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The Worst Year To Be Alive, According To Historians

It was worse than anything you’ve experienced

Matt Lillywhite
3 min readSep 19, 2022
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The past few years have been awful.

A global pandemic killed millions of people. Some countries were threatened with nuclear annihilation. And skyrocketing inflation made it difficult for people to survive. But Historians frequently point to the year 536 AD as the worst time to be alive.

Here’s why:

Climate Change Destroyed A Lot Of Agriculture

For 18 months, a volcanic fog kept most of Asia, the Middle East, and Europe in complete darkness. “The sun gave forth its light without brightness, wrote Procopius, a Byzantine historian. “Like the moon, during this whole year.”

The average temperature dropped in 536 AD, commencing the coldest decade in approximately 2,300 years. But that wasn’t the only disaster to strike humanity. In China, snow fell, crops failed, and people went hungry. In addition, Ireland suffered a catastrophic bread shortage between 536 AD and 539 AD.

Life Didn’t Get Better For A Long Time

A string of disasters continued to affect the world…

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Matt Lillywhite
Matt Lillywhite

Written by Matt Lillywhite

Storyteller and part-time procrastinator. Writing to inspire, entertain, and avoid doing laundry. Substack: https://mattlillywhite.substack.com/subscribe

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