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Between the early 14th and late 19th centuries, a period of cooling known as the Little Ice Age chilled the planet. Europe bore the brunt of its ill effects, experiencing harsh and fickle weather for several centuries and especially from 1560 to 1660. Scientists continue to debate the cause and timeline of the cold spell, which has been blamed for catastrophes ranging from droughts and famines to wars and epidemics. Volcanic eruptions just before the year 1300 may have triggered the expansion of Arctic sea ice, setting off a chain reaction that lowered temperatures worldwide. Find out about some of the numerous trends and events climatologists and historians have chalked up to the Little Ice Age—either rightly or wrongly—over the years.
Event 1: Great Famine
Beginning in the spring of 1315, cold weather and torrential rains decimated crops and livestock across Europe. Class warfare and political strife destabilized formerly prosperous manors and fiefdoms as millions of people starved, setting the stage for the crises of the Late Middle Ages. According to reports, some desperate Europeans resorted to cannibalism during the so-called Great Famine, which persisted until the early 1320s. Along with the consequences of the Black Death, the Great Famine weakened the influence of the landed nobility. However, many peasants who survived were able to gain many concessions from their lords and many even gained freedom from their former status. Many will flee to cities at a time when cities became essential places of economic production and exchange.
JOSSE LIEFERINXE, FROM "ST. SEBASTIAN BETET FÜR DIE PESTOPFER” (1497-1499)
Event 2: Manchu Conquest of China
In the first half of the 17th century, famines and floods caused by unusually cold, dry weather enfeebled China’s ruling Ming Dynasty. Unable to pay their taxes, peasants rose up in revolt and by 1644 had overthrown the imperial authorities. Manchurian (semi-nomadic) invaders from the north capitalized on the power vacuum by crossing the Great Wall, allying with the rebels and establishing the Qing Dynasty.
The Yangzhou massacre of 1645 by Manchu soldiers and Ming defectors.
Event 3: Witch Hunts
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII recognized the existence of witches and echoed popular sentiment by blaming them for the cold temperatures and resulting misfortunes plaguing Europe. His declaration ushered in an era of hysteria, accusations and executions on both sides of the Atlantic. Historians have shown that surges in European witch trials coincided with some of the Little Ice Age’s most bitter phases during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Burning witches alive was common in Germany and other parts of Europe, but in Scotland the convicted were usually strangled before their bodies were burned.
Event 4: Thirty Years War
Among other military conflicts, the brutal Thirty Years’ War between Protestants and Catholics across central Europe has been linked to the Little Ice Age. Chilly conditions curbed agricultural production and inflated grain prices, fueling civil discontent and weakening the economies of European powers. These factors indirectly plunged much of the continent into war from 1618 to 1648, according to this model. Each state competed against one another for new strategies to utilize the new firearms of the era, making the war especially deadly. Furthermore, the costly nature of the war required new states to find new methods of taxation involving new bureaucracies.
A 17th-century painting by Jan Martszen de Jonge showing the Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus (r. 1611-1632) in battle.
Event 5: Rise of the Potato
When Spanish conquistadors first introduced the potato in the late 16th century, Europeans scoffed at the unfamiliar starch. In the mid-1700s, however, some countries began promoting the hardy tuber as an alternative to crops indigenous to the region, which often failed to withstand the Little Ice Age’s colder seasons. It soon caught on with farmers throughout Europe, particularly in Ireland.
Prussian ruler Frederick the Great, who initiated the massive drainage program to increase agricultural production, inspects the potato crop from a local farm.
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