The Spanish Flu & How The World Recovered (1918-1929) History Documentary

[Music] just over a hundred years ago a deadly pandemic swept across the face of planet earth killing anywhere between 20 and 100 million people [Music] potentially far more than the great war immediately preceding it yet until recently this was a forgotten pandemic downplayed by governments and media outlets all over the world known as the spanish flu simply because the republican leadership in spain at the time continued to report on it when other governments refused it's only in the last few decades that the sheer scale and historical significance of such an outbreak has been realized potentially having just as much impact on humanity as the first world war like earlier pandemics in history all the way back to the plague of athens the antonine plague the plague of justinian and most famously the black death this was a deadly disease particularly for people who had almost no knowledge of how to fight it killing off huge swathes of the population between 1918 and 1920 somewhere between a half and two-thirds of the world's population were infected with an indiscriminate death rate of around five percent nowhere near that of the black death but enough all the same in the much more interconnected world of the 20th century the young affected just as much as the old [Music] on a whole the majority of people survived which is precisely why the disease was so deadly allowing it to spread to every corner of the globe yet after the mass graves were filled after each one of these deadly plagues in history subsided the people returned picked up where they'd left off recovered sometimes finding themselves in much better positions than they'd been in before after the black death in the 14th century the peasantry in england fewer in numbers and higher in demand got a new lease on social mobility for some historians paving the way for the emergence of the middle class to come after the plague in the 17th century it's been argued that social unrest led to the success of the parliamentary system the end of absolute power in the hands of a monarch in england and of course after the spanish flu we have the roaring twenties avant-garde cinema great leaps forward in music literature aviation and art [Music] though brief and often overshadowed by the great depression of the 1930s and the second world war which followed this was a new era of prosperity of social mobility and change so then how did the world bounce back from the spanish flu let's take a look well hello there pete kelly here the one man team behind this channel it's july 2020 now so we're three four months into lockdown if you're watching this in the future i'm sure you'll know what that means uh i just wanted to take a moment to thank the sponsor for this video it's audible an app which i use near enough every single day whether i'm researching a video going out to the shops doing a bit of gardening or just kicking back and having a relax i've really been enjoying it over the last few months audible is probably my favorite app and one which i use pretty much constantly to research videos there are so many amazing audio book titles on here often read by the authors themselves from louis theroux to the late bronze age collapse there's something here for everyone and for just a small monthly fee you get a new book of your choosing every single month as well as all manner of audible originals podcasts and other great stuff they're even offering a month-long free trial head on over to audible.com forward slash history time or text history time to 500 500 for your exclusive free trial now back to the spanish flu the influenza pandemic of 1918 to 1919 takes the title of deadliest and most widespread pandemic in history with census records of the time either difficult to decipher or non-existent it remains impossible to arrive at a completely accurate figure of the death toll though experts today think it may have been as high as a hundred million with the absolute lowest figures around the 20 million mark with an overall world population at the time of less than 2 billion the implications are staggering in the united states alone at least 675 000 americans lost their lives worldwide well over half a billion people were infected yet somehow despite the major global conflict and the pandemic which followed much of the world bounced back from the damage with a fury the us notably surging into the prosperous roaring twenties and even germany enjoying a brief decade of stability and growth under the weimar republic until everything changed with the wall street crash of 1929 all this in an age before air travel when most people stayed in one area for their whole lives so then how did this virus spread in the first [Music] place when the h1n1 influenza virus first struck the us had been fighting in the european theater of the first world war for more than a year tens of thousands of men regularly travelled across the atlantic to the front and production lines boomed in efforts to produce war material and combat gear [Music] it was during this mass population movement that the first reports of illness began to appear [Music] first at fort riley in kansas in march and shortly afterwards new york due to the high population density of soldiers at the camp the flu spread rapidly quickly infecting around 1 100 people 38 of these succumbed to pneumonia like any cold or flu the spanish flu spread to new hosts through droplets propelled into the air when a person sneezed coughed or even talked able to survive outside the body for extended periods of time these droplets could then be transmitted by touch the movement of people continued unabated however the war effort simply could not be halted no individual had that power and as the weeks went on and cases continued to appear spain became the first country to report widely on the unfolding events specifically admitting to a growing number of deaths and even giving coverage to the dire health of the king alfonso xiii meanwhile american gis continued to pour into europe then back and forth from the front to medical leave spreading the virus ever more [Music] in order to maintain high morale as the war effort swung in favor of the allied powers european governments then having a stranglehold over the media heavily understated the severity of the disease meanwhile news reports began surfacing from the other european powers claiming that infection rates in britain france and germany remained minimal while neutral spain was particularly hard hit thus the spanish flu almost certainly born on a kansas farm was named as army recruits traveled from america to europe and soldiers on medical leave continued to return home the disease rapidly spread between the two continents and before long further afield as much as their governments tried to deny it writing it off is nothing more than an unusually virulent strain of flu european nations like england france italy and germany as well as spain were hit badly as the virus took a hold of their populations at first though the illness was widespread most of the deaths were in elderly people and infants this strain having next to no mnemonic effect on healthy men and women between the ages of 20 and 40. as spring merged into summer new infections plateaued and dropped off causing many to believe the worst was over whatever loose social distancing rules that had been put in place were cancelled in anticipation of the disease mostly being eradicated [Music] since ordinary people didn't have the means nor the education to deal properly with the virus especially given the war effort scientists had limited tools and data to work with anyway most countries did not respond adequately during this first wave the general lack of awareness didn't seem like much of an issue for the most part life returned to normal if it had even been disrupted in the first place yet all this was to change whilst america and europe eased their restrictions the coming end of the war being celebrated worldwide the spanish flu had another trick up its sleeve in the medical camps of europe filled with tens of thousands of vulnerable recovering soldiers a much more dangerous and merciless strain was mutating this version of the virus directly attacked the respiratory system making it especially contagious and deadly this strain of the flu did not discriminate with all age groups under threat when the second wave of spanish flu dawned in the autumn and the winter of 1918 europe and america linked to almost every corner of the globe by an elaborate series of trade networks and imperial colonies were struck almost entirely unprepared no effective cures drugs or antibiotics were present to combat the sweeping spread of the second wave virus resulting in a terrifyingly high infection and fatality rate with already weakened immune systems due to the physical and mental traumas of battle they'd suffered soldiers returning from the front were particularly hard hit having endured all the horror of years of brutal trench warfare often living in terrible conditions medical professionals watched on helplessly as these men the greatest generation succumbed by the thousand drowning in their own mucus as their lungs filled with fluid failing to implement any sort of nationwide lockdown or strategy to combat the spread it didn't take long for this new deadlier version of spanish flu to take hold [Music] tens of thousands of deaths soon became hundreds of thousands and finally millions for lack of a better option for the most part the spanish flu was simply left to run its course a vaccine wouldn't be developed until the 1940s [Music] in america plans to counter the second wave of flu varied from state to state and city to city [Music] in philadelphia the public health director told civilians that the returning soldiers were simply suffering from flu caught on the front and that the infection would soon be contained amidst constant warnings from scientists that the virus called for much more drastic action the city of philadelphia still refused to call off its liberty loan parade on the 28th of september a particularly fast-acting illness the very next day hospitals were crammed a few days later the death rate in philadelphia surged with no more hospital beds available infected individuals were simply turned away [Music] saint louis on the other hand had much more success in flattening the initial spike and subsequent infection curves by acting immediately after the first cases were detected organizing a sensible effective strategy to mitigate the daily death count restrictions were put in place keeping many businesses closed crowds strongly discouraged and commissioned physicians modern day plague doctors walking the streets to help or diagnose anyone with potential symptoms [Music] soon enough as the situation worsened schools were shut down public gatherings banned civilians ordered to wear face masks san francisco meanwhile heavily advocated the wearing of face masks eventually making it illegal to not wear one in public on charges of disturbing the peace in new york businesses opened and closed on staggered schedules to spread the waves of commuters out so the subway trains would not become virus emitters [Music] on october 3rd faced with an overwhelming number of cases philadelphia was finally forced to close its schools theatres and public spaces but not before it suffered more than 750 deaths per 100 000 people and many more infections in comparison st louis had capped this rate at about 350 deaths per hundred thousand as a result of poor advice and overconfidence many american cities experienced tragic spikes in their death rates late implementation of social distancing measures spelt death for a great deal of citizens living in urban centers where the flu spread like wildfire through neighborhoods in shops and out on the streets by the end of october in the united states alone more than 200 000 people had died from the virus in the coming weeks as the severity and non-discriminatory nature of the situation dawned a hard-fought battle would be waged to recoup losses and flatten the curve [Music] meanwhile bodies were piled up into makeshift morgues and one writer complained that philadelphia had 10 times as many bodies as coffins all over the world this second wave virus struck indiscriminately killing off large numbers of people particularly in cities and densely populated areas finally by december the statistics where they existed seemed to look good the virus was wearing itself out the death rate finally lowering in the u.s and europe cities began to loosen their lockdown restrictions and most assumed the pandemic to be finally ending yet just like before this would be a fatal mistake by january the third wave of spanish flu came thundering in in full force in the bleak mid-winter as hor frost gripped the northern hemisphere this outbreak wouldn't subside until the early summer months later once again a certain level of incompetence reigned as national and local leaders simply failed to act quickly enough in some cities restrictions were enforced again but in others again measures came too late though not quite as late as the first and second wave [Music] public transport faced shortages in personnel and again many people simply refused to wear face masks or obey social distancing rules when caught this earned them fines and in a couple of cases bullets from the police forces [Music] tensions ran hot often vented as criticism towards governments sometimes breaking out into all-out civil unrest [Music] one of the great flaws in worldwide responses to the spanish flu had been the policies of local containment and mitigation which led to a lack of consistent nationwide planning the gaps in this response strategy allowed the virus to continue inflicting terrible damage on society resulting in a sustained death rate in urban centers misunderstandings about which health products to use and high prices for face masks amongst already impoverished people made it difficult to combat the flu on a personal level though newspaper cartoons encouraged the public to stay away from anyone who had cold or flu symptoms to walk or cycle to work instead of taking public transport and to not get fatigued as this would weaken the immune system advice was often misleading varying significantly from town to town and city to city many simply refused to adhere to the rules finally as the summer of 1919 arrived the worst was over and recovery could begin a fourth wave hit once more in the early months of 1920 sparking widespread panic yet thankfully rather than resulting in pneumonia and death this flu was much milder most people suffering little more than fatigue headache and a sore throat finally after close to two years the world could move on [Music] in the immediate aftermath of the spanish flu many parts of the world including the us and europe faced economic recession between 1920 and 1921 the u.s was hit particularly badly robert barrow professor of economics at harvard university estimates that the increase in flu-related deaths reduced gdp and consumption in the u.s by approximately 6 percent as well as increasing inflation rates in the economy the world had been tested by war disease and poverty but by 1921 finally things seemed to be on the up in the u.s in particular partly due to increased wages for workers and a growing focus on consumer manufacturing the economy boomed by 1929 growing by around 42 percent for the survivors life became healthier too with life expectancy steadily growing and an increased investment in science and medicine leading to newfound understanding of how viruses spread and how better to contain them in the future unsurprisingly soap and pharmaceutical companies made a killing from the pandemic selling their products with the help of newspaper adverts this too helped the us economy to get going again after the flu subsided larger research budgets for infectious disease laboratories and consumer spending on medicine and health products helped organizations and small businesses grow after the end of the pandemic resulting in economic benefits and a greater interest in developing technology which eventually spilled over into the public sphere creating consumer electronics a new market which would revolutionize the world the massive production of materials like guns and artillery shells during the war further catalyzed improvements in factory organization and production line machinery allowing automobiles electronics and other consumer oriented goods to be manufactured quicker and sold at higher quantities no longer needing to fulfill targets for war products other businesses too soon became involved in mass producing items for the general public notably cars becoming more widely available than ever before creating never-before-available opportunities in the process and in this entrepreneurial climate new businesses sprung up [Music] in its mid to late stages the spanish flu killed off millions of healthy young men and women this on top of the deaths from the war resulted in the us at least in a shortage of workers [Music] those who'd lost their jobs at small or unessential businesses that had been shut down during the pandemic found new work at factories and assembly lines where the demand for workers skyrocketed and the qualifications required were minimal for the most part those who wanted work could find it and sometimes as the power of unions grew they could demand more for their services than ever before increasing social mobility and eventually leading to the establishment of the american middle class a shortage of labour due to the pandemic in due course gave rise to escalated workers wages meaning that as the roaring twenties dawned for the first time many u.s citizens could spend a portion of their paycheck on astounding new consumer devices like vacuum cleaners cars and refrigerators cutting edge appliances for the 1920s as american capital poured into post-war europe this prosperity to a certain extent filtered in there too even germany enjoying a brief period of economic boom and social freedom [Music] as demand for fuel skyrocketed texas became rich from the oil industry new roads were built to accommodate cars resulting in greater mobility and in turn better job opportunities consumer spending steadily surged upwards for the first time in u.s history more people lived in urban centers than in the country giving rise to better healthcare access for millions of people better work opportunities and the chance to indulge in newly invented technology so as an unusual side effect of spanish flu workers wages soared increased investments were made in scientific research and technology better healthcare systems put in place and greater levels of consumer spending than ever before the us became a lender for the first time rather than odetta but perhaps most of all the influenza pandemic of 1918 to 1920 gave people a change in perspective towards their own lives encouraging them to go out and enjoy themselves while they could unfortunately this heedlessness towards the dangers of economic instability much like the events leading up to the 2008 financial crash would create a massive economic bubble what goes up must come down in 1929 much of the progress wrought as a result of unbridled lasse fair capitalism would be undone when the new york stock market suffered its worst collapse in history ultimately leading to intense poverty and hardship in places like germany that had been propped up by u.s investment where for a time wheelbarrows full of cash were needed to buy a simple loaf of bread as well as american midwest farmers who starved to death in droves [Music] by the 1930s partly as a result of this economic depression fascism was on the rise and another intensely difficult era began but that's a story for another day thanks for watching my name's pete kelly if you enjoyed this video go follow me on instagram where i'm currently posting a travel story every single day of interesting places that i've been to you've been watching history time don't forget to like and subscribe let me know what you think in the comments and i'll see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: History Time

Views: 1,846,448

Rating: 4.8262949 out of 5

Keywords: spanish flu, epidemic, history, history of disease, human history, history of humanity, 1920s, roaring twenties, Wall Street crash, Great Depression, influenza, great war, first world war

Id: d0AoRkmj9YM

Length: 32min 42sec (1962 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 20 2020