[Peninsular War and military health]

The Napoleonic Wars served to consolidate Army Medical Services on a national scale. All major eminent surgeons of the moment, such as Guthrie or Larrey, took part in the fight. Larrey made the revolutionary contribution of developing the "flying ambulances", a completely new concept at the time. Although surgical techniques were already well described at the time, the deficient hemostasis, the unchecked pain, and above all the numerous infections imposed severe limitations. Mortality among the injured reached 33% and the rate of infection was 90%. The Spanish surgical school contributed to military surgery with the practice known as "the Spanish Cure" which was a conservative approach to the treatment of wounds. This approach was later adopted by the army surgeons of the other countries. Deaths by illness were ten times higher than the number of injured.