Battlefield Medicine: The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was first derived from the gradual oppression of the communist party of the north over the region of South Vietnam. The North Communist party was supported mainly by China and the Soviet Union whiles the Anti-Communist party of South Vietnam was supported by United States and France. The communist party group, as known as the Viet Cong, was recognized for their guerilla war strategies within the region of South Vietnam, intended to fully expand and unify Vietnam under Communist rule. U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War starting in November 1, 1955, develops from the theory of the domino effect, stating that if one country falls into communism, a threat that can develop into the encouragement and spread of communism throughout the world in the future. It is basically viewed as a potential harm to the welfare of the United Sates. Therefore, due to the conflicting forces of the historical, political, economic and cultural nature of the war itself, it is known to be the longest enduring war in United States history that altered many lives of the Vietnamese and American community, leading to suffrage and acts of courage.

A Civil War is a battle between the same citizens in a country. The American Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the independence for the Confederacy or the survival of the Union. By the time Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1861, in the mist of 34 states, the constant disagreement caused seven Southern slave states to their independence from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy, generally known as the South, grew to include eleven states. The states that remained devoted to the US were known as the Union or the North. The number one question that is never completely understood about the Civil War is what caused the war. There were multiple events that led to the groundbreaking, bloody, and political war.

The Civil War was a time of great learning in the medical field. Without these advances, we would live in a completely different world. The question is though, would the same amount of medical supplies and knowledge in both the North or South have changed the eventual outcome of the Civil War? Similar circumstances in medicine would have only affected the mortality rates of both sides, not the outcome of the Civil War. Almost all odds were against the South from the very beginning. It was just a matter of time from the very start.

When people picture the Civil War amputations, they often picture piles of limps stacked around a battlefield and a surgeon as a butcher. However, this picture is not true to the real nature of battlefield medicine. Amputation was the most common surgery throughout the Civil War. The Civil War leads to advancement in amputation and quality of life for those who had amputation. Artificial limbs also came into the picture helping former soldiers lead a better quality life.

The diseases soldiers tended to face were small pox, measles, mumps, dysentery, and so on. The list is endless. Dysentery was by far the most lethal during the Civil War (Civil War Diseases 1). There was a 75% chance that if a soldier was injured, an amputation would occur (Civil War Medicine 1). This led to a tremendous death toll due to the bacteria into the wound. There were plentiful reasons as why a soldier contracted these diseases other than a gunshot wound. These reasons included, poor physical upon entering the army, the doctors lack of knowledge when it came to medical information, terrible hygiene, disease causing parasites, and lack of the basic necessities for survival. As you can see, this is a recipe for failure and death. For example, in order to

The Civil War was fought in the United States of America between the northern and southern states starting in 1861 and ending in 1865. The Civil War was the most significant time in the history of America. The Civil War was to be thought as the shaping of the American individual. The northerners and the southerner’s views on this war were different. The northerners viewed it as a revolutionary war and the southerners viewed it as rebellion. The war started out due to the many differences between the northern and southern states. Between these two regions laid economic, social and political differences, with slavery being the main root of the differences. As the war ended it caused many social and economic changes. One huge change was the abolishment of slavery. Race relation and slave confusions were tearing up the country’s political and social architecture. I believe that the Civil War has changed the way we look at this world today because once the Civil War came to an end it abolished slavery.

In the Battle of Gettysburg that took place on July 1, 1863, and ended on July 3, many casualties and injuries resulted from the fighting between those few days, leading to the victory of the Union Army. As mentioned in the Killer Angels, the hospitals were tents where soldiers were treated for their wounds on the battlefield, in the view of anyone and everyone. Amputations were almost every physician’s immediate response to bullet wounds shattering bones, amongst other types of injuries. Medicine was not as advanced back then as it is now, especially in the battlefield. Often, physicians and other medical professionals did not use proper hygienic techniques, which led to further complications due to bacteria and

Do you think you would have survived if you were a soldier back in the American Civil War? One of the most important turning points in the Civil War was The Battle of Gettysburg. The battle between the Union and the Confederacy lasted three days dating from July 1, 1863 to July 3, 1863. The battle was one of the bloodiest ever with the Union coming out as the victorious side. The medical knowledge and equipment that the doctors and surgeons had during that time were not effective for the types of illnesses and injuries the soldiers had to endure. Those who got shot during the Civil War had to either get that part of their body amputated or get the gunshot taken out and patched back up. Three people from The Killer Angels that got injured and had to be worked on were Buster Kilrain, John Buford, and a runaway slave.

Robert E. Lee was a general of the Confederate States. He faced many health problems. To name one, pneumonia (p.73). At the time, they had no clue what pneumonia was. Doctors thought it was some sort of inflammation in the lungs. To treat this they would usually have the patient bleed out on the bed. If they chose to do this, then the life of the patient would have ended due to too much blood loss. Another option was to prescribe liquor, opium, and herbal preparations.

The Civil War was a very significant time in American history. The Civil War was fought between the Confederate States of America and the United States of America. Most people say the Civil War was a war that was fought to end slavery, which it was for most of the population. The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865 to determine the survival of the Union. The South wanted slaves to help run there farming plantations. Southern slave owners did not want their way of life threatened or changed, life had been the same for them for generations. Those Americans from the North were considered more progressive and had more influence from other cultures which helped open their eyes to the horrors of slavery. But for many of the men, going to war was a chance to escape boredom and some came because it was the right thing to do (p. 28).

The American Civil War occurred from 1861 to 1865, with the North and South unable to reconcile their differences peacefully, it turned to violence and bloodshed. It tested American principles and fundamentals, spurring from sectionalism, or the allegiance to one's region as opposed to the whole country. Due to the distinct political, economic, and social systems of the North and South, each was unable to obtain its objectives, leading to a war which resulted in conservation of the Union and an end to slavery.

Amputation was very common in the field. On the article of “Civil War Battlefield Surgery” published by the Ohio State University, they stated that the slow-moving Minie bullet used during the American Civil War caused catastrophic injuries. The two minie bullets, for example, that struck John Bell Hood's leg at Chickamauga destroyed 5 inches of his upper thigh bone. This left surgeon's no choice but to amputate shattered limbs. Hood's leg was removed only four and one half inches away from his body. Hip amputations, like Hood's, had mortality rates of around 83 percent. The closer to the body the amputation was done, the more the increase in the wound being mortal. An upper arm amputation, as was done on Stonewall Jackson or General Oliver O. Howard (who lost his arm at Fair Oaks in 1862) had a mortality rate of about 24 percent. Once a soldier was wounded, medical personnel on the battlefield bandaged the soldier as fast they could, and gave him whiskey (to ease the shock) and morphine, if necessary, for pain. If his wounds demanded more attention, he was evacuated via Letterman’s ambulance and stretcher system to a nearby field hospitals. The new practices led the surgical foundation as to how it is known of

The war determined whether the United States of America would be a nation with equal rights for everyone or a country that still accepted slavery and allowed people to be treated like they are property instead of people. The topic of slavery brought a lot tension economically and created social barriers for communicating with other individuals and groups between the North and the South. The North was industrialized and had a firm economy while the South relied heavily on slaves for their economy. The United States became a country that was divided into three groups when the Civil War began. The first group was made up of people who believed in abolishing slavery, the second group was made up of people who

The American Civil War was a war fought by a torn America. The Union (the North) and Confederacy (the South) were the two sides fighting the war. The outcome of the war was set to decide the abolishment of slavery in the United States. The Union was anti-slavery and the Confederacy was pro-slavery. Due to their differences, the Confederacy seceded in

The Civil War has been considered as one of the most influential and significant events in the history of the United States. The Civil War is a war between citizens of the same country. The first an important situation from the civil war is slavery, the second has to do with the political, social and economic reasons, and finally, the territorial expansion with all its implications. But slavery was not the only problem that the states were fighting over against each other. States versus federal rights was another big issue.