During the Great Northern War (1700–1721), many towns and areas around the Baltic Sea and East-Central Europe had a severe outbreak of the plague with a peak from 1708 to 1712. This epidemic was probably part of a pandemic affecting an area from Central Asia to the Mediterranean. Most probably via Constantinople, it spread to Pińczów in southern Poland, where it was first recorded in a Swedish military hospital in 1702. The plague then followed trade, travel and army routes, reached the Baltic coast at Prussia in 1709, affected areas all around the Baltic Sea by 1711 and reached Hamburg by 1712. Therefore, the course of the war and the course of the plague mutually affected each other: while soldiers and refugees were often agents of the plague, the death toll in the military as well as the depopulation of towns and rural areas sometimes severely impacted the ability to resist enemy forces or to supply troops.
This plague was the last to affect the area around the Baltic, which had experienced several waves of the plague since the Black Death of the 14th century. However, for some areas, it was the most severe. People died within a few days of first showing symptoms. Especially on the eastern coast from Prussia to Estonia, the average death toll for wide areas was up to two thirds or three quarters of the population, and many farms and villages were left completely desolated. It is, however, hard to distinguish between deaths due to a genuine plague infection and deaths due to starvation and other diseases that spread along with the plague. While buboes are recorded among the symptoms, contemporary means of diagnosis were poorly developed, and death records are often unspecific, incomplete or lost. Some towns and areas were affected only for one year, while in other places the plague recurred annually throughout several subsequent years. In some areas, a disproportionally high death toll is recorded for children and women, which may be due to famine and the men being drafted.
As the cause of the plague was unknown to contemporaries, with speculations reaching from religious causes over "bad air" to contaminated clothes, the only means of fighting the disease was containment, to separate the ill from the healthy. Cordons sanitaire were established around infected towns like Stralsund and Königsberg; one was also established around the whole Duchy of Prussia and another one between Scania and the Danish isles along the Sound, with Saltholm as the central quarantine station. "Plague houses" to quarantine infected people were established within or before the city walls. An example of the latter is the Charité of Berlin, which was spared from the plague.
and 26 Related for: Great Northern War plague outbreak information
During the GreatNorthernWar (1700–1721), many towns and areas around the Baltic Sea and East-Central Europe had a severe outbreak of the plague with a peak...
first plague pandemic (6th century – 8th century) and the second plague pandemic (14th century – early 19th century) are shown by individual outbreaks, such...
the "great" plague mainly because it was the last widespread outbreak of bubonic plague in England during the 400-year Second Pandemic. The plague was...
de Roucoulle. His political awakening occurred during the GreatNorthernWar'splagueoutbreak in Prussia, leading to his challenge against corruption and...
GreatPlague of Seville (1647–1652) was a massive outbreak of disease in Spain that killed up to a quarter of Seville's population. Unlike the plague...
16th century. Outbreaks of the plague recurred around the world until the early 19th century. European writers contemporary with the plague described the...
Bubonic plague is one of three types of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. One to seven days after exposure to the bacteria, flu-like symptoms...
known outbreak of the first plague pandemic, which continued to recur until the middle of the 8th century. Some historians believe the first plague pandemic...
experience plagueoutbreaks and casualties until the 1960s, although extremely few of these occurred after 1950. The last significant outbreak of plague associated...
eastern Mediterranean also saw an outbreak of the disease, albeit with less impact. The war, along with the plague, had serious effects on Athens' society...
The 1924 Los Angeles pneumonic plagueoutbreak was an outbreak of the pneumonic plague in Los Angeles, California that began on September 28, 1924, and...
and last outbreaks: the Justinianic Plague of 541–549, described by the contemporary Roman historian Procopius, and the late 8th century plague of Naples...
the population of East Prussia died during the GreatNorthernWarplagueoutbreak. The bubonic plague reached Prenzlau in August 1710 but receded before...
The GreatPlague of Marseille, also known as the Plague of Provence, was the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Western Europe. Arriving in Marseille...
several outbreaks of bubonic and pneumonic plague in the 21st century. In the outbreak beginning in 2014, 71 died; in 2017, 202 died. Smaller outbreaks occurred...
The GreatPlague of Vienna occurred in 1679 in Vienna, Austria, the imperial residence of the Austrian Habsburg rulers. From contemporary descriptions...
plague". Ub.es. Retrieved 2014-08-13. "Haze Famine (Icelandic history)". Britannica.com. Retrieved 2014-08-13. Grove, Richard H. (2007), "The Great El...
various subsequent resurgences of the plague in the region, such as during the GreatNorthernWarplagueoutbreak. During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic...
Lithuanian-speaking population was also dramatically decreased by the GreatNorthernWarplagueoutbreak in 1700–1721 which killed 49% of residents in the Grand Duchy...
plague spread to Gaul and to the legions along the Rhine. Eutropius stated that a large proportion of the empire's population died from this outbreak...
population died in the GreatNorthernWarplagueoutbreak and famine of 1709–1711, including the last speakers of Old Prussian. The plague, probably brought...
Local outbreaks of the plague are grouped into three plague pandemics, whereby the respective start and end dates and the assignment of some outbreaks to...
to have died of plague during the outbreak. Around 24% of London's population ultimately perished, but the plague affected London's unsanitary parishes...