his date.

For the BC era he uses some ancient sources and the Bible, AD era starts on page 50 and I think at least some of his entries look interesting. First volume ends on the year 1717 so less than a half of it could be of interest to us. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a PDF file. FWIW.

Laura · Feb 20, 2014

Re: Historical Events Database

Zadig:

WHEN the disaster was reported to Alexander, who was seriously ill either from despondency or the unfamiliar air, he fell into despair. The rest of the army angrily denounced the emperor because the invading army had been destroyed as a result of his failure to carry out the plans faithfully agreed upon. And now Alexander refused to endure his indisposition and the stifling air any longer. The entire army was sick and the troops from Illyricum especially were seriously ill and dying, being accustomed to moist, cool air and to more food than they were being issued. Eager to set out for Antioch, Alexander ordered the army in Media to proceed to that city. This army, in its advance, was almost totally destroyed in the mountains; a great many soldiers suffered mutilation in the frigid country, and only a handful of the large number of troops who started the march managed to reach Antioch. The emperor led his own large force to that city, and many of them perished too; so the affair brought the greatest discontent to the army and the greatest dishonor to Alexander,
who was betrayed by bad luck and bad judgment. Of the three armies into which he had divided his total force, the greater part was lost by various misfortunes—disease, war, and cold.

I don't think that this counts as a true environmental disaster. It's just a bunch of idiot warmongers dying because of a psychopathic leader. If you DID keep it, I would just call it a War. Keywords: Army Lost, Disease, Cold

Note that it is not really a Pestilence. We HAVE TO BE CAREFUL HERE. GIGO.

Eboard10 · Feb 20, 2014