THE GREAT WAR OF WOMEN. INVOLVEMENT OF THE SWEDISH RED CROSS SISTERS IN HELPING PRISONERS OF WAR FROM THE ARMIES OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA (1914–1917) Cover Image

Wielka wojna kobiet. Zaangażowanie sióstr Szwedzkiego Czerwonego Krzyża w niesienie pomocy jeńcom wojennym z armii państw centralnych w przedrewolucyjnej Rosji (1914–1917)
THE GREAT WAR OF WOMEN. INVOLVEMENT OF THE SWEDISH RED CROSS SISTERS IN HELPING PRISONERS OF WAR FROM THE ARMIES OF CENTRAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES IN PRE-REVOLUTIONARY RUSSIA (1914–1917)

Author(s): Adam Miodowski
Subject(s): Social Sciences, Military history, Social history, Recent History (1900 till today)
Published by: Wydawnictwo HUMANICA Instytut Studiów Kobiecych
Keywords: the Great War; prisoners of war in Russia; sisters of the Red Cross; humanitarian aid; nursing care

Summary/Abstract: Women have been involved in the care of sick and wounded soldiers since antiquity. Until the mid-nineteenth century, the care in the back of the battlefield of injured servicemen was only an additional occupation for the marquetes. The humanitarian aspect of their service gained importance at the turn of the XVIII and XIX centuries, along with the intensification of the Napoleonic wars. During the Crimean War, the Western European public opinion forced the political and military elites to agree to include the female staff in field hospitals. The Sisters of Mercy, as well as secular volunteers assisting them in cooperation with military doctors together initiated the process of development of modern martial arts medicine in the years 1854-1855. The Great War, due to its universality and use of modern arms, brought not only more deaths than ever, but also an unprecedented number of wounded and sick soldiers. The global armed conflict in the years 1914-1918 therefore required the involvement of women not only in rescuing the wounded from the battlefield and taking care of them in the front-line field hospitals, but also set a new role for them, which was taking care of the millions of prisoners of war in bad condition.

  • Issue Year: 2018
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 47-74
  • Page Count: 28
  • Language: Polish