“They are obsessed with scurvy and typhus”: diseases and treatment of military personnel in Vyborg and Kexholm (1710s-1740)

The article analyses the problem of implementing legislation on medical care in the army during the reign of Peter the Great and Anna Ioannovna. The Admiralty Regulations of 1722 and the General Regulations on Hospitals of 1735 announced meticulously prescribed standards for taking care of patients in military hospitals, as well as the number, qualifications and duties of medical personnel in those centers. According to scholars, both documents represent bright examples of the authorities’ faith in the possibility of resolving of crisis in the work of any institution by detailed regulation of all aspects of its activities. However, a research on conditions of service of army employees and state of military health care implies a study based on local material and functioning of certain hospitals. The author focuses on the history of medical institutions in fortresses located on the Russian-Swedish border. The study was carried out on the basis of reports received in St. Petersburg from the border fortresses and devoted to the number of sick employees in the Vyborg and Kexholm garrisons, their diseases and providing them medical care. It is revealed that the military infirmaries have been opened in Vyborg and Kexholm in the early 1720s. And the number and qualifications of the medical personnel met the requirements of the state legislation. Nevertheless, the employees of the local garrisons suffered the same hardships as military men in other north-western fortresses (St. Petersburg, Kronstadt, Riga). This is indicated by the spread of diseases typical for the northern regions and poorly victualled communities, limited in access to proper food and clean sources of water (scurvy, typhus, digestive disorders). Along with that, the region had its own specifics: despite the harsh climate, work on fortifications was carried out from early Spring. Therefore, the soldiers were often hospitalised due to frostbite and colds. From the number of employees sent to the hospital for treatment 66 % died within six months. The most vulnerable group were employees of the first and second years of service under the age of 30. However, the situation in the fortresses did not become critical and epidemics were avoided.