Chapter 126 - Human History, Insects Effect on

Abstract

This chapter discusses how human interaction with insects has had a profound or noteworthy effect on the course of important events over the past few thousand years. The activities of insects, primarily by transmitting disease to troops in battle, can have profound effects on warfare between humans. In many military campaigns, the number of casualties attributed to insects has exceeded that caused by actual fighting. This is even true in recent conflicts, such as the American–Vietnam War. In cases where such losses of men and resources are one-sided, the actions of insects have determined the outcome of entire wars and thus have altered the course of history. Perhaps the greatest and most lasting effect of insects on the course of history was the result of sweeping economic, religious, and social reform because of the deadly bubonic plague of Medieval Europe that was spread by fleas. This disease, particularly the huge epidemic known as the Black Death (1346–1353) that ravaged Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, and northern Africa, resulted in drastic and significant changes in the social and economics tructure in Europe during the 14th and 15th centuries, changes that infl uence the nature of human society to this day.