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The Year The Sun Turned Black: The Volcanic Winter Of 536 AD | Catastrophe | Timeline

3.1M views · May 25, 2023 · Education

Timeline - World History Documentaries

5.9M subscribers

Comments · 1.5K

@electrickoolaid2379 · 1 year ago
I usually fall asleep to documentaries and then watch it the next day or 2 but I picked this last night. This absolute gem of history has shown me I can’t use your videos to fall asleep to because I just won’t sleep, I’ll be watching it instead. It’s crazy how so many global events got traced back to 1 extremely angry volcano
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@rwboa22 · 2 years ago
Tsar Bomba:  I produced the largest mushroom cloud. Ancient Krakatoa:  Hold my vodka.
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@bbguardsp · 3 years ago
The amount of different fields of study needed to verify the cause is astounding!
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@nomadlegacy897 · 1 year ago
Tree ring analysis and its implications is unexpectedly fascinating.
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@kelsocampbell1301 · 1 year ago
I never paid much attention to volcanoes until a few years ago when I came across a book entitled:  "1816: The Year Without A Summer", which examined an eruption of Krakatau that caused New England here in the US to have snow in July...crops failed.....nothing grew.  That's insane.  I live in  Connecticut and was able to look at an 1815 or 1816 account of this in the Hartford Courant...one of America's oldest newspapers.  I was really astounded that some volcano halfway around the world could cause something like this.  Ever since then, I've become rather fascinated by volcanoes.  That's why I really love this documentary.  Looking at ice cores, deep-water sediments, tree rings, etc,. that all provides really solid evidence.  Thanks for a fascinating documentary guys!  love it!
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@GraVids.official · 3 years ago (edited)
Very good documentary.  Evidence based. No unprofessional claims to get more views. Really good ❤
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@cdfdesantis699 · 3 years ago (edited)
There's been research in the past couple of decades showing that around 540-541 CE, the Ilopango volcano in El Salvador also had a massive eruption.  So roughly, in the space of about a decade, the planet experienced 2 super eruptions on either side of the globe.  One has to wonder if some event, such as a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) may not have destabilized the earth's magnetic field, causing huge amounts of magma & gases from the mantle to rise to the surface on opposite sides of the planet.  In THAT case, the events of the mid-6th century would be the SUN'S fault.
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@lordnaarghul · 3 years ago
One thing to note about Krakatoa: Krakatoa is well known for its phreatic explosions - basically, steam explosions. These explosions are known to be extremely noisy and extremely destructive because when water encounters something as superheated as magma, it expands quickly. Therefore pressures within the volcano, already critical, simply cause the mountain to burst, like the failure of a boiler 15 miles across. That being said, Krakatoa isn't known for pushing out the gigantic amounts of ash this would need. Its nearby brother Tambora, however, is a different story. It did so in 1815, which caused the infamous Year Without A Summer. If Tambora had a similar kind of eruption? You better believe it would be destructive enough to split a large island. And to think, it's still nothing compared to the eruptions of Lake Toba, Taupo, or Yellowstone.
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@jackesioto · 3 years ago
The 536 CE volcanic winter could definitely have contributed to western Europe's cultural and technological regression into the ''Dark Ages'' in the early medieval period. Such a mega-catastrophe could have been the final nail in the coffin of an already severely crippled civilization like Rome was at the time. Though, some civilizations in other parts of the world managed to ride it out ok. It really makes you think of the fact that modern civilizations are just as vulnerable as ancient ones!
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@JFrazer4303 · 3 years ago
I like how this BBC4 production funded not only scientific expeditions, but actors and cosplayers / recreators from Roman, Celt, Mongolian horsemen, all around the world.
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@danieljoyce7853 · 4 months ago
A couple of years ago this documentary had only about 5 commercials but i still recommend it - just be ready to hit the skip bar a few times.
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@antonio39776 · 2 years ago
Few documentaries are so beautifully arranged and with tangible evidence. All explanations have their scientific approach and nothing just for impressions. Well done!
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