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Were the "Dark Ages" really so dark?
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Selected claim, opposing its parent
The Dark Ages were a time of chaos and decline.
Pros
Cons
Pro claim 1, children below
There was
constant warfare
to fill the power vacuum left by Rome.
Pro claim 2, children below
A volcanic eruption in 536 CE
plunged Europe into darkness
, with ash and fog blanketing the continent for 18 months.
Pro claim 3, children below
The Plague of Justinian
decimated Europe
in the mid-Sixth century; corpses piled up in the streets as tens of thousands of people died every day during the height of the plague.
Pro claim 4
Without a strong central government in Western Europe, the Dark Ages were marked by the
near-disappearance of urban life
.
Con claim 1, children below
While conflict may have been common at the start of the Dark Ages, many parts of Europe were
fairly stable
later on.
Con claim 2
Rather than staying in decline after the fall of Rome, people became
self-sufficient
and developed new technologies.