Top 10 most important events in history

I am going to start posting what I think are the top ten most important events in history and why I think they are the most important. I am starting today with number 10.



The Plague:
The plague was the greatest thing to happen to Europe, at least for those who survived. Before the plague, 95% of Europe was landless, wageless peasents who worked the land in order to stay alive. Right before the plague, Europe began a series of enclosure acts that closed the previously public land that serfs used to plant crops and raise their livestock and sold it off to the highest bidders. This was devestating to everyone in Europe who did not have enouigh money to buy land. The plague killed up to 75% of the people in some places (about 33-66% total in all Europe). Suddenly, the same amount of work needed to be done with half the people. Now the peasentry had a huge bargaining chip. They could now start to demand wages instead of a percentage of the crop. They were no longer tied to the lands, and many moved into these new cities that were popping up wverywhere. Not only did the peasentry now fight back against the nobility, but they started to innovate. A noble who would have paid 50 peasants to cut the grass around his estate with scissors could now pay the 1 peasant who invented a lawn mower. This opened Europe to advances in technology that might not have occured before the plague. The plague jumpstarted the Industrial Revolution which probably would not have occured when it did if the plague never happened as pre-plague, feudal Europe did not have any reason to innovate.