BellaOnline Forums Education History worst thing in the history

hello!
i just want to know from u what is the worst thing that has happened in our world history

Good question!! IMHO, the worst thing in history to happen is the change in attitude of people.

Many atrocoties would not occur if people were not so inclined to "turn a blind eye" to them happening.

If every person stood up and said "no this is wrong", then politicians and those who would do evil would not get away with nearly as much.

hello!
well, u have a point!!
and i think one reason for these is also the racial discrimination

Hmmm.. it would be very hard to designate any one atrocity as "worst." There are so many to choose from. Nor am I sure there ever was a singular instance where people changed their attitude. People have been apathetic for millions of years. Fear is a great teacher.

I suppose for me, being part Native American, the worst thing that happened was something that wasn't even done intentionally. It was the diseases brought by the Europeans who came to the Americas. European diseases killed over 3/4 of the native population in less than 200 years. That's millions of people. Worse even than the holocaust in lives claimed.

question?
is it the Black Plague ur talking about

No, Alexia. When the Europeans came they brought diseases with them that their immune systems had worked up defenses for over the centuries. These germs had never been in the Americas before. Diseases like measles and smallpox wiped out whole tribes. For instance, before the Pilgrims landed, there had been an expedition that came to New England before them, searching for a place for the Pilgrims to come to. After that boatload of Europeans left for England again, the entire Pawtuxet tribe died of the new diseases. When the Pilgrims came, they found all their homes empty. They thought it an act of God giving them the Indians land.

so it's not black plague after all...hmm...

I know this is an old discussion, just a newbie trying things out here.

Hmmm...interesting theory, but I am not sure if the Pilgrims ever had a pre-search party sent out to scout a place for them to come to before they ever left England.
Besides, they ended up landing in the wrong place, bad weather, bad directions etc.
I am not saying the Europeans didn't bring the diseases you mention, but the Pilgrims were certainly not the first ones to bring such diseases with them to the shores of the US. That may have started with Columbus!

Etta

The diseases introduced to the Americas did begin with Columbus' expeditions. The greatest exposure of disease to native americans began to occur with the expeditions and conquests by the Spanish of Central and South America in the 16th century.

Alot of the diseases i.e. smallpox were used on purpose that is how Pontiac was was defeated at Fort Detroit. Pontiac and his warriors had Fort Pontiac just about in their grips when they were given blankets with smallpox and slowly started to kill them off.

There are a slew of injustices in our nation's history and most of them had to do with Native Americans.

We chased them off of their lands, traded them for rum as slaves, lied to them, cheated them and killed them.

Then there was that little slavery incident with the Africans...

The worst thing in world history I cannot say. But in recent history (last century) I would have to say that the Holocaust probably was the worst. I agree that all genocide is horrible, and yes, I think that pushing the Native Americans off their lands was horrible, and slavery was horrible, but the Holocaust is different.

Why?

I would say because there were so many people who were involved and KNEW what was going on. And it was pure torture, not even to mention the starvation. They did medical experiments on people in concentration camps. They performed surgeries, dental procedures, etc. without anesthetic. And they knew what they were doing.