Did the powers that be kill 50 million people in 1918?
Reporting on the New World Order 1988-2014
October 12, 2014
A deadly illness took hold as WW1 ended and killed an
estimated 50 million people globally. But the horror made the world aware of
the need for collective action against infectious diseases, says Christian
Tams, professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow.
On Armistice Day, 1918, the world was already fighting
another battle. It was in the grip of Spanish Influenza, which went on to kill
almost three times more people than the 17 million soldiers and civilians killed during WW1.
Dangerous diseases only reach the headlines if there is a
risk of a pandemic, like the current Ebola outbreak. Other than that they are
the largely ignored global killers, but every year they kill many more people
than wars and military conflicts.
In 1918 the world faced a pandemic. Within months Spanish
Flu had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history. It
struck fast and was indiscriminate. In just one year the average life expectancy in America
dropped by 12 years, according to the US National Archives.
A peace to end all wars?
After WW1, global leaders dreamed of a new world order. How
close did they get? Prof Christian Tams explores whether they succeeded in a
free online course (MOOC) from the BBC and the University of Glasgow. Click on
the line below to learn more.
In many countries public health services responded, while
societies used to wartime restrictions bore quarantines and other measures with
resilience. But massive troop deployments and increased global travel meant
that no nation could fight the Spanish Flu singlehandedly. Warring nations
would need to co-operate if they wanted to combat global diseases.
In the aftermath of WW1 global security was the major
concern. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 the Allies redrew boundaries,
carved up empires and established the first-ever world organisation, the League of
Nations.
How deadly was Spanish Influenza?
- One fifth of the world’s population was attacked by this deadly virus
- Most vicious influenza strain of the 20th Century
- Deaths even surpassed the Black Death of the Middle Ages
Source: US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
and BBC
The League was set up primarily to preserve peace, which it
did with limited success. But it was also to be a centre for co-ordinating
international co-operation. The prevention and control of disease was one of
the matters of “international concern” listed in its founding treaty. And very
quickly – drawing lessons from the Spanish Flu and other global diseases – the
League would lay the foundations of our modern system of global healthcare
control.
The League’s work for international health is largely
forgotten, but it is a remarkable story. Under-staffed and under-resourced,
various League health agencies during the 1920s and 1930s began to view global
health as a global challenge. This involved crisis responses on the ground, but
also long-term work towards prevention and health education.
When the League began its work, the worst waves of the
Spanish Flu were over. However, countries in Central and Eastern Europe found
themselves in the grip of another disease – typhus. The League mobilised
international action that by 1921 had largely managed to contain the spread of
the epidemic, through mass examinations, de-lousing and bathing and the
imposition of quarantines.
While crisis responses remained important, the League
greatly improved work towards the prevention of diseases and pioneered health
education. Early-warning systems were set up to gather information on the most
common infectious diseases such as Cholera, Yellow Fever or Small Pox. This was
then communicated by telegraph to a global network.
The League also promoted health-related research and
standardised the use of vaccinations around the globe. And it engaged in the
first global attempt at health training. This included large-scale programmes
of Malaria education and a concerted effort in the 1920s to
improve healthcare in China.
While little of this generated news headlines, it would be
foolish to dismiss the League’s work. Prevention remains the best cure and the
League’s efforts are likely to have saved countless lives.
In many countries like France people were urged to wear
protective masks
Shop staff in Chicago also
wore them
As did police officers in Washington
In an early form of public-private partnership,
international health co-operation brought together League experts, national
governments and private charities. All this marked no more than a beginning,
but it brought home the basic idea that global health can only be protected
through international co-operation.
Current reports about the likely spread of Ebola show
threats to the world’s health are not over. Such threats of deadly pandemics
can still meet with haphazard responses.
But beyond pandemics, which are widely reported, the truly
shocking figures are the ones that hardly ever reach the headlines, like that
of seven million children dying every year from preventable diseases.
But global health has massively improved since 1918 and
there are numerous untold success stories. Polio, one of the deadliest scourges of
mankind, is nearly eradicated thanks to the combined efforts of UN agencies and
private charities like the Gates Foundation and Rotary.
League of Nations
League of
Nations was a predecessor to the United
Nations.
Note: Woodrow Wilson was
an advocate for the League of Nations, the president of the Woodrow
Wilson administration, a member of the Phi
Beta Kappa Society, the president of Princeton
University, a member of the Cosmos
Club, and is a Nobel Foundation
Nobel peace prize winner.
George
H.W. Bush is a member of the Phi
Beta Kappa Society, a member of the Burning Tree Club, and was the president of the George H.W.
Bush administration.
1991 - Bush 41 Announces The
New World Order
Gerald R. Ford was a
member of the Burning Tree Club,
and the president of the Gerald R. Ford administration.
Franklin
Delano Roosevelt was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, a
member of the Burning Tree Club, the president of the Franklin Delano
Roosevelt administration, and attended the Yalta Conference with Alger
Hiss.
John A. Boehner is
a member of the Burning Tree Club,
and the speaker for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Lyndon B. Johnson was a member of the Burning Tree Club,
and the president of the Lyndon B. Johnson administration.
John F. Kennedy was a member of the Burning Tree Club,
and the president of the John F. Kennedy administration.
Richard
M. Nixon was an honorary member of the Burning Tree Club, the president of the Richard M. Nixon
administration, and received national attention for his role in questioning
Alger Hiss.
Alger
Hiss received national attention after
questioning by Richard M. Nixon, attended the Yalta Conference
with Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), and was the president of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank).
Jessica Tuchman Mathews is the president of
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a director
at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg
conference participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview with
Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for population control by involving the United States in war)
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Aspen Institute
(think tank), the International
Rescue Committee, and Human
Rights First.
George Soros was
the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society, and is a board member for the International Crisis
Group.
Thomas R.
Pickering is a co-chair for the International Crisis Group, a member
of the Cosmos Club, was a U.S. ambassador for the United Nations,
and a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Samantha Power
was a board member for the International Crisis Group, a director at the
International Rescue Committee, Barack Obama’s aide, and is the U.S.
ambassador at the United Nations for the Barack Obama administration.
Kofi A. Annan is a board
member for the International Crisis Group, an overseer at the International
Rescue Committee, a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), was the secretary
general for the United Nations,
and Gregory B. Craig was his lawyer.
Gregory
B. Craig was Kofi A. Annan’s
lawyer, the White House counsel for the Barack
Obama administration, and is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank).
Shirley M. Tilghman
is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank),
and was the president of Princeton
University.
W. Taylor
Reveley III is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), and was a trustee emeritus at Princeton University.
James
A. Leach was a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
(think tank), a visiting professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and is a
member of the Cosmos Club.
J.
Stapleton Roy is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace (think tank), a scholar at the Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, a member of the Cosmos Club, and was a U.S. ambassador
for China.
Jon M. Huntsman
Jr. is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank), and was the China U.S.
ambassador for the Barack Obama
administration.
William
H. Frist is a member of the Cosmos
Club, and was a trustee emeritus at Princeton
University.
Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs is a school at Princeton University.
James
D. Zirin is an advisory council member for the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, a senior
counsel at Sidley Austin LLP, and
was a director at Human Rights First.
Mark A. Angelson
was a director at Human Rights First,
and a partner at Sidley Austin LLP.
Dora Hughes is a
senior policy adviser at Sidley Austin
LLP, and was Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kathleen Sebelius’s
counselor at U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) was Dora
Hughes, and was the secretary at the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the Barack Obama administration.
Barack Obama is the
president for the Barack Obama
administration, a Nobel Foundation
Nobel peace prize winner, and was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle Obama
was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Newton N. Minow
is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
and a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
R. Eden Martin is counsel
at Sidley Austin LLP, and the
president of the Commercial Club of
Chicago.
James S.
Crown is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and a trustee
at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Lester Crown
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and was a lifetime
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Jean N. Case is a Partners
for a New Beginning steering committee member for the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and a founding board member for Malaria
No More.
Gabrielle Fitzgerald
is a founding board member Malaria No
More, and was a director of program advocacy for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Helene D. Gayle
is an advisory board member for Malaria
No More, and was a director of HIV & TB & reproductive health for
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Rotary
International is a partner with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.
Jack Valenti was a
trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member of the
Burning Tree Club.
George H.W. Bush
is a member of the Burning Tree Club, a member of the Phi Beta
Kappa Society, and was the
president of the George H.W. Bush administration.
Woodrow Wilson was
a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society,
an advocate for the League of Nations, the president of the Woodrow
Wilson administration, the president of Princeton University, a member of the Cosmos Club, and is a Nobel
Foundation Nobel peace prize winner.
League of
Nations was a predecessor to the United
Nations.
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