The civilian death rate rose due to food shortages and Spanish Flu, which hit the country in 1918.[11] Military deaths are estimated to have exceeded 850,000.[12] The Empire reached its zenith at the conclusion of peace negotiations.[13] However, the war heightened not only imperial loyalties but also individual national identities in the dominions (Canada, Newfoundland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa) and India. Irish nationalists after 1916 moved from collaboration with London to demands for immediate independence (see Easter Rising), a move given great impetus by the Conscription Crisis of 1918.[14]