War and pandemic: Belgium and Poland facing the ‘Spanish flu’ (1918-1920)
»The mother of epidemics« and »the greatest disaster of the 20th century«, two expressions used to refer to the influenza pandemic of 1918, unjustly called »Spanish flu«. These names testify to the power and gravity of the plague, which occurred in the turbulent context of the end of a long and devastating war.
On the Western Front, Belgium was not spared. The disease spread at a time when the harshness of the war and the censorship imposed by the German occupiers hampered communication about the epidemic, while military operations and the food crisis attracted attention. At the same time, on the Eastern Front, the Polish lands did not escape the spread of what was known as hiszpanka. Poles were affected and dying in the same way (if not more severely) as Westerners; and yet, with a few exceptions, their suffering remained individual, outside the mainstream of public opinion and the interests of the authorities.
Belgium and the Warsaw General Military Government remain two comparable territories in terms of occupation during the First World War. The German occupiers imposed their administration and oppressive measures in the same way. In 1918, the population faced serious food shortages and were exhausted by four years of war. These conditions encouraged the outbreak of other epidemics when the Spanish flu arrived.