The legacy of the First World War: a call for papers

Abstract

In the first few months of 2014, the UK media have already provided saturation coverage to mark a century since the outbreak of the First World War. Education Secretary for England Michael Gove had described it as a “just war”; others have recalled the words of the late Harry Patch, the last surviving veteran of the conflict, who called it “legalised mass murder”. There has been controversy over the necessity of the war itself, and of the form that commemoration should take. What can a medical journal add to this?During the conflict, The Lancet published papers on the diverse medical challenges of warfare—from surgery to psychiatry. This year, we would like to remember the war—and those who lost their lives, soldiers and civilians alike—by considering how it shaped and defined the challenges to human health of today's world. Massive social convulsions such as the First World War force both citizens and their leaders to face issues that would otherwise have been ignored or unaddressed. The role of the state in providing public health and health care; the rights of those with disabilities; the toll of mechanised warfare; the health impact of population movement: these are just some of the facets of human health that we will explore in a special issue later this year. We invite submissions of relevant original research or review articles. Please submit your work via our online submission system, stating in your cover letter that the submission is in response to this call for papers. The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2014.To submit a paper go to http://ees.elsevier.com/thelancet In the first few months of 2014, the UK media have already provided saturation coverage to mark a century since the outbreak of the First World War. Education Secretary for England Michael Gove had described it as a “just war”; others have recalled the words of the late Harry Patch, the last surviving veteran of the conflict, who called it “legalised mass murder”. There has been controversy over the necessity of the war itself, and of the form that commemoration should take. What can a medical journal add to this? During the conflict, The Lancet published papers on the diverse medical challenges of warfare—from surgery to psychiatry. This year, we would like to remember the war—and those who lost their lives, soldiers and civilians alike—by considering how it shaped and defined the challenges to human health of today's world. Massive social convulsions such as the First World War force both citizens and their leaders to face issues that would otherwise have been ignored or unaddressed. The role of the state in providing public health and health care; the rights of those with disabilities; the toll of mechanised warfare; the health impact of population movement: these are just some of the facets of human health that we will explore in a special issue later this year. We invite submissions of relevant original research or review articles. Please submit your work via our online submission system, stating in your cover letter that the submission is in response to this call for papers. The deadline for submissions is June 30, 2014. To submit a paper go to http://ees.elsevier.com/thelancet To submit a paper go to http://ees.elsevier.com/thelancet To submit a paper go to http://ees.elsevier.com/thelancet