The 1918 Flu Pandemic
As World War I was coming to an end, US govt scientists, way before the modern age of biotechnology, were able to manipulate a virus in such a way to make it far more transmissable and deadly than any other virus.
Under the burden of debt from the war and low morale in the nation, US officials hatched a plan to make other nations pay for the toll inflicted upon the US and our allies. As nations around the world fell into crisis, it was thought the US could gain an advantage and return to a place of dominance in the world.
The war was not yet over, and troops and supplies were still shipping out to Europe. A US army clerk in Kansas was inadvertently exposed to the virus while moving crates around at a military base in Kansas. The clerk became ill with flu symptoms and was relieved from his duty for a few days, but then returned to work. A week or so later, a few boot camp recruits on the same base fell ill. A week and one half later a soldier died, having developed pneumonia. 3 more soldiers were also in the infirmary with serious respiratory symptoms. Within a month, soldiers and officers at other US bases were becoming seriously ill.
Pentagon officials caught wind of the increasing illnesses at bases around the country, and sprung into action. Officials from D.C. arrived at the Kansas army base, recovered the crates, and returned with them to Washington. It is unknown, but sources have claimed the crates and materials inside them were destroyed.
Soldiers were still being deployed to Europe. As victory was nearing against the Germans, American soldiers began to fall ill, among all the other forms of suffering in trench warfare. First a few, but then it began to multiply. At first it seemed it was a flu, but the illness in many became far more severe, and many began to succumb with pneumonia.
Before long, German soldiers were also becoming ill. European towns and cities began to notice large amounts of sick people. More and more began to develop pneumonia, and then die. Many soldiers, on either side of the battlefield, began to die. Often they died in their trenches this way, asphyxiated by a virus which rendered their lungs non functional. Within a couple of months, all of Europe began to be ravaged by the illness. Back in the U.S. the sickness also spread, from town to town and city to city. Further and further the virus spread, and began to circle the globe and affect countries and peoples everywhere. There was hardly a nation or city in the world that was spared.
The virus circled the globe twice, lasting well over a year, until it finally began to dwindle. The death toll was immense. Exact numbers is unknown, but estimated at 20 to 40 million people worldwide. It devastated towns and cities, nations, and peoples. It killed without regard to race, color, religion, or station in life.
This is why we call it the Kansas Flu.
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