WI: Earlier and more virulent Spanish Flu

What if...say in November 1912, the Spanish Influenza breaks out and by June 1914, it kills twice the total number of people as it did in OTL. What would happen next? Would World War I still happen?
 
What would happen next? Would World War I still happen?

Yikes! I don't think it could. The 1918 Flu disproportionately killed young and middle-aged people; exactly the ones you need to fight a war.

Need to run, but IIRC the Flu killed more people than WWI, so the economic effects would be devastating - Great Depression level and below.
 
From my understanding, it was WWI which helped the Spanish Flu to spread in the first place.

Exactly. It started in the US, near an Army training camp. Those soldiers carried the virus to Europe where it ran rampant and then from there to the rest of the world and then back to the US. It's spread would have been slower than during the war.

Torqumada
 
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