HOMO MIMTANS 



is clear that under the circumstances the outcome of the conflict was 

 not determined by the strength, courage, or leadership of the con- 

 testing armies, but by the invisible organisms, or, if you wish, by 

 chance. This is strikingly illustrated by the following episode. In 1632 

 Gustavus Adolphus and Wallenstein faced each other in the battle for 

 Nuremberg. Typhus, however, intervened, killed 18,000 soldiers, and 

 the result was that both armies, without engaging in battle, rapidly 

 retreated in order to escape the pestilence. 



Although generally the origin of the Haitian Republic is ascribed 

 to the genius of Toussaint l'Ouverture, in fact it was the yellow fever 

 virus that was responsible. In 1801 Napoleon dispatched an army of 

 25,000 men to suppress the revolt of the negroes. Toussaint was de- 

 feated on short notice, and escaped into the interior; soon afterwards 

 yellow fever broke out among the French soldiers; no less than 22,000 

 men fell victim to it. The sorry remnants could do nothing but evac- 

 uate the island in 1803. 



The book about Napoleon's Russian campaign, written by the 

 Chevalier de Kerckhove who accompanied the expedition as a high- 

 ranking medical officer, hardly leaves any doubt that the destruction 

 of the 'Grand Army' should be ascribed to typhus and dysentery 

 rather than to the resistance of the Russians. 



In a short time the army of 500,000 men assembled by Napoleon 

 in 18 1 3 suffered a loss of 219,000 from disease alone. It seems un- 

 equivocal that Napoleon's power in Europe was primarily broken by 

 disease, and not by military prowess. 



It is not possible to conclude that in the Crimean war disease caused 

 the balance of power to swing in favour of one side, but because in 

 this case dependable statistics have been assembled for the first time, 

 it is certain that the losses of all combatants due to typhus, cholera, 

 and other diseases exceeded by many times those suffered in battle. 



Perhaps it will be felt that these matters pertain largely to the dis- 

 tant past, and that nowadays things are not as bad. One might use as 

 examples the two world wars that are still fresh in our memory, and 

 that definitely have not left the impression of large-scale diseases. 



But then it must be realized that if in the present day and age Homo 

 militans marches out to settle mutual differences by force of arms, he 

 fully reckons with the fact that a large part of his activity must be 

 devoted to a war against the ubiquitous and invisible third. Only in 



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