*WARNING*
If the mention of politicians by name offends your sensibilities do not click on the link.
The first wave wasn’t that bad. In the spring of 1918, a new strain of influenza hit military camps in Europe on both sides of World War I. Soldiers were affected, but not nearly as severely as they would be later.
Even so, Britain, France, Germany and other European governments kept it secret. They didn’t want to hand the other side a potential advantage.
Spain, on the other hand, was a neutral country in the war. When the disease hit there, the government and newspapers reported it accurately. Even the king got sick.
So months later, when a bigger, deadlier wave swept across the globe, it seemed like it had started in Spain, even though it hadn’t. Simply because the Spanish told the truth, the virus was dubbed the “Spanish flu.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/02/29/1918-flu-coronavirus-trump/