What Was The Worst Year In Human History? | Answers With Joe

We're living in trying times, maybe you heard that somewhere? But there have definitely been worse times to be alive. In today's video, we look back at some of the worst years in human history, including one year that historians seem to agree was the worst of them all.

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Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:38 - We didn't start the fire
2:33 - 1347
4:35 - 1177 BC
6:09 - 1816
7:34 - 1914
9:25 - 1492
11:20 - 536, The Worst Year Ever
13:31 - Conclusion

[erictaylor]

Something to consider: You are a decedent of *ALL* of these terrible years. Your ancestors lived through them all, even when most of the people around them were dying.

[marnerice]

How about a video about what the "Best Year to be Alive"? It would be an interesting and maybe thought provoking to contrast the two,

[jordannicole]

I have been telling coworkers for years- it isn’t that “things have gotten worse” it is that they have access to information about a crime or event that happened on the other side of the globe about 5 minutes after it occurred. A huge part of it is simply access to information. Bad things have always happened- all around the world. We are simply more connected than ever before. Doesn’t mean things aren’t bad- but it is so important to keep that in perspective.

[muckinabaht]

I've also heard of 1942 as a strong contender for worst year ever. Bataan happened that year, as did most of the horrors at Stalingrad, and the fall of Shanghai. The Final Solution was agreed upon that year and death camps started opening up, executive order 9066 was signed in the US, the Manhattan project really got going, Guadalcanal was fought... WWII was overall pretty shitty, but 1942 has a lot of major hallmarks.

[clonedpraxis]

Mao: "Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed"
Joe: "War is spicy politics"

[stevengiallourakis]

Thank you for starting the video this way. I am a 5-time cancer survivor and what you described there is exactly how people feel when they are diagnosed. These things like "new normal" are told to all patients who end up with a new life altering dianosis. The point I am trying to make here is that we all have experienced a collective trauma. This uniting event should provide the backdrop for some incredible conversations. Recall when our politicians were screaming about how bad the mental effects of the lockdowns and mask wearing etc. This is the time to have conversations about mental health, depression and anxiety. We need to talk about addiction, abuse, and so many other society shattering epidemics that hit all of us, no matter your race or political belief.

In the last 15 years i have had cancer 5-times and there were 4 different types. I have lost scores of friends to addiction, depression, and most of all cancer. I know I am not the only one.

Love you all

[holocene]

Apparently, we're living through the most stable, peaceful times in history. It's hard to see it that way when you're living in those times but our ancestors had to go through much worse! However, I feel like the fact they didn't know what was going on in the World was a huge blessing...

[laughingachilles]

1988 was the worst year in human history....my brother was born.

[Dania]

I literally laughed out loud when you said ‘Picture it! It was Sicily…’ and you put a picture of Sophia from the Golden Girls! It was just a perfect moment!

[wp]

“The Year of Hell" was the name that was given to the events taking place in 2374 by the crew of the USS Voyager, specifically a series of conflicts with the Krenim Imperium.

[jamessharier]

Your presentation using humor even on the touchiest of subjects is refreshing and enlightening. Keep up the great work

[qatestbrian]

And deep into the 1800s parents could expect something like 1/2 their children would die before reaching adulthood. Not the worst year but horrible nonetheless.

[Sam]

I think calling it “Spanish flu” is such a cool piece of history in that Spain get credit for being able to report on it almost exclusively. I’m sure their reporting likely saved lives elsewhere in the world.

[damienstitchman]

I felt that intro in my soul. It's honestly infuriating to hear the same announcement about covid every 5 minutes in the grocery store.

[romaintagliaferro]

I am so glad to see as an archeologist that you are not jumping on clonclusions as most youtubers do to appear more "flashy"
Love what you do

[shawnwales]

Interesting take, similar yo "crime is the worst ever!", hysteria, while statisticly speaking, crime has been trending down since the 1980s. We hear more about it, so it feels like there's more, when there's actually less (blips due to the pandemic notwithstanding.)

[jessedollin]

"Surely if you put all your 20 something junior writers in a room with a bottle of whiskey and a bag of edibles" had me rolling. Hats of to you sir. That was some speech craft if ever I've heard it!

[ptonpc]

'Fun Fact' I remember reading about the Empress of Ireland. One of the reasons she was forgotten is the death toll was comprised of more crew than passengers. The crew had stayed at the posts as long as possible, enabling more passengers to survive. There are tales of crew taking off their own life jackets to passengers. Stewards stayed at their posts trying to close water tight doors to buy time for people on the decks above them, most of those assigned to the water tight doors drowned.

[Cocoanutty]

I had no idea I’m part of the female minority watching Answers with Joe. Makes me a little sad honestly, women are missing out.

[musicmaniac]

Ngl, my biggest takeaway from this video is that Joe needs to start a dating site for the single portion of his 16% female audience who wouldn't mind wading through any similarly single portion of the 84% male viewers. Come on, Joe. Hook a sista up with a smart single man in his 30s.