Washington
CNN
—
President Donald Trump said, as he has repeatedly in the past, that this is the worst pandemic since “1917” – then added that the “1917” pandemic “probably ended the Second World War.”
Facts First: A massive flu pandemic is known to have caused tens of millions of deaths worldwide in 1918 and 1919, not 1917; there has been some research suggesting this flu was circulating in 1917, but it caused its vast destruction in the two following years. Regardless, this pandemic obviously did not end the “Second World War,” which occurred from 1939 to 1945; it did sicken soldiers during the final year of World War I.
