![]() ![]() As a result, the British public had, thanks to the telegraph and rapid ship transit-times, a detailed and up-to-date view of the war on the front lines and the theater of operation. ![]() Unlike the French, the British did not limit media access nor censor their coverage. The British forces of about 100,000, who had overwhelming support of the public, deployed to Turkey and the various operational areas that border the Black Sea thinking the conflict would be over in a matter of months.Īccompanying the soldiers in the field were reporters of the popular press like William Russell of the London Times. It revolved around control of the deteriorating Ottoman Empire and impeding the expanded influence of Russia in the Mediterranean and the near east. The Crimean War was a conflict between Russia and the Allied forces composed of Britain, France, Sardinia and Turkey between 1853-1856. In effect, the Crimean War both directly and indirectly influenced the rapid evolution and expansion of the United States Army Medical Department during the Civil War. In contrast, the subsequent successful evolution of the Medical Department during the latter stages of the war and afterwards, was a powerful influence on future military planners including the United States Army Medical Department. The initial failure of the British government and the Army to rapidly adapt to the exigencies of the war and its cost in human lives became a highly publicized scandal both at home and abroad. ![]() Specifically, the problems faced by the United States Army Medical Department during the early stages of the war were very similar to those experienced by British Expeditionary Forces and its Medical Department in the Crimea between 1854-1856. However, when examined from a broader international perspective, the problems and changes that took place looked strangely familiar. Viewed through the lens of the American experience, this evolution was unique and innovative. They have cited innovative leadership in the Medical Bureau, supportive leadership in the line community, and the exigencies of war as major reasons for the transition from an anachronistic regulation bound institution to the state-of-the-art organization emulated internationally. Historians have often attributed intrinsic factors in the maturation of the department. Weighed down by legal limitations, regulations, and army dogma, the department struggled to adapt to rapidly changing requirements placed on medical personnel both clinically and administratively.ĭespite the Herculean task, the Army did adapt to the war’s demands in a relatively short time. The Bureau had neither the administrative resources and experience nor the logistic support system for the conflict in the early months. One area where this became blatantly obvious very early in the conflict was the Army Medical Department’s care and treatment of the sick and wounded. In almost every aspect of what it takes to wage war on the scale that this conflict required, the army had neither the resources nor the experience to execute a war of this magnitude. Historians have consistently emphasized the fact that the Union army was wholly unprepared for the Civil War in April of 1861. ![]()
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