“Decisive breakthroughs in military medical administration came just after the turn of the twentieth century. Until then, in even the best-managed armies, disease was always a far more lethal factor than enemy action, even during active campaigns.”

—  William H. McNeill

Source: Plagues and Peoples (1976), Ch.6.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Decisive breakthroughs in military medical administration came just after the turn of the twentieth century. Until then…" by William H. McNeill?
William H. McNeill photo
William H. McNeill43
Canadian historian 1917–2016

Related quotes

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn photo

“Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press.”

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918–2008) Russian writer

Harvard University address (1978)

Angela Davis photo

“The Klu Klux Klan and the racial segregation that was so dramatically challenged during the mid-twentieth century freedom movement was produced not during slavery but rather in an attempt to manage free black people who would have been far more successful in pushing forward democracy for all.”

Angela Davis (1944) American political activist, scholar, and author

Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Closures and Continuities (2013)

Jodi Picoult photo

“Sometimes knowing what's right isn't a rational decision, or even what works on paper. Sometimes leaving is the best course of action after all.”

Jodi Picoult (1966) Author

Source: Vanishing Acts

Bertrand Russell photo

“It is likely that America will be more important during the next century or two, but after that it may well be the turn of China.”

Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and political activist

Letter to Rachel Gleason Brooks, May 5, 1930
1930s

Bowinn Ma photo

“Campaigns are normally very, very social. Politics is absolutely a team sport. And doing all of these campaign activities from separate homes and not being able to gather … it’s far more challenging to feed off each other's energy, even on the Zoom call.”

Bowinn Ma (1985) Canadian politician

North Shore News https://www.nsnews.com/news/north-van-lonsdale-incumbent-ma-not-making-any-predictions-1.24226696, North Shore News: North Van-Lonsdale incumbent Ma not making any predictions, October 24, 2020

Helen Thomas photo

“Every President hates the Press. Every president thinks that all information that comes to the White House is their private preserve after they all promise an open administration on the campaign trail, but some are even more secretive than others. Some want to lock down everything.”

Helen Thomas (1920–2013) American author and journalist

Phone interview on The Majority Report, 2004-04-02

Napoleon I of France photo

“The art of war consists in being always able, even with an inferior army, to have stronger forces than the enemy at the point of attack or the point which is attacked.”

Napoleon I of France (1769–1821) French general, First Consul and later Emperor of the French

Napoleon : In His Own Words (1916)

Witold Gombrowicz photo

“Beauty beheld in solitude is even more lethal.”

Witold Gombrowicz book Ferdydurke

Source: Ferdydurke

Yves Klein photo

“The glaring obviousness of my paternity of monochromy in the twentieth century is such that even if I myself were to fight hard against that fact I should probably never manage to rid myself of it.”

Yves Klein (1928–1962) French artist

In 1957; p. 34
before 1960, "Yves Klein, 1928 – 1962, Selected Writings"

Andrew Marshall photo

“On reflection, it is not even clear if military power is a transitive relationship. Until we have defined more explicitly how we are going to measure military power, it is not clear that if A is more powerful than B, and B more powerful than C, that A is more powerful than C.”

Andrew Marshall (1921–2019) the director of the United States Department of Defense's Office of Net Assessment

Problems of Estimating Military Power, August 1966
Problems of Estimating Military Power (August 1966)

Related topics