Description
Book SynopsisAfter years at the margins of medical history, the relationship between war and medicine is at last beginning to move centre-stage. The essays in this volume focus on one important aspect of that relationship: the practice and development of medicine within the armed forces from the late nineteenth century through to the end of the Second World War. During this crucial period, medicine came to occupy an important position in military life, especially during the two world wars when manpower was at a premium. Good medical provisions were vital to the conservation of manpower, protecting servicemen from disease and returning the sick and wounded to duty in the shortest possible time. A detailed knowledge of the serviceman's mind and body enabled the authorities to calculate and standardise rations, training and disciplinary procedures. Spanning the laboratory and the battlefield, and covering a range of national contexts, the essays in this volume provide valuable insights into different national styles and priorities. They also examine the relationship between medical personnel and the armed forces as a whole, by looking at such matters as the prevention of disease, the treatment of psychiatric casualties and the development of medical science. The volume as a whole demonstrates that medicine became an increasingly important part of military life in the era of modern warfare, and suggests new avenues and approaches for future study.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Notes on Contributors Mark HARRISON: Medicine and the Management of Modern Warfare: An Introduction J.T.H. CONNOR: ‘Before the World in Concealed Disgrace': Physicians, Professionalization and the 1898 Cuban Campaign of the Spanish American War Leo van BERGEN: ‘The Malingerers are to Blame': The Dutch Military Health Service before and during the First World War Michael WORBOYS: Almroth Wright at Netley: Modern Medicine and the Military in Britain, 1892-1902 Claire HERRICK: ‘The Conquest of the Silent Foe': British and American Military Medical Reform Rhetoric and the Russo-Japanese War Cay-Rüdiger PRÜLL: Pathology at War 1914-1918: Germany and Britain in Comparison Ian R. WHITEHEAD: The British Medical Officer on the Western Front: The Training of Doctors for War Mark HARRISON: Disease, Discipline and Dissent: The Indian Army in France and England, 1914-1915 Lesley A. HALL: ‘War always brings it on': War, STDs, the Military, and the Civilian Population in Britain, 1850-1950 Mark HARRISON: Sex and the Citizen Soldier: Health, Morals and Discipline in the British Army during the Second World War Hans POLS: The Repression of War Trauma in American Psychiatry after World War II Index
