History Teaching, Vol. 33 No. 1, 2022.
Preliminary communication
THE GREAT SPANISH FLU PANDEMIC OF 1918 BETWEEN THE SCIENTIFIC POSSIBILITIES AND THE LIMITATIONS OF THE MODERN AGE
Nikola Anušić
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Zagreb
Abstract
The scientific development achieved in the modern industrial society is unprecedented in history. Never before has such a great cognitive and technological progress been achieved in such a short time, which enabled an incredible social, economic, demographic, cultural, communication and landscape transformation of the world. Perhaps the most important achievement of the scientific development was the suppression of infectious and deadly diseases, which resulted in the extension of life expectancy and the chances of survival of the alive. All this caused an incredible growth of optimism and self-awareness in the society of the industrial age, which was reflected in the belief that infectious diseases were a thing of the past. However, the greatest pandemic of all time occurred in modern times, in 1918, and was equally a consequence of the achieved scientific and technological development, as well as cognitive limitations that had not yet been overcome by this development.
Keywords
the Spanish flu; 1918; scientific and technological progress
Hrčak ID:
294358
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2022.
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