Global Crisis: War, Climate Change, & Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century

Geoffrey Parker examines the connection between climate change and widespread social upheaval during the mid-seventeenth century. Between 1618 and the late 1680s, the world experienced an unprecedented frequency and severity of crises—revolutions, droughts, famines, invasions, wars, regicides, and government collapses—that affected regions from England to Japan, the Russian Empire to sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas. Parker draws on firsthand accounts from people who lived through the political, economic, and social upheavals of this period, known as the "General Crisis." He integrates scientific evidence of climate change into his narrative, showing how shifts in weather patterns—particularly longer winters and cooler, wetter summers—disrupted agricultural cycles and destroyed harvests. These environmental changes triggered widespread hunger, malnutrition, and disease, which in turn sparked wars, rebellions, and revolutions across the globe.