Epidemics and War

Rebecca M. Seaman, PhD, is dean of social sciences and humanities at Olympic College in Bremerton, WA.

Through its coverage of 19 epidemics associated with a broad range of wars, and blending medical knowledge, demographics, geographic, and medical information with historical and military insights, this book reveals the complex relationship between epidemics and wars throughout history.How did small pox have a tremendous effect on two distinct periods of war-one in which the disease devastated entire native armies and leadership, and the other in which technological advancements and the application of medical knowledge concerning the disease preserved an army and as a result changed the course of events? Epidemics and War: The Impact of Disease on Major Conflicts in History examines fascinating historical questions like this and dozens more, exploring a plethora of communicable diseases-viral, fungal, and/or bacterial in nature-that spread and impacted wars or were spread by some aspect of mass human conflict.Written by historians, medical doctors, and people with military backgrounds, the book presents a variety of viewpoints and research approaches. Each chapter examines an epidemic in relation to a period of war, demonstrating how the two impacted each other and affected the populations involved directly and indirectly. Starting with three still unknown/unidentified epidemics (ranging from Classical Athens to the Battle of Bosworth in England), the book's chapters explore a plethora of diseases that spread through wars or significantly impacted wars. The book also examines how long-ended wars can play a role in the spread of epidemics a generation later, as seen in the 21st-century mumps epidemic in Bosnia, 15 to 20 years after the Bosnian conflicts of the 1990s.

Clarifies the confusing details of similar yet different diseases for readers without medical or scientific backgrounds

PrefacePART I: Contested Epidemics during Well-Known Conflicts: IntroductionRebecca M. SeamanChapter 1: Plague of Athens: A Fate More Terrible Than the Spartans, 430-426 BCEChristopher HowellChapter 2: The Antonine Plague: Unknown Death within the Roman Empire, 165-180 CEBrenda ThackerChapter 3: English Sweating Sickness and the Battle of Bosworth: Misfortune or Retribution, 1485 CEEdwin WollertPART II: Bacterial Epidemics in the Context of Wars: IntroductionRebecca M. SeamanChapter 4: The Black Death and Nation-State Wars of the 14th Century: Environment, Epigenetics, Excess, and Expiation, 1346-1450Sarah DouglasChapter 5: Typhus: Napoleon's Tragic Invasion of Russia, the War of 1812John Jennings White IIIChapter 6: Cholera: Dread Disease of the Crimean War, 1854-1855Rebecca M. SeamanChapter 7: Typhoid Fever: Failure in the Midst of Victory in the Spanish-American War, 1898Hilary GreenChapter 8: Diphtheria in the Tajikistan War: Circumventing Post-World War II Medical Advances, 1992-1994Rebecca M. SeamanPART III: Viral Epidemics in the Context of Wars: IntroductionRebecca M. SeamanChapter 9: Smallpox: Ensuring the Destruction of Armies in Colonial New Spain and Peru, 1518-1625Angela ThompsonChapter 10: Smallpox: Ensuring the Survival of an Army in Revolutionary America, 1775-1783Arthur BoylstonChapter 11: Yellow Fever: Unexpected Ally in the Haitian Revolution, 1802-1803Christopher DavisChapter 12: Measles in World War I: Pestilence within Mobilization Camps and Transport Ships, 1915-1919Sonia Valencia and Rebecca M. SeamanChapter 13: Influenza during World War I: The Great Flu Pandemic, 1916-1919Jillion BeckerChapter 14: Colonialism and War as Drivers of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990-2003Wesley RenfroChapter 15: Mumps: Lasting Remnant of the Bosnian War, 1992-2012Rebecca M. SeamanPART IV: Epidemics of Mixed Origins during Wartime: IntroductionRebecca M. SeamanChapter 16: Malaria: Continuing Pestilence from World War II to the Vietnam War, 1939-1975Larry GrantChapter 17: Dysentery in the American Civil War: An Inverse Force Multiplier, 1861-1865Joshua M. SeamanChapter 18: Pneumonia in the American Civil War: Death Knell of the Sick and Invalid, 1861-1865Rebecca M. SeamanEpilogue: Epidemics and Wars in the Context of Historical InquiryRebecca M. SeamanBibliographyAbout the Editor and ContributorsIndex