Abstract
Since prehistoric times, the ancestors of todays humans tried to treat wounds and solve acute health problems. From the belief in the influence of deities on the occurence of injuries and acute diseases and their treatment, emergency medicine has moved to today's therapy based on scientific evidence.
Throughout human history, war conflicts have become a fundamental driving force in the development of emergency medicine. Mainly, the wars of 19th century were crucial.
The large number of the injured brought the need for their classification and treatment according to priorities. The war conflicts of the 20th century produced a lot of treatmets that are also used in civilian medicine.
Since the 1960s, in the Western world, we can talk about emergency medicine as an independent medical specialty. In our conditions, independent emergency medical services were established in the 1990s, and in the last fifteen years we have monitored the formation of a large amount of emergency departments.