EFFECTS OF SMALLPOX IN WORLD WAR 1

World war1 was a global war that had originated from the European continent. It began in the
year 1914 July 28th. Over seventy Million soldiers were mobilized into this Great War and as a
result, over nine million combatants and seven million civilians died during the war. World War
1 was one of the deadliest conflicts in history and it precipitated major political change
including revolutions in 1917 in many nations involved. World war one led to fall of the four
great imperial empires that is Germany, Russia, Austria- Hungary and turkey. The war drew all
the world economic powers assembled in two opposing alliances based on the Triple entente
and the central powers.
In 1918, the world had started battling with yet another war that began killing soldiers in
millions. The Small pox had set in and it soon became a world disaster. It killed three times
more civilians and soldiers than the people who were killed in combat. The disease was caused
by a number of factors including; injury and suffering by the soldiers. When a soldier suffered a
serious injury, it led to contamination by the diseases since it was very infectious and because
the soldiers could not access proper medical care let alone accessing the hospitals. Poor living
conditions of the soldiers was also a factor to consider as it brought about poor hygienic
conditions for food preparation and improper waste management conditions which went
ahead to turn against them and spread the epidemics. The epidemic was also widely spread
through some of the major vectors like lice and some of the mosquitoes that carried the virus
to the people. This epidemic was particular common in the trenches where the soldiers used to
inhabit as they fought with their enemies. It was reported from troops in Flanders in 1915 when
individuals suffered from sudden onset of a febrile illness that relapsed in 5-day cycle.
Indeed many soldiers died during the Spanish influenza. The nations therefore began treatment
measures which were very unsuccessful. They therefore began focusing on the prevention measures
through imposing quarantines to the infected soldiers, delousing of the parties involved and mass
examination of the people. Transmission experiments conducted by both American and British groups
summarized that the human body louse was the carrier of the disease through the bite but the more
common route of transmission was inoculation of lice excreta into the body through an injury or broken
skin. These preventive measures also led to some drawbacks like for the case of quarantine imposition.
Quarantine is separation of infected parties from the uninfected population. It may have separated
people from their normal ways of life, from their relationships and commitments. This method made
many to shy away from the examinations and therefore stayed away with their infection and therefore
infecting others with them.

George Washington, who was an American statesman and served in the army as a commander who
became the first president of United States from 1789 to 1797, also went through the rigorous effects of
the small pox at the age of 19 years old while on adventure. His personal experience with the small pox
was relevant to the decisions he made for the American army because he learnt how incapacitated the
disease has left him. He suffered for a month under the influence of small pox and this made him not do
desire he same for the soldiers in his army; they would not win the war if they were infected. This made
George Washington to come up with a number of choices that would ensure a good war strategy and
make his soldiers fit at the same time. When Washington fell in with the disease he recovered and
developed a unique immunity to the disease. On joining the army, he ordered the army to be inoculated
which was introducing a milder form of the small pox to the body hence the soldiers would acquire
immunity from the epidemic. This worked quite well. Washington also began noticing that after some
time into the revolutionary war, the British who were based at Boston began intentionally sending their
infected people to American camps to spread the disease to the soldiers and this prompted Washington
to forbid any refugees from crossing American border. These decisions made by George Washington
plus other decisions regarding strategy in army and military tactics made him to be liked by the people
and were attracted to him hence followed him. He led the nation to achieving independence and hence
they saw him as a founding father and a leading figure which pushed him through the campaigns to
become America’s first president.

The great disease also affected the public negatively. A lot of people were killed and hence life
expectancy reduced drastically due to risk of death that year. With deaths reported everywhere, people
began taking precautionary measures such as masking the face to prevent inhalation of the infected air.
Advertisements were also put across to educate the public on other precautionary measures. Not all
could be reached with these advices and measures and therefore some were left out. The British
however did not have an issue with the disease; in fact they took advantage of the situation by sending
their infected people to the American camps to infect them.

Today small pox is less and less remembered because of the improvement in technology. Small pox
today has a vaccine. Smallpox was a disease that ravaged the world in those times. Lessons learnt would
be to always prepare for such epidemics to mobilize resources whenever they strike.