Veiled warriors
Subtitle: allied nurses of the First World War
By: Christine E. Hallett
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2014
Language: eng
Number of pages: 359
ISBN-13: 9780198703693
Subjects: World War, 1914-1918; Military nursing; Medical care; Female Participation; Nurses; History
Description: Caring for the wounded of the First World War was tough and challenging work, demanding extensive knowledge, technical skill, and high levels of commitment. Although allied nurses were admired in their own time for their altruism and courage, their image was distorted by the lens of popular mythology. They came to be seen as self-sacrificing heroines, romantic foils to the male combatant and doctors' handmaidens, rather than being appreciated as trained professionals performing significant work in their own right. Christine Hallett challenges these myths to reveal the true story of allied nursing in the First World War - one which is both more complex and more absorbing. Drawing upon evidence from archives across the world, this book offers a compelling account of nurses' wartime experiences and a clear appraisal of their work and its contribution to the allied cause between 1914 and 1918, on both the Western and the Eastern Fronts. Nurses believed they were involved in a multi-layered battle. Primarily, they were fighting for the lives of their patients on the 'second battlefield' of casualty clearing stations, transports, and military hospitals. Beyond this, they were an integral component of the allied military machine, putting their own lives at risk in field hospitals close to the front lines, on board hospital ships vulnerable to enemy submarine attack, and in base hospitals subject to heavy bombardment.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 323-346) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: A call to action: August-December 1914; title: A nursing service on the Western front: 1915; title: Nursing on the Russian and Serbian fronts: 1914-1916; title: The Eastern Mediterranean and beyond: April 1915-December 1917; title: New challenges on the Western front: 1916; title: War of attrition on all fronts: August 1916-March 1918; title: Final push: March-November 1918.