International health, European reconciliation, and German foreign policy after the First World War, 1919--1927

After the slaughter of the First World War had ended and the Treaty of Versailles ushered in an uneasy international order, Germany faced economic ruin, political upheaval, and the deterioration of the overall health of its population. Germany's postwar domestic problems were exacerbated by international isolation, which included both economic and cultural blockades. While food shortages weakened the German population, the Allied scientific leaders barred German scientific and cultural institutions from the international community. An exception to Germany's cultural isolation was in the field of medical science and public health. The universality of human biology trumped political polarization. In the immediate postwar years, major outbreaks of epidemic disease in Eastern Europe and Russia threatened Europe's economic and political recovery. In order to counter a microbial invasion, Allied governments (primarily, the French and British) laid the foundations of the League of Nations Health Organization, the precursor to today's World Health Organization. While Germany's status as a pariah made its cooperation in the rise of international health difficult, German participation in the League of Nations Health Organization led to Germany's involvement in international exchanges (well before Germany was a League member) and, ultimately, to the first instance of postwar Franco-German cultural reconciliation. Because it occurred during a time of deep Franco-German animosity and predated the 'Spirit of Locarno', Germany's involvement in Allied-led international cooperation on health-matters presents an important connection between disease prevention and international politics.