What are the greatest examples of the butterfly effect / chaos theory in history?

One of the greatest butterfly effects in history is in 1171, when some Tatars decide to poison a local clan chief.

How can this be a big deal, stuff like this happens all the time in the Steppes of Siberia. Well, it drove his family to live in poverty, and his Son was left with a desire for revenge. That son, who was named Temujin, and his ambition to control the Mongolian plains gave him the name of Genghis Khan, leader of all Mongols.

His warriors take over China, Persia, Korea, Central Asia, Iraq, and Russia, killing roughly 10% of the entire human population on Earth in the course of the conquest.

But the Butterfly effect doesn’t end there.

First: The Turks displaced by the Mongols find settlements in Anatolia. The climate of the region is very similar to Central Asia, but far more valuable due to the Black and Mediterranean Sea coasts.

Out of this region, a kingdom ruled by the House of Osman takes over Anatolia and what’s left of The Byzantine Empire in 1453, becoming the Ottoman Empire.


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Second: With the Ottomans blocking off the Red Sea ports from Europe, the Kingdom of Portugal invests in long distance trade. Being the first nation to sail across Africa and into the Indian Ocean. This cuts the prices of valuable spices by 90% and encourages other European countries to do the same.

Portugal’s newly united neighbor, Spain decides to sail across the Atlantic to get to India, but they “discover” two new continents instead.

Third: Back in Asia, the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty is overthrown by the Ming.

But with the fear of any future Mongol invasions, they take a far more isolationist policy to invest in building the Great Wall of China.

This isolationism eventually backfires on China centuries later, leading to its century of Humiliation.

Fourth: In Eastern Europe, a duchy called Muscovy that built itself on trade with the Mongols, rises up and unifies the region.

This was how Russia was created.

Summary: The death of a local Mongolian tribesman motivated his son to establish a large empire, whose legacy displaced the Turks into forming the Ottomans, the weakening of China, the creation of Russia, and the discovery of the Americas, and Europe’s power in the following centuries.


This information was taken from Quora. Click here to view the original post.

Do you think such phenomenon as "butterfly effect" really exists?

#History #Society #Quora

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What are your thoughts on this subject?
27 Comments
Harvey Jones
Here’s another: Eve took a bite of the apple....
14
Oct 25, 2019 9:17AM
AskMrsP
Very interesting and well laid out. Thank you.
7
May 7, 2020 6:50PM
Anasazi
Barack Obama insulted Donald Trump at a banquet. Donald Trump decided to run for President. Donald Trump was elected President. The rest is history.
6
Jan 18, 2020 5:01PM
argyleranger
A lot of good information, but only partially correct. Love the subject
0
Aug 4, 2024 10:14PM
tdelisi
Sounds a bit more like the PBS TV series Connections from the 1980’s. Might have been a BBC show originally.
0
Aug 23, 2023 5:43PM
Allison Aspden
Interesting history - of the Butterfly Effect.
2
Jan 21, 2023 7:25PM
Clarence Quismundo
Some are probably great coincidences. The common underlying factor in all of these is the basic human nature that caters to violence, conquest and revenge. This is how all wars started.
4
Aug 12, 2022 8:12AM
Janet Bukey
Interesting 🧐 Denny Quigley,
0
Aug 2, 2020 10:08PM
Janet Bukey
Anasazi, yes he did, 👍
0
Aug 2, 2020 10:07PM
Chris Davis
More like Hegal's dialectic.
0
Nov 29, 2019 5:32PM
Larrynancy Minor
Simple cause-and-effect
2
Oct 30, 2019 10:17AM
Denny Quigley
I have read that Gengis fathered around 1000 kids. A significant percentage of the population of the day. As a result there is a good chance that we have at least some of Gengis' DNA in us.
2
Sep 27, 2019 10:07AM
Robert L Hutchison
Would the founding of the United States be considered as one!
1
Sep 18, 2019 5:15PM
Judy Wilson
Very interesting information. I learnt a lot!!
4
Sep 17, 2019 7:03PM
Patricia Nielsen
Thanks for sharing this. It was very interesting and you did learn how trade became so popular back then, and how it eventually spread to start a new country. Yes, did learn something new.
2
Sep 13, 2019 4:44PM

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