The Effects of World War I on the Spanish Flu History Essay Example

📌Category: Health, History, Pandemic, War, World War I
📌Words: 794
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 09 April 2022

While the high death toll caused by the Spanish Flu was likely inevitable due to the lack of modern medical facilities and treatments, World War I affected the spread of the virus as a result of crowded military barracks and packed trains that housed and transported soldiers. 

The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, had its first reported case at Camp Fort Riley during World War I (“First Cases”). This was to be expected considering that the war had a huge impact on not only the spread of the virus but the name, the Spanish Flu, as well. While many people caught the virus, younger people (20-40 years old) died more often than older people (Gagnon et al 1). Unlike today, there was no flu shot. Because of this, around fifty million people died from the virus. Scientists do not know where the virus came from. However, researchers have pointed to World War I as a main cause of the virus’s spread (Dove). The crowded barracks and packed trains that housed and transported troops during World War I, combined with the lack of modern medical facilities in the early 1900s, contributed to the transmission of the highly contagious Spanish Flu (“Nat Geo”). 

The reason for the name of this virus is interesting. In addition to helping spread the virus, conditions during the war were behind the name Spanish Flu as well. During World War I, nearly all of Europe was at war. There were two main sides in WWI: the Allies and the Central Powers. The Allies were made up of the British Empire, France, Belgium, and Russia (Nat Geo). Later, the United States joined the Allies as well. The Central Powers were made up of Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey (Nat Geo). Spain was one of the few neutral countries, and therefore, journalists were able to truthfully report the news. The countries at war suppressed negative news, such as news about the Spanish Flu, saying that their country was hardly affected by the virus (“First Cases”). These countries at war did not want their enemies taking advantage of their weaknesses. While it may have seemed like the Spanish Flu started in Spain, that was the result of censorship of the news during the war (Rogers). 

In addition to causing news about the Spanish Flu to be misrepresented and suppressed, World War I was responsible for the spread of the virus as well. Soldiers in the war were in close contact with many nauseating things, such as rats, lice, frogs, and disease (“Trench Warfare”). The trenches were unhygienic, tight spaces, which made the virus spread rapidly. Despite being disgusting, the packed trenches were not the only thing that made disease spread. Military barracks were small and crowded. Around twelve soldiers were housed per barrack, which measured around 180 square feet or about half the size of the average garage (“Barracks”). In addition to the disease-filled trenches and cramped barracks, the transportation of soldiers spread the most illness and caused the most deaths. Soldiers were transported in many ways, including by wagon, ferry, train, barge, and truck (“Transport And Supply”). These soldiers had to be transported fast to get to battle quickly, and these trains and trucks were not very big. The train cars that transported roughly 60 million soldiers throughout the war were smaller than the average train car. Yet, each train transported around 1,000 soldiers at once (“Transport And Supply”). The battlefields of World War I created the perfect breeding ground for the highly contagious Spanish Flu. 

Medical treatments during World War I were quite different from those in a modern-day hospital. In fact, many sick and injured soldiers were treated in medical tents with few doctors and volunteer nurses with little experience (“Nurses”). In their article History of the Military Nurse Corps and the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, medical professors Lauren Talbot, Jeffrey Metter, and Heather King discuss what really happened in these tents during the war. “Of the 40 largest U.S. military camps, 26 camps had 25% of the soldiers sick with influenza and pneumonia, with eight camps reporting more than 500 deaths during the second wave. Overcrowding and inadequate hospital facilities contributed to rapid spread of influenza” (Talbot et al 2). The Spanish flu negatively affected younger people, such as soldiers, and the crowded, dirty conditions of both the trenches and barracks as well as the hospitals meant that World War I had created the perfect conditions for the Spanish Flu to spread.

The Spanish Flu was a virus that forever changed the world. This pandemic influenced World War I. Similarly, the war influenced the pandemic. For example, the name itself was the result of censorship during the war (Rogers). Furthermore, crowded spaces such as barracks, trains, and trenches made it easier for the disease to spread (“Transport and Supply”). The Spanish Flu targeted soldiers because of their age, and the poor-quality medical facilities near the battlefields and few medicines to treat the virus contributed to its high death count (Age Specific). The Spanish Flu was a horrible event made even worse by the war. Hopefully, society has learned how to mitigate the effects of a future pandemic.

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