German suffering in the Franco­German War, 1870/71.

Suffering during the Franco­Prussian War of 1870/71 has to be interpreted in the context of three developments: the willingness to alleviate wartime suffering, which had led to the foundation of the International Red Cross and the Geneva Convention a few years earlier, the industrialization of war, which had enormously increased the efficiency of the weaponry, and the nationalization of war. For many Germans, the outcome of the war justified the wartime suffering, which was often trivialized in the media. The small number of authors who saw the high casualty numbers and the pain of the victims as a warning about the consequences of modern warfare usually belonged to the anti-Prussian opposition. Nationalist euphoria in the face of victory and German unification drowned out such critics, whose patriotism was in doubt. Finally, the remembrance of the war during the Kaiserreich aimed largely at celebrating the triumph of the German army and the foundation of the national state. The glorification of the military was hardly compatible with a detailed description of the misery of the battlefield and the pain of war victims. In 1870/71 and in the subsequent decades, nationalism overwhelmed and eventually excluded a humanitarian narrative.

The survival of 19th-century scientific optimism: the public discourse on science in Belgium in the aftermath of the Great War (ca. 1919-1930).

In historiography there is a tendency to see the Great War as marking the end of scientific optimism and the period that followed the war as a time of discord. Connecting to current (inter)national historiographical debate on the question of whether the First World War meant a disruption from the pre-war period or not, this article strives to prove that faith in scientific progress still prevailed in the 1920s. This is shown through the use of Belgium as a case study, which suggests that the generally adopted cultural pessimism in the post-war years did not apply to the public rhetoric of science in this country. Diverse actors -- scientists, industrialists, politicians, the public opinion, and the military staff -- declared a confidence in science, enhanced by wartime results. Furthermore, belief in science in Belgium was not affected by public outcry over the use of mustard gas, unlike in the former belligerent countries where the gas became an unpleasant reminder of how science was used during the war. Even German science with its industrial applications remained the norm after 1918. In fact, the faith in science exhibited during the pre-war years continued to exist, at least until the 1920s, despite anti-German sentiments being voiced by many sections of Belgian society in the immediate aftermath of the war.

First do no harm: the impact of recent armed conflict on maternal and child health in Sub-Saharan Africa.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the rates of under-5 mortality, malnutrition, maternal mortality and other factors which influence health in countries with and without recent conflict. To compare central government expenditure on defence, education and health in countries with and without recent conflict. To summarize the amount spent on SALW and the main legal suppliers to countries in Sub-Saharan African countries (SSA), and to summarize licensed production of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) in these countries. DESIGN: We compared the under-5 mortality rate in 2004 and the adjusted maternal mortality ratio in SSA which have and have not experienced recent armed conflict (post-1990). We also compared the percentage of children who are underweight in both sets of countries, and expenditure on defence, health and education. SETTING: Demographic data and central government expenditure details (1994-2004) were taken from UNICEF's The State of the World's Children 2006 report. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Under-5 mortality, adjusted maternal mortality, and government expenditure. RESULTS: 21 countries have and 21 countries have not experienced recent conflict in this dataset of 42 countries in SSA. Median under-5 mortality in countries with recent conflict is 197/1000 live births, versus 137/1000 live births in countries without recent conflict. In countries which have experienced recent conflict, a median of 27% of under-5s were moderately underweight, versus 22% in countries without recent conflict. The median adjusted maternal mortality in countries with recent conflict was 1000/100,000 births versus 690/100,000 births in countries without recent conflict. Median reported maternal mortality ratio is also significantly higher in countries with recent conflict. Expenditure on health and education is significantly lower and expenditure on defence significantly higher if there has been recent conflict. CONCLUSIONS: There appears to be an association between recent conflict and higher rates of under-5 mortality, malnutrition and maternal mortality. Governments spend more on defence and less on health and education if there has been a recent conflict. SALW are the main weapon used and France and the UK appear to be the two main suppliers of SALW to SSA.