[A new Spanish enemy; the Spanish flu in the Netherlands in the period 1918-1920]. / Een nieuwe Spaanse vijand.

The Dutch example shows that there are not only differences but also several similarities between COVID-19 and the Spanish flu, although risk of infection and death toll were much higher than they are now, especially at the end of 1918. These similarities include emphasis on the importance of hand washing, prohibition of gatherings (and disregard of these rules), disruption of public life, uncertainty about the nature of the cause, praise of and warnings against ineffective medication as well as debate on use and necessity of certain measures. There is also the social context in which the disease and the measures taken to combat it are happening, with the poor paying the highest price, now as well as then.

[Georg Friedrich Nicolai: war physician against war]. / Georg Friedrich Nicolai: oorlogsarts tegen oorlog.

Georg Friedrich Nicolai was a German professor and heart specialist who was one of the few who protested against the war at the beginning of World War I. As a result, he lost his job and was convicted. After the war, right-wing nationalist students and lack of support from his university superiors made it impossible for him to teach. He left Germany in 1922, never to return. In his book, Die Biologie des Krieges (The Biology of War), which was published in neutral Switzerland in 1917, he contradicted the social Darwinist idea - supported by many physicians as well - that war strengthened humanity, people and races, physically and mentally. On the contrary, he argued, war is biologically counterproductive.

Medical care as the carrot: the Red Cross in Indonesia during the war of decolonization, 1945-1950.

During the war of decolonisation in Indonesia 1945-1950, the Dutch Red Cross and the Dutch East Indies Red Cross delivered aid to sick and wounded soldiers and civilians. This was supposed to happen in cooperation with organisations including the Indonesian Red Cross, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the military health service and civilian health services. Due to lack of resources, doctors and nurses, and due to differing interests, cooperation went anything but smoothly, severely undermining medical aid. On top of that, the aid that was given turned out be a tool of propaganda for the Dutch cause. Aid was deliberately--and with Red Cross consent--used as a political-military tool in the service of Dutch national interests. In a military strategy of carrot and stick, medical care served as the carrot.

[An attempt to combine humanitarianism and pacifism. The Red Cross and the Dutch movement for international peace]. / Een poging tot samengaan van humanitarisme en pacifisme. Het Rode Kruis en de nederlandse Beweging voor Internationale Vrede.

Both the International and the Dutch Red Cross were heavily damaged by World War II. The Red Cross movement especially was blamed for its lack of care for persecuted Jews and political prisoners. To restore its reputation all kinds of initiatives were taken. Amongst these was an attempt of the Dutch Red Cross to cooperate with several pacifist movements in the Dutch Movement for International Peace and Security. It seemed a good and sensible initiative, especially in 1945, but although it was supported by international Red Cross resolutions, it failed. The DRC grew immensely in numbers in the years after 1945. With the cold war coming up the peace movement lost most of its popularity and therefore lost its attraction for the Red Cross as a partner. As in the rest of its mutual history, the attempt to humanise war did not mix with the wish to abolish it.

Somatic hypotheses of war syndromes.

Since the end of the American Civil War, unexplained symptoms in military personnel arising after a war or peace mission have frequently been described. The pattern of symptoms is highly similar for all of the various war syndromes although the conditions of each war or peace mission are widely different. Many somatic hypotheses have been formulated to explain these syndromes; a considerable proportion of them are already outdated. In the last few years much attention has been given to Gulf War Syndrome and to unexplained symptoms of military personnel who were sent to Cambodia, Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, or the former Yugoslavia. In this review the symptoms of war syndromes will be considered in more detail and the suggested somatic explanations will be discussed. During the last decade the following somatic causes have been suggested as possible explanations for these symptoms: (persistent) infection, abnormal immune response, administration of multiple vaccinations within a short period of time, use of malaria chemoprophylaxis, neurological abnormalities, exposure to toxicological substances and environmental factors. The various investigations performed to study these hypotheses are discussed. The fact that bias regularly occurs in the course of these investigations is pointed out. For the future, a reliable investigation of a war syndrome should be a prospective multidisciplinary study and should distinguish between causative and sustaining factors.

[Somatic and psychological symptoms in soldiers after military clashes and peace-keeping missions]. / Lichamelijke en psychische klachten bij militairen na oorlogshandelingen en vredesmissies.

Dutch soldiers who have participated in the peace keeping operation United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) have reported various somatic and psychological symptoms since their return. Their symptoms show similarities to the Gulf War Syndrome. The question arises whether Gulf War Syndrome, symptoms in UNTAC soldiers and other symptoms after acts of war and peace operations are unique syndromes or comparable complaints? From an historical overview it is not plausible that new and unique syndromes will occur with each war or peace operation. On the other hand it also seems unlikely that war syndromes can be reduced to one diagnostic category. The post-Cambodia complaints may be described in four hypothetical models: the somatic start model, the psychotrauma start model, the premorbidity model and the complaints-not-related-to-Cambodia model. These models are expected to be applicable, after further validation, to other symptoms after acts of war and peace operations. Also they will provide points of application for prevention and treatment of symptoms after future wars and peace operations.