Civil ambulances in Paris during the Franco-Prussian war (1870-1871)

During the war of 1870-1871, the civil Ambulances in Paris - the Company of Help to Wounded Soldiers, directed from the Palace of Industry by JC Chenu and Le Fort; the Ambulance of the Press, directed by Ricord and Mgr Bauer; and multiple Ambulances throughout Paris - joined together under the emblem of the Red Cross. They brought decisive assistance to the French medical military Corps, overwhelmed by the speed of the rout and the great number of casualties. On the ground, 18 civil Ambulances from the Countryside trained in Paris gave care to casualties from both sides: before and after the Sedan surrender on September 4; then in the battles of the Loire and the East, where 13 Ambulances, trained secondarily in the provinces, joined them. During the siege of Paris, what was known as the flying Ambulances went outside the ramparts to seek casualties at the time of the great exits and bring them back them to their Central (the Palace of Industry then the Great Hotel, and for the Press Ambulances, Longchamp street, close to the ramparts). In November 1870 they became part of a centralized Coordination of vehicles and referral of wounded starting with ten referral hospitals, placed under the authority of Hippolyte Larrey. This study describes the care given to wounded by the civil Ambulances, in the field, then the Ambulances of proximity, during their transfer to the hospitals and the central Ambulances. Surgical procedures were limited to the limbs and to the head and the neck. They were simple, rapid and conservative, and the number of amputations was limited. But secondary infectious complications were frequent, with high mortality, worsened by associated diseases, infectious (variola, typhoid, pneumonia); and by the cold, hunger, and denutrition. In conclusion, during war of 1870-1871 a new, humane, approach to the wounded came forward: caregivers and healthcare facilities were awarded a neutral position. In addition, a better approach to infection, contagion, and isolation developed together with increasing interest for the work of Pasteur and Lister. Because of these events, the need for an independent medial corps, the French Medical Military Corps, became apparent and finally came into being in 1883.