Military Medical Masculinity in the Crimean War

• In Event: Russian Masculinities I: Imperial Masculinities

Abstract

This paper examines the military medical services of the imperial Russian army in and around besieged Sevastopol as a space that bridged state-society, military-professional, and aristocratic-middle class divides in Nicholaevan culture. The Crimean War’s exhausting test of the military challenged the core of Imperial Russia’s international reputation and the Emperor’s self-image. As the siege context erased front/rear distinctions and universalized exposure to danger, Sevastopol presents a site to analyze both the ideals and possibilities of gendered performance in mid-19th century Russia. This paper approaches gender ideals, sites, and roles through a deep study of a limited set of figures and their gendered subjectivities, rather than official norms or reified heroic figures.

Author

• Steven G Jug, Baylor U