AQA GCSE History 8145
America, 1840–1895: Expansion and ConsolidationPeriod study
America, 1920–1973: Opportunity and InequalityPeriod study
Conflict and Tension Between East and West, 1945–1972Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension in Asia, 1950–1975Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension in the Gulf and Afghanistan, 1990–2009Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension: The First World War, 1894–1918Wider world depth
Conflict and Tension: The Inter-War Years, 1918–1939Wider world depth
Elizabethan England, c1568–1603British depth
Germany, 1890–1945: Democracy and DictatorshipPeriod study
Health and the People in Britain, c1000 to the Present DayThematic study
Medieval England: The Reign of Edward I, 1272–1307British depth
Migration, Empires and the People in Britain, c790 to the Present DayThematic study
Norman England, c1066–c1100British depth
Power and the People in Britain, c1170 to the Present DayThematic study
Restoration England, 1660–1685British depth
Russia, 1894–1945: Tsardom and CommunismPeriod study
Restoration England, 1660–1685
Crisis: the Great Plague of 1665 and the Fire of London
- 3 things to know
- Paper 2 section B
Overview
The real and supposed causes of the Great Plague of 1665, the shutting up of houses and other measures, the Bills of Mortality and Pepys, the death toll, the Fire of London of 1666, why it spread and who was blamed, what it destroyed, the Rebuilding Act and Wren's unbuilt plan.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
What really caused the Great Plague of 1665?
How was a household treated once plague was found in it?
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What really caused the Great Plague of 1665?
Model answer
Bubonic plague carried by fleas living on black rats, which thrived in crowded and filthy streets, though nobody at the time understood this.
- 2
What did people in 1665 think was causing the plague?
Model answer
Miasma, or bad air rising from rubbish and sewage; the punishment of God for the nation's sins; and unlucky omens such as comets.
- 3
How was a household treated once plague was found in it?
Model answer
The house was shut up for forty days with everyone inside, a red cross and a plea for God's mercy painted on the door and a watchman set at it.
- 4
What did the Lord Mayor order done to dogs and cats, and why did it backfire?
Model answer
They were slaughtered as suspected carriers, which removed the very animals that had been hunting the rats actually spreading the disease.
- 5
Name three other measures taken against the plague.
Model answer
Bonfires were kept burning in the streets, tobacco was smoked as a preventive, and the sick were sent to pest houses while arriving ships were held in quarantine.
- 6
What records tell us about the spread of the plague?
Model answer
The weekly Bills of Mortality drawn up by parish clerks from the reports of untrained searchers, together with eyewitness diaries such as that of Samuel Pepys.
Other ways to work this
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Every question in Restoration England, 1660–1685, on a schedule.
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