Medicine and Conflict, c.1945-c.1980: The United Kingdom and the 'Savage Wars of Peace'

At the end of the Second World War, health and medicine were at the forefront of thinking about the creation of a new society. Service personnel and civilians had benefited from a high level of medical care and campaigns for disease prevention, and blood transfusion epitomized a shared commitment to the public good. The creation of the National Health Service in 1948 consolidated these ideas, which also found expression internationally in the creation of the World Health Organization and the United Nation's charter on Human Rights.

The right to health was now listed alongside more familiar rights such as freedom from torture and freedom of expression.

The eruption of war on the Korean peninsula in 1950 challenged many of these ideals and served as a reminder of the devastating impact of war on civilians as well as troops. The same was true of bitterly fought campaigns in Europe's remaining colonies, in which the struggle for independence often took the form of an ideological battle between communism and capitalism.

In all these campaigns, medicine played a vital role, not only in protecting the health of combatants but also in attempts to capture hearts and minds. From the Malayan campaign onward, medical, dental and veterinary care was used extensively in counter-insurgency operations. The health of prisoners of war and those who remained in combat became highly politicized, as did some aspects of the medical relief campaigns launched by combatants and the United Nations to aid civilians.

This project examines the contested domains of health and medicine from the Korean War (1950-53) to the aftermath of the Dhofar Rebellion 1975. Its focus is primarily on the medical services of the British armed forces and Britain's contribution to medical relief through the United Nations, the Red Cross and other agencies. However, Britain's role is put into a broader context, which allows us to compare medical aspects of the UK's involvement in relation to that of other combatant nations, as well as to examine the impact of war upon civilians.

In addition to Korea, the project will study the role of health and medicine in a number of post-1945 conflicts involving British forces, e.g. the Malayan Emergency (1948-60), Borneo (1962-66), Aden (1963-67) and Oman (1962-75). These campaigns posed major challenges to the armed forces, which had to operate in difficult environments, often with high casualties from disease and psychiatric conditions.

Despite the advent of helicopter evacuation, removing casualties from the battlefield often proved difficult because of heavy fighting, poor weather or difficult terrain. New methods of disease prevention and forward treatment needed to be devised to cope with these situations. The project will evaluate the effectiveness of these methods, some of which remain highly relevant to conflict today.

The extensive and largely unused archives relating to the medical aspects of these campaigns can also be read alongside memoirs, diaries, letters and newspapers to provide insight into how they were experienced by service personnel, and how they were perceived by the public in the UK and other countries.

The project will reveal a dimension of post-1945 campaigns that remains largely unknown. In addition, it will assist the UK's armed forces in a reappraisal of their medical capabilities, making use of the PI's long-standing relationship with the Defence Medical Services and other branches of UK forces and collaboration of the former Surgeon-General, who is still actively involved in medical aspects of defence policy.

Our project partner, the Museum of Military Medicine, which is shortly to move to new premises in Cardiff dockland, will allow us to engage the public with findings from the project, while the Military History Institute in Seoul will do likewise in South Korea.