US Military History: I made it back alive, but I've been shot in the thigh. What sort of medical attention do I receive and what are my chances for survival in 1862, 1917, 1944, 1968, and 1991?

1862: Simple wound would receive morphine and bandages. If the bullet was still in the wound (not unlikely, because it would have been a relatively low-speed minie ball) the surgeon might well elect not to remove it. Eventually the wound would heal around it and you would recover, unless infection set in. This was the major worry for any wound. The medical care you received would be in a hospital, with trained doctors, and was quite well organized, although the North was better supplied than the South. A lot of attention was given to ensuring the wounded were well fed and comfortable. Your chances of survival were pretty good. Complex wound: Odds are you would not leave the battlefield alive. There was little concept of battlefield medics. Stretcher bearers simply loaded the wounded onto stretchers and tossed them onto wagons to be taken a mile or so to the nearest aid station. However, some men with amazingly severe wounds managed to recover. Medal of Honor winner Joshua Chamberlain, for example, was wounded six times, including being shot through the hip and groin. So, a complex wound of the thigh would almost certainly be treated with an amputation and "hope for the best". The mortality rate would have been high, although it's difficult to pin down an exact percentage.

1917: Simple wound: Not much different than the Civil War. Blood loss, however, could be treated with a transfusion, as blood typing had been discovered. Also, the replacement of fluids by means of an IV infusion, or even subcutanous and intraosseous (into the bone) was not uncommon. Survival/recover chances would increase as a result of this, but not by a huge margin. Infection was still the major issue. Complex wound: The advent of more modern surgical techniques, along with the above mentioned blood transfusion therapy, meant that surgeons were able to undertake more complex repairs. Anesthesia had progressed somewhat, although even during the Civil War, chloroform anesthesia was used. Along with better battlefield care (medics trained to apply tournequets, motorized ambulances), this meant that your chances of survival had doubled or even tripled, and the chances of saving the leg were significantly greater also. One disadvantage compared to the Civil War is that the bullets were either .30-06 or 8mm Mauser. Velocities were much higher with smokeless gunpowder, and thus the energy delivered and the damage were greater. Infection was still a serious threat, and once it set in there was little they could do. What was an improvement was that sterile technique and antiseptics had been invented, reducing the chance of infecting a wound by treating it surgically.

1944: Simple wound: Morphine and a bandage and some sulpha powder. You had a very high chance of survival and complete recover. Complex wound: Your chances of making it off the battlefield increase dramatically. The medics would be able to apply a tournequet, administer morphine, and start an IV for treatment of shock due to blood loss. Modern medicine was coming into its own, and the first antibiotics were available. Your chances of survival were probably a good 5 times better than during WWI. There are exact numbers for survival rates in the literature, but since they don't generally refer to specific wounds, I'm giving an educated guesstimate on that. Amputation would still be a risk, but less so as surgical techniques had improved considerably. The bullets and wounds were virtually unchanged since WWI.

1968: Simple wound: Morphine and a bandage and a shot of penicillian. Your chances of survival/recovery were slightly increased over WW2, mainly due to better antibiotics. Complex wound: Your chances of survival were better, but mainly due to the advent of helicopter evacuation and improved surgical care. Your chances of a full recovery and use of the leg were much better, due to the improvements in orthopedic and vascular surgery. Amputation would be unlikely, and probably only as a last resort.

1991: Simple wound: Morphine, bandage, and a potent broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic.
Complex wound: Very unlikely that you would die from the wound. Modern medicine has progressed to the point that if you don't die in the first few minutes, your chances of survival are staggeringly high. Microsurgical vascular repair, orthopedic fixation, and an extremely well-developed medical evacuation system that can have wounded soldiers in an advanced hospital in under 24 hours means that only the most massive injurties (like a .50 caliber or 20mm round destroying the whole thigh) will result in amputation or serious disability. However, the bullets fired in warfare have changed somewhat. Although chances are good you were hit by a 7.62mm AK round, the advent of 5.56 and 5.45mm rounds means that wounds are somewhat different. In some cases, the wound will be smaller, but in some, the bullet will tumble and actually be much worse than a WWI era .30-06 round.

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Things about World War II

You have literal good versus evil, the Allies vs Axis. The Soviet Union and the Nazis, two massive, gargantuan forces of goose-stepping war machines set on gobbling up anything in their path. The fanatical Japanese Empire that has taken East Asia and has just decisively challenged the only other Pacific power, the United States of America. Even Italy, tiny as it may be, has the history of Rome in its past and has colonial ambitions.

The United Kingdom is on the decline. They've lost direct control of their largest colonies, there is unrest in India, and they are no longer the preeminent world power; only twenty years ago did Ireland win independence. France is still stuck in thirty years ago. The rest of Europe is tired of war, and the United States, the yet to be seen greatest military power on Earth, isn't directly involved. Things are looking grim for democracy.

And then France falls decisively and leaves the British isles standing alone, with the United States half a world away and reeling from Pearl Harbor. The German war machine is gearing up for England, and the Japanese Navy seems unstoppable. Dictators and ideologies of racial purity or ultimate submission will soon break democracy and the free man.

Finally, there is a schism. The largest invasion in the history of mankind begins as the Nazi war machine turns the opposite direction and trounces Russia. Russia fights back and the Axis is essentially broken. And then the United Kingdom, a lonely island, stands up to the Nazis and buys time. The United States strikes back and absolutely crushes the Japanese Navy at Midway, the most important battle in all of naval warfare. The tide is turning.

Africa suddenly becomes important. The Americans are beating the Nazis on land for the first time. They are being pushed back and back and the greatest commander in the Nazi army is losing. Italy is next. The Japanese are losing island after island. Then 2,000,000 allied troops land in France. Time is ticking for the Nazis. After six years of constant warfare, the German war machine is crushed by the combined weight of the Allies, who have picked up a tenuous alliance with Russia.

Meanwhile, the United States fights a second front (with the help of its allies, who I am simply too lazy to name [ilu australia]). The Japanese are beyond fanatical, they are willing to throw themselves off of cliffs. The Americans are fighting an enemy even crueler than the Nazis on the field of battle, and they are doing it without the help of massive, massive armies fighting on a hilly field. Finally, the Japanese homeland is targeted.

And then, a weapon of terrifying power and awesome strength eradicates a Japanese city off of the face of the Earth. With the fury of God's own thunder, a second city vanishes in a blast of light. The Japanese are the first and only victims of nuclear bombs, the more terrible weapon ever created.

There is finally peace.

But peace does not come quietly. The war crimes of the Axis are finally revealed. A dozen million were rounded up and murdered in camps in Nazi Europe, especially the Jews. The Holocaust is exposed to the world. The atrocities the Japanese committed on prisoners of war and the Chinese people are written down for all to see. Despite this, the scientists and advancements are used to the benefit of the Allies, and the Allies are left with a conflicted legacy. Finally, the Cold War begins.

The tenuous alliance with the Soviet Union is shattered. Berlin is blockaded. East and West Germany are split. Korea is divided, and another violent war happens, this time between newly Communist China and the allies. It is brutal and bloody and lasts just as long.

World War II has left the world in pieces, with former allies fighting one another. Nuclear weapons now exist and threaten to wipe out life on Earth. There are now two new world powers and they polarize the world. The borders have been written on the map, and there is nowhere left to hide. The worst war in history was only twenty years after the worst war in history, and a new one is brewing with the capacity to destroy mankind.

World War II is the single most pivotal point in modern history. It has good vs evil, larger-than-life atrocities, amazing battles, a grand scale, and yet somehow it manages to leave a greater conflict brewing afterwards.

That's why it's the most amazing period of human history. We will never tire of it.

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