Guerra ed expertise medica. La medicina tropicale nell'organizzazione del conflitto italo-etiopico

In August 1935, Aldo Castellani, one of the most renowned Italian tropicalists, was appointed High Adviser for the East African Colonies, tasked with the organization of the health system of the Ethiopian expedition. Through the use of a large number of medical officers and technological means - in line with the vast deployment of forces envisaged by the regime for the conduct of the conflict - Castellani set up a highly rationalized organization of the health service preserving the Italian-Ethiopian war from the nightmare of all "pre-modern" expeditions: the high mortality rate due to illness of the military corps. Entrusted with the sanitary protection of a wide portion of white population, Castellani offered his experience of physician, holding a new position in the Italian military organization system. The role played by the Italian doctor in the Ethiopian campaign and the nature of his expertise offer a horizon of questioning on the relationship between medicine and war. An issue that historiography has often overlooked, contributing to leave unchanged the idea - subject to critical review in other fields of study - that war constitutes a factor of advancement and “acceleration” of medical science.