Military influence upon the development of anaesthesia from the American Civil War (1861-1865) to the outbreak of the First World War

Abstract

The American Civil War (1861-1865) helped cement the place of anaesthesia in American medical practice and offered new insights into the speciality. The advantages that ensued were to offer long-term security to anaesthesia but the short-term gains were negligible. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) exerted a negative influence upon nitrous oxide and oxygen research through the loss of leading civilian scientists to military duty. Later, the Boer Wars (1899-1902) helped stabilise the popularity of chloroform after the Hyderabad Commissions but were of little experimental value to anaesthesia. In the early 20th Century, the military continued to be operational without either specialist anaesthetists or an interest in developing military anaesthesia. However, the lack of anaesthetic development was largely due to problems with economics and academic infrastructure rather than to simple military neglect. © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.