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The US barely won the revolution. Luckily during the war, a volcano (Laki, Iceland) threw Europe & much of the British empire (including India & Africa) into a

The US barely won the revolution. Luckily during the war, a volcano (Laki, Iceland) threw Europe & much of the British empire (including India & Africa) into a multiyear drought, causing one of the coldest/longest winters in the USA. About 3 months after the eruption formal negotiations to end the war began. No eruption, possibly no USA but historical accounts I've seen rarely mention the role of mother nature.

fouc 7y ago
I've never heard of this idea. That's fascinating!
Causality1 7y ago
I don't think the timing makes sense for that. The Laki eruption was eight months long. Three months isn't enough time for Britain to have felt economic pressure from crop failures and related impacts and then for that pressure to build into political change.
- jimclegg 7y ago
  Seems possible with a powerful enough eruption. The UK is periodically affected by mild Icelandic volcanic activity and this reads like an extraordinary event. "The system erupted violently over an eight-month period between June 1783 and February 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining volcano Grímsvötn, pouring out an estimated 42 billion tons or 14 km3 (3.4 cu mi) of basalt lava and clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide compounds that contaminated the soil, leading to the death of over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, and the destruction of the vast majority of all crops. This led to a famine which then killed approximately 25% of the island's human population.[4] The lava flows also destroyed 20 villages. The Laki eruption and its aftermath caused a drop in global temperatures, as 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide was spewed into the Northern Hemisphere. This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in North Africa and India." It goes on, in relation to the UK... "Inhaling sulfur dioxide gas causes victims to choke as their internal soft tissue swells – the gas reacts with the moisture in lungs and produces sulfurous acid.[20] The local death rate in Chartres was up by 5% during August and September, with more than 40 dead. In Great Britain, the east of England was most affected. The records show that the additional deaths were among outdoor workers; the death rate in Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire and the east coast was perhaps two or three times the normal rate. It has been estimated that 23,000 British people died from the poisoning.[21]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki

fouc 7y ago

I've never heard of this idea. That's fascinating!

Causality1 7y ago

I don't think the timing makes sense for that. The Laki eruption was eight months long. Three months isn't enough time for Britain to have felt economic pressure from crop failures and related impacts and then for that pressure to build into political change.

jimclegg 7y ago
Seems possible with a powerful enough eruption. The UK is periodically affected by mild Icelandic volcanic activity and this reads like an extraordinary event. "The system erupted violently over an eight-month period between June 1783 and February 1784 from the Laki fissure and the adjoining volcano Grímsvötn, pouring out an estimated 42 billion tons or 14 km3 (3.4 cu mi) of basalt lava and clouds of poisonous hydrofluoric acid and sulfur dioxide compounds that contaminated the soil, leading to the death of over 50% of Iceland's livestock population, and the destruction of the vast majority of all crops. This led to a famine which then killed approximately 25% of the island's human population.[4] The lava flows also destroyed 20 villages. The Laki eruption and its aftermath caused a drop in global temperatures, as 120 million tons of sulfur dioxide was spewed into the Northern Hemisphere. This caused crop failures in Europe and may have caused droughts in North Africa and India." It goes on, in relation to the UK... "Inhaling sulfur dioxide gas causes victims to choke as their internal soft tissue swells – the gas reacts with the moisture in lungs and produces sulfurous acid.[20] The local death rate in Chartres was up by 5% during August and September, with more than 40 dead. In Great Britain, the east of England was most affected. The records show that the additional deaths were among outdoor workers; the death rate in Bedfordshire, Lincolnshire and the east coast was perhaps two or three times the normal rate. It has been estimated that 23,000 British people died from the poisoning.[21]" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laki