How has war influenced the development of Medicine through time?
Warfare has had a huge impact on medicine and public health. It has led to progress being made as surgeons have learnt about the anatomy through battlefield wounds; led to the chance discovery of several soothing remedies (by Pare, for example) and led to investment in new treatments such as Penicillin during the Second World War.
On the other hand warfare has resulted in medical progress being slowed down, or even in things getting worse. For example, the fall of the Roman empire, as a result of wars, led to Roman Public Health systems falling into disrepair, and many of the medical books of the Ancient World were destroyed as cities were sacked and destroyed.
See a detailed timeline of how warfare has affected surgery and medicine through time.
