4. Spanish Flu contributed to the causes of the Second World War
In December, 1918, President Woodrow Wilson sailed for France to participate in the treaty negotiations which formally ended the First World War. Wilson traveled with his famous Fourteen Points, determined to avoid harsh recriminations on the defeated Central Powers. He found the French, British, and Italians in opposition to his thinking. The Allies were determined to punish the Germans, inflicting terms which reduced their land boundaries and forced them to pay crippling reparations. They also reduced their military capability, seized most of their navy, and made further development of an air force illegal. Wilson argued for more lenient terms.
In the spring of 1919, the Spanish Flu afflicted the American President. Wilson, suffering from the effects of fever, became unstable. His mind wandered, and he frequently went into what aides described as “rages”. Unable to marshal his thoughts and too tired to respond forcefully to the arguments of the Allied leaders, he conceded points which he went to Europe determined to defend. He remained ill for several weeks. More than one biographer wrote his health never fully recovered from the illness in Paris. The resulting harshness of the Treaty of Versailles fed German nationalism and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.