Ahliyah Williams
Dr. Hinks
Help Received: None Ahliyah Williams
Sat July 13
Prompt 1
Artifact 4: The Deadliest Weapon: Smallpox
Many things have changed the history of the world. The atomic bomb in Hiroshima and the 9/11 terrorist attack are just two events in history that have dramatically changed the history of the world. No one would think that a disease could compare or even amount to any three of those major events in history, but a disease called ‘Smallpox’ has done that exact thing. Smallpox killed more people than the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and the 9/11 attack combined. While the atomic bomb in Hiroshima had shown the world the power that superweapons owned by the U.S have, smallpox showed the world the power that a disease can have on people. Smallpox is indiscriminate, with no preference or target to ethnicities, culture, or religion. That made it even more deadly and difficult to get rid of. Therefore when a disease is totally rare and unknown to a culture, it has even worse effects on them because of non-existent immunity that they have to this foreign disease. The vulnerability to native-tribes such as the in the tribes of Amerindians. The Aztecs and Incas were both affected significantly in the cruelest ways possible.
The impact of smallpox on society throughout history is various and continuous. Cases of smallpox go as far back as ancient Egypt in 1898. A mummy was found to have rashes similar to smallpox. This was the first concrete evidence of smallpox. Having this knowledge of smallpox helped people to gain more knowledge about the fact that smallpox is not only very old but has no preference in people, even with mummies. With having no preference of types of people, smallpox definitely did not care about the ranking or royalty that one was held at. The Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth was even diagnosed with smallpox. This was such an important time in history because if Queen Elizabeth died her sister who was hated by many in England because they were scared she would bring Catholicism back, Mary would have held the role of Queen. Also known as Bloody Mary, she burned in hundreds, protestants who disagreed with her position of Catholicism. This was a huge turnover in history that Queen Elizabeth did not die because she was the most dynamic queen, lasting for 44 years, changing the history of England.
Two Amerindian tribes: Inca and Aztecs were effected by the smallpox disease in such brutal ways that you could call it an event in the history of terrorism. The Incas were unlawfully and unethically killed in such violent ways by Europeans. Pizzaro and the Incas was a major event in history. Pizzaro was a Spanish explorer. According to Josh Clark, How Stuff Works, smallpox was used as biological warfare on the Incas. The Europeans having lived alongside smallpox had an immunity to it, but the natives unlike them had none. Pizzaro didn’t have to do much to defeat the Incas, and especially the emperor. Smallpox killed the Incan emperor, Huayna Capac, allowing Pizzaro to conquer the Inca tribe. The second event in history was Smallpox and the Conquest of Mexico. Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes made an arrival in Tenochtitlan. When smallpox had arrived in Tenochtitlan by ships carrying Spanish armies, it did the job in defeating the Aztecs and leaving the Aztec Empire into Hernan Cortes hands and under his control. Smallpox in comparison to the defeat of the Aztecs was so significant because it was the most influential killer to those people, leading to the major event in history called, The Spanish Conquest.
In conclusion, events in history such as 9/11 and the bomb on Hiroshima were both truly historical and changed the world as we know it now. Smallpox, a disease, not physical terrorist or threats, killed more people than both 9/11 and the Hiroshima bombing combined. This makes it such a deadly and scary disease. Smallpox killed a different kind of people varying from royal queens to nomadic Amerindians. Smallpox was so influential that with its conquest of both the Incan and Aztec empire, it was able to contribute to such a major event in history, The Spanish Conquest.
References
Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Wikipedia.
September 11 Attacks. Wikipedia.
Josh Clark. How did 168 conquistadors take down the Incan empire? How Stuff Works.
- Science. How smallpox devastated the Aztecs – and helped Spain conquer an American civilization 500 years ago. PBS.
- SMALLPOX AND THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO. Past Medical History.
Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Wikipedia.