The influenza epidemic of 1918 was in terms of sheer numbers one of the more destructive disasters in man's history. Like many plagues, the Spanish Flu of 1918 appears to have begun in the armies at war ( World War I this time ) and was then spread to the civilian population by returning soldiers.: In a little over a year 22 million people succumbed to the disease including 550,000 in the United States, more than were killed in all of World War I. The 1918 worldwide epidemic which dominated every facet of life in all the world for more than a year is virtually unknown to today's man in the street and is only slightly more familiar to the most educated and well read of us. To learn more about this subject check out The American Experience/ Influenza, 1918.