When Typhus Rode a Red Horse: Weaponizing Disease During the Polish-Bolshevik War
When Typhus Rode a Red Horse: Weaponizing Disease During the Polish-Bolshevik War
Author(s): Christopher BlackburnSubject(s): History, Cultural history, Military history, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today), Special Historiographies:, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919), Between Berlin Congress and WW I
Published by: Wojskowe Biuro Historyczne im. gen. broni Kazimierza Sosnkowskiego
Keywords: Polish-Bolshevik War; Typhus; American Typhus Relief Expedition; Cordon Sanitaire
Summary/Abstract: This work explores the role of the Red Army in the spread of typhus on Polishlands during the Polish-Bolshevik War, 1919–1920. As a result of the Bolshevikstyle of war, one of the results of the Soviet advance into Poland was the anti-typhus effort along the border and throughout the country. Polish efforts, supportedby American humanitarian groups, had made great strides in eradicating typhushowever, much of this was undone with the Bolshevik offensive of 1920. Throughboth active and passive means the Bolshevik advance drove typhus victims andrefugees across the Polish lines, while at the same time Bolshevik forces destroyedor removed sanitation equipment and supplies across the frontier.
Journal: Przegląd Historyczno-Wojskowy
- Issue Year: XXII/2021
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 87-112
- Page Count: 26
- Language: English