Pros And Cons Of Medical Advancements During The Civil War

When one thinks of the Civil War, they normally think of the generals or the soldiers actually fighting in the battles. But what about the people behind the scenes? Who cared for these soldiers and brave men before, during, and after battles? Clara Barton is one of the most honored women in American history exactly for this. She is known as the Angel of the Battlefield.

The economic changes included. WW2, saw thousands of casualties and deaths and the increase of infectious diseases, medical advances and treatments were further developed to help fight diseases,

The Civil War had a major influence on medicine in America. Other than the fact that medicine during the Civil War was more modernized than that during the colonial times, there are many other factors that give evidence that medicine during the Civil War was just simply better. It had improved because the people were more educated,

Clara Barton became one of the most important women in American history for her role during the Civil War era helping others and empowering women. Prior to the war, Barton worked as a teacher. At the time, many teachers were men and she was one of the first teachers to gain employment from the federal government. She ended up eventually losing her job to a man.

During the beginning of the of the Civil War, there were many medical advancements, like the quinine a drug that helped fight Malaria. The doctors had just recently discovered bacteria and antisepsis. With this new knowledge, they began to change the way they treated patients and organized areas for treating the wounded. They started to think about things like cleanliness and how to set up a hospital. As the Civil War went on, it was less of a battle to see who was winning the fights and more to see who could keep their men healthy.

Although it was a bloody war, disease was the number one cause of death due to all the unsanitary equipment being used. Not only did the cleanness of things factor in the deaths caused by disease, but so did the knowledge of the people back then. They were not familiar with bacterial transmission, so not much was done to keep things sanitary. Luckily, today we have way better technology, knowledge and medical equipment. If it wasn’t for the Civil War and all the people who put their lives on the line, the world wouldn’t be how it is

Even though a large number of soldiers died in battle, a greater number of soldiers died of diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, and typhoid. The war also had many firsts, some of these firsts were the battles between iron clad ships, black sailors, and soldiers, income taxes, the military draft, and multiple ethnic groups participating in the war and the use of quinine to treat typhoid fever. Shortly after the assassination of President Lincoln in the spring of 1865 the Civil War finally ended in Virginia, when General Lee surrounded to General Grant at the Appomattox Court House. The Civil War impacted society in a variety of areas.

Many many deaths were blamed upon surgeons in the Civil War, but was it really their fault? Due to a low budget for equipment and the lack of surgeon training , Civil War surgeons were treated unfairly economically and socially after the war. The surgeons were socially affected because everyone treated them poorly. Bystanders outside of the war thought that the surgeons were being unhuman like and not giving their patients anesthesia.

The Civil War: “the central event in America's historical consciousness” (A Brief Overview of the American Civil War). This was a period of time full of blood, violence, and severe tension between a “united” nation to solve the abiding dispute over slavery. During the Civil War, thousands of soldiers were wounded and killed. Because of the constant trauma, nurses played a huge role during the Civil War. Having nurses on the battlefield to respond to wounded soldiers was crucial in saving lives, so soldiers could eventually continue to fight.

How the Civil War Promoted Changes in the Medical Field The Civil War was one of the deadliest war there has ever been. The North and South fought tirelessly against each other, without much room for error people started to be quick on their feet, people starting fundraisers and volunteering to help injured soldiers. There was room for improvement in the medical field during this time. The several medical challenges faced during the Civil War led to innovations that would lead into a new era of medicine, including improvement in sanitary conditions, advances in surgery, changes to the structure of hospitals and staff, and an increase in knowledge and experience for future medical professionals.

During the Civil War, the grotesque and gruesome injuries plagued the battlefield. Medicine was in its infancy and very few advances had been made. Even basic procedures and some techniques that common people are taught today, were not developed. The problem of only having basic medicine became a problem in saving the lives of the wounded soldiers. Surgeons were given very little schooling and were not prepared for injuries that this war would bring.

There were over 30,000 amputation procedures done during the Civil War and depending on where you received the surgery is what your death rate was. “Hip amputations… had mortality rates of around 83%. An upper arm amputation… had a mortality rate of about 24%.” Not only did soldiers have to endure the war, once they came home their partners would notice that things were different with

The Civil War was filled with many diseases and deaths. Over 620,000 men lost their lives during this war; roughly two thirds of the casualties were caused by the lack of medical knowledge of many diseases. The remaining one third of the casualties was from the actual battle itself. The war became a turning point for many women interested in the medical field. The knowledge of medicine was the beginning of a new age during the Civil War, and the lack of it led to many gruesome deaths.

Moreover, how did the Civil War impacted medicine raised important points to be considered such as the disease-causing

During the late 1850’s and early 1860’s, people would gather for a family day at the local battlefield, after all, it was a spectacle. Unfortunately, those people didn’t know of the advancements that were being made in the field of warfare, and they paid a deadly price. The Civil War is best summed up by Christian Wolmar: By making use of innovations in communications, weaponry and transport, principally the railroads, the belligerents, especially the North, developed a new type of war that was fought with much wider use of technology and in a way that relied on mobility and flexibility far more than its predecessors. The Civil War was more than just a war between two opposing sides fighting for what they believed in.