The Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919

Spanish Flu (La Grippe)

In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe, the influenza season broke out. From this epidemic, a fifth of the world's population was infected.

The flu was mostly deadly for those between the ages of 20 to 40. The flu had infected 28% of Americans and an estimated 675,000 Americans died, ten times as many as in the ongoing war. An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza.

Outbreaks swept through North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Brazil, and the South Pacific.

The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than World War One, at an estimated 20 to 40 million people. The influenza pandemic is cited as the MOST DEVASTATING EPIDEMIC IN RECORDED HISTORY.