The scalpel after the bayonet - Medicine and surgery on the front lines in the Great War - National Alpine Historical Museum

Saturday, February 22, 2025 at the headquarters of the National Historical Museum of the Alpini of Trento, on the Doss Trento, the exhibition "The scalpel after the bayonet – medicine and surgery at the forefront of the Great War" will be inaugurated.

The exhibition designed by the curator Angelo Nataloni, with the precious collaboration of Bruno Zanotti and Enrico Amadori, includes a collection of photographs and the exhibition of some exhibits.

Military health represents a little-known aspect, a real world with a history, a genesis and a technical-functional complexity fundamental to the life and survival of the soldier.

Military health during the Great War is a particularly significant aspect, because thanks to it, interesting aspects have been highlighted regarding the life of the soldier, his psychological reactions to the war in the difficult conditions in which he operated, and finally, what were the ways taken to improve conditions thanks to the development of emergency medicine.

The Great War has exponentially accentuated, with its millions of deaths and injuries, the progress of emergency medicine and surgery.

As Nikolai Pirogoff, one of the greatest Russian surgeons of the 1800s, had said, "war is an epidemic of trauma": this was certainly the Great War.

It can therefore be said that in relation to the aspects of emergency medicine/Health, the First World War was the guide for the rest of the 20th century.

We invite you to take the opportunity to visit the National Historical Museum of the Alpine Mountains and learn about the interesting exhibition, which will be set up and available free of charge from February 22 to Sunday, April 13, 2025 during the opening hours of the Museum, which you can consult by clicking here!