The Crimean War - inadequacies Flashcards
What is the Naval Blockade of the Sea of Azov?
Sevastopol begins to be starved out
Russians begin to abandon Sevastopol
How did Officers feel about Raglan?
Many reportedly they did not know who he was and if they did they did not respect him
Many would turn around to avoid saluting him
Explain the inability of British troops to cope with the weather
November 14th - the Great Storm
Winter of 1854 = worst Crimean Winter
In November, the troops outside Sevastopol endured freezing winds and rain that blew away their tents, leaving them in the mud bogged down
Many generals left during the winter on ‘personal matters’
Uniform had sunken
Duke of Cambridge wanted to withdrawn back in Balaclava - Raglan refuses
5% of Officers resigned Commissions and went home
Winter clothes arrived Spring 1855
Explain the British inability to supply the troops
Balaclava to Sevatopol (6 miles)
Terrain, weather, carrying artillery
November 14 Great Storm sank ships in Balaclava harbour
- Prince: 40,000 winter uniforms sunk
- Progress: 3 weeks of hay
French food supply ship sunk
Horses starved, ate eachother’s tails
Spring 1855: Railway from Balaclava to Sevastopol built too late by volunteer engineers
How was the French supply compared to the British?
French had winter clothes, collective meals, huts, stables, shops, hotels, triage for wounded, bars, canteen
Paved road from Kameish to Sevastopol
Hunt/foraged (fish, rabbits, frogs)
1st year - lower death rate
Rises in 1855 due to the rife outbreak of Cholera among the French
British underestimated the length of the war and soldiers had to feed themselves
Why was the medical situation in Crimea so under-equipped?
1853 - Army Medical Department and Ordnance Medical Department merged into 1 under Dr Andrew Smith and 6 staff members
Opposed by Wellington before he had died
For Crimea, he had to create a medical department essentially from scratch - no wagons, no doctors, no stretcher-bearers
Few medical assistants (4 out of 100 men were medical assistants) as Raglan felt that space on ships should be dedicated to troops
Doctors were voluntary, SB were pensioners
What is the issue with Medical Ships?
Two designated hospital ships in Varna were taken for troop carriers and only in August 1854 were 4 ships given to medical services
What is the issue with Scutari hospital?
Not in Crimea - Turkey
Opens in September
Can hold 6000 men - too little, eventually supplemented by 3 more opened with 5000 extra beds
Not an actual Hospital - cheap
What was the issue with Anaesthesia at Crimea?
Rudimentary
Often failed to work
What other concerns and inadequacies were there at Crimea?
Scavengers robbed dead
Transport between battle and hospital or to bury the dead
Hundreds surrendered/deserted
Soldiers complained and wrote for newspapers
What was the biggest medical issue in Crimea?
The biggest problem was the provision of clean water and sanitation.
Thousands of men were camped in the open in poor weather without a change of clothes and with limited supplies - ripe conditions for the spread of diseases.
Hospitals lacked washing facilities which led to lice infection, typhus, and typhoid.
What is the response of the Secretary of State for War to the medical situation in Crimea?
Sidney-Herbert
Asks family friend to lead a nursing staff at Scutari
Describe the Arrival of Florence Nightingale
Arrives November 1854
38 nurses chosen by religion
Reports to Dr Menzies, Chief of Medical Staff
Arrives before Inkerman, highest number of casualties
What is the impact of Florence Nightingale?
Pressured Commissariat to provide - first person to challenge their inefficiency
Stole from cupboards and medicine cabinets to distribute supplies
Fought against higher doctors - deny dieting requirements, present at surgery
National Fund - Nightingale Fund raised £30k - people knitted supplies for her
Carried on after the war
Not a great Nurse but an incredible administrator - impersonal but effective
Data collection - Polar Area Diagram
Improved wound cleansing and redressed them regularly
Created medical wards to avoid cross contamination (medical knowledge limited but this set a template)
Legacy of transforming nursing
Why did Nightingale clash with the Doctors?
Her arrival was not announced to Dr Menzies and the doctors told her nurses that they could not give her instruction. Her and her female nurses were ostracised
The men in charge of Scutari were incompetent and had an outdated beaurocrasy that couldn’t cope with the need of supply - dumping limes into the sea due to the paperwork and other food was withheld due to the distribution complications (Scurvy)
Essentially a spy for Sidney Herbert (SoS)
What were Florence Nightingale’s nicknames?
The Lady with the Lamp
The Iron maiden
Describe Mary Seacole’s life
Daughter of white army officer + Jamaican creole woman
Married to Nelson’s godson, who was ill
British patriot, admired war - friends with Soldiers who patrolled the Empire in peacetime
Taught herbal remedies by her mother in her hotel to counter tropical water diseases and Cholera in the Caribbean
Worked with mother in Hotel providing tropical treatments for waterborne diseases like those at Crimea
Read The Times reports about people she knows being sent to die and she feels an attachment to the war and to the people. She thinks: she can help these soldiers. The journalism thus spurs both Nightingale and Seacole to the Crimea.
Sent with letters of recommendation - rejected by War Office and by Nightingale’s nurses despite her experience and willingness compared to volunteers
Uses inheritance and loans to travel to Scutari hospital to Scutari where she is treated coldly, so she goes to Crimea
Describe the British Hotel
Escape
Hotel, bar, hospital, officer’s club, restaurant, merchant shop, home comfort
Often held parties
Charged more for richer men and reinvesting in treating poor soldiers and the hotel itself
An oasis of conviviality - heaven on earth
She stocks her shop by giving extra money to the commissariat. She paid their prices, then charged more for it. She bought it privately, while the government would not sign off. She had a wide variety of food (stew, curry, lobster) shows, boots, alcohol.
Mary Seacole impact
Described by Russell as better than the other surgeons (she is not a trained surgeon - doctress)
Frontlines everyday - adaptive 0 brought hot drinks to warm soldiers up mid-battle
Became legendary throughout Crimea
Significant short term impact on the War, direct and on the frontlines
Nightingale’s is more longterm
What are Mary Seacole’s nicknames?
Angel of Crimea
Russell: the Soldiers surgeon of choice
