Just the Flu or an international slow motion train wreck?
[ammoland.com]

It is only the Flu. These are the famous words of the political leaders of the day, in 1917-1918 while large populations of the world were dying. They called it the Spanish Flu pandemic.

Pandemic means an epidemic that spreads over a wide area. It was incorrectly named because World War I was going on and the governments on both sides had censorship of the news. Spain was not at war and their newspapers reported the latest information on the pandemic as it was occurring. Because most of the timely and accurate information was coming from that country people wrongfully thought Spain started the whole thing.