["At times I had to be an allopathic medical officer and then again I was allowed to be a homoeopathic physician." Homoeopathy and war from the Franco-German War (1870/71) to World War I (1914-1918)].

Abstract

With its focus on the Franco-German War and World War I the present paper constitutes a first approach to the comprehensive topic of "homoeopathy and war". Sources used include articles from homoeopathic magazines, homoeopathic specialist literature, material from the estate of the homoeopathic lay organization "Hahnemannia" and individual testimonies from non-homoeopaths. The paper begins by examining the importance of the two wars for research into the history of homoeopathy compared to previous conflicts and demonstrates the value of the sources used. A brief outline of homoeopathy and the military forces in the decades before 1870 provides insight into the historical context. This is followed by the investigation of homoeopathic war hospitals at home with an analysis of the attitude of the homoeopathic physicians and lay-healers involved. The paper also describes the difficult relationship between homoeopathy and conventional medicine during the two conflicts.