Great Fears of the Past

In our days, people often explain everything that happens with the help of conspiracy theories. This was also the case in past centuries. Belief in secret conspiracies and the machinations of unknown forces determined the course of historical events. In the distant past, when an epidemic broke out in one European country or another, foreigners, people of a different faith, were considered the spreaders of the disease. Measures to protect against the epidemic often boiled down to the persecution of Jews. An ancient legend exists that Jews use the blood of baptized infants to perform rituals during their holidays. Richard III entered history as a cruel, universally hated tyrant. However, modern researchers suggest looking differently at one of the most famous kings of England. During the reign of Henry VIII, England changed beyond recognition. Where success could not be achieved openly, this king resorted to the cunning that was inherent to his soul from birth. The worst Englishman of the 17th century was named Titus Oates. Who is he? Hispanophobia began to spread in Europe on the eve of the Reformation and finally took shape during the prolonged wars between Protestant states and Catholic Spain in the 16th century, but the term itself appeared recently—just over a hundred years ago. Opponents of the Spaniards accused them of mass crimes against the indigenous population of America, while similar crimes committed subsequently by Englishmen in North America, or by Englishmen, French, and Belgians in Africa, were simply hushed up. The eve of the French Revolution has long been called the time of the Great Fear by historians. The panic that seized France at that time changed the course of world history for a long time. It was no longer possible to live as before.