The so called "Spanish" flu was not from Spain; the first reported case was from France. It killed happily people all around the world spreading from military camps and soldiers returning home. Was tagged as spanish because many countries were in war and censored carefully any bad news about people dying in mass in their territories to avoid the enemy (and their own citizens) having this sensible information. As Spain remained neutral in the first World War, the spanish press documented the problem freely and extensively instead. Spain lost only the 1% of their population (around 200.000 people) whereas France lost 400.000, USA lost the 28% of their population (around 550.000) and 30 millions of people died in China (maybe should be called chinese flu instead? or even better the WWI big flu?).

The tag was bassically an attempt from politicians to blame a foreigner country, hide the problem under the rug and avoid assuming responsabilities in his countries. The oldest trick in the bag.