What Cities Have Burned and Been Rebuilt?
Cities are Burning!
Throughout the history of civilization, one of the great fears of mankind has been large urban fires. When a city burns the loss of life and property damage can be horrific, but afterwards a city may rebuild and renew itself. History is full of examples of fire destroying a large part of a city only to have its people create a brand new and improved city in its place.
The classic example of a Great Fire in history is when 72% of Rome burned in 64 AD. There is a great deal of speculation about what actually happened to start the fire (Did Emperor Nero start the fire? Did he play a fiddle during the fire? Did fiddles exist in 1st century Rome? Was he playing the Electric Six hit, "Fire in the Disco"?), but what is known is that it took over 30 years to rebuild Rome and that it resulted in the creation of beautiful new parks and architectural design.
When Rome burned, the people needed someone to blame, and both Christians and Jews were used as scapegoats. This unfortunately happened in many of the great fires: the people in London blamed Dutch and French immigrants, in Chicago a story was fabricated that the fire was started by a Catholic immigrant, and the Japanese in Tokyo blamed the Korean community after their great fire.
What caused the Great Fire of London?
The fire started in a bakery around midnight and spread quickly because all structures at the time were made of wood, and every home used candles, oil, coal, and gas for light and heat. (It is interesting to note that catastrophic city fires for the most part came to an end with the introduction of the electric light bulb.)
How come only 6 people died in the London fire and 3000 died in San Francisco?
The number 6 comes from the number of identified bodies after the Great Fire of London. That number is in question for two reasons: 1) Many bodies were likely destroyed by the heat of the fire; and 2) in 1666 London it is unlikely that anyone would have bothered to count casualties among the very poor.
Was the Chicago Fire really started by a cow?
The story of a cow owned by a Catholic immigrant starting the Great Chicago Fire was made up by a reporter who thought it made an interesting and colorful story. The reporter for 'The Chicago Republican' newspaper admitted to the lie soon after the fire.
Why did so many people die in the Tokyo fire?
Rome = 3,000 dead, London = 6, Chicago = 250, San Francisco = 3,000, Tokyo = 140,000 dead?!?!? What the heck happened in Tokyo? The huge fire in Tokyo was actually the result of a massive earthquake that took place when everyone in the city was cooking lunch. The earthquake is estimated to have been over 7.2 in magnitude (a 93 ton statue sitting nearly 40 miles away from the epicenter of the quake slid 2 feet during this quake). So not only was there a huge fire, but the quake damaged all the water mains and the roads making it nearly impossible to fight the fire. In addition, the fire created a "fire whirl" in a large market killing 38,000 people in about 15 minutes (a "fire whirl" is a tornado made of fire... A TORNADO MADE OF FIRE!!).
Was the burning of Changsha in China done on purpose?
During the Second Sino-Japanese war, just a few years before the outbreak of World War II, the city of Changsha was about to be attacked by Japanese forces. The Chinese military leader Chiang Kai-shek worried that the city could not resist the Japanese forces and had the absolutely brilliant idea to save the city by... burning the city. This act of arson not only caused 3,000 deaths, it destroyed 90% of a 2,000 year old city, causing incalculable loss in cultural and historical artifacts. Also, he was completely wrong about the city's ability to defend itself, as the people of Changsha, even after the fire destroyed their city, repulsed the Japanese army 3 times in the coming years.
