In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, military conflict was, for many, an unexpected catalyst for medical developments. Throughout this time, disease and surgical infection proved to be a devastating killer of British soldiers at war or policing the British empire. Addressing this became a military necessity.
There was also popular and political pressure, in part due to the developments in war reporting that raised awareness of the need for medical developments among the armed forces. In the Crimean and Boer Wars, it was war reporters who brought stories of indifference, incompetence and a lack of proper medical facilities to a wider reading audience for the first time. In both cases, public anger led to transformations in medical organisation which then allowed for medical innovation, the impact of which was only fully harnessed during the First World War.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
