In the latter half of 1918, WWI belligerents were losing their young soldiers non-stop to an influenza pandemic. Still, America managed to supply Britain and France with fresh troops ("doughboys") as well as material support. Germany and Austria, totally bankrupt and exhausted, had no choice but to beg for peace. In the subsequent Paris Peace Conference (1919-20), America was virtually the only power that mattered. President Woodrow Wilson knew that very well. Wilson was an ambitious man who put forward a bold vision that embodied a League of Nations, in which America would be the top dog. He promised to take good care of all the underdogs including Germany and Austria. The American Century kicked off.

Then the white knight caught a bug. President Wilson suddenly found his life hanging by a thread due to the re-emergent flu, to which his young aide succumbed right before his eyes. At this juncture, Wilson was fiercely resisting the French proposal that would emasculate Germany politically, economically and militarily. Should Wilson stick to his gun, so to speak, France would get nowhere. But the flu-stricken U.S. president had no more fire in his belly. He was reduced to a shadow of his former self. France prevailed, to everyone's surprise. The resultant Treaty of Versailles fulfilled the French dream of revenge.* Emasculated, Germany as a state was called into question. A wounded Austria-born corporal named Adolf Hitler did not forget or forgive Versailles. He was not alone. Versailles sowed the seeds of WWII.

Influenza arguably ended WWI, only to help bring about WWII. Talk about irony. By the way, America never joined the League of Nations. American isolationism emboldened totalitarian regimes, which, again ironically, drew the Yankees back into yet another world war.

* In the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1), victorious Prussia occupied Paris and proclaimed a unified German Empire at Versailles.

Author: Lingyang Jiang