(In)Visible Scars: Warfare and the Human Condition

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Medical Advancements Spoils of War: Debts of the Future Introduction Militaries cause the advancement of medical knowledge because pursuing war leads to the creation of new weapons that cause new types of injuries. New injuries force doctors to develop new medical treatments; this pushes the field forward. War with its mass casualties also provides a large-scale testing ground for these new developments. Mass experimentation out of necessity and desperation leads to improvements in medicine for both soldiers and civilians. MacMillan Context War is tied to power in history. The drive towards power produces societal pressure for military innovation to increase an army’s chances of defeating their enemy. Technological advances produce a cycle in war as all sides seek to outpace the others to gain advantages: armour was developed in response to metal tipped spears; fortifications were built in response to mounted warriors; and other technologies fell out of use as they become obsolete like Roman road building techniques.1 Three primary innovations developed prior to 1800 are considered the most important technological shifts in warfare: the production and use of iron, the domestication of horses, and the use of gunpowder.2 Despite these military advances increasing causality rates when they were introduced, the primary cause of death during war has always been infection.3 Before Louis Pasteur and the modern understanding of germ theory emerged in the late nineteenth century, several theories of medicine existed, but none were able to address infection.4 Though we now have proof that substances like honey used on wounds have some antiseptic qualities, the knowledge about the root cause of infection was not known, allowing infections to fester in wounds causing significant injury and even death. This was especially bad in military campaigns where sanitary conditions were poor and wounds were large.

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Many military advances affect civilian life, including modern technology like the internet or navigation services.5 Just as these technologies developed for military use have influenced civilian life, medical advancements developed for military injuries have changed civilian life. Much of our knowledge surrounding wound care, infections, and transmittable diseases comes from times of war. The high number of injured individuals combined with the chaos of treating the wounded on or near the battlefield has allowed doctors, medics, and nurses to innovate, leading to the acquisition of medical knowledge that has subsequently applied in civilian medicine. To this end, the knowledge gained during war continues to be used in times of peace.

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