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Western Front, 1914-18, Conditions requiring medical treatment (Gas…
Western Front, 1914-18, Conditions requiring medical treatment
Ill health
Trench fever
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Symptoms: Flu like symptoms: high temperature, severe headaches, shivering and aching muscles
Treatment: Drugs were trialled, such as quinine and Salvarsan, but without success. Passing an electric current through the affected area was used effectivly
Prevention: By 1918 the cause had been identified as lice
- Clothes were disinfected with repellent gel
- Delousing stations were set up
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Trench foot
Cause: Soldiers stood in the mud and waterlogged trenches, which caused painful swelling in their feet
Symptoms: Tight boots added to the problem because they restricted the blood flow. Later, gangrene would set in
Treatment: Soldiers were advised to clean and dry their feet. In the worst cases, amputation
Prevention:
- changing socks and keeping feet dry
- Rubbing whale oil into feet to protect them
Impact: During the winter of 1914 and 1915 over 20,000 allied men were affected
Shell- shock
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Symptoms: Tiredness, nightmares, headaches, uncontrollable shaking and a mental breakdown
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Treatment:
- Mainly consisted of rest
- some soldiers received treatment back in Britain
Impact: It is estimated that 80.000 British troops experienced shell shock. Some men were accused of cowardice. Punishments for this included being shot
Weapons of war
Rifles
Which created automatic rapid fire, rather than one bullet at a time
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Machine guns
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Bullets from machine guns and rifles, would pierce organs and fracture bones
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Shrapnel
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It was most effective against troops advancing across No man's land, while shells targeted soldiers in the trenches
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Together these were responsible for 58% of wounds. In most cases, shrapnel injured the arms and legs of soldiers
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Gas attacks
Chlorine
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In July 1915, gas masks were given to all British troops. Before this soldiers would urinate on handkerchiefs and hold these to their faces to prevent the gas getting into their lungs
Phosgene
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Faster acting than chlorine, but with similar effects
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Hard to target a particular place with gas and so it was not used regualary as a weapon in the first world war
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Infection
Bullets and shrapnel drove deeper into the body, than ever before
This meant the material they carried went deeper into the body e.g fragments of muddy clothing and soil causing infection
Many men could've recovered from the initial injury suffered, however the infection lead to death
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