Fire - one of the most severe disasters that can befall a person.Raging elements brings destruction and death.History is replete with tragic stories, when fires destroyed entire cities.One of them happened in the capital of England in 1666.What caused the Great Fire of London?There are several versions of the tragedy.
Description fire
fire broke out on September 2 and raged on September 5, 1666.For three days the flames destroyed almost the entire city.Homeless left 70 thousand residents, it's a given that the then London's population was 80 million.It burned down 13,500 houses, 90 churches, including the main church of the city - St Paul's Cathedral, almost all government buildings - Royal Exchange, the main post office, Custom House, Bridewell prison, Castle Beynards.
Great Fire of London in 1966 threatened to spill over into the area of the aristocrats of Westminster, the palace caught fire near Whitehall.Not only the fire reached some suburban slums.
What caused the Great Fire of London?
There are several assumptions about the disaster in the capital of England in 1666.According to the official version, the reason was the fire at night in the house of a baker (Thomas Farringera) on Pudding Lane, the street that led to the great Fire of London.
Fire could not locate, baker family had to flee.They climbed over the top floor of the house to the neighbors.Their maid was killed.The fire spread to the west.His "food" became the neighboring houses and the property casualty citizens who began to run out in panic from their homes with their belongings.
When the Great Fire of London, the public opinion confirmed that the arsonists - foreigners.Suspicion fell on the French and the Dutch, with whom England was at war.From the hands of the crowd panicked during the fire killed many foreigners.To appease the crowd, he was charged and hanged a Hubert Robert, who begged for mercy.Later it turned out that at the time of the fire Hubert was not even in London.
also born opinion about the arson of the city with the aim of destroying the bubonic plague.However, this version can be traced only a few private recordings and confirmed by research of historians.
Why fire failed to stop at the very beginning?
Great Fire of London in 1666 was the consequence of the reunification of certain objective factors with a chain of certain events.
First of all, almost all the buildings were made of wood in London, many of the roof - thatch.With the construction of buildings used flammable materials such as flax, hemp, tar and wood tar.In addition, the houses were built in such a way that each successive floor appeared above the bottom.Charles II in 1661, and in 1665 he published a decree banning protruding floors.But the local authorities and the population they were simply ignored.The medieval streets are very narrow, piled in the corners of rags and other debris.
Summer 1666 was marked by record-breaking heat.Wooden buildings have dried up in the heat that caused the Great Fire of London, more precisely, its scale.
Such a fire hazard situation supplemented inept actions of the mayor of the city, Lord Thomas Bladvorta who gave the order to destroy the timely adjacent to the house fire to stop the spread of fire.The next day after the disaster began, the mayor together with his family fled the city.The fire was extinguished by guards under the command of Charles II, the King's brother - the Duke of York.Even Charles II himself was directly involved in putting several public buildings.
the victims
Official data show that the Great Fire of London in 1666 claimed the lives of a few people - from 1 to 8 (according to different sources).However, the analysis of events and destruction says that the victims, of course, there was much more.
The fire spread very quickly, "food" for him were wooden houses, thatched roofs, trash on the streets.Crowds, smoke, panic - in any case it would lead to the victims on the streets.London prison burned down completely, but it is known that the prisoners were not evacuated, the information about them in any documents not found.It is assumed that they all burned in the fire.
It is known that thousands of local residents for their lives and property, hidden in stone Cathedral of St. Paul.They were convinced that the stone walls and the vast free area around the cathedral will protect them from the flames.However, the church at the time of the fire was in the woods, t. To. Is under construction.Cathedral burned down completely, it is difficult to assume that many were saved.
To be counted among the victims of the tragedy and the victims of the fire.Homeless and livelihoods, many people did not survive the severe winter of 1666-1667 years.Charles II, organizing assistance to the victims, put on the market, which will house those who lost shelter.But the products are sold on the market for the money speculators inflated prices.Again, the poorest people, not being able to buy bread, severely suffered from hunger.
Historians who study the Great Fire of London in 1666, talking about a few tens of thousands of victims.
After the fire
London was virtually destroyed.Damage from the fire was 10 million pounds (by today's standards, it's more than 1 billion pounds).It was suggested that several recovery plans in London.However, all new plans were expensive, in the treasury of this did not have the means.Therefore, the city rebuilt in the old place.But useful changes have been made: the streets are much wider, all the houses were built of stone, permanently banned overhanging floors, pass the Thames remained undeveloped.Restoration of the city engaged the architect Christopher Wren.
