Great Fears of the Past

In our days, people often explain everything that happens through conspiracy theories. This was also the case in past centuries. Belief in secret plots and the machinations of unknown forces determined the course of historical events. In ancient times, when an epidemic broke out in a European country, outsiders, people of different faiths, were considered the spreaders of the infection. Measures to protect against the epidemic often boiled down to the persecution of Jews. An old legend holds that Jews use the blood of baptized infants for rituals during their holidays. Richard III is known in history as a cruel, universally hated tyrant. However, modern researchers suggest looking at one of England's most famous kings in a different light. During the reign of Henry VIII, England changed beyond recognition. Where it was impossible to achieve success openly, this king resorted to treachery, inherent to his soul from birth. Titus Oates was named the worst Englishman of the 17th century. Who is he? Anti-Spanish sentiment began to spread in Europe on the eve of the Reformation and was finally shaped during the prolonged wars between Protestant states and Catholic Spain in the 16th century, but the very term appeared recently — just over a hundred years ago. Opponents of the Spaniards accused them of mass crimes against the indigenous people of America, while similar crimes committed subsequently by the English in North America, or by the English, 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 engulfed France at that time changed the course of world history for a long time. It was no longer possible to live as before.