Miserable and exhausted: the state of health of the Bourbaki Army
Miserable and exhausted
Incessant coughing and wheezing amid clanging weapons in the freezing cold – the soundscape of the Bourbaki Panorama circular painting sometimes brings to mind the health conditions of the soldiers interned in Switzerland in 1871 at the end of the Franco-Prussian War: in addition to pneumonia, bronchitis and serious infectious diseases such as typhoid, smallpox and cholera, many suffered from exhaustion and frostbite.
Weakened and battered
To alleviate the situation, the city of Zurich distributes foot ointment and cough tea. In view of the drastic circumstances, however, the effect of the well-intentioned gifts was probably timid: “when the half-rotten bandages were removed, the gangrenous and frostbitten toes fell off like ripe plums”, reports an eyewitness.[1] Weakened by the hardships they had endured, most of the soldiers only fell ill during their internment. The smallpox epidemic, already touched off by civilian refugees, spreads among the internees and the civilian population. In contrast to the Prussian army, there is no compulsory vaccination in the French army, which favours the spread.
Cured and deceased
On arrival, every internee must be examined by a Swiss doctor. Every fifth soldier is a medical care case. Around 18,000 cases of care are recorded by the state, and the number of soldiers admitted and cared for privately is not mentioned. In accordance with Federal Council directives, medical care in the internment communities is provided by interned doctors and Swiss medical personnel. However, it is not possible to do without the help of civilians. A total of 1701 soldiers die in Switzerland. Typhus claims the most victims with 905 deaths, as do pneumonia with 178 and smallpox with 156. 42 soldiers die as a result of war injuries – most of the wounded did not make it to Switzerland.
[1]Boesch, Jean, Erinnerungen an die «Bourbaki-Zeit» – 1871, in: Hofer, Werner, (Hg.), Zeitspuren. Ein kulturgeschichtliches Bilder- und Lesebuch im Spiegel
