Famines in the Czech lands

Excessive rain, cold temperatures, hail, warfare, and disease are the main causes of famines in the Czech lands.

The first recorded famine in the Czech lands occurred from 1272 to 1282 and was caused by warfare and weather, which decreased the volume of crops harvested in the region.

This first instance of famine caught the inhabitants off guard and caused 600,000 deaths, mostly through endemic plagues, although there were some occurrences of cannibalism.

The Hussite Wars were fought in Bohemia between the followers of the executed Jan Hus, a contributor to the Protestant movement.

A famine following the War of the Austrian Succession in 1748 killed 1,200 people in Doksy, a city in the northern Czech lands.