Description provided by Adam Matthew:
Explore multiple perspectives on the history of injury, treatment and disease on the front line. Chart scientific advances through hospital records, medical reports and first-hand accounts, and discover the evidence of how war shaped medical practice across the centuries.
The resource is provided in two modules, 1850-1927 and 1928-1949. It tells the story of medical advances during warfare from the mid-nineteenth century to the outbreak of the influenza epidemic in 1918, the discovery of penicillin in 1928, and up to post-war reforms such as the foundation of the British National Health Service. The wealth of documents cover multiple conflicts as well as interwar developments from a range of perspectives.
Material has been sourced from across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Europe to enable comparisons on key areas of systematic reform, improvements to sanitation and the treatment of disease, rehabilitation, nursing care, surgical techniques and wound treatment.
Conflicts
The four conflicts robustly represented are the Crimean War, the American Civil War, the First World War and the Second World War. Many other conflicts also have relevant documents and can be discovered via keyword searching, including the Boer Wars, Spanish-American War and the Spanish Civil War. No conflicts within the date range were explicitly excluded, but material was selected based on its contribution to the thematic scope of the project.
There is a wealth of information on battles, events and personnel from multiple conflicts in the interactive chronology.
You can also explore the experience, treatment, transportation and recovery of soldiers wounded by gunfire in the five key conflicts in the interactive feature Wounded in Action.
Themes
Documents are tagged with one or more themes to help users browse to the most useful content. These themes were identified based on the content of the collection. Click below to find out more about thematic groupings and to discover the documents that are categorised under each:Reproduction of a conscription poster for the US Army
Ambulance Systems
Disability
Hospital Care
Medical Developments and Equipment
Mental Health
Nursing
Personal Experience
Public Health, Welfare and Reform
Rehabilitation
Sanitation
Women at War
Additional themes for 1928-1949:
Blood Storage and Shipment
Burns Treatments
Advances in Plastic Surgery
Penicillin and Antibiotic Development
Humanitarian Relief
Interwar Healthcare Improvements
Fitness and Performance Enhancement