Comparing The Crimean War And World War I

The Crimean war and World War I were major losses for both sides fighting but there was an extensive amount of guidance to the medical world. Before the Crimean war in World War I the medical field struggling because they did not have the information on how to cure any current or future outbreaks of an infection. The conditions during the Crimean war were harsh, many men from all sides, British, French, and Russian were covering the battlefield, wounded or dead. The ships from Varna, which were to bring the men to invade the Crimean Peninsula, abandoned the wounded men on the field due to the fact they neglected to bring any medical supplies. With the ambulance corps still in Bulgaria, doctors had to deal with what they had. They knew they

The British, who were transporting their patients to Scutari, put all that wounded and sick tightly packed on the ship. Nikolai Pirogov arrived in Crimea in 1854 and was horrified by the way the soldiers were being treated, and he had thousands of them transported to Perekop. Pirogov started using anesthetics and a new type of amputation, two major advancements. He learned the organizing the patients would help with their health. During 1856 and 1914 there were no significant medical advancements due to the fact there was no war or new outbreak of disease. But as World War I progressed A new source of infection broken out of the Spanish influenza. It started out as a normal cold but as it advanced patients would rapidly develop the worst type of pneumonia they have ever seen. It quickly spread on trade routes and came in three different waves. They ended up having a shortage of doctors do to so many people being sick. Everyone began to rely on scientists which gave science and medicine a greater importance. The flu was so deadly that by comparison more people are killed by the flu then by gun in World War

With shell shock and the influenza, world War I had no other choice than to find cures or ways to become immune to these and all future diseases. The casualties were not as important as these rapidly spreading diseases which killed more people than World War I. By creating new drugs, introducing new medical practices, and having the ability to learn more about the human body, the mass casualties from the Crimean war and the new infectious diseases of world War I together allowed many great new possibilities and ideas for the medical field. The Crimean War, a battle fought of three years, allowed the medical field to advance drastically, from surgery tactics to the hygiene of the patients, due to the mass casualties. Nikolai Pirogov was a Russian, “who pioneered the system of field surgery” (295 Figes). Pirogov started his medical studies at the age of fourteen. By the age of twenty-five Pirogov was the Professor of Surgery at the Academy of Military Medicine in St. Petersburg. In 1847 “He pioneered the use of ether, becoming the first surgeon to employ anaesthesia in a field operation” (296). This allowed for surgeons to make a clearer choice on which patients needed urgent care to the