The Worst Time to Be Alive

Sure, the entire world has never ended before. Not all at once. Depending on how you define words like "world" and "end."

But...

There have been plenty of times in history where it sure tasted like the world was ending, where the future didn't look so bright, where everything might as well have ended for lots and lots of people.

According to historians, the absolute worst time to be alive was 536-550 AD, when three different volcanic eruptions blotted out the sun across most of the planet. During the first one, the sky went dark for 18 months. It snowed in the summer. An ash sky lit a cycle of droughts and floods that upended agriculture. Crops failed all over the world, and then starvation began.

Societies collapsed.

Records from Rome to Japan reference the events. Archaeologists have found a layer of ash virtually everywhere. They've also discovered abnormalities in tree rings around the world during that period.

Nobody was spared.