Scientists at the Harvard Climate Change Institute said the climate anomaly caused a significant increase in deaths during the First World War. Their research is quoted by the Daily Mail.
Experts found out that in 1914-1919, low atmospheric pressure remained in Iceland. In this regard, moisture was drawn from there across the Atlantic Ocean, and cold air moved from the Arctic. This caused periods of intense rainfall and low temperatures in different regions. These periods, in turn, coincided with the battles, where the largest losses were incurred. “The Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Verdun occurred during this period, resulting in more than 2 million deaths,” the institute said.
Scientists write that “trenches filled with mud and water, and bomb craters swallowed everything from tanks to horses and soldiers, becoming what eyewitnesses call the” liquid grave “of armies.”
The study also emphasizes that the climate anomaly contributed to the spread of the Spanish flu pandemic, which followed the conflict and claimed the lives of approximately 100 million people worldwide.
In the conclusion of the scientific work, the authors conclude that the role of such climatic anomalies should be assessed in relation to later pandemics, such as COVID-19, which spread in the UK during the fifth wettest winter on record.
