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October and November 1918, one hundred years ago, were among the deadliest months in human history. During this short period, the man-made disaster of World War I reached its climax with the final battles and defeat of the Central Powers in Europe. Simultaneously, the natural disaster of a virus-borne influenza pandemic and its bacteriological secondary infections peaked with nearly one third of the entire world's population infected.
The National Museum of Health and Medicine explores the intersection of these two tragic events against the backdrop of World War I, exploring how the Great War influenced the spread and lethality of the virus, how the military responded to this devastating pathogen, and how World War I shaped the way the 1918 flu pandemic is positioned in our cultural memory. |