Abstract
Whether it was the spread of plague following Mongol invasions, or the near eradication of Native Americans due to disease brought in from the Old World, disease has played a significant role in strategy and geopolitics. Of the many lives lost due to the violence of war throughout history, many more have succumbed to disease during battle rather than actual combat. Typhus (spread by lice), plague (via fleas and infected rats), and dysentery have caused enormous numbers of deaths in major wars as far back as one can go. For every one British soldier killed by Russian rifle or artillery, for example, at least ten died from dysentery during the Crimean War (1854–56). Ten years later during the American Civil War, infectious disease also took a disproportionate toll.
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References
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Croddy, E., Perez-Armendariz, C., Hart, J. (2002). Vaccination and Biological Warfare. In: Chemical and Biological Warfare. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-0025-0_10
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