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The essay looks at the medical services of the Great Powers—Russia, France, and Britain—during the Crimean War 1853–1856, highlighting the unprecedented challenges that these countries had encountered while struggling to save health of their serving ranks during the conflict. Paying special attention to the Russian medical service during the war and its numerous logistical and tactical difficulties in comparison with those of the Allied forces, the essay reexamines the prevailed in historiography and public imagination notion of its total failure which is believed to be one of the major drivers behind the loss in the conflict. The military medical planning and patterns of the medical casualties of all three countries during the war are carefully studied and some general conclusions regarding the impact the Crimean War had on Russian, British and French military medical science, as well as its long-lasting legacy, are drawn at the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Ignác Fülöp Semmelweis (1818-1865) and Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) were two important personalities in the history of medicine and public health. They dealt with the problem of handwashing. Semmelweis is also known as the "father of hand hygiene"; just in 1847 he discovered the etiology and prophylaxis of puerperal sepsis and imposed a new rule mandating handwashing with chlorine for doctors. He also tried to persuade European scientific community of the advantages of handwashing. During the Crimean War, in Scutary (Turkey), Florence Nightingale strengthened handwashing and other hygiene practices in the war hospital where she worked and her handwashing practices reached a reductions in infections. Unfortunately the hygiene practices promoted by Semmelweis and Nightingale were not widely adopted. In general handwashing promotion stood still for over a century. During current pandemic SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) one of the most important way to prevent the spread of the virus is still to wash the hands frequently., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement The authors declare no conflict of interest., (©2021 Pacini Editore SRL, Pisa, Italy.)