What if the Black Death was deadlier in Europe?
by u/Aofen
Between 1346 and 1351 an outbreak of the bubonic plague killed somewhere between one third and half of the population of Europe. This had major effects on European society, but the continent as a whole ultimately recovered, reaching its pre-plague population by about 1500. In this timeline, the plague is much worse for Europe, killing over 90% of the population across a large area of the continent. Organized feudal society collapses in much of western Europe, with large swaths of the continent reverting to a sparsely populated wilderness. This massive depopulation, akin to the impact of imported diseases in the Americas in our timeline, leaves Europe open to invasion and colonization from the surrounding areas. By 1650 most of Europe is controlled by countries formed in this conquest, with Arabic and Turkish being the continent’s main languages.