A Scientist Recounts the Tale of Earth's Most Lethal Volcano and the Literary Magnus Opus That Emerged
A Scientist Recounts the Tale of Earth's Most Lethal Volcano and the Literary Magnus Opus That Emerged
In the scorching summers of 1816, a group of pals convened at Villa Diodati, a lavish dwelling situated close to Lake Geneva. Among those in attendance were Mary Godwin, her future husband Percy Shelley, and the renowned poet Lord Byron.
What was supposed to be a picturesque retreat in Switzerland, became a melancholic and cramped experience due to persistent rain and chilling temperatures. The bleak weather kept the companions cooped up indoors for days on end.
Boredom and restlessness eventually led to a friendly competition among this motley crew. They began the tradition of swapping ghost stories, and from their collective nightmares, came "Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus," a masterpiece that pioneered modern science fiction.
The ominous atmosphere that served as inspiration for Mary's literary masterpiece, was not merely coincidental. It was a direct consequence of a catastrophic volcanic eruption on another side of the world.
In April 1815, Mount Tambora in Indonesia erupted with an unprecedented force, spewing dust and sulfur into the atmosphere.
The aftermath plunged the world into what is now known as the "Year Without a Summer." While the melancholic mood at Villa Diodati gave birth to one of literature's most iconic monsters, Tambora's impact went far beyond the printed pages of Mary Shelley's novel. It also played a significant role in shaping crucial historical events.
Napoléon's Downfall
As Tambora's ash spread across Europe, it influenced one of history's most notable battles - the epic battle at Waterloo.
Exactly two months following Tambora's eruption, Napoléon Bonaparte, escaped exile on Elba, and set out on a final campaign. By June 1815, the French army engaged in a fierce confrontation with the British and Prussian forces at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium.
Historians often point to strategic blunders and fierce opposition as the reasons for Napoléon's defeat. However, the unpredictable weather, which was manipulated by Tambora's eruption, played a pivotal role. The volcanic ash in the atmosphere affected weather patterns across Europe and transformed the summer into a season of relentless downpour.
The torrential rains before the battle rendered the fields around Waterloo into an impassable sea of mud. Horses, cannons, and infantry alike struggled to navigate the muddy landscape. Napoléon's artillery, usually an essential component of his battlefield dominance, was especially hampered.
The heavy guns, which required a solid surface for stability, sank into the mud, causing delays in their deployment. This delay willingly benefitted Napoléon's adversaries, who used the time to fortify their positions and coordinate with Prussian reinforcements.
This delay proved costly. When the French attack finally commenced around midday, the British forces had already established strongholds on high ground. The muddy terrain slowed the French cavalry's charge, neutralizing their mobility and strength. Additionally, the delay provided an opportunity for Prussian troops to flank Napoléon's forces.
By evening, Napoléon's once formidable army was in disarray. A final desperate charge by the French Imperial Guard, Napoléon's elite troops, was repelled, sealing the battle's fate.
With heavy losses, Napoléon ordered a retreat. His aspirations for resurrecting his empire were crushed within weeks, and he eventually surrendered to the British, thus marking an end to his reign and his banishment to the remote island of Saint Helena.
China's Famine and the Rise of Opium Production
While Tambora's effects dominated Europe, it had the most lasting impact in China's Yunnan province. Rich in fertile valleys and a temperate climate, Yunnan was an ideal location for cultivating rice and other staple crops. However, the province faced three consecutive years of failed harvests from 1815 to 1818, resulting in a disastrous famine.
Incessant rains drowned fields, frosty weather destroyed crops, and food prices soared. This wretched situation transformed Yunnan's agricultural landscape, as climate-stressed farmers increasingly turned to opium cultivation for a reliable source of income.
The opium poppy plant proved resilient and profitable, cultivating well in Yunnan's soil and producing multiple harvests a year. Unlike rice or wheat, opium could be grown and sold to ensure financial stability even in times of climatic uncertainty. By the early 1820s, Yunnan had become a significant opium-producing region.
As Yunnan's output grew, the Qing government struggled to manage the consequences. By the mid-19th century, China's dependence on opium as a revenue source, as well as a coping mechanism for food insecurity, had become integral. The shift to opium cultivation and domestic consumption later resulted in China's vulnerability during the Opium Wars in the mid-19th century. Though British-imported opium sparked the conflicts, Yunnan's domestic production had primed the empire for its devastating consequences.
The Dawn of the Early Bicycle
Tambora's ash-induced climate anomalies spread further to Europe, where food shortages triggered more famines across the continent. Skyrocketing food prices led to a crisis in the availability of horses, which were vitally important for agriculture, transportation, and commerce.
Karl von Drais, a German forest inspector, was deeply impacted by this crisis. With horses becoming scarce, transportation in Baden, Germany, became an enormous challenge. Motivated by the predicament, Drais began designing a human-powered vehicle that could replace horses as the primary mode of transportation.
In 1817, Drais introduced the "Laufmaschine," often referred to as the "dandy horse," which would significantly influence the development of contemporary bicycles. This two-wheeled contraption, made of wood, had a cushioned seat, handlebars for steering, and relied on the rider pushing off the ground to attain speeds of up to 10 miles per hour. Despite lacking pedals, it pioneered the essential principle of balance, a fundamental element in modern bicycles.
The Prometheus Liaison
The catastrophe inflicted by Tambora was not solely physical; it hit the creative consciousness of the era as well. Following the havoc caused by Mount Tambora's eruption, the Greek myth of Prometheus, the Titan who defied the gods to bestow humankind with survival tools and enlightenment, resonated deeply with artists and thinkers wrestling with extraordinary natural and societal turmoil.
In 1816, Lord Byron wrote the chilling poem, Darkness, painting macabre images that mirrored the volcanic winter. This harrowing piece set the tone for a year permeated by existential despair. Approximately at the same time, Byron drafted Prometheus, embodying defiance and resilience - sentiments mirroring humanity's grit against nature's fury.
Percy Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, published in 1820, further expanded on these themes, presenting a vision of liberation and hope. Mary Shelley, his wife, created Frankenstein during that somber summer in Geneva, drawing parallels to Promethean struggles, as Victor Frankenstein pursued forbidden knowledge despite facing tragic consequences.
Even the music of the time echoed the gloom of Tambora. While Schubert's Prometheus might not have directly alluded to the eruption, his 1816 compositions emanated the melancholy and introspection of a world questioning its future.
Mount Tambora's eruption serves as a grim reminder of nature's ability to disrupt and stimulate, with climate change casting a shadow over our world today. How do you envision nature responding to the most severe effects of climate change in the near future? Take this quick quiz to assess your position on the Climate Change Worry Index.
The effects of Mount Tambora's eruption stretched beyond literary inspiration. Its volcanic ash significantly impacted the 'dandy horse', an early predecessor to the bicycle. Karl von Drais, a German forest inspector, developed the dandy horse as a means of transportation due to horse scarcity caused by the food crisis.
Moreover, Mount Tambora's eruption had a detrimental impact on China's Yunnan province. The region faced a disastrous three-year famine as a result of the climate anomalies brought about by the volcanic ash. Consequently, farmers turned to opium cultivation for a reliable source of income, leading to China's later vulnerability during the Opium Wars.
Lastly, Mount Tambora's volcanic winter, with its ominous atmosphere and relentless downpour, came to be symbolized in the Greek myth of Prometheus. Artists and thinkers in the era drew inspiration from this Titan, who defied the gods to bestow upon humanity survival tools and enlightenment, as they grappled with the natural and societal turmoil surrounding them.