Sure, modern life has its headaches—traffic jams, rising prices, and video calls that freeze mid-sentence. But if you think things are rough now, history has plenty of years that make today’s problems look like minor hiccups.
Here’s a look at years when being alive was seriously unlucky.
536: The Year the Sun Forgot to Shine
Can you imagine waking up to gloomy skies every day for over a year? That’s what happened in 536, when a massive volcanic eruption (likely in Iceland) darkened skies across Europe and Asia. Crops failed, and famine spread fast. Byzantine writer Procopius said the sun gave off light “like the moon.”
1348: Plague Takes the Lead
Spread by fleas and worsened by terrible sanitation, this year wiped out around one-third of Europe’s population in a matter of months. Bodies piled up, entire towns were abandoned, and people turned to desperate measures. No one really understood what was happening, which only added to the panic.
1816: The Year Without a Summer
You know things are bad when summer ghosts you. After Mount Tambora erupted in 1815, the following year saw cold and crop failures across Europe and North America. People went hungry, and even horses froze. Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein that year because it was too cold to go outside.
1918: A Double Blow—WWI, Pandemic Begins
WWI was finally wrapping up, but just as officers came home, the Spanish Flu entered. This flu hit young, healthy adults the hardest. It spread fast, overwhelmed hospitals, and filled obituaries worldwide. In less than two years, somewhere between 25 and 50 million people were gone.
1520: Smallpox Shows Up in the Americas
When European explorers arrived in the Americas, they brought ships, flags, and smallpox–apparently. This was a disease native populations had never encountered. Since they had no immunity, indigenous communities were devastated. In some regions, up to 90% of the population was wiped out.
1783: Iceland’s Laki Volcano Keeps Erupting
For eight months, the Laki volcanic fissure in Iceland spewed sulfur and ash across the globe. Crops withered, livestock dropped, and famine spread. Iceland lost about a quarter of its people. The toxic clouds drifted through Europe and even weakened rainfall in places as far as Egypt.
1945: Humanity Invents New Ways to End Things
WWII ended in 1945, but not without an awful final chapter. That year saw atomic explosives dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, instantly ending 100,000 lives. The conflict technically ended, but the emotional, physical, and nuclear aftermath haunted the world—and still does.
1929: Markets Crash, and So Does Hope
On October 29, 1929—now remembered as Black Tuesday—the U.S. stock market collapsed. People lost their savings overnight, and banks went under. This marked the start of the Great Depression, which stretched globally. What followed was years of hunger and homelessness.
541: The Plague of Justinian Hits Constantinople
A strain of bubonic plague arrived in Constantinople in 541 and spread like wildfire. Estimates suggest up to half the city’s population perished in a matter of months. Emperor Justinian caught the disease but survived. And it didn’t stop there—this plague kept returning for the next 200 years.
2001: The September 2001 Conflict
The early 2000s started with optimism, but 2001 changed the mood dramatically. In September, coordinated plane attacks took nearly 3,000 lives in the U.S. The events reshaped international policies, global travel, and public security. That same year, the dot-com bubble burst and wiped out tech investors.
1968: Hope Gets Sucker-Punched
If the ‘60s were all peace and love, 1968 brought the hangover. That year saw the loss of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, which set off riots and grief across the U.S. Abroad, Vietnam escalated with the Tet Offensive. Protests broke out in Paris, Prague, Chicago, and more.
74,000 BC: Humanity Hits a Bottleneck
Scientists believe a volcanic eruption at Lake Toba in modern-day Indonesia nearly wiped out early humans. The eruption triggered a volcanic winter, which caused temperatures to drop dramatically and resulted in a decade of extreme cold.
2020: The Modern Pandemic
Remember washing groceries and cutting your hair? The year 2020 felt like a decade crammed into twelve months. COVID-19 forced millions into isolation and overwhelmed hospitals. Protests, economic chaos, and political unrest followed. Zoom fatigue became a thing. While modern medicine helped, the emotional and financial toll of 2020 lingers.
1847: The Great Hunger Deepens in Ireland
While the Irish Potato Famine spanned several years, 1847—nicknamed “Black ’47”—was by far the worst. Failed crops led to mass starvation, and those who fled often didn’t survive the journey. Disease ran wild on overcrowded ships, and the country’s population plummeted.
1932: Soviet Ukraine Starves Under Policy
In 1932, Soviet policies demanded impossible grain quotas from Ukrainian farmers. When they couldn’t meet them, authorities seized their food anyway. As millions starved, officials kept it quiet. This tragedy wasn’t caused by nature but by control, secrecy, and cold political strategy.