As humankind has developed increasingly sophisticated weaponry with which to harm its enemies, medicine has had to adapt to cope with the volume and the changing nature of resulting casualties. Concentrating on the modern era, ‘War and Medicine’ will consider the constantly evolving relationship between warfare and medicine, beginning with the disasters of the Crimean War and continuing through to today’s conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The exhibition will highlight the personal experiences of surgeons, soldiers, civilians, nurses, writers and artists and will look at the impact of war on the ‘home front’ as well as on front-line medicine, considering the long-term implications for society of the traumas suffered and the lessons learned.

At the heart of the exhibition is the uncomfortable and sometimes paradoxical relationship between war and medicine and the question of their influence upon each other. As well as considering the medical advances that have been developed during wartime, the exhibition will show how humankind’s desire to repair and heal is perpetually striving to keep pace with our capacity to maim and kill.

‘War and Medicine’ is the second of a two-part collaboration between Wellcome Collection and The Museum of Man (Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden).