These civilizations couldn't recover. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at destructive moments that ruined entire civilizations.
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00:00Conquering the Aztec Empire led to the destruction of one of the greatest civilizations that was known in the world at that time.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at destructive moments that ruined entire civilizations.
00:12Beijing threw its gates open to the Mongols, who showed no mercy as they savagely ransacked the city.
00:20The Third Punic War, Carthage.
00:22This is the story of a fight to the death.
00:26It would not result just in the death of a man,
00:29but of a whole city and the culture that went with it.
00:32Carthage is thought by many to be the greatest enemy Rome ever faced.
00:36The Punic Wars were fought between these ancient superpowers between 264 and 146 BCE.
00:42It was to be a struggle for the domination of the Western Mediterranean
00:47that could only end with the complete extinction of one through the victory of the other.
00:52They were composed of three wars, the first two of which were a major struggle for Rome.
00:56Despite the massive odds against them, Rome came out victorious in both conflicts.
01:01By the beginning of the Third War in 149 BCE, Carthage was a shadow of its former self.
01:07The Third War was heavily one-sided, with the city of Carthage being completely decimated.
01:12The 50,000 survivors were sold into slavery, and Rome banned any settlements in the area.
01:18The destruction paved the way for Rome's dominance in the Mediterranean, letting them conquer the sea with little resistance.
01:24So really, Carthage of the Carthaginians, you cannot see it except in the museum,
01:31in the material relics which have been found by excavation. Virtually nothing stands above ground.
01:37The Little Ice Age, Vikings of Greenland.
01:40The temperature plummeted.
01:42Birds are falling dead out of the sky because it is that cold.
01:47Following the unusual medieval warm period, a Little Ice Age began, roughly in the 14th century.
01:53In approximately 985, Vikings settled on Greenland and began colonizing the large North American island.
02:00There they thrived for centuries, erecting two major Norse settlements.
02:04When they first settled, the warm period made for an abundance of farmland.
02:08But by 1250, things started to change.
02:11With the arrival of the Little Ice Age, the mighty Vikings were forced to confront a faceless and formidable enemy,
02:17against which they had no defense.
02:21By the year 1450, all settlements had been completely abandoned, and the Vikings of Greenland were no more.
02:28The Little Ice Age is thought to be responsible, and if not for it, we might still have a Norse North America.
02:34The Little Ice Age had humbled the fearsome breed, renowned for their toughness and invincible spirit.
02:40Flooding of Cahokia, Cahokia.
02:42These are not natural formations.
02:45These are the ruins of Cahokia, the largest and most important ancient American city north of Mexico.
02:52Cahokia was one of the most advanced Native American cities on the continent.
02:56It existed between 1050 and 1350 in modern-day Illinois.
03:01At its peak, roughly 20,000 people lived there, which is more than Paris housed at the same time.
03:07We believe that Cahokia probably covered something like five or six square kilometers,
03:11which makes it orders of magnitude larger than any other place in North America prior to European contact.
03:17The city thrived on trade, being situated near the Illinois and Missouri rivers.
03:22Unfortunately, by 1350 it had been completely abandoned.
03:26This had long been a mystery, but it allegedly began its decline around 1200.
03:31Currently, we believe this happened due to an immense flood,
03:34which meant by the time Europeans made it to America, it had long been abandoned.
03:38Today, the Osage and other indigenous nations trace their heritage back to Cahokia,
03:44carrying forward its deep knowledge and traditions.
03:47The scramble for Africa, multiple civilizations.
03:50Whether in bustling cities or remote villages, the 1880s and 90s were years of terrifying upheaval in Africa.
03:59In the late 19th century, one of the most brutal and ruthless periods of colonization began.
04:04This was the scramble for Africa, a period when European powers suddenly realized
04:09they had the technology to subjugate an entire continent.
04:12Fleet upon fleet of foreign soldiers armed with new weaponry
04:16and a sense of entitlement descended as if overnight.
04:20In 1884, Western powers met at the Berlin Conference to divide most of the continent between them
04:27with no regard for the indigenous people's opinions.
04:30This conference led to some of the most inhumane practices,
04:33from Britain's invention of concentration camps to Belgian King Leopold II
04:38creating arguably the most disgusting colonial state in history.
04:42To list all the nations destroyed in this brutal period would require an entire video on its own.
04:47In the space of just 20 years, 90% of Africa was brought under European occupation.
04:54The Plague of Justinian – Multiple Civilizations
04:57The Plague of Justinian is the first plague to have been documented as caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis.
05:03In the 6th century CE, the bubonic plague originated in the eastern Mediterranean
05:08and then quickly spread throughout the Eastern Roman Empire.
05:12It decimated the population and thwarted the empire for centuries.
05:16It was called the Plague of Justinian after the Byzantine emperor who caught but survived the disease.
05:21It spread beyond the empire, affecting Western Europe, North Africa and the Middle East as well.
05:27The plague travelled along the Silk Road,
05:29but it is also believed to have been spread via the supply trains of Justinian I's army.
05:35While it didn't outright destroy any civilizations, it ruined many for centuries.
05:40Estimates of death range from 15 to 100 million people, a staggering amount, especially at the time.
05:47Records suggest it persisted in some form well into the 8th century and significantly altered the course of history.
05:54In turn, however, the disease helped catapult crucial advancements in science and public health,
06:00very well making plague pandemics a thing of the past.
06:04The Indus Valley Collapse – The Indus Valley Civilization
06:08The people of the Indus Civilization already engaged in international trade that spanned the Pacific Ocean 4,500 years ago.
06:17The Indus Valley Civilization was one of the earliest known human civilizations.
06:22Founded in 3300 BCE, it had completely disappeared by 1300 BCE.
06:28Located in modern-day Pakistan and India, they had sophisticated cities and writing and thrived along the Indus River.
06:36The existence of a unique alphabet system proved that they were an advanced society.
06:41Their urban planning and trade networks were advanced, but eventually the civilization experienced a severe decline.
06:48Currently, we believe this is due to severe climate change.
06:51This would have suddenly caused droughts and tectonic activity may have caused rivers to shift course, crippling agriculture.
06:59Their once flourishing capital cities fell into ruin, their complex society dismantled.
07:04This early civilization suffered from natural disasters and invaders.
07:09After a prolonged period of suffering, they resettled around the Ganges.
07:14This collapse ruined one of the world's earliest urban cultures and reshaped the historical trajectory of South Asia.
07:21The Dutch East India Company – Multiple Civilizations
07:25During the 17th century, the three letters BOC formed the world's most recognizable logo.
07:32These initials belonged to the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or the Dutch East India Company.
07:39The Dutch East India Company, or VOC, was established in 1602 in a pivotal moment for global history.
07:46As the world's first multinational corporation, they sought to dominate the spice trade in Asia.
07:51Eventually, they became the richest company of all time and would be worth roughly $7.8 trillion in the modern era.
07:59By comparison, in 2018, Apple reached $1 trillion in valuation.
08:04But such success came with an overwhelming cost in human life.
08:08Its aggressive expansion and practices caused the exploitation and subjugation of numerous Southeast Asian regions, such as the Moluccas and Java.
08:18Their interventions not only caused immediate suffering, but also had long-term effects on the economic, political, and social structures of the civilizations.
08:26They also set a precedent for colonial exploitation, inspiring Western powers to follow in their footsteps.
08:33Sadly, the Dutch East India Company wasn't the last corporation to use violence to protect profits.
08:39The Mongol Invasion – Multiple Civilizations
08:42Genghis Khan's legacy today is his reputation as a great conqueror and ruthless ruler.
08:48Under him, the Mongols were able to sweep out of Central Asia and take over most of the known world.
08:55In the 13th century, Genghis Khan's Mongol horde emerged from the steppes of Asia.
09:00They were an unstoppable force, and in only a few decades conquered the majority of Asia.
09:05They subjugated China and decimated Eastern Europe.
09:08Beijing threw its gates open to the Mongols, who showed no mercy as they savagely ransacked the city.
09:14Few civilizations were unaffected by their conquests.
09:18Some examples are the Xia and Jin dynasties of China, the Kievan Rus' in Russia, and the Abbasid Caliphate in the Middle East.
09:26These invasions wreaked unparalleled havoc across the entirety of Eurasia.
09:31Cities were razed, societies destabilized, roughly 10% of the entire world's population perished.
09:38These conquests reshaped entire regions, causing widespread suffering and the fragmentation of many civilizations.
09:46Under the inspired leadership of the first great Mongol leader, Genghis Khan, the Mongolian Empire expanded at a rate never before witnessed in human history.
09:58Conquering the Aztec Empire led to the destruction of one of the greatest civilizations that was known in the world at that time.
10:05The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, culminating in 1251, was a cataclysmic event that destroyed Mesoamerica's most advanced civilization.
10:14Hernan Cortes led the Spanish forces, aided by indigenous allies and powerful weaponry, and besieged the beautiful lake city of Tenochtitlan.
10:23Cortes' legacy is a complex one. On one hand, he is the conqueror of Mexico. He brought and extended the Spanish Empire.
10:33But from the indigenous point of view, he was a mass murderer.
10:37At the time of conquest, it was one of the world's largest cities, home to over 200,000 people.
10:43Eventually, after intense battles and disastrous outbreaks of smallpox, the population was decimated.
10:49The Spanish destroyed the temples, palaces, and records, erasing much of Aztec culture and history.
10:55This pivotal moment obliterated the Aztec Empire and initiated centuries of exploitation in the Americas.
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11:18The Fourth Crusade – The Eastern Roman Empire
11:21The Fourth Crusade began in 1202 and culminated in the sacking of Constantinople in 1204.
11:28This was one of the most destructive events in history and the nail in the coffin for the centuries-old Roman Empire.
11:34Countless works of art, architecture, and cultural landmarks were destroyed.
11:39The Western Crusaders looted vast amounts of treasures from the city, from which it would not recover for centuries.
11:45This catastrophe resulted in immense loss of life, the dispersal of a thriving population,
11:51and the obliteration of crucial cultural and historical heritage.
11:55This unparalleled destruction makes it one of the most heinous moments that ruined a civilization.
12:01Leave your thoughts on which moment you think was the most destructive in the comments below.
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