The Spanish Flu Epidemic and its Influence on History

by Jaime Breitnauer

Overview

In Budapest, a lone woman dies quietly on a bench in the late afternoon sun, while in South Africa, a group of men plunge to their death in the blackness of a mine shaft elevator. In London, a loving father takes his daughter’s life while in Austria a man grieves for his unborn baby trapped inside his dead wife’s body. In Western Samoa, entire villages are wiped out in a matter of days and in India, the river Ganges becomes clogged with bloated corpses and the pungent smell of disease …

This is not some post-apocalyptic future, but the reality of Spanish flu, which claimed the lives of around 100-million people globally between 1918 and 1920. Often overshadowed by the tragedy of the Great War, this book walks us through the lives of some of the victims, discusses the science behind the disease, and asks, what will the next pandemic look like?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526766427
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	12/28/2020
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

J. S. Breitnauer is a British born writer and editor who divides her time between the UK and New Zealand. A graduate in History and Sociology, and holder of an MA in Culture, Class and Power in Europe from 1850, both from the University of Warwick, Breitnauer has a particular interest in twentieth century history and the effects of disease and war on society.

Breitnauer has worked as a journalist and editor since 2003, contributing to a wide variety of newspapers, magazines and journals in the UK, New Zealand and the UAE, as well as contributing chapters to two Lonely Planet guides and parenting title Is it Bedtime Yet?. She has also worked for the Anne Frank Trust UK and The Holocaust Centre of New Zealand. In her writing, Breitnauer likes to focus on individual stories that add a personal dynamic to historical fact, to step into the shoes of those who were there, and experience a moment of their lives.

Table of Contents

Author's preface vii

Prologue: The month before war viii

Part 1 The Second Monday in March: Origin Theories and the Trail Left By Disease

Chapter 1 Circling Patient Zero 2

Chapter 2 Three Waves of Death 14

Part 2 Europe, America and the Alliances of War: The Effect of the Pandemic on the Countries in Conflict

Chapter 3 'In flew Enza': How the European Allies were affected by flu 26

Chapter 4 The Naples Soldier: Flu and class divisions in the neutral territories 38

Chapter 5 School's Out in Vienna: The pandemic behind enemy lines 48

Chapter 6 The Edge of War: How flu unfolded in the Americas 56

Part 3 Movement, Trade and the Victims of Colonisation: Exposure to the Virus Beyond Europe

Chapter 7 Under the Desert Sun: Influenza in Africa and the Middle East 68

Chapter 8 The Strange One: The epidemic in colonial India 79

Chapter 9 Closed For Business: Influenza in the South Pacific 88

Chapter 10 Closing the Loop: Outbreak and immunity in South East Asia 98

Part 4 Secrets in the Snow: What Have We Learned in 100 Years?

Chapter 11 Peace In the Time of Influenza: The impact of the pandemic on the peace process and medicine from 1919 106

Epilogue Northern Exposure: What the bodies in the snow tell us about the next pandemic 117

About the author 123

Notes 124

Bibliography 128

Index 129

Editorial Reviews

Jaime Breitnauer puts the whole thing into perspective with a fascinating account of the origin and extent of the outbreak, at a time when people were returning from the conflict expecting a brave new world and instead confronting one of the deadliest epidemics ever to hit mankind.

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