How the mosquito (man) liberated Cuba
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14800549 |
|---|---|
| Authors | John Lawrence Tone (Georgia Institute of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 277-308 |
| Publication date | 2002-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | History and Technology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0734-1512 • E-ISSN: 1477-2620 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/07341512.2002.11417735 |
| PMID | 21826822 |
| OpenAlex | W1969233900 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Disease is a more efficient killer of armies than man, but military historians tend not to dwell on this fact, for fear of relegating human volition to a secondary role in the outcome of wars. Thus, studies of the Cuban War of Independence from 1895 to 1898 tell of thrilling machete charges and awe-inspiring battleships, but pay insufficient attention to the insects and microbes that really killed the Spanish army and prepared the ground for the liberation of Cuba. This essay argues that the mosquito and yellow fever did most of the work of freeing Cuba from Spanish military occupation. It also tells how the theory of a Cuban physician, Carlos Finlay, helped to liberate the island from yellow fever following the American occupation in 1898. In this way the essay unites two sundered histories that belong together, and then goes on to explain why the medical community ignored Finlay for almost 20 years, just time enough to allow Cubans to found a new nation
Ancient history · Economic history · Political science · Sociology · Yellow fever · Cuban History and Society · History · Law · Medicine · Medicine and Dermatology Studies History · Philosophy · Virology
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2011 - 2011 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |