Pandemic

One of the main jobs of historians is to interpret the past by reviewing primary documents, scholarly secondary sources, and then creating an analysis of this research. After reading your text and reviewing the assigned materials, submit an analysis of the Spanish Flu of 1918. Beginning in 1918, an illness that came to be known as the Spanish Flu began making its way around the world and resulted in the deaths of over 25 million people worldwide. You have lived your last 18 months through the current Covid pandemic.

You might want to consider the following questions, but you are not limited to them: How was the pandemic of 1918 different from typical cases of influenza and previous pandemics? How did it spread so rapidly? What can we learn from this event? What did we learn from this event moving into the Covid pandemic? What will historians and history students in the future learn from the Covid pandemic?

This assignment should be at least 300 words and contain your reactions or questions about some specific issue within the historical narrative which you find compelling. For full credit, your paper must not simply sum up the reading or repeat points made there. Rather, I’m looking for you to create your own interpretation, explain the emotional content of the piece, or discuss some original insight. Include citations as needed.