Based on the author’s exhaustive researches, this is the first dedicated account of the practice of surgery during the pre-anaesthetic and pre-antiseptic days of the Napoleonic Wars. The author, a retired surgeon, captures both the background and the nature of the patients, the experience of wounding and the training of surgeons. The surgeons had to battle against contagion, infection and bleeding, often operating in the most appalling conditions but, in spite of this, some of their results were truly remarkable.

This book takes a methodical approach working through the terrible effects of combat weapons at the time, the training and preparation of medical services and - in some detail - the treatment and recovery (or not) of battle wound victims.