HOW DID THE SPANISH INFLUENZA IMPACT THE 1918 UNION OF TRANSYLVANIA WITH ROMANIA?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24919/2519-058X.21.246904Abstract
The National Assembly, scheduled for Alba Iulia on December 1, 1918, was meant to proclaim the Union of Transylvania, Banat, and Partium (parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918, but with a Romanian ethnic majority) with the Kingdom of Romania. Among the worst enemies for the organization of this Assembly was the Spanish Influenza.
Towards the end of 1918, explanations about this pandemic were partly modern. Transylvanian newspapers made some efforts to depict the Spanish flu, emphasizing a scientific dimension, occasionally giving space for the medical discussions, although theories without scientific support were present as well. In some countries around the world, modern procedures were taken against the spread of the flu, such as wearing a mask or the interdiction to organize events with numerous participants, but in Transylvania, at the end of the war, it appeared that very few cared for real measures regarding the pandemic. The major imperatives of the period were hundred per cent towards the national emancipation. There was also a vacuum of authority which needed to be filled.
The deputies for the National Assembly were elected 4 – 7 days prior the event established to take place in Alba Iulia. A significant number of them got sick in this period, becoming unable to make the trip to Alba Iulia. Most of them sent telegrams to the Assembly organizers, specifying that they were victims of the Spanish flu and that they were forced to stay in bed. Some of those afflicted were replaced by substitutes already elected. Nevertheless, other Romanian leaders, although being very ill, made a considerable effort and managed to be present at the event. Carrying the flu germs (knowledge about viruses was extremely limited) and putting others in danger was not seen as a major problem.
Key words: pandemic, flu, World War I, post-war, Transylvania, unification, National Assembly
References
Alba Iulia. (1918). Alba Iulia [newspaper], I, nr. 3, 24 decembrie 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Biserica și școala. (1918). Biserica și școala [gazette], Arad, XLII, nr. 47, 18 noiembrie/1 decembrie 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Cicio Pop. (1984). Ștefan Cicio Pop, “Zile istorice, zile de glorie” [Historical Days, Days of Glory], in Marea Unire a românilor în izvoare narrative [The Great Union of the Romanians through Narrative Sources], edition by Stelian Neagoe, București, Ed. Eminescu, 1984. [in Romanian]
Cicio Pop Birtolon. (1978). Ani Cicio Pop Birtolon, “Noaptea și fulgerul” [The Night and the Thunder], in Din lunga timpului bătaie. Anul 1918 în amintirile unor martori oculari [Form the Long Range of Time. The Year of 1918 through the Memories of Some Eyewitnesses], edited by Constantin Dumitrescu, Cluj-Napoca, Ed. Dacia, 1978. [in Romanian]
Documentele Unirii. Muzeul Național al Unirii Alba Iulia [The National Museum of Union], Colecția Documente [“Documents” Collection] – Documentele Unirii [The Documents of Union], tom I–VI. [in Romanian]
Dragomir. (1984). Silviu Dragomir, “Un sfert de veac de la Unirea Transilvaniei” [A Quarter of Century since the Union of Transylvania], in Marea Unire a românilor în izvoare narative [The Great Union of the Romanians through Narrative Sources], edited by Stelian Neagoe, București, Ed. Eminescu, 1984. [in Romanian]
Epidemia. (1918). “Epidemia spaniolă” [The Spanish Epidemic], in Românul [newspaper], Arad, VII, no. 24, 25 november/8 december 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Glasul Ardealului. (1918). Glasul Ardealului [newspaper], Brașov, I, no. 17, 17/30 nov. 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Hulea. (1978). Eugen Hulea, “Alba Iulia în zilele Marii Uniri” [Alba Iulia during the Days of the Great Union], in Apulum, XVI, 1978, p. 439-465. [in Romanian]
Humphries. (2013). Mark Osborne Humphries, The Last Plague: Spanish Influenza and the Politics of Public Health in Canada, University of Toronto Press, 2013. [in English]
Jertfele. (1918). “Jertfele gripei spaniole” [The Sacrifices of the Spanish Flu], in Glasul Ardealului [newspaper], Brașov, I, no. 14, 14/27 noiembrie 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Libertatea. (1918, no. 4). Libertatea [newspaper], Orăștie, XV, no. 4, 22 nov./5 dec. 1918, p. 1. [in Romanian]
Libertatea. (1918, no. 5) – Libertatea [newspaper], Orăștie, XV, no. 5, 29 nov./12 dec. 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Libertatea. (1918, no. 6). Libertatea [newspaper], Orăștie, XV, no. 6, 6/19 dec. 1918, p. 3. [in Romanian]
Maria. (2015). Maria, Regina României, Jurnal de război, 1918 [Journal of War, 1918], translated by Anca Bărbulescu, edition Lucian Boia, București, Ed. Humanitas, 2015. [in Romanian]
Marin. (1989). Florea Marin, “Medici și farmaciști din Comitatul Alba, participanți la Marea Adunare Națională ținută la Alba Iulia în ziua de 1 decembrie 1918” [Physicians and Druggists from Alba County, Participants at the Great National Assembly held in Alba Iulia on the Day of 1 December 1918], in Apulum, XXVI, 1989. [in Romanian]
Marin. (1993). Florea Marin, Medicii și Marea Unire [The Physicians and the Great Union], Târgu-Mureș, Ed. Tipomur, 1993. [in Romanian]
Mocanu. (1918). Mircea Mocanu, “Gripa sau influența spaniolă” [The Flu or the Spanish Influenza], in Glasul Ardealului [newspaper], I, no. 10, 8/21 nov. 1918, pp. 2–3. [in Romanian]
Patterson. (1986). Karl David Patterson, Pandemic Influenza, 1700-1900: A Study in Historical Epidemiology, Rowan & Littlefield, 1986, p. 32-36. [in English]
Pop. (1978). Emil Pop, “Suflet și adevăr” [Soul and Truth], in Din lunga timpului bătaie. Anul 1918 în amintirile unor martori oculari [Form the Long Range of Time. The Year of 1918 through the Memories of Some Eyewitnesses], edited by Constantin Dumitrescu, Cluj-Napoca, Ed. Dacia, 1978, p. 30. [in Romanian]
Revista economic. (1918). Revista economică [review], Sibiu, XX, no. 48–49, p. 446. [in Romanian]
Românul. (1918, no. 13). Românul [newspaper], Arad, VII, no. 13, 11/24 nov. 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Românul. (1918, nr. 22). Românul [newspaper], VII, no. 22, 6 dec. 1918, p. 4. [in Romanian]
Roșu. (2020a). Tudor Roșu, 1 Decembrie 1918 [1st of December 1918], Cluj-Napoca, Ed. Mega, 2020. [in Romanian]
Roșu. (2020b). Victor Tudor Roșu, “Gripa spaniolă și Unirea de la 1 Decembrie 1918” [The Spanish Flu and the Union of 1st of December 1918], in Astra Sabesiensis, no. 6, 2020, p. 135-144. [in Romanian]
Sbarcea. (1918). Dr. Sbarcea, “Influența spaniolă” [The Spanish Influenza], in Glasul Ardealului [newspaper], I, no. 12, 11/24 noiembrie 1918, p. 3. [in Romanian]
Spinney. (2020). Laura Spinney, Gripa spaniolă din 1918. Pandemia care a schimbat lumea [original title: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and how it Changed the World], translated by Roxana Olteanu, București, Ed. Corint, 2020. [in Romanian]
Vaida Voevod. (1994). Alexandru Vaida Voevod, Memorii [Memories], vol. I, Cluj-Napoca, Ed. Dacia, 1994. [in Romanian]
Valleron et alii. (2010). Alain-Jacques Valleron, Anne Cori, Sophie Valtat, Sofia Meurisse, Fabrice Carrat, Pierre Yves Boëlle, “Transmissibility and Geographic Spread of the 1889 Influenza Pandemic”, in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, vol. 107, no. 19, May 2010, pp. 8778–8781. [in English]
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
