{"id":3831,"date":"2018-06-30T11:03:26","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T11:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=3831"},"modified":"2026-06-20T15:10:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:10:45","slug":"medicine-in-the-first-world-war","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/medicine-through-time\/modern-medicine-c1900-to-the-modern-day\/medicine-in-the-first-world-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicine in World War One"},"content":{"rendered":"

How did World War One help to bring progress in medical\u00a0treatments?<\/h2>\n

Learning Outcomes:<\/strong><\/p>\n

* To identify war as a factor in bringing about medical progress.
\n* To identify the main changes brought about in the treatment of disease\u00a0and injury during the war: psychiatry, blood transfusions, artificial\u00a0limbs.<\/p>\n

Video starter: The impact of war on medicine<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Launch
\nin external player<\/a>
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Title: Did World War One help or hinder medicine? (pt 1\/2)<\/p>\n

Duration: 02:59<\/p>\n

Description: In World War One there were 24 million casualties. Doctors
\nand nurses struggled to cope and disease spread easily in dirty, difficult
\nconditions. Using the evidence of a doctor’s diary the clip shows how
\nmedics felt they could only give soldier’s a cup of tea!<\/p>\n

From BBC
\nClass Clips<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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Think about what was and wasn’t available to doctors in the trenches<\/a>.
\nHave they got the neccessary equipment or knowledge to deal with the victims
\nof war?<\/p>\n

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Launch
\nin external player<\/a>
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Title: Did World War One help or hinder medicine (pt 2\/2)<\/p>\n

Duration: 04:33<\/p>\n

Description: Through dramatisation and contemporary sources, the clip
\nshows that the government publicised the medical improvements made because
\nof the war, particularly for surgeons whose methods and skills developed.
\nBut doctors on the front line said things were quite different; very few
\ncasualties made it to the surgical hospitals 20 miles behind lines. Surgery
\nmoved ‘backwards’ from conservative surgery to amputation. However the
\nWar Office needed to keep up morale so hid these accounts.<\/p>\n

From BBC
\nClass Clips<\/a><\/p>\n

Also consider, The
\nImpact of War on medical care in the 1900’s<\/a><\/p>\n

Think about: what improvements did the government claim were made as
\na result of the First World War?<\/p>\n

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When you have watched the video clips and thought about the way that
\nwarfare affected medicine in the First World War<\/a>, try and complete this
\ninteractive diagram. This will help you to see how warfare over time has
\naffected medicine. Diagram hosted on schoolhistory.co.uk<\/p>\n

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\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How did World War One help to bring progress in medical\u00a0treatments? Learning Outcomes: * To identify war as a factor in bringing about medical progress. * To identify the main changes brought about in the treatment of disease\u00a0and injury during the war: psychiatry, blood transfusions, artificial\u00a0limbs. Video starter: The impact of war on medicine  … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3699,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3831","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t