WW100 AFTERMATH

1 AFTERMATH When World War I finally came to an end and hostilities ceased – on the Eastern and Western Fronts, on the sea and in the air – many, many lives had been lost and many more lives had been affected: not only the wounded, the disabled and the traumatised but also their families. Back home the economy was anything but robust, the treasury having been severely depleted through funding the war effort. There was also little provision in place to support either the disabled veterans and their families or those families which were now fatherless. There were huge tasks ahead: that of clearing up the battlefields and burying and recording the dead; and that of looking after the living whose lives had been massively affected by the war. Front cover: The Princess Louise Scottish Hospital for Limbless Sailors and Soldiers was opened in 1916. By the end of WWI it had fitted over 5,000 prosthetic limbs to the victims of the war and was recognised as a pioneering surgical establishment. Left: ‘Holy Ground’ notice, Ypres.