Tracing the history of the world with Andrey Sidorchik
Large-scale fires, which destroyed large cities on the ground, have long been a a fairly widespread phenomenon in Europe. Often times such disasters have led to a complete reconstruction that has changed the city beyond recognition.
The Satanic Year; and the Sea of London
The main causes of catastrophic disasters were the predominance of timber materials in construction, as well as the lack of a system of construction. Clear and well thought out fire extinguisher.
The 1666 offensive in Europe, many waited in fear & mdash; of the 'number of the beast' they weren't expecting anything good in the numbering. At the same time, the living conditions on the Old Continent were such that it was not difficult to find misfortune, the cause of which could be attributed to the 'Satanic Year'. ; & # 39 ;.
However, the people of London were not up to the new fears as they died en masse from the infection that emerged a year earlier. The plague epidemic that erupted in 1665 in a town of nearly half a million people with no sewers started from the port where ships from Holland were arriving. By that time 50,000 people had died from the plague in Amsterdam, and the British tried to somehow protect themselves from danger, but these measures failed worked.
The first victims were the beggars of London who lived in the harbor, then the poor suburbs of the plague gradually reached the City. The King of England & nbsp; Charles II , along with his family and his retinue, left London, deciding to take refuge in a place where they could protect themselves from those infected.
In the fall of 1665, mortality in London increased to 7,000 people per week. In the city, mass graves for the dead, which were trenches, were filled before the diggers had time to complete the work.
In total, about 100,000 Londoners have fallen victim to the epidemic, or one in five people in the city. Therefore, in the early fall of 1666, the devil himself was not a brother of the British – & mdash; the survivors feared no grim omens.
The capital is like a great cesspool
One of the reasons for the rapid spread of the plague was the overcrowding of the population in poor neighborhoods. It has also become the cause of new problems.
There was no clear plan for the development of London in 1666. The wooden houses, sometimes built from the cheapest wood species, were stacked on top of each other. As large fires have occurred in London more than once before, the construction of log houses with thatched roofs has been officially banned, but this ban has simply been ignored. The poor could not afford stone houses, so they continued to build huts for themselves with the cheapest materials.
In the Thames coastal area there were the poorest areas with shops and basements containing combustible materials, with wooden apartment buildings. There were also warehouses with large stocks of gunpowder.
There was no specialized fire department in London & mdash; locals gathered at the sound of the bell, trying to put out the flames with water. If that didn't work, then they were trying to prevent the blaze by smashing wooden structures in the way of the flame, which hadn't yet caught on fire. & Nbsp;
Success in fighting a fire in such a situation depended more on the weather than on human effort.
The candle has fallen & hellip;
It all started on September 2, 1666 at Thomas Farriner bakery on Pudding Lane. Bakers started working even after dark, using regular candles for lighting. One of the candles fell on the wooden floor, and soon the flame began to spread rapidly throughout the house. The Farriner family escaped by moving to neighbors through a window on the top floor & mdash; houses, remember, in London at this time were often located close to each other. But Farriner's maid was so scared she was literally paralyzed and couldn't leave the house, becoming the first victim of the fire.
The Farriners put out the burning building with their neighbors, but they couldn't face the flames. Volunteers who have suffered numerous fires noted that it is best to destroy surrounding houses to stop the spread of the disaster.
But the owners of the houses opposed it, and in deciding what to do, Lord Mayor of London Thomas Bloodworth . As the mayor tried to figure it out, the fire began to spread to the outbuildings.
“ Destroy? & # 39; & # 39; & mdash; volunteers asked.
“ No, & mdash; opposite Bloodworth, & mdash; We haven't found all of the owners and tenants! But the hot summer spent with little rain created all the conditions for houses to flash like matches. A strong wind, which picked up that day in London, began to quickly spread the flame over the English capital.
At the mercy of firestorms
A few hours later the fire was reported to the king. The flames were going so fast that the wealthy parts of the city were also threatened. Karl & nbsp; II & nbsp; was determined to & mdash; gave the order to destroy the houses & nbsp; without hesitation. Also, the Royal Guard went to fight the blaze, led by the brother of King Duke of York & mdash; & nbsp; future monarch Jacob & nbsp; II .
But the moment was already lost. The so-called fire whirlpools began to spread throughout the city, when separate fires, under the influence of air masses, unite, as a result of which a very high temperature combustion zone, reaching 800 degrees, is formed. At the same time, the fiery tornado is moving extremely quickly.
Eyewitnesses to the blaze later wrote that on the morning of September 3, “it was not possible to stop the blaze”. The panic started & mdash; people tried to leave town, taking the goods they managed to take with them on carts.
The hopes of the extinguishing participants that the fire would be stopped by large obstacles proved untenable. First fell Baynards Castle, the historic residence of the English kings, then Saint Paul's Cathedral. The stone temple, which was considered a haven of peace, was raised by wooden scaffolding provided for repairs. The fire spread to them, then engulfed the roof, and after it fell, the entire property of the cathedral was on fire. There was a lot of him & mdash; locals took their valuables there as a temporary refuge, believing the stone building would avoid the worst.
The English writer John Evelyn recalled what was happening: “ Paul's stones The cathedrals were scattered like pomegranates, a flood of molten lead ran through the streets, most of the sidewalks were reddened, and not a single horse, not a single person could walk on it. & # 39;
It wasn't until September 5, when the wind died down, that the efforts of the volunteer firefighters and the Royal Guard began to bear fruit. The fire bands created from the destroyed houses stopped the further advance of the flame. Open-pit combustion gradually began to transform into smoldering.
John Evelyn's plan for the total restructuring of London was never implemented. Source: Public Domain
The Frenchman was accused of everything
In total, 13,500 houses, 87 parish churches, 44 buildings of & nbsp; companies in livery, & nbsp; Royal Exchange, & nbsp; St. Paul's Cathedral, several prisons and three city gates were destroyed.
In fact, London in its old form has ceased to exist, turning into a huge ash.
Despite the enormous scale of the disaster, information on the casualties was extremely scarce. Contemporaries have written of only a few victims of the fire. True, it is assumed that the problem is not in the absence of the victims, but in the fact that they were representatives of the poor. In addition, due to the extremely high combustion temperature, the remains of the victims could simply burn to the ground.
When they managed to cope with the blaze, the people of London began to seek an answer to the following question: & nbsp; whose fault is it ? & Nbsp; First of all, they suspected foreigners, believing that they might as well avenge England for its participation in military conflicts. There have been cases of lynching, the victims of which have been mainly French and Dutch.
A certain Frenchman Robert Hubert was arrested and charged with arson, which caused a catastrophic fire. Tortured, the man pleaded guilty. On September 28, 1666, he was hanged in public. And it was only after the execution that it was learned that Hubert was not in London at all when the fire started.
The plague is gone, the insurers have come
In 1667, the Royal Council ruled that the devastating fire was caused by coincidence and adverse weather conditions.
The famous architect and mathematician Christopher Wren was responsible for planning the redevelopment of the burnt down building. in the districts of London. And although his plan could not be fully implemented due to the lack of necessary funds in the treasury, & nbsp; London has been transformed. Wooden houses gave way to stone ones, the distance between buildings was increased, various warehouses were moved away from residential buildings. Thanks to Ren, the sanitary situation in the town also improved.
In memory of the fire, a monument was erected, today known as the Monument & mdash; Roman column & nbsp; Doric & nbsp; 61.57 meters high. & nbsp;
The fire of 1666 was the cause of the emergence of fire insurance services in Britain. After the incident, no one needed to explain why it was necessary, and the insurers business grew very successfully.
The fire is believed to have helped cope with the plague epidemic: after the London fire, new cases of the disease have failed practically not recorded.