Disease and Empire: The Health of European Troops in the Conquest of Africa

by Philip D. Curtin

• ISBN13: 9780521591690
• ISBN10: 0521591694
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-05-28
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Before the nineteenth century, European soldiers serving in the tropics died from disease at a rate several times higher than that of soldiers serving at home. Then, from about 1815 to 1914, the death rates of European soliders, both those serving at home and abroad, dropped by nearly 90%. But this drop applied mainly to soliders in barracks. Soldiers on campaign, especially in the tropics, continued to die from disease at rates as high as ever, in sharp contrast to the drop in barracks death rates. This book examines the practice of military medicine during the conquest of Africa, especially in the 1880s and 1890s. Curtin examines what was done, what was not done, and the impact of doctors' successes and failures on the willingness of Europeans to embark on imperial adventures.

Table of Contents

List of Tables, Figures, and Maps	vi	(3)
Preface	ix	(4)
List of Abbreviations	xiii
1 The West African Disease Background	1	(28)
2 The March to Magdala	29	(20)
3 The March to Kumasi	49	(25)
4 Tropical Conquest in West Africa	74	(39)
5 Typhoid and the Egyptian Garrison	113	(36)
6 The Typhoid Campaigns: Northeastern Africa in the 1880s	149	(26)
7 Madagascar and Omdurman: The Last Campaigns in Eastern Africa	175	(27)
8 The Anglo-Boer War: The Last of the Typhoid Campaigns	202	(26)
9 Retrospect	228	(5)
Appendix: Statistical Tables	233	(8)
Bibliography	241	(8)
Index	249
A picture gallery falls between pages 174 and 175.