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GCSE History · key term
An outbreak of deadly disease affecting many people. The precise disease responsible for the Athenian plague is uncertain.
Used by OCR
Paper 1
Revise: Pericles' Strategy and the Archidamian WarIn 430 BC, plague struck Athens and spread rapidly. Crowded conditions made the crisis worse: the same concentration of people that offered military protection also increased their vulnerability to disease. This does not mean that evacuation itself created the plague.
Paper 1
A serious infectious disease that caused repeated outbreaks in early modern Britain, including the Great Plague of 1665.
Revise: Responses to plagueThe particularly severe outbreak of 1665 became known as the Great Plague. Plague brought sudden illness and death, but people did not understand its true cause or have a reliable cure.
Distinguish the outbreak of plague from conditions that helped it spread. Pericles’ evacuation policy increased crowding; it did not deliberately cause the disease.
Distinguish national decisions from local implementation: the government issued plague orders, but town authorities organised isolation, collected money and cared for the sick.
Use dated examples to support change and continuity. More coordinated government action did not mean that people understood the cause of plague or had an effective cure.
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