How Climate Made History. Episode 2
Description
Is it possible that climate change could have kick-started the end of Antiquity? When temperatures drop and the climate becomes drier, the Huns swarm Europe. It’s the last straw and brings about a mass migration that shakes the foundations of the Roman Empire. They abandon cities like London – the ghost-towns of Antiquity. Could this have been enough to herald the beginning of the ‘Dark Ages’ that follow? Historic sources from Byzantium right across to China have a different suggestion, now backed up by new scientific insights: around 536 AD, the Ilopango Volcano in Central America erupts. The eruption is violent and propels ashes right up into the Stratosphere. The result: the sun dims to a blueish hue that struggles to break through the ash-layer. The following 10 years are extraordinarily cold: this is the beginning of the dark middle ages, marked by famine, war, and an almost complete loss of cultural heritage.
Runtime
52 min 17 sec
Series
Subjects
- Pollution (254)
- Global warming (228)
- Climatic changes (510)
- Environmental sciences (779)
- Earth sciences (341)
- World history (1846)
- Climate (38)
- Air (201)
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