ABSTRACT
For millennia, humans suffered and died from disease with no knowledge or understanding of the aetiological cause. From time to time historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides recorded wars and conflicts where infectious disease outbreaks played a prominent role, but for centuries the microbial agents responsible for these mass casualty events were attributed to vengeful gods, meteorological conditions, spiritual and moral depravity, inclement weather, and foul-smelling mists. The general consensus of the international community in the immediate post-war period was that it had been led into a second major conflict largely because of the unfair conditions imposed on post-war Germany in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles. The treaty’s penalties had exacerbated already difficult social conditions, which in turn led to widespread discontent that the Nazi Party exploited to gain power. Two sets of circumstances in the 1980s led to closer attention once again being paid to health issues and their implications for national and international security.
