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The winter of 1918 is a particularly cold one
freezing temperatures

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paralyze the United States,

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but America has just entered the first World
War and nothing can be allowed to disrupt or

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slow down troop training.

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And yet in the shadow of these preparations and
other peril awaits a scourge

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worse than the war is about to strike.

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In a few short months.

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It will wreak havoc and decimate the planet
before disappearing again and be forgotten.

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It all starts at the military camp at funds in
Kansas where 30,000 men are preparing for their

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baptism of fire on the battlefield.

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On March the fourth, a cook misses morning call
followed by a corporal.

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Then a sergeant.
By midday, more than 100 soldiers have had to

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pull out of training.
They all have the same symptoms.

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A 40 degree fever, aching bodies, headaches and
a terrible cough

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for Edward Schreiner.
The base physician.

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The diagnosis is obvious the US military are
suffering from the flu.

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Private, Irving Greenwald remembers the entire
company went to the infirmary.

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The sick were examined, isolated and were
treated.

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After a few days rest, the convalescent
soldiers recover in the open air but in the

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meantime, the virus prospers and multiplies.

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It infects 10,000 men every week in high places.
However, there is no undue concern.

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Flu rarely proves fatal to its victims for the
time being.

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At the end of March 1918, the training camps
empty as the troops head for the major ports

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on the United States east coast in the face of
a newly aggressive Germany

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American support has become crucial is

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central central despite the speed of the
outbreak.

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However, no measures are taken to limit
contagion.

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The priority is to send four million men to the
front

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day after day.

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They set sail from New York, Boston and
Philadelphia to transport such

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numbers.
The number of transports and routes multiplies

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soon ships dock simultaneously in Liverpool,
breast bordeaux and even Marseille

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during the eight day crossing platoons of
contact cases become battalions of flu victims.

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There are many sick among the 100,000 men who
disembark every month,

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but many of them will recover.

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The virus has yet to show its true face.
But in the meantime continues its silent

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migration.
Three, it becomes a

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faithful traveling companion, moving across
France towards the front lines.

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The procession of liberators passes through
towns and villages.

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Yeah, with every hug and handshake.

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The virus discretely enters the populations
that it encounters in its path,

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right?
Yeah,

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it is first spotted around the harbors then
along the railway tracks heading east as if it

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wants to join the fight

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after four years of fighting, the arrival of
reinforcements is a relief.

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The soldiers get along and the virus cares
little what uniform they are wearing so little

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did the British and French suspect that a
terrible scourge has slipped into the ranks of

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their new brothers in arms.

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The celebrations almost make them forget that
the German enemy remains to be defeated.

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On April the 9th, 1918, there was a new
onslaught on the Flanders trenches.

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Germany needs to win before America can fully
deploy its forces

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in a flash.
The Kaiser\'s army smashed through the enemy

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lines and capture their fair share of prisoners.

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The allies panic and pull back.

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Germany has won the advantage

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from that point onwards.
It is a race against time.

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Huge overloaded convoys rushed to the front at
a breakneck pace

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on board.
There are no comfortable bench seats or dining

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cars, very basic hygiene and physical closeness
are the order of the day

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soon overwhelmed by numbers.
The Germans lose the upper hand

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losses on the German side are high sizable
numbers of soldiers are also flawed by a sudden

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illness.
A three day fever which becomes known as the

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flanders flu.

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The virus has now taken hold on both sides.

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The press remains silent.
However, under the watchful eye of the military

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censors,

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Spain is the first to break the news of the
illness.

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The country is neutral and its newspapers are
free to inform the world everyone knows that it

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flew from the north now roams the Iberian
Peninsula.

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Even King Alfonso the 13th becomes bedridden
and his prime minister and several advisors are

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also affected.
Government meetings are adjourned until further

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notice, Madrid\'s

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unworried residents continue to hum a tune from
a fashionable operetta that spring the Naples

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soldier on.

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But once the death rate in the capital reaches
double the normal level,

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the cheerful refrain takes on a darker tone and
new words,

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Soldier of Naples curses unto you.

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Your lethal fever is a bad omen.

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You cause us nothing but trouble blessed.
Is anyone who survives

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imported by seasonal workers returning from the
south of France?

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The virus spreads thanks to Spain\'s well
developed rail network.

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The French ambassador to Madrid explains his
concerns.

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The epidemic has spread with extraordinary
speed in three days.

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It has affected 70% of the population.

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If the epidemic hits France in a similar way,
the resulting partial shutdown of national life

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could be frustrating

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exposed.
In Spain, the illness will henceforth be called

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the Spanish flu.

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By the end of May 1918 media in the warring
nations finally break their silence but the

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scale of the epidemic is minimized in France.
A few snippets claim that France is entirely

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unaffected by the so called Spanish flu.

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However, increasing numbers of military reports
indicate otherwise

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given a code name Disease 11, it\'s spread to
every corner of the country is duly recorded.

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New cases appear by the day.

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On the American side, almost half of the
country\'s submarine crews are on sick leave.

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Placing the virus in the superb underwater
incubating environment makes it even more

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potent.
On the British side, it affects 10% of the

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navy\'s sailors.

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The royal navy is forced to call off major
operations in the North Sea

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on land.
Armies on all sides have become gigantic

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clusters.

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One report sums up the situation.

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Artillery Brigade saw one third of its troops
fall within 48 hours.

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There was one day where only 15 men were fit
for service out of a total of 145.

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I do military headquarters are careful not to
spread the news in

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wartime secrecy is vital.

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The enemy must know nothing.

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The New York Times is on the lookout.

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Even the combatants are not told.

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The priority is troop morale and soldiers must
focus on their duty.

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Everything must carry on as if the virus does
not exist.

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So the sick and wounded are sent back to the
rear.

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The British are returned home.

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No special precautions are taken when caring
for these survivors from hell on earth.

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The virus crosses the English channel silently
born on stretches.

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The invasion of the southern United Kingdom now
starts

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in the north of the country.

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The situation goes from bad to worse for weeks.
Now, troops arriving from America have been

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passing through the harbor cities in the
working class suburbs.

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The number of cases is 20 times higher than
normal.

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In Manchester.
Doctor James Niven sounds the alarm in a school.

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The Children simply dropped on their desks like
plants whose roots had been poisoned.

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The attack was sudden and drowsiness was a
prominent symptom,

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a prevention pioneer.

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NN advocates hand washing and social distancing.

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His recommendations inspire a new film genre
dedicated to public health like this

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advertisement that shows how an office worker
can infect his colleagues over the course of a

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single working day.

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But winning the war involves sacrifices.

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The head of the British Health services sir,
Arthur Newholm is ready to make them the

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relentless needs of warfare justified incurring
the risk of spreading infection.

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There is nothing more to be said, nothing will
be done to stem the invasion

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by July 1918.
On the German side, things are not looking good.

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General Luden, chief strategist of the German
army declares the flu has spread everywhere.

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It\'s a grievous business.
Having to listen every morning to the number of

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influenza cases.

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In the chief of staff\'s complaints about the
weakness of their troops due to a lack of able

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bodied combatants.
His army is forced to fall back.

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Oh, given leave sick and asymptomatic soldiers
return

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home.
They mingle with civilians already badly

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weakened by the hardships.
On the other side of the Rhine,

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the population of Germany already bled dry
bears the full brunt of the epidemic.

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The first fatal cases are reported in Hamburg,
Berlin and Manna

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Yeah. Ok.

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On the allied side, conversely, things are
looking up with the good weather.

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The number of cases in the armed forces has
dropped sharply.

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It is summer.
The epidemic seems to be subsiding and victory

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is in sight.
The Daily is delighted long live the

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Spanish flu because in spite of everything, it
is the mother lode that has given us some

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respite both for our soldiers as well as folks
to the rear.

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If you believe the newspapers, everything is
already over.

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But in reality, the virus is roaming and the
general population remains completely unaware

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of the invisible danger that hangs over them.

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Only the eminent professor Fernand Vidal warns
contagion occurs in a very special

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way and spreads with a speed that is not found
in any other disease.

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But his warnings fall on deaf ears both with
the authorities and public opinion,

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which is a shame because at that time, shopping,
going to work,

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getting your salary or getting information
required daily trips,

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you know, contact cases continue to circulate

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remote, working, click and collect and
contactless payment are not yet an option.

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These unavoidable displacements create
concentrations of population,

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city centers are overcrowded.
Public transport is packed and markets are

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thronged with people.

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The spread of the virus is particularly
compounded by the lack of shielding measures.

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By the summer of 1918, the flu has spread
worldwide from Portugal to Russia

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via Iceland, Italy or Greece.

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And even as far as China case numbers explode.

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The epidemic has become a pandemic worse

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still, the virus has mutated and its summer
variant is much more formidable.

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Now, there are hundreds of deaths each week.

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A second wave, much more deadly than the first
has just started.

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Only Switzerland is aware of the challenge that
it faces on July the 18th.

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A federal decree recommends that cantons ban
gatherings and shut down public venues.

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Any offender is liable to a heavy fine or even
prison

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but elsewhere, no preventive measures are taken
to slow the spread of the scourge.

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The war still remains the highest priority.

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Successful deliveries of equipment and food
intersect with troop transportation.

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Part of an unceasing transatlantic ballet,

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one of the most frequent destinations that
summer is Africa,

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a major supplier of manpower and raw materials
to the colonial empires.

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The virus is first reported in Algeria then in
Morocco and Sierra Leone.

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On August the 15th 1918, a merchant cruiser
comes to refuel in Freetown,

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a hub of the coal trade in West Africa.

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There are 124 flu cases on board including one
fatality

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while the body of the deceased is unloaded.

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Dock workers load the ship\'s coal bunkers.

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10 days later, 600 of them are infected.

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The casualty count starts increasing.

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Some of the locals call the disease man, which
means what is it?

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Even if they are unaware of the cause, they
will see its effects all too soon.

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Within a month.
Almost a third of the country\'s population is

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infected right in Lagos, the

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capital of Nigeria, another cargo ship delivers
its own cargo of influenza carriers.

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The Nigerians are aware that Europeans are
importing the infection,

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faith beliefs to the rest influenced by their
Mabus.

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The general population flees the white
hospitals in the cities to seek care at home in

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their native villages. Mhm.

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Called the virus kills almost 500,000 people

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at the same time.

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HMS Jaroslav is bringing back 1300 men from
Europe to South Africa with one fatal case on

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board.

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The sick are hospitalized but the other
passengers are allowed to go home.

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After only two days of isolation, the virus
will

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wipe out 300,000 South Africans at a speed that
defies understanding one Cape town

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resident says this curse has fallen upon us
with the force of a tornado.

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In this British colony.

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The white community blames the disease on the
Africans, the different local ethnic groups.

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In the meantime, accuse the whites of wanting
to exterminate them.

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The truth is that four times more Africans are
dying than settlers.

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The mistrust which sets in will fuel mutual
hatred and hasten the setup of segregationist

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laws which will form the basis for apartheid.

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Ok.
Soon the Spanish flu is spreading like gangrene

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through the entire African continent.

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Thanks to the rail and river connections built
by the colonists to transport the continent\'s

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wealth.
The virus quickly crosses jungles and deserts

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in less than a year.

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It slaughters 2.5 million people

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while it is invading the rest of the world.

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The flu has also ravaged the country in which
it originated in mid September.

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It increases in intensity.

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The US army bases witness an unprecedented
eruption.

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The base in Devins, Massachusetts is the worst
hit in a single month.

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The number of contaminations grows 500 fold.

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A military physician writes these men start
with what seems to be an ordinary attack of La

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Grip or influenza.

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They very rapidly develop the most vicious type
of pneumonia that has ever been seen.

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A few hours later, you can begin to see the
census extending from their ears and spreading

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all over the face.

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It is hard to distinguish the colored men from
the white.

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Victor Vaughan, the head of the contagious
diseases division admits I witnessed

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the hundreds of deaths of the soldiers in the
army camps and did not know what to do at that

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moment.
I decided never again to pray about the great

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achievements of medical science and to humbly
admit our dense ignorance.

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In this case,

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for those who come face to face with it.

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This flu is something to be feared but others
are not wary enough of it.

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Even high ranking personalities become infected.

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British Prime Minister David Lloyd George is
one such case.

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He\'s secretly hospitalized for nine days at the
height of the war.

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Here\'s a death store.

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then a young
assistant Secretary of the Navy is another

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famous flu victim on his return from an
inspection tour in France.

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He is disembarked on a stretcher with secondary
infections in both of his lungs.

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One case is less well known at the time.
Frederick Trump,

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the grandfather of another future president
also succumbs to the virus.

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He leaves behind three Children and a
sufficient inheritance for his widow to found a

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real estate empire.

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By the end of September 1918, as the allies are
on the brink of victory,

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the flu is killing soldiers as fast as machine
guns and artillery

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within the US.
Military voices start to call for a suspension

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of the dispatch of fresh troops.

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The final decision maker, General Peyton March
is firmly opposed to this.

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Any slowdown might lead to defeat.

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He declares every such soldier who has died of
influenza just as surely played his part

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as his comrade who died in France.

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His only concession soldiers exhibiting
symptoms should be isolated.

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The others will go into battle whatever the
cost,

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the best way to do this is to use the largest
ocean liner at the time confiscated from

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Germany at the start of the war.

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The US S Leviathan, the flagship of the fleet
will become the largest Spanish flew carrier

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ever.
One of the crew describes her ninth

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transatlantic voyage as a nightmare.

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It was heartbreaking to see men falling dead at
our feet.

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It was as if an invisible hand roamed the ship
suddenly dragging them away into oblivion.

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The deaths are methodically recorded in the
ship\'s log.

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There was at least one death every hour

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upon arrival in breast of the ship\'s 12,000
passengers.

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2000 are six and close to 100 have already died.

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Over the following days, several dozen men will
pass away in the region\'s hospitals.

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Each new troop ship arrival brings a cargo of
the dying

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800 kilometers away from the front line.

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Young Americans are being buried in their
hundreds before ever hearing the sound of

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gunfire

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in the United States.
The virus which has escaped from the military

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camps now slaughters the civilian population.

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Boston close to the ill fated camp DeVos is the
first city to be affected.

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Neighboring cities follow many doctors call for
draconian preventive measures

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but the authorities failed to see the need for
them.

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The war is not over

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the fourth fundraising campaign to finance the
war effort has just got underway.

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Americans are being called upon to reach into
their wallets to fill the war coffers

29:29.339 --> 29:34.910
on September the 28th 1918.
Philadelphia organizes a massive parade,

29:36.380 --> 29:41.760
an enthusiastic crowd of 200,000 people flocked
to the event where soldiers and civilians

29:41.770 --> 29:43.030
celebrate equally.

29:46.060 --> 29:49.750
It will be a memorable event particularly for
the virus.

29:53.750 --> 29:57.040
The following week, the number of victims
skyrockets.

29:59.130 --> 30:03.619
The city\'s hospitals are overwhelmed, beds pile
up in the corridors,

30:04.219 --> 30:09.180
working in shifts is improvised and medical
staff are exhausted.

30:09.760 --> 30:14.010
Doctor Sidney Rosenblatt writes for the last
couple of weeks,

30:14.020 --> 30:18.829
I have been going through a living hell, all I
was doing was pronouncing and signing death

30:18.839 --> 30:25.699
certificates with more than 650 deaths.
Daily funeral

30:25.709 --> 30:27.500
services cannot keep up.

30:28.199 --> 30:35.189
Churches are closed, horse drawn carts ply the
streets,

30:35.199 --> 30:36.410
collecting the dead.

30:37.310 --> 30:41.290
Many of the unburied bodies end up in hastily
dug trenches.

30:51.150 --> 30:55.719
Unfortunately, no one learns the lessons from
the Philadelphia disaster.

30:56.510 --> 31:01.979
The same week New York hosts the traditional
Columbus Day parade which is attended by the

31:01.989 --> 31:07.089
president himself, an enthusiastic promoter of
the event.

31:07.410 --> 31:10.530
Wilson is careful not to comment on the
pandemic.

31:13.219 --> 31:20.050
The second wave will peak New York 15 days
later reaching a sad record of more than 5000

31:20.060 --> 31:21.390
deaths in a single week.

31:25.290 --> 31:30.770
No one is yet aware that humanity has been
plunged into the gravest health crisis in its

31:30.780 --> 31:36.339
history.
It will soon have claimed more victims than the

31:36.349 --> 31:37.349
war.

31:43.680 --> 31:45.369
In autumn 1918.

31:45.699 --> 31:51.910
The virus redoubles in intensity from Boston to
Bombay from Rome to Rio.

31:52.140 --> 31:58.670
Its deadly variant is devastating British India
relatively unharmed by the first

31:58.680 --> 32:05.040
wave becomes a charnel house in a land of 250
million people.

32:05.180 --> 32:12.170
The virus is spoiled for choice everywhere.
Trains rolled into

32:12.180 --> 32:18.260
stations packed with the dead and dying in the

32:18.270 --> 32:23.290
punjab, the worst affected region, there are
already close to a million victims.

32:25.569 --> 32:31.660
One doctor reports, the hospitals were choked
so that it was impossible to remove the dead,

32:31.670 --> 32:33.989
quickly enough to make room for the dying.

32:38.339 --> 32:42.680
In Delhi, one out of every two hospitalized
patients dies.

32:46.770 --> 32:50.550
Tradition dictates that the dead are cremated
on riverside ps

32:53.650 --> 32:58.349
but wood reserves are exhausted and cremation
becomes impossible.

33:00.300 --> 33:03.339
Instead of ashes, the waterways carry away
bodies.

33:05.520 --> 33:10.969
Yeah.
In India, the number of deaths is estimated at

33:10.979 --> 33:15.119
20 million.
A figure that is very likely underestimated

33:25.349 --> 33:28.680
for seven months.
Now, the pandemic has been spreading to every

33:28.689 --> 33:29.920
corner of the globe.

33:31.000 --> 33:35.989
Edith Ring.
The young survivor remembers many patients were

33:36.000 --> 33:39.810
delirious to the point of violence and had to
be tied to their beds.

33:40.229 --> 33:43.900
I saw purple and black blotches develop on them
when dying.

33:44.000 --> 33:50.349
I was told all pregnant women died in Montreal.
One doctor remembers

33:51.670 --> 33:58.390
I was seeing 50 cases a day and sometimes 45 or
six patients from the same family who could not

33:58.400 --> 34:04.229
breathe.
I would come back the next day and two or three

34:04.239 --> 34:11.010
of them would be dead.
A young

34:11.020 --> 34:12.689
orphan tells us his story.

34:13.560 --> 34:18.159
My father died first.
My mother died the next day before we could

34:18.169 --> 34:20.719
bury them.
My younger sister joined them.

34:21.790 --> 34:24.419
She was born just before my mother passed away

34:28.870 --> 34:35.458
in Paris.
Dr Margarite Barbier confesses we felt helpless

34:35.559 --> 34:40.839
and some in the face of the severity of the
symptoms and the overwhelming speed of the

34:40.849 --> 34:45.329
disease went so far as to compare it to the
plague or cholera

34:48.138 --> 34:52.948
by the end of October, French hospitals can no
longer cope and call for help.

35:01.040 --> 35:04.370
Medicine is weaponless and science helpless.

35:10.260 --> 35:14.100
Usually seasonal influenza attacks, Children
and the elderly.

35:15.389 --> 35:20.709
The Spanish version strikes down young healthy
adults in less than two days and nothing can

35:20.719 --> 35:21.719
save them.

35:28.000 --> 35:31.959
At the time, the only weapon available to
doctors was aspirin.

35:33.090 --> 35:39.830
This is the only effective weapon against the
40 degree fever freely prescribed.

35:39.840 --> 35:46.709
However, this remedy kills more people than it
saves overdoses,

35:46.719 --> 35:48.449
shorten the suffering of the dying.

35:52.729 --> 35:59.689
So you treat patients any way you can in France,
eminent medical professors try

35:59.889 --> 36:06.719
bloodletting others recommend turpentine
inhaled gargled or injected.

36:10.100 --> 36:14.409
Sanitary guidelines.
Often restrictive now become a part of daily

36:14.419 --> 36:21.219
life.
The most popular is the dispensing of rum and

36:21.229 --> 36:28.219
cognac with a medical prescription in

36:28.229 --> 36:32.229
the United States.
The police distribute seized contraband alcohol

36:32.239 --> 36:33.399
in the military camps.

36:34.370 --> 36:38.399
Even if the bourbon doesn\'t provide a cure, it
raises spirits

36:41.850 --> 36:43.790
in Canada.
They prefer scotch.

36:45.729 --> 36:49.580
Whereas in South Africa, brandy is the tipple
of choice.

36:52.250 --> 36:54.459
A new drink becomes wildly popular.

36:54.929 --> 37:01.550
A queen in whiskey cocktail in France, quiNINE
is also

37:01.560 --> 37:03.810
recommended but without the whiskey.

37:04.840 --> 37:09.050
So is alpine tea, the virtues of which are
unsuspected.

37:11.040 --> 37:14.169
A cure for head colds also promises miracles

37:18.429 --> 37:22.919
in the United States.
A powerful laxative 10 lac is administered with

37:22.929 --> 37:29.810
great abandon snake oil salesmen take full
advantage of the market for hope peddling the

37:29.820 --> 37:31.120
wackiest remedies.

37:34.169 --> 37:37.639
A multitude of treatments in pills, syrups or
ointments.

37:37.850 --> 37:43.459
Each more useless than the other flourishes
while the virus continues its deadly work.

37:56.719 --> 38:01.370
The onset of the second wave forces the
authorities to limit the contagion.

38:03.479 --> 38:10.010
New York closes its shops at rush hour and San
Francisco,

38:10.020 --> 38:14.389
it\'s courthouses trials take place in the open
air

38:17.100 --> 38:21.500
from Seattle to Karachi theaters and cinemas
closed down.

38:25.409 --> 38:28.840
Seoul prohibits access to all public venues.

38:30.330 --> 38:36.770
Manchester closes its schools and in Africa
village chieftains restrict

38:36.780 --> 38:39.070
gatherings including funerals.

38:41.070 --> 38:47.199
After many months of negligence, there is a
widespread increase in awareness across the

38:47.209 --> 38:50.750
five continents.
Everything possible is done to limit social

38:50.760 --> 38:55.090
interaction.
Despite this in France, the terraces remain

38:55.100 --> 38:56.669
open until seven PM.

38:59.620 --> 39:06.310
Thus, Spain closes its borders while Australia
blockades its ports and Japan drops

39:06.320 --> 39:12.949
preventive leaflets by air elsewhere,

39:13.310 --> 39:17.949
some universities remain closed and courses are
taught in the open air.

39:21.040 --> 39:24.050
Even delivery men are deprived of their
customers.

39:30.199 --> 39:34.929
Although there is as yet no mention of lockdown,
staying at home has become the norm

39:43.010 --> 39:49.280
as the days pass prevention messages become
orders, use a handkerchief.

39:49.290 --> 39:55.179
When you sneeze one leaflet, hammered out by
the US.

39:55.189 --> 40:01.070
Surgeon general reads, coughs and sneezes
spread diseases

40:02.530 --> 40:05.340
as dangerous as poison gas shells.

40:10.530 --> 40:15.060
Messages posted along public highways and on
public transport set the tone,

40:24.860 --> 40:30.850
a symbol of a society at risk masks now form
the core of the passive defense system.

40:34.050 --> 40:40.260
A pioneer in this area, Japan requires their
use in towns including for younger generations.

40:42.729 --> 40:47.370
Ok.
In the United States, some states make them

40:47.379 --> 40:54.129
compulsory as in California where the governor
calls them the patriotic duty of every

40:54.139 --> 40:55.139
citizen

41:03.510 --> 41:07.689
in San Francisco.
As in New York offenders are liable to fines

41:08.010 --> 41:11.090
and those who resist are arrested and tried

41:15.669 --> 41:20.800
protesters organize in the name of individual
freedom but run the risk of being shot

41:25.169 --> 41:29.199
in Paris.
On the other hand, the press wonders will

41:29.209 --> 41:33.580
Parisian ladies agree to disfigure themselves
to protect their bronchial tubes.

41:33.879 --> 41:37.260
I\'m afraid they will catch their deaths rather
than wear a mask.

41:42.280 --> 41:46.850
This protective gag does not muzzle humor or
inventiveness

42:00.120 --> 42:03.939
in France, wearing a mask will remain at the
trial stage.

42:05.899 --> 42:11.830
This is because by Mid October, the newspapers
still insist that the general state of health

42:11.840 --> 42:18.129
in Paris is satisfactory, surreal optimism at
the very moment that the

42:18.139 --> 42:24.719
epidemic is about to reach its peak in the
French capital in the major cities.

42:24.800 --> 42:29.560
The morgues are full and the bodies are piling
up for lack of coffins and hearses.

42:31.239 --> 42:36.229
Churches are off limits to the living and
hurried burials are done at night with no

42:36.239 --> 42:37.550
family to say goodbye.

42:46.250 --> 42:50.989
During this deadly outbreak.
The virus sweeps through the countryside from

42:51.330 --> 42:56.449
to Normandy in Vonda.

42:57.090 --> 43:00.489
An abbot gives the last r so often that it
kills him

43:04.580 --> 43:05.739
in town halls.

43:05.959 --> 43:10.239
As many death certificates are issued in a week
as there are normally in a year,

43:12.189 --> 43:14.439
entire villages are decimated.

43:16.320 --> 43:21.050
The Spanish flu smothers everything like a
plague of Locusts on crops.

43:22.159 --> 43:26.889
It feasts for 15 days before disappearing and
reappearing elsewhere

43:34.649 --> 43:41.270
on November 11th, 1918, the first world war is
finally over the

43:41.280 --> 43:44.399
victors and vanquished, succumbed to a
collective fever.

43:45.159 --> 43:47.050
But this time it is a welcome one.

43:49.209 --> 43:51.169
Good news.
Never travels alone.

43:51.510 --> 43:57.260
Mortality rates drop.
The pandemic is retreating two days after the

43:57.270 --> 44:02.260
end of the war, the newspapers read the flu is
on the run just like the crowds.

44:06.639 --> 44:10.290
The celebrations are a boon for a virus that is
far from sad

44:14.540 --> 44:18.290
peace celebrations provide the ideal setting
for the virus to attack again.

44:19.179 --> 44:23.310
A third wave will soon break and strike even
the most remote areas

44:32.030 --> 44:33.199
in mid November.

44:33.520 --> 44:38.429
A ship from New Zealand heads for a string of
Pacific Islands that has so far been spared

44:41.909 --> 44:47.199
by the time it stops over in Fiji, the S S Tao
has 56 sailors on board

44:49.739 --> 44:53.879
continuing its journey.
The ship docks in Western Samoa and Tonga

44:54.300 --> 44:59.689
spreading its deadly toxin to the very heart of
a Melanesian population which has never been

44:59.699 --> 45:02.110
exposed to the influenza virus.

45:09.250 --> 45:14.780
It is customary for relatives of a sick person
to lie down beside him as a sign of empathy

45:17.919 --> 45:21.939
up to one in five of the island\'s inhabitants
will lose their lives.

45:28.760 --> 45:34.929
One observer reports, day and night trucks
rumble down the streets

45:35.189 --> 45:39.330
loaded with bodies for the fires which burned
continuously

45:41.899 --> 45:47.080
crushed demographic levels on Fiji will take 20
years to recover

45:53.889 --> 45:58.760
the macabre journey of the Tallon fortunately
avoided the neighboring islands of American

45:58.770 --> 46:05.439
Samoa a strict protocol was in force with
compulsory quarantine for arriving

46:05.449 --> 46:09.239
ships and shore patrols to prevent illegal
landings.

46:14.090 --> 46:17.340
American Samoa was one of the few places to be
spared.

46:17.350 --> 46:19.209
The ravages of the Spanish flu.

46:21.260 --> 46:28.159
Yeah, because even on the edge of

46:28.169 --> 46:34.120
the ice flows in inhospitable terrain where it
seems impossible for life to gain a foothold.

46:34.239 --> 46:40.939
The virus manages to seek out its prey in
Alaska.

46:41.070 --> 46:44.419
Thanks to a brief meeting with a fisherman or a
dock worker.

46:44.870 --> 46:51.830
It makes its way into the midst of families
taking advantage of traditional habitats in

46:51.929 --> 46:54.290
which each household shares a common room

46:59.129 --> 47:03.729
without ventilation or windows.
In order to protect themselves from the harsh

47:03.739 --> 47:07.489
climate.
The most effective heating system is physical

47:07.500 --> 47:13.409
closeness.
In some isolated villages, 85% of the

47:13.419 --> 47:14.590
population die.

47:18.429 --> 47:25.280
The survivors generally, Children rarely
survive very long left to their feet.

47:25.500 --> 47:27.639
Many die of cold or hunger

47:36.600 --> 47:38.919
almost a year after it first appeared.

47:39.189 --> 47:42.290
The virus continues on its infernal path.

47:44.570 --> 47:50.260
The last bastion of resistance Australia so far
protected thanks to a strict maritime

47:50.270 --> 47:57.260
quarantine at the end of December.
However, a

47:57.270 --> 47:59.199
warship slips through the safety net.

48:00.010 --> 48:06.780
96 soldiers disembark home from the war one
third of the city\'s population is

48:06.790 --> 48:11.989
infected in January 1919.

48:12.270 --> 48:18.469
The virus has a disastrous impact on Japan in
February.

48:18.800 --> 48:21.760
The Ukraine bids farewell to its queen of the
screen.

48:22.610 --> 48:28.139
An icon of Russian cinema via Korneev is struck
down at the age of 25.

48:31.070 --> 48:34.610
In March, the Rio carnival is a bright shining
light.

48:36.689 --> 48:41.459
The splendor of the festivities will not
however erase the memories of the slaughter

48:41.469 --> 48:48.090
that follows in

48:48.100 --> 48:51.770
April Canada mourns its ice hockey legend Joe
Hall.

48:53.689 --> 48:57.780
His sudden death at the age of 37 will become a
symbol of the pandemic.

49:09.649 --> 49:14.500
In the spring of 1919, President Woodrow Wilson
makes his way to Europe

49:17.550 --> 49:19.729
four months after Germany\'s defeat.

49:20.189 --> 49:26.780
The question of war reparations continues to
divide the victors only the

49:26.790 --> 49:31.750
American leader believes that excessively
severe sanctions might stir up a desire for

49:31.760 --> 49:33.620
revenge amongst the losers.

49:33.820 --> 49:35.750
He intends to win over his allies

49:41.719 --> 49:45.530
but suddenly a bombshell hits on April the
third.

49:45.639 --> 49:47.419
The allies\' meetings are postponed.

49:47.850 --> 49:54.629
Wilson has fallen seriously ill, Cary Grayson,
his personal physician

49:54.639 --> 50:00.959
privately confides the president was suddenly
taken violently sick with the influenza at a

50:00.969 --> 50:04.760
time when the whole of civilization seemed to
be in the balance.

50:07.879 --> 50:10.810
Five days later, the convalescent is back.

50:11.580 --> 50:14.510
But to those who know him, he\'s no longer the
same.

50:15.330 --> 50:18.250
They have never seen him so worn out, so tired.

50:22.100 --> 50:24.350
His head bodyguard is distraught.

50:25.679 --> 50:30.010
The illness has left him very weak which has
radically altered his alertness.

50:36.810 --> 50:41.739
On June the 28th 1919, the peace agreement is
finally signed.

50:42.870 --> 50:46.229
The Treaty of Versailles brings Germany to its
knees.

50:47.090 --> 50:51.909
The amount of reparations is so high that it
will provide a pretext for the outbreak of the

50:51.919 --> 50:52.969
Second World War.

51:00.669 --> 51:04.919
18 months after its mysterious appearance in a
US military camp.

51:05.199 --> 51:12.179
The Spanish flu has come full circle, it is
gone,

51:12.189 --> 51:19.110
leaving behind it 50 million victims without
drugs or vaccines.

51:19.239 --> 51:22.449
Humanity has managed to defeat the dreaded
virus.

51:23.580 --> 51:27.489
A lucky victory probably achieved thanks to
herd immunity.

51:27.830 --> 51:34.100
But at a cost of tens of millions of human
lives, a bittersweet victory,

51:34.389 --> 51:41.050
particularly since the virus has not been
eradicated perpetually on the move.

51:41.060 --> 51:45.030
It is dormant and threatens to wake at any time.