[Defense, attack, and street fighting. The role of medicine and military illustrated the example of the cholera epidemics in Prussia].

This article intends to illustrate the introduction of military rhetoric into medical discourse during the cholera epidemic of 1831/32 in Europe. Even before the era of bacteriology, illness and epidemics were considered to be the military enemies of mankind. Beginning with the rise of the military in early modern times, the language of medical discourses oriented itself on the influential military institutions. Sickness appeared as a warring aggressor. Since the time of the plague at the very latest, military connotations were commonplace in Europe, and this tendency became stronger during the conflicts of the 19th century. In this vein, during the inner crises of Germany at the end of this century, cholera was, at least in the descriptive rhetoric, understood as an inner, destructive, and anarchic enemy.