Although the plague-powered rise of the Ottomans had an enormous impact on Europe, the Black Death also transformed the continent from within by fundamentally changing the way in which people—particularly in the north—related to their God.
After completing this section, it could be argued that the author feels the Black Death is responsible for the rise of Islam which expanded across the continent resulting in a more cohesive culture. This culture reestablished trade routes with the West and reignitied Western interest in the Far East & Asia. This interest caused exploration and culminated in the discovery of the New World.
In high school, I recall teachers explaining that the Black Death decimated Europe - and that's pretty much it. If history teachers used the Black Death as a spring board to talk about the rise of Islam, it may have helped students (and myself) better understand future events like the First World War. The Ottoman Emipre is portrayed as a minor character in the First World War. Its defeat and dismemberment is not stressed - it created perhaps the largest power vaccum at the start of the 20th century.
