I'm questioning the Spainsh flu now because governments used it as an excuse to continue their wartime measures. Most countries already had absolute control of news and postal services. Were the numbers inflated in 1919 too?
No. They weren't all in one season or even the same year, either (which means it was likely more than one flu/cold strain). You have to remember, even in the west, nutrition was something we barely understood, let alone enforced. It wasn't until WWII and a lack of good conscripts did they actually begin spreading the 'good word'. They act like the spanish flu was something monumental, it wasn't. In fact, it was the second or third major flu of the fucking war. They happened every year-to-three.
I'm questioning the Spainsh flu now because governments used it as an excuse to continue their wartime measures. Most countries already had absolute control of news and postal services. Were the numbers inflated in 1919 too?
No. They weren't all in one season or even the same year, either (which means it was likely more than one flu/cold strain). You have to remember, even in the west, nutrition was something we barely understood, let alone enforced. It wasn't until WWII and a lack of good conscripts did they actually begin spreading the 'good word'. They act like the spanish flu was something monumental, it wasn't. In fact, it was the second or third major flu of the fucking war. They happened every year-to-three.
We were still at war and estimated quarter million died. Mostly in the countryside. Not including very many POWs.