Is COVID 19 a Turning Point in the History for Europe?
World is an interesting place for historians and those interested in history. There are so many unexplained and weird examples of results of historical events and actions. Take for example the lack of prosperity in world regions like countries in Latin America and India, in spite of their golden past, North America being most prosperous regions on the planet in spite of a poor start and a lack of natural resources in the region from the beginning of modern civilizations there.
There are many more hits and misses when one reads the other chronicles of history. For example forceful occupation of the Republic of Tibet after world war II by Chinese and lack of support and interest shown by the world of the killing of more than 1 million softhearted peace loving Buddhist monks by Chinese army (Kuzmin, 2011). Most notable however is the relative prosperity of West European nations after industrial revolution and a long phase of rule over large parts of the world. While the end of imperialism shrunk the hegemony of European nations particularly UK to their own territories but left them with huge wealth to enjoy for generations (Michael W. Doyle, 1986). In the course of time, this wealth ensured increased per ca pita consumption and relative higher life expectancy which kept their use of world resources to even higher levels. Enjoying the best quality of life, best health services and best of the working conditions, the inhabitants of these countries have really enjoyed the gains of their historical adventures. But in the course of these good times, somewhere the people of Western Europe seem to be doing less physical work, expects even better working conditions, even better health care, retirement benefits and most notably lesser working hours. For a long time, they could afford to expect such largesse at the cost of mother earth, but post COVID 19, such expectations seems to be proving a turning point in the history of Western Europe. With the severity with which the impact of COVID 19 is showing the dark side of a comfortable life, future of the region seems to less comfortable and more demanding. The writing on the wall is - if you want all the comforts of life you need to work hard. Increasing competition in the world and dwindling European growth were only the signs of an approaching difficult scenario which could be easily ignored for a prosperous region like West Europe. But COVID 19 and its impact on the region can not be ignored and is likely to leave a great impact in decades to come. It is still to see whether the impact will force the people of the region to awake from their comfort zone and start matching the way rest of the world work.
While infectious diseases are not a new phenomenon for the countries of Europe, the last major pandemic of disease was only felt in Europe in 1918 when Flu swept across the world killing almost 50 million people (Brought to life, 2020). In between only Polio brought back the panic for a decade following the world war. So Europe was not to be mentally prepared for such a catastrophe. Hence the pandemic is going to have a lasting impact on the psych of the people of European countries for sure.
No wonder, medical advancements in Europe has remained slow for several decades. While Small Pox has been eradicated, Malaria and Common Flu still kills millions. AIDS brings shivers in the spine there it is still regarded as manageable and has become the disease of the 'poor countries' where it brings much more deaths due to lack of knowledge and education (Brought to life, 2020). Medical research focus in Europe is presently more confined to diseases at the individual levels like Cancer and Heart Diseases. In this scenario COVID 19 pandemic has taken Europe by surprise and awe and likely to be a turning point in their history.
References
Brought to Life, Scheince Museum, retrieved on 31-Mar-2020 from https://broughttolife.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/themes/diseases
Kuzmin, S.L. Hidden Tibet: History of Independence and Occupation. Dharamsala, LTWA, 2011.
Michael W. Doyle, 1986, Empires, Cornell University Press