The cruelty of the First World War, which we still remember vividly, is the first war in human history to affect the whole world, involving hundreds of millions of people, weapons, tanks and fighter jets that have taken the lives of countless people, when people endure hunger, despair, and the horror of war, everyone longs for peace, and finally in November 1918, the war ended. But ending the war was not a victory for one side, but a flu that ended the First World War prematurely, and it was the terrible Spanish flu.
(The Spanish flu is an unprecedented catastrophe))
Spanish flu
Spanish influenza, is the second deadliest infectious disease in human history, influenza is a synonym that makes many disease control experts and doctors stand up straight when they hear it, and some people may confuse it with the cold, or call it the common flu, but the flu and the common cold, the two have an essential difference. Colds are called Cold in English, and Flu is Influenza, and the two are fundamentally different diseases.
(A large number of flu soldiers were admitted to the medical tents on the front line.)
The Spanish flu was the most terrifying flu ever recorded in the world, with a mortality rate of 2.5%-5%, and at that time, only a small island in the Amazon estuary was the only human gathering place in the world that was not infected with influenza.
(Soldiers are in pain from the flu)
At first, there was no such flu virus in the main battlefield in Europe, because the participation of the American army in the war caused this, because the German army succeeded in the war on the Eastern Front, so it was freed from the dilemma of fighting on the two fronts, which was bad news for the Allies, when the Allies could not hold on, the United States finally entered the war, but at the same time as the us ships arrived on the European continent, it also brought an unprecedented "terror": the Spanish flu.
(Most of the people infected with the Spanish flu are young adults in their 20s.)
Because the United States only had an army of only 180,000 people at that time, in order to support the war, the United States mobilized the whole people for war preparations, recruited millions of young people to join the army, this mixed crowd created the perfect conditions for the emergence of influenza, these soldiers with the virus, came to the main battlefield of Europe, and infected the entire European continent and even the whole world at a terrible speed.
"The Hand of God?" The war was over
Some people have said that this flu virus was created by God to end the First World War, and what is difficult to understand is that this flu basically rested quietly at the same time as the end of the First World War. In order to let humanity know who is in charge of life, a four-year world war has killed 21 million people, while the Spanish flu has taken 27 million lives in just a few months.
(At that time, people wore masks to prevent influenza.)
A few days before the outbreak, the Germans were very happy, the arrival of the flu caused the Entente army to be greatly weakened, and the Kaiser was still confident that his army would not be affected, but a few days later thousands of German soldiers from the front line were infected with the flu, and the rows of coffins transported from Berlin broke the last line of defense of the Kaiser's heart. Morale in the German army plummeted, and finally in the shadow of death, they gave up resistance and signed an armistice, and the First World War ended.